Oh how time flies!

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. Can you tell I've had some other things going on?! Two kids definitely keeps me busier--especially since we did not have any preparation time for the second! Lily is absolutely wonderful and Abby is such a great big sister.

I thought I'd catch up on some pictures so enjoy!
Sunday, August 7th after Church:
Monday, August 8th Lily experienced her first Family Home Evening. We made it a special one and invited over our friends the Whitfield's and Aleman's. We had a good barbecue and a great lesson. All of the kids had a great time and everyone took turns holding and loving Lily.
Tuesday, August 9th we went to Abby's dance and gymnastics and everyone was very excited about Lily. Abby was proud to tell her teachers she is a big sister.
After dance we went over to our friend's house where we met up with other kids and had lunch. Then I ran Lily to her visit with her birth parents while Abby stayed and played. Thanks Marisa!
Since the day wasn't fun enough, we also got to see my cousin Mandy and her husband Russell. He is going to dental school at UCLA and they drove up to eat hang out, play with Abby and meet Lily! We were so excited they could come up and only wish they could have stayed longer. They are going to have a little girl after Christmas and we are so excited for them.
We've really enjoyed being outside in the backyard this summer and Abby loves her lion pool we found at Target. Best $15 I've spent in a long time!
On August 10th we had combined pool party for the young men and young women's activity. I worked with them on two songs they will sing for their upcoming Standards Night and then they enjoyed the pool. My friend Stephanie Holladay loved holding Lily and Abby found the cutest dog to hold. She would not put it down and we had to make her leave when it was time. Abby loves animals.
On the 14th Lily looked so cute that I had to take a picture!
This is one of Abby's favorite shirts. She calls it her Sparky shirt because it has Sparky the ASU mascot on it. I have to hide it when it is dirty or she will wear it again and again.
The morning of the 15th found us at dance and gymnastics once again. Everyone loved Abby's skirt which was given to her by Grandma Barbara. Abby is getting more comfortable with dance now and still loves gymnastics. We are always working on waiting our turn and listening!
A dancer in the making. . . .

Lily Elizabeth

Our first few days with Lily have been truly amazing. She is such a good baby and we love her to pieces. She simply must be ours forever!
Here are a few pictures so that you can see how cute she is!

Tuesday, August 2nd (1 month old)
Her first bath with us
Cute in purple
Wednesday, August 3rd
Her debut at Young Men's and Young Women's (everyone wanted to hold her)
Thursday, August 4th
Grandma, Heather, Dexter and Great Granny Ruth came and brought Abby back from playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Abby had the greatest time and still had more fun with them at our house.
Granny Ruth meets Lily. We decided to name her Lily Elizabeth and that is Ruth's middle name. She seemed overwhelmed when we told her and is very excited about it!
My girls and I!
Dexter and Abby in Lily's crib and playing in Abby's new blow up lion pool.
Tickled by Matt.
New fence went up around the pond! It's actually more clear than this--it looks so good in direct sunlight. You hardly know it is there.
My friend, Amanda Pitts brought us a wonderful dinner and dessert.
Thank you Amanda it was so delicious!
Friday, August 5th
Abby feeds Lily twice.
Lily ready for her visit with her birth parents (I don't like this part). Matt went to the temple with the youth, so it was just us girls the rest of the day.
During the visit Abby and I ran and errand and went to the park. First she scales the
wall and then says, "I did it!"
After we got home the girls we swam in the pool. Well, Lily let me put her feet in, but only for a moment--need to let the water warm up a bit!
This is how Lily often looks when she sleeps.
Oh how I love my girls!

A Comment on Race . . . and Lily

So for those who don't know, I'm white. I'm not caucasian because I have no ancestry from the caucus mountains of present-day Armenia and Georgia, but I understand that it is the box I'm supposed to check on forms. My problem with racial categorizations, and particularly the caucasian (or white) category, is that they presume all sorts of false generalities that are used to discriminate.

In 2001 sociologist Allan Johnson published his book, Privilege, Power, and Difference. I disagree with parts of the book, but Johnson does correctly identify many subtle social benefits of being white. On average, white people pay less than blacks for cars and per square foot of home, are less likely to be convicted with similar evidence, and as our new case worker explained to me this week, whites are less likely to have children taken from their home by social workers. White children are more likely to have positive role models of their own race, and, Allan notes, less likely to be shadowed by store clerks while shopping.

In an effort to combat this racism, many Americans support affirmative action type programs that turn the tables and favor non-whites for government contracts, educational admission, and other opportunities. Similar efforts are made to correct gender inequality as well. As a white male, I've faced quite a bit of institutional reverse discrimination. At times I've felt society overcompensated too much. I looked over Johnson's extensive lists of subtle benifits and found few that served me, but time and time again I saw where my identification as "white" limited my access and equality.

As a teen I grew up in an ethnically diverse suburb of Los Angeles. I was always "the white guy" and often suffered the exclusion that is typical of minorities in an a larger group, but made worse by the false assumption that I represented "the man". In fact, in graduate school some of my colleagues jokingly called me "the man" because I was the token white male (there was actually two of us) in a cohort of several dozen graduate students, and yet I somehow embodied the power structure (according to standard protest models).

As I completed my studies it also became obvious that as a white male I would simply be overlooked for most positions teaching Native American history. At conferences I attended many pseudo-academics asserted that by virtue of Indian ancestry they had access to some essential knowledge that could not be accessed by a white guy. This common racial essentialization is at direct odds with the very premise of academic inquiry (the notion that we can actually learn something), but that does not stop the growing ranks of pseudo-academics from endorsing racially exclusionary tactics that openly disadvantaged me.

This brings me to Lily. When the caseworkers offered us Lily they said we were selected because we were a good match. I was confused. Does Lily like college football? Has she longed for an older sister? How are we a good match? Surely there are other would-be foster parents in the system who would love a newborn baby, and they were probably already certified. We, on the other hand, had not done anything but fingerprints and still needed a home inspection (which is not up to code--a fence around our pond will be installed later today) and 12 hours of "training". Why did we get Lily? The answer surprised me - because we're white.

Apparently, there are lots of Mexican-American foster families but not many white families, and we were the only white folks (working with this particular agency) who could take in an infant right now. If we were not available they would have placed her with a Mexican-American family (in fact, the emergency foster home she briefly stayed with only spoke Spanish), but since were were available we jumped to the top of the list. Of course, this works both ways. They have very few white children--most are Mexican American--and so most of the time we'll be at the bottom of the list. It just happened that the caseworker's efforts to match race benefited us this time; most of the time it will be a disadvantage.

So, Allan Johnson, I have now seen a privilege that whiteness brings; however, don't be so foolish to think it whiteness brings only positive affects. I can still point to more discriminatory experiences based on my racial designation. Indeed, I can remember store clerks following me and I know what its like to be the odd man out, and to suffer an employment blockade because of my skin color. Perhaps one day we will actually achieve a "post-racial" American, but I don't know when.