I'm Getting a Baby Today!

I finally got the call last night! I always thought I'd write that sentence meaning a call from my agent or a publisher saying they'd be contracting my book, but this was still a great call.

Within a few hours, I'll be picking up our first foster baby. I definitely don't want to compromise his safety--or my family's--so I'm not going to give many details. He's a boy, obviously, less than a year old, and Native American. This sounds like the perfect first placement for us.


Those of you familiar with the Indian Welfare Office might be able to guess why. Current law dictates that we would never be able to adopt him. He must end up in a Native American home. How fantastic! I can practise this love-them-and-let-them-go mothering that is crucial to doing foster care well without even entertaining a thought of keeping him forever.

Last night, my son helped me put together a crib one of my friends is loaning me. I don't know if you can tell by the picture or not, but the wood exactly matches the wood on my daughter's bed. And, as I've mentioned before, it's the bedding my kids used. We also managed to figure out how to make the donated car seat we have recline, converting it from forward-facing to rear-facing. Only took about 45 minutes. :-)


It's been so long since I've had a baby, I'm sure I'll be a little bit creaky starting out. I called my fried Brooke and asked, "Okay, I know babies can't have strawberries or honey, but isn't there another one?"

"Peanut butter."

Ah, yes. My rusty brain hopes all those guidelines come flooding back!

Long Lost Video of Yours Truly

Several years ago I filmed a testimonial for Teplick Vision Center after having a great experience with lasik eye surgery. At the time, the center ran it as a commercial on Portland, OR, channels. I even played during a Dr. Phil commercial break!

Here's the best part--they put "Author" under my name! This is the summary of the commercial, now available as an AOL video:

"www.oregonlaser.com – After having Refractive Laser Vision Correction at Teplick Vision in the Pacific Northwest, Christina Berry went to her eye doctor who commented on just how great a job the laser vision correction surgery was performed on her eyes. Christina now enjoys clear vision, helping her with her career as a writer. For more information about laser vision correction procedures, please visit www.oregonlaser.com." (Emphasis, mine.) :-)

Prepare to be amazed and astounded by my verbal wit. Don't pay attention to the "ums" or the run on sentences. Even if you have 20/20 vision, you'll still want to have lasik after watching this video, so strong are my persuasive powers.


Teplick Vision – Refractive Laser Vision Correction in the Pacific Northwest

It Pays to Ask--Shoutlife

Are you concerned about ads you see on Christian sites? Every now and then, an advertisement will stick out because it's so inappropriate in the context of the site. But what can we do?

Well, I'm learning to ask questions.

I wrote to Stevie Mac, one of the founder of Shoutlife, because some ads on the site were making me uncomfortable. Here's what I said:

I've really enjoyed Shoutlife and want to say thank you. One thing I've noticed recently that concerns me is the ads. Tonight there was a banner of single women, some showing more skin that others. A few days ago a side ad wanted a vote for whether the girl in the picture was a "hottie or naughty."

I understand that you need revenue to make this work, but is this going to be a usual occurrence? I've loved having a safe place to be on the net. I also saw it as a safe place for my children, my husband, etc... to be. I feel sorry for the men who are trying to protect their eyes on the computer, who might feel that Shoutlife is a "safe" place, and then get pulled away and toward screens that are worse by those ads.

I'm hoping to encourage you to not let those kind of ads on the site.

Thanks,

Christina Berry

He wrote back:

We depend heavily on our users to report these types of ads so that we can have our ad company filter them out. Please use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom and supply us with the URL that the ad takes you to.

Thanks in advance for your help and support of Shoutlife.

We strive to keep the site clean and family friendly.

So now I'm encouraging you--if you see an ad that seems out of place, let the site owner know.