Yea, Alabama!

We can't help but have a Bama party here this week - stop by in few days and you can see some of Dave B's sideline shots. He was on the field for the game Saturday (his story to follow) while I took my GA grad dad and we sat in the stands. A fine time was had by, well, some of us.

My Daily Dose of Humility

This morning I was happily singing in the kitchen when Faith walked in.

"Mama, you sound like Eeyore."

New Photos

My little girl was looking so big today after school. I took some pictures and posted them to our dropshots site. Click here to visit them. Remember, the password is the name of the city in which we live. I also posted a few pictures of Faith with her friends, Noah and Caylah. Noah came home from Ethiopia in November 2007. His family has a blog here. We met the Wyatts through some mutual friends and have really enjoyed getting to know them. They have been a real encouragement to us already and have shared a lot of practical knowledge about traveling to Africa and the adoption process. I had some trouble with dropshots today, so I didn't get as many photos on as I had hoped. Also, the dates are a little messed up on there since I didn't have my camera set up right when I took the pictures. All this to explain that the photos of the Wyatts are on today's date, though the occasion on which they were taken was a few weeks ago.

How Soon is Now?

Just a brief update on our timeline. Our agency has begun today to assign babies to families who sent their paperwork to Ethiopia in February. We sent our paperwork at the end of April. This means that the timeframe they gave us of 5 - 7 months to wait for a referral is still applicable, though just barely. We may still hear something by November.

I can't believe I didn't put one exclamation point in the previous paragraph. Rest assured - there is plenty of joy in writing this one - and optimism that is hard to keep cautious.

I Saw This on Oprah

I (Leslie) found this link in my favorites when I was cleaning them out today:

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html

It is for the research study you may have heard of before where you supposedly can determine if you have an implicit attitude of racism/sexism/ageism going on by completing a simple online matching exercise. I noticed when I went to the site today that they have a new test to see how you unconsciously (subconsciously?) view the political candidates. My results showed that my conscious/subconscious minds are correctly integrated since my political views were reflected in the results. Evidently, even in my heart of hearts I have a "slight preference" for McCain.

I don't know how much this research can be taken seriously. But I did think it was interesting to see how I really viewed old people, or if I really think Asians can be as American as Euros (yes, there is a test for that, too.) So if you didn't do these the first time they went around, you might want to check it out. There's probably at least one implicit attitude you hold that requires some reflection.

And who knows. You may be a McCainiac closeted within your own mind.

I haven't yet discovered a great sounding word or phrase to represent the multi-racialness of our family in the near future. The word "multi-racial" itself kind of makes me inwardly chuckle in a way I can't thoroughly explain. "Multicultural family" sounds slightly more sophisticated to me, but I don't know how accurate it is. Maybe we'll just say that the Bullingtons are Caublanasian. Anyway, the fact that we will be, um, an extraordinary family means that people's implicit attitudes will effect us maybe more directly than others. So I think about it. Not a lot. But some. More on that some other time.

Updated to add: David has "no automatic preference for McCain or Obama." I suppose this is a good thing - his rationale rules. Perhaps this result is due to the fact that he majored in political science. He has retained his scientific impartiality.

What does the Future Hold?

Me: Faith, would you like me to cut your sandwich in squares or triangles?

Faith: Ummmm. An octagon.

What's In A Name?

Someone who shall not be given the pleasure of being mentioned by name recently got on me about not posting more often. I promised him some new material tonight so here it goes. Leslie has also been on me to write more but I really don't know what to say, after all, she's the writer. I'm just the supporting husband who says "well done." Hopefully this post will fulfill your need for water cooler conversation. This morning as I dropped off Faith at her mother's morning out someone there referred to me by a name that has become more and more common. It got me thinking about all of the nicknames/descriptions I have gone by or answered to throughout my life. There are many and I'll do my best to list them here. The first nickname I can remember was Little Bull. This also served as my CB Radio "Handle" name too. Pretty simple really, dad was, and still is, Big Bull. It was only natural that I be Little Bull. Others that followed (and I will do my best to list them in order) have been: Sport, Yogi, Belch, Bully, Dana's little brother, that short fat kid with the big glasses, Dana's cool little brother, Little Dave B., Dave Bullingstein, the one that has stuck the longest Dave B. (though is that really a nickname?), and DBully. There have been some good ones and some really bad ones but it appears there is a new one that I just can't shake and it has become my identity. Now, it seems, I am most known as Faith's Daddy. It's really weird. These adults at her church and school all know her but they refuse to either learn or use my name. They simply call me Faith's Daddy. I wonder how they would feel if I stopped calling them by their names and started calling them all Faith's Teacher. "Hey Faith's Teacher, how are you today?" or "Faith's Teacher, I just wanted to let you know I'd be picking her up early today." If I have to sign a school form am I to sign as David Bullington or Faith's Daddy? I guess it's just another part of parenthood that struck me funny today. It's one of the many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many things about being a parent for which I was not prepared. I realized I'm not who I thought I was. And the truth of it all is that it's just fine by me.

sincerely,
Faith's Daddy