THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 30, 2009

NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH, 2009
- – - – - – -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

All children deserve a safe, loving family to protect and care for them. In America, thousands of young people are waiting for that opportunity. During National Adoption Month, we honor those families that have strengthened America through adoption, and we recommit to reducing the number of children awaiting adoption into loving families.

America is a country rich in resources and filled with countless caring men and women who hope to adopt. These individuals come from all walks of life, united in their commitment to love a child who is in need of the protective arms of a parent. We must do more to ensure that adoption is a viable option for them. By continually opening up the doors to adoption, and supporting full equality in adoption laws for all American families, we allow more children to find the permanent homes they yearn for and deserve.

This month, we also focus on children in foster care. These children are not in the system by their own choosing, but are forced into it by unfortunate or tragic circumstances. These young people have specific needs and require unique support. Federal, State, and local governments, communities, and individuals all have a role to play in ensuring that foster children have the resources and encouragement they need to realize their hopes and dreams.

The course of our future will depend on what we do to help the next generation of Americans succeed. This month, we celebrate those families brought together by adoption and renew our commitments to children in the foster care system.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2009 as National Adoption Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month by reaching out to support and honor adoptive families, as well as to participate actively in efforts to find permanent homes for waiting children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

thanks mr. president. i love proclamations. but a proclamation won’t buy us plane tickets to addis ababa. so how about you follow up your nice letter with some serious cash thrown at those people/ministries that are securing a better future by taking care of the future leaders?

deacon’s new fave show is ‘dinosaur train’ on pbs. i love it because it teaches him words like ‘triceratops’ and hearing him try to say that makes me smile.

i also love it because the main dino family is a multi-cultural (species?) family. description from pbs:

Dinosaur Train embraces and celebrates the fascination that preschoolers have with both dinosaurs and trains. The series encourages basic scientific thinking and skills as the audience learns about life science, natural history and paleontology. Each of the 40 half-hour episodes features Buddy, an adorable preschool age Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his adoptive Pteranodon family as they board the Dinosaur Train and embark on whimsical voyages through prehistoric jungles, swamps, volcanoes and oceans. The episodes include two 11-minute animated stories, along with brief live action segments hosted by renowned paleontologist Dr. Scott Sampson, that unearth basic concepts in life science, natural history and paleontology.

my favorite part of the opening theme song is when buddy (the adopted t rex) asks ‘what am i doing in a pteranodon nest?’ and the mom says, ‘this is your family and i’m your mom. you may be different, but we’re all creatures. all dinosaurs have different features.’

i don’t want to make try and make this deeper than it really is, but i love that adoption is showing up in educational cartoons. i also love that this 30 posts in 30 days is making everyone blog like crazy. keep it up!

deacon fell asleep by himself tonight. i didn’t know he could do that.

if you will recall, that fateful day last spring that deacon hopped out of his crib was the last time he ever set foot in it again. since he wouldn’t sleep in his crib and we didn’t have a big boy bed yet, deacon slept on the couch for a couple of months. sounds weird, but it worked.

then we finally got a twin sized bed, cars sheets and deacon took to his bed like a fish to water. but since night one, clayton or i have always laid down in bed with him until he was asleep. stop judging, it worked for us. not to mention that as a working mom, those 30 mintues where i got to hold him as he fell asleep was precious time. we struggled only with the fact that if he wakes up, he doesn’t stay in bed.

so we get up and take him back to bed, or he climbs in our bed or we just move him to the couch and turn on the tv.

lately, bed time has been a tiny struggle. deacon just didn’t want to stay in bed after we’ve read our books. the other night i ‘helped’ him stay in bed, all the while he was kicking and screaming. but after 2 mintues he calmed down and drifted off.

tonight, we read a book about african animals and i turned the light off and deacon jumped out of bed. he put himself in time out which i think was his way of saying he couldn’t get in bed yet, because he was in time out. i said, ‘deacon’s body needs to be in bed. do you want to get in bed or do you want me to help you?’ screaming ensued. i had him on the bed and as he was squirming his way out of bed i just said, ‘love you, night night’ and walked out and locked the door behind me.

locking the door isn’t a big deal b/c he can unlock it from the inside and i can unlock it from the outside. i stood outside that door for at least 15 minutes waiting for sounds or lights or something. but nothing. so then i went and did stuff all the while waiting for a sneaky little boy to emerge from the room. but nothing.

of course, after 30 minutes i was convinced that he had bashed his head on something and was hurt. but actually, he had just gone to sleep without me.

i can’t believe it. he is growing up!

deacon had a fun halloween in yoakum. he liked getting candy, but he loved giving the candy away. he’s a giver. in this video we were trying to entice kids to come to our door. it was funny.

we went to the renaissance festival near magnolia, tx last weekend. it was a whole family affair. even my sister’s super fun new boyfriend came. deacon didn’t terrorize him toooo much.

i remember the renn fest from my childhood. we went every year. i remember funnel cake, turkey legs, princess hats, the big swings and riding the elephants. but…

apparently, my innocent child mind blocked out the insane drunkenness, goth teenagers, scantily clad women and all around debauchery.

and i don’t mind the wenches and cleavage everywhere. that seems very historically correct. (my knowledge of this era comes only from the three musketeers movie). what is not historically correct are the minotaurs, the vikings, harry potter, emo/goth dark fairies, or the slutty nurses (just kidding, kind of).

all of that made for a very interesting people watching day. i do not have a soft, quiet voice. i also have a very quick brain-to-mouth circuit. my family shushed me at least 10 times because i started to say, ‘uckkkkkk, why is her _______ hanging out of her….’ i say, don’t dress inappropriately unless you want me to comment.

fun pictures!
of course we found some drums!

that’s monica flying through the air

you can see why deacon spent the whole day saying ‘what’s that?’

what’s so hard about juggling fire on someone’s shoulders???

funnel cake. the best thing ever.

we rode an elephant! deacon loved it!

family photo op!

we are breaking up with our current bank. we have a new bank now. our old bank has ruined our lives for the last time. of course, it’s hard to dump a bank you’ve been with for 10 years. mostly due to all the auto drafts and direct deposits already set up. but we are slowly shifting over to the new bank. this means i have to order new checks. this starts an identity crisis for me.

i can’t believe i even have to order checks any longer (when will they just put a chip in my arm so i don’t have to carry my wallet?), but we still need checks for some bills and stuff. after spending way toooooo much time looking at check designs, here are the top contenders…

graffiti. i’m urban, cool and don’t care about your rules.

tiki huts. i like to party with a whole roasted pig and wear flip flops year round. (i actually do wear flip flops nonstop)

my husband is a musician and i want to support him with our check design.

i want my checks to lead the payment center employees into a deeper relationship with the lord. but, these are the funny jesus checks, not the judgy ones.

ok, comment which ones you like best…or do you have an actual life (and do not waste time worrying about your check identity) and just use the blue security checks?

we did it again. by we, i mean deacon and i. by did it again, i mean we got free stuff today using coupons. check out our goods. we also got deacon’s batman costume.

but first, i realized after a friend emailed me asking what blogs i follow for coupons that i had failed to share those sites. so, here you go:

http://www.dealseekingmom.com
http://freesamplefreak.com
http://www.moneysavingmom.com
http://www.southernsavers.com
http://www.stretchingabuckblog.com

sorry i didn’t link them. lazy blogger alert. also, sometimes they repeat each other and sometimes they talk about regional stores that aren’t around here.

today deacon and i went to old navy (but they didn’t have the pirate costume so we got a different costume later at target), then bath and body works, then petco (to say hi to the cats and birds and snakes), then to target. don’t worry, these are all in one shopping center so we just walk around to all these places.

i have no shame in going to a store simply for the free stuff. seriously, last week at target, i went in and paid 2 cents for that sample size laundry detergent. i don’t even play like i’m there for anything else.

so today we went to bath and body works b/c i had printed off a coupon for a free travel size item with any purchase. deacon and i needed some hand soap, so we bought one $3.00 hand soap and got a $5.00 travel size lotion free.

then to target. where after our juice and pretzel snack, we got this:
16.99 deacon’s batman costume (not on sale, but got a free pumpkin bucket with it)
.97 travel toothpaste (free with coupon)
2.99 baby wash (will send in receipt for offer to get free bath toy)
7.28 deodorant and body spray (used 3 coupons and got each item for .64 cents)

So total without coupons would have been $31.55 that includes tax. but thanks to coupons i spent $22.83. i love this game.

while i have no shame in my game, i do try to go shopping early or late to avoid crowds. because sometimes you’ll need to call a manager when the checker gives you grief about using so many coupons. you can actually print out target’s coupon policy and take it with you in case.

and a little sneak peek of our batman for halloween.

i didn’t pay for my own car insurance until i was 27 years old. seriously.

when i think of the orphans that age out of the system, here and abroad, my mind baffles. where do they go during christmas vacation? who do they call when they have an insurance question? who sends them a card on their birthdays?

my mind can not fathom a life (especially my young adult life) without a parent. so when i see something to help those kids that have to do it all on their own, i’m all in.

visit this website, www.ontheirown.org , buy a bracelet.

of course, if you don’t want to buy a bracelet, you could just start the paperwork to adopt one of these teenagers. either way you’d like to help…your choice.

i have a new hobby and it is coupons. i’ve dabbled in coupons before, but now i’m going pro. i’m following a couple of couponing blogs and clipping sunday newspaper coupons and printing out web coupons that the blogs suggest.

this morning i hit target with my list of deals and check out how i did.

all of this for 11.38:

that includes, markdown, coupons and $5 rebate that i have to send off for.

and here is a pic of me with my receipts showing that i saved 23.56! i know you can’t see the 23.56 but that is what it says. Woo-hoo! It was fun!

this is a fun hobby. but i don’t think i’ll ever be able to actually feed the family on $12.00 a month. but still fun!

for this halloween i’m thinking deacon is going to be a pirate…i’m going to get this costume from old navy:

he has been a monkey:

and a ninja:

also, deacon turned 3 last weekend! if you are wondering where the pictures are, so am i….i only took about 3 of them which i will share, but i’m waiting for my sister to share her pics with me. she is deacon’s official photographer. we had a batman/spiderman party and deacon had fun.

birthday batman

birthday cake

batman with the dutkas.

we have been on the waitlist now for 2 weeks. time is flying by and our wait time is only 2-4 months. we are really struggling with the name issue. we can’t agree on names and then we wonder if we should be renaming a 2 year old anyway.