tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519Thu, 29 Aug 2024 10:56:38 +0000my humble opinionsmy familymy faithmyselfmy jobArt, Politics, Family, Religion, and Mehttp://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)Blogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-1325158240679281361Tue, 28 Dec 2010 02:54:00 +00002011-01-01T21:42:56.068-08:00my family(Read Part 1 here.)Shortly after wiring the money to Velvet and Fide, I emailed them the few documents and photos we had, along with this letter to David's birth mother--"in the hope that Fide is successful" in finding her.August 16, 2009Dearest Andrea,Your son, David, is an amazing boy--almost nine years old, healthy, happy, and loved. We think of him as not just our son, but yours also. He is http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2010/12/finding-davids-birth-family-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-3072643488233237301Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:36:00 +00002011-01-01T11:59:40.195-08:00my familyLast Tuesday, three months after returning home from Guatemala, I finally hung the photos of David's birth family among the rest of our family gallery on the staircase wall. There's one of the four of them--mom, dad, and David's two younger brothers. And another of just his mom with her gracious, relaxed smile. My favorite is of his two brothers--Marco, age 8, and Wilson Giovanni, age 6--with http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2010/06/finding-davids-birth-family-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-8645842058005427546Mon, 12 May 2008 15:21:00 +00002008-05-22T22:03:05.245-07:00my humble opinionsBarack's got my support, my money, and my vote. Now that he's clinched the Democratic nomination, here's an item for his agenda...How about some civil--and I mean civil--conversation about gay marriage? With the California Supreme Court's ruling, the tone of the conversation is already shattering the champagne glasses. So far, the conversation has been a major yawn: one side with its irrational (http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/05/barack-and-gay-marriage.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-7364573685818562985Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:36:00 +00002008-05-04T21:01:40.021-07:00First, it's the dentist telling me about bone loss and my receding gums that won't grow back, but how he can slow the march toward toothlessness.A few days later it's the dermatologist: You know all that skin damage from sunburns at the beach when I was a kid? Well, it's irreversible, but with these special treatments, he can slow the progression to skin cancer.Still later it's the chiropractor: http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/04/walking-downhill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-8516951474862279382Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:29:00 +00002008-04-27T16:51:24.099-07:00my familyIt's Spring in San Francisco, so last Saturday David and I took our bikes to Golden Gate Park. We went along the path we've navigated many times before, the one that suddenly becomes a steep, treacherous downhill slide.Last year, he rode his scooter, and when we came to this valley of death he cautiously dismounted and walked to the other side. The year before, he was still in preschool and we http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/04/its-spring-in-san-francisco-so-last.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-5685829153765039909Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:27:00 +00002008-05-12T21:41:02.145-07:00my humble opinionsmyselfIt all happens within a benign universe: A fiery orange rests above a deep, alluring blue. Two movements: one in, the other out. A deep and ponderous blue, and the fiery orange of action, speech, life. The latter rests securely on the former, the former draws energy and life from the latter. It's how a world gets created.http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/04/mark-rothkos-no-14-at-san-francisco.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-6525086868494913778Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:54:00 +00002008-04-09T13:30:33.471-07:00my humble opinionsIt was unlike any speech I've heard from a political candidate. Balanced, sensitive, honest. Not politics as usual. Just what you'd expect from one who has decried the incivility of American political discourse and hopes to set a new tone.In this moment, Barack has lived up to my hopes.It's Holy Week and I happen to be a christian, so maybe I can be forgiven for seeing in Barack's speech a http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-speech-more-perfect-union_24.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-8213792310235610753Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:16:00 +00002008-03-22T10:55:17.773-07:00my humble opinionsAs the race for the Democratic presidential nominee tightens and becomes more polarized, here's hoping that Barack will continue to hold the high ground, not giving in to the temptation to go for the jugular. Part of what has drawn me to him is his seemingly earnest desire to move beyond the present culture wars, build bridges between blacks and whites, republicans and democrats, the U.S. and itshttp://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/03/hope-for-barak.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-1321959118860860401Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:22:00 +00002008-02-16T08:29:36.614-08:00And here is an irreverent but very cute jab at conservative, bible-thumping Australian Archbishop Peter Jensen. It's called Holy Homosexuals.http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/02/holy-homosexuals.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-5824980010685044727Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:50:00 +00002008-02-04T21:24:42.080-08:00Given the media frenzy around international adoption these days, this Newsweek article looks remarkably balanced.http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/02/good-newsweek-article-on-international.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-9211611165086573007Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:45:00 +00002008-01-21T15:23:12.474-08:00Rob and I celebrated our 18th anniversary.David learned to whistle.We added a happy dog named Crusoe to our family.A good week.http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/01/good-week.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-8591935417632584762Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:07:00 +00002008-01-29T21:58:52.901-08:00In the end, says Patchett, it is neither politics nor religion that transform and inspire us, but art. More specifically, in her technicolor and lyrical novel, it is the music of opera. Here's the plot from the publisher's notes: Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman.http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/01/ann-patchetts-bel-canto.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-5857953157108990152Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:53:00 +00002008-01-29T21:38:07.085-08:00my faithSmack dab in the middle of the Christmas season, the media were aghast: The Archbishop of Canterbury had said the story of the Magi is a myth that should not be taken literally. I wasn’t surprised by the Archbishop, but I was amazed and appalled by the secular media who just don’t get the approach we Christians take to our sacred texts: We're not all fundamentalists who take such stories http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2008/01/magi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-1943389873885297373Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:24:00 +00002008-01-05T20:46:32.528-08:00Great book if you're involved in an adoption or just interested in the ever-changing shape of the American family. Pertman summarizes the major shifts in adoption and their implications for American culture. These shifts emerged largely in the 60s when sex and childbirth outside marriage were destigmatized. No more need to hide or lie; no more sealed records or altered birth certificates. In http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/12/adam-pertmans-adoption-nation-how.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-3124589871783556533Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:24:00 +00002008-01-08T07:42:31.437-08:00Paul McCartney says life is what happens after you’ve made all your plans. He's right, and here's a case in point: Mom' been in the hospital for several days with pneumonia and won’t return home for several more. Not what any of us had planned for Christmas. Life happens.Beside the physical pain, exhaustion, and worry, are there any redeeming lessons here? Some wisdom about the shoals we mortals http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/12/mom-in-hospital.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-5942186982200673155Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:46:00 +00002007-12-22T06:23:28.250-08:00It's a kind of dance: At times we hold each other close, then swing out with hands still joined; now separate, now back together. It's been like that with David lately. Lots of cuddles and tickle time, lap time to listen to his tales of the day and his latest imaginary racing car adventure. Then he takes off into his own space, exploring the other end of the block on his scooter or playing http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/12/dancing-with-david.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-8005061857612684524Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:59:00 +00002008-01-21T16:49:48.113-08:00My new job is just downtown, which means I can easily bike down Market Street to the office. It's good: I spare the air and get a little exercise while I'm at it. After work, I head to David's school where he and I catch the bus. We work as a team, hoisting the bike onto the rack at the front of the bus, then finding our way to a window seat. The rear seats in the new hybrid buses are the best http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/11/getting-home.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-8554747411681484575Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:32:00 +00002007-11-18T08:57:21.168-08:00my familyThe children have been returned to Casa Quivira, and their adoptions will now move forward. It looks like normalcy is returning to this beleaguered orphanage after the government put the 42 kids through a horrific and unnecessary ordeal. See the Guatemalan Adoption blog which reports "that while everything is not cleared up for all the cases, it does look like at last innocent children are not http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/11/november-17-2007-update-on-casa-quivira.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-6810004619754131408Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:22:00 +00002007-11-21T02:43:55.776-08:00my humble opinionsIt didn't just happen. It's not just a forgivable matter of dim bulbs bumbling around like the Three Stooges. The fatal bludgeoning of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Girardi Conedera, a Roman Catholic human rights advocate, came two days after he released a four-volume report on his country's civil war that formally ended in 1996. That war had claimed some 200,000 lives over four decades. The primary http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/11/francisco-goldmans-art-of-political.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-1296692708250102970Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:28:00 +00002007-11-21T22:08:12.816-08:00my humble opinionsSome see us internationally-adopting parents as noble creatures, Mother Theresas who nobly reach beyond their bloodlines to third-world children otherwise deprived of loving homes and families. Others see us as so blinded by the need to parent that we become unwitting child-traffickers, pawns of black markets that steal children from their rightful parents and then rob them of their own ethnic http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/10/internationally-adopting-parents-angels.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-5341739332369501928Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:34:00 +00002007-10-25T17:17:39.217-07:00This novel is a tryptich of three stories in which the center panel is given to Fenno, a Scottish gay lad with whom I fell in love. Manhattan with its artistic riches and out-there gay scene is fascinating through his eyes as he stumbles through its nooks and crannies, tries to make sense of it all, and find his place in it. He never does, not quite; and, in that sense, his life is not a success.http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/10/julia-glasss-three-junes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-7159263179032092885Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:58:00 +00002007-10-24T21:35:58.359-07:00my faithLuke 17:11-19A man is met at the airport by a friend. They’re on their way to the baggage claim when his friend notices an older woman with a cane struggling up a ramp. The friend stops to help her. They get the man’s bags, and then head for a cab. On the way, his friend notices two little kids trying to see Santa Claus from behind a crowd of adults. His friend stops to lift them above the crowd http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/10/second-chances.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-3650489973128421848Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:47:00 +00002007-10-02T21:27:10.394-07:00Luke 16: 1-13He's a man in crisis. He's about to be fired and the job prospects don't look good. Not butch enough to dig for a living, and too proud to beg, he's endearingly vulnerable. I imagine Woody Allen playing the lead in the movie version.The guy is also smart. Very smart. True, he panics when he first gets the call from the boss, but then he makes a plan. The plan works: He gets both his http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/09/shrewd-manager.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-2192720802218752846Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:31:00 +00002007-11-21T22:20:09.802-08:00"Actually, I was expecting someone with a full head of reddish-brown hair," I say to the gray-haired balding specimen squinting back at me from the bathroom mirror. It's not the first time I've been surprised and confused like this. In fact, it happens more these days, and sometimes it's annoying. Like when I'm walking down the sidewalk innocently minding my own business and all is well, but thenhttp://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-mom-in-my-mirror.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333519.post-8809871400478509345Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:29:00 +00002007-11-22T12:21:12.138-08:00my familymy humble opinionsWas David's adoption process a fraud? The Guatemalan Procuraduria and the US Embassy are implying that it was. In the charged climate of a Guatemalan election year, they are painting American families like mine as unwitting contributors to child trafficking in Guatemala and, perhaps worse, as inflicting unspeakable pain on women like David's birth mother.Are they correct? I doubt it. Most http://richardlsmith.blogspot.com/2007/09/was-david-stolen-from-his-birth-mother.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Richard L. Smith)1