Christmas pictures

How many tries could it possibly take to get a good Christmas picture? Well with two active little boys something like 30 tries will get you something that is useable but not great. Here are a few of our attempts...Okay let's try again ....Okay Oliver's not looking, one more....Kaden is making a weird face, one more try....

Oliver looks miserable lets try to make this interesting.... Grammy and Aunt Kristin are now dancing in the background and making every face and crazy noise possible.


Okay this is just getting ridiculous!

Take Two... a week later we tried for another picture this time our friend Becky was taking the picture while 3 other friends were dancing around in the background...

Our kids just think these adults have lost their minds!
Again, not amused.We have a winner... sort of. While it is not the best picture I think it is the best we are going to get and at this point I really don't care anymore. So, Merry Christmas from the Matthews!

Fused Glass Jewelry

Thanks to a couple of very creative friends of mine, I have learned how to make fused glass jewelry. I have been making pendants and earrings and it has been so much fun! I have decided to try to set up an online store to try to sell some of the pieces. If you are interested you can visit my etsy shop at SynthWear.etsy.com. Here are a couple of pictures of pieces I have made....

And a special thanks to my very first etsy customer.... Amy Bottomly. I am mailing your earrings today!

A Good Reminder

I found this on my friend Kara's blog and thought I would share it here. Here are some suggestions on how your family can incorporate your child’s culture into your family to help build her/his self-Confidence and self-worth:
· Learn to speak your child’s language (or at least greetings)
· Go to the mall or movies or restaurants frequented by families of your child’s ethnicity (yes that may mean extra driving);
· Include your child’s birth family in your prayers;
· Regularly cook and enjoy foods from your child’s culture;
· Learn and incorporate holiday traditions of your child’s culture;
· Make sure your social life includes frequent activities with people of colour (not just specifically your child’s birth culture);
· Expose your child to varieties of human relationships, to teach them not only to accept others but to accept themselves;
· Join a peer support group where you children can become friends with children from a similar culture and shared experience (reduces isolation feelings);
· Do everything you can to make friends with families who share your child’s heritage;
· Join recreational, religious and educational groups or activities in the closest community you can find with members of your child’s ethnic group;
· Attend special events (exhibits, festivals, musical productions) that attract an audience of your child’s heritage;
· Seek out beauty salons and barber shops located in a community that caters to people of your child’s heritage and become a regular;
· Choose professionals of colour, whenever possible (Dr, dentist, lawyers, teachers…);
· Attend groups that include adoptees from other countries so your child has exposure to children adopted from other countries as well so they don't feel negatively towards their country of birth;
· Change congregations and attend a more ethnically diverse church (yes you may have to drive!);
· Find cultural mentors or guides to help your child to be competently bi-cultural;
· Read books with your child that parallel your child’s experience to help your child discover connections between himself and the world;
· When you incorporate culture like music or literature or food into the family, don’t forget to point out the heritage connection to your child (don’t assume they know);
· Find cultural training classes from (for parents) your child’s birth country;
· When possible maintain all connections to the child’s birth community, extended family and caregivers;
· Adoptees should be provided counselling services, particularly in adolescence when they are going through identity formation because transracially adopted teens face additional complications and crisis during this developmental stage;
· Adoptive families should not perpetuate the saviour notion that the child was rescued or saved;
· Adoptees benefit from the chance to meet one another.