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Adventures in Advent
I’m trying to catch lightning in a bottle, carefully crafting my daughter’s impressions of Christmas as being magical, one of family and warmth, of cozy reading and precious traditions passed down to her, bonding her to our family, rooting her in love, creating the foundation of celebrating Christ’s birth in our adventures in advent season. She is four and a half, young enough that everyday moments still inspire wonder and excitement, old enough that these moments are becoming memories, hopefully that she will pass onto her own children someday. When I think back to my Christmases as a child, I struggle to remember more than a handful of specific gifts.…
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A Change in Perspective
Heaven Not Harvard started with my acknowledging that all the world’s pressure on my parenting was creating unnecessary stress, weighing on me, pushing me to be cranky and insistent with an incorrect perspective, trying be a perfect mom based on imperfect standards. Inside my head, I yelled, ‘stop!’ And I shifted my parenting away from a generic “Harvard” goal and prioritized my focus on a “Heaven” goal. Over time, that mantra has shifted my focus in a myriad of ways, including my goals for myself, including my perspective on my marriage, and including events like Thanksgiving. Today, I simply wanted to focus on being thankful, with a peaceful attention on…
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Salted Caramel Pecan Sweet Potato Casserole
Holidays are all about the magic of traditions and memories. One of our favorite traditions is of course the food, and a magical sweet potato casserole is one of our Thanksgiving dinner must haves! This recipe has been a staple for our last six Thanksgivings now! (Heaven not Harvard is as a participant in affiliate programs including the Amazon Associates Program. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) This year (2014) my daughter is finally old enough to understand the traditions I’m building around our home. She helped me set the table and fold the napkins, fussing over every fold, even for just us three. We celebrated early this…
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Adoption – The Cost
Adoption costs are part of the journey many avoid discussing. However, few people are truly aware of or prepared for the adoption costs. Families come to adoption in various ways, after long infertility battles or even as the way to grow their family by choice, or desire to give a family to a child in foster care. This is only our story and experience. Seven years ago today, we officially started our adoption journey with our first conversation with an adoption facilitator and our first sticker shock. I went from excited to defeated in one call, but we had a plan. We don’t want to think about the costs. It…
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Adoption – The Paperwork Mountain
The paperwork! As I said in the first installment Getting Started, the paperwork mountain was the most daunting part of the process for us. What made it so additionally difficult was collecting all the paperwork. It seemed like every time we had everything together, we needed one more form, address, or certificate. Each state or agency will have its own list, but this list will get you started. Pet vaccinations and statements of health. You need to provide copies of all pet records Personal statements of health from your physician and lists of any medical conditions or medications. For private or agency adoptions any kind of major illness might be…
