Hooray, I won runner up in the Parenting category of the SA Blog Awards 2017! Thank you so much for your votes! Although blogging isn’t about the ‘glory’ (it’s a family joke that people only ever do things for the glory), it feels really good to have my space on the Internet recognised and know that my blog was placed because of your support.

I’m always amazed to hear that people have taken the time to read my thoughts on life and parenting and adoption and I’m thankful that you’ve chosen to join me on my journey of as I try to make sense of my reality as a white, young (ish) wife and mom of three black kids, living in a semi-diverse area in Cape Town in a post Apartheid South Africa where there is much hope and change in the air but at the same time inequality and racism are still rife. We’re trying our best to raise our kids in a thoughtful, considered way with an extra dose of old fashioned fun but constantly feel the tension between keeping it real with our kids and making our their lives as comfortable as possible. May we never fall prey to trying to keeping up with the Kardashians or believing the lie that our kids need more stuff or a bigger home to feel loved and secure. There is so much to learn in the discomfort, I want our kids to grow up gritty!

To my big three, I started this blog to keep record of our journey and share some important adoption insights with our friends and family and I thank you for your tolerance (sometimes bribed) of my taking a million photos of you and for allowing me to pause your lives every now and then in order to document it. Some parents choose not to share pictures or stories of their family online and I respect that very much, but in our case we’ve made the choice to share some of our life with you in the hope that your views of transracial adoption are either broadened or affirmed.

We’re just a regular family like everyone else, with a little something extra.

Thank you for your support.