On politics....
1. I hear a lot of people saying they are tired of hearing about Trump because we should just be praying and not giving him attention, even if the attention is bad. I disagree, and the reason is not because I am not confident regarding the power of prayer, but rather that if he is leading the polls, it's because people don't know how bad he is. And so yes, I will pray, but I will also share all that I know of the man until I am confident I did my part to educate the people who are blindly following this guy. I honestly think that if people did just a TEEENY bit of research on the guy, not just what he says from the podium, they would realize they are getting played. Knowledge is power, and until the race is over I will do my part to make sure nobody I know could stand to vote for him. I live in a state where he won the primary. Maybe I'd be singing a different tune if that wasn't the case.

Along the same lines....
2. One of the reasons people (Christians) are saying we should stop talking about him is because they believe scripture tells us that God will bring into power and leadership who he will. And this takes me back to the argument I have made multiple times on this blog- not everything that happens on this earth is God's perfect will for mankind. I am confident of this. Do we need to pray? Yes. But if every single thing that happened on this earth was God's will and was going to happen regardless of our efforts, there would be no need to pray. We should absolutely be praying about politics, religion, and all matters of life, but we have voices and minds and resources to shed light on corrupt leaders, and these are also valuable tools.

On transracial adoption..
3. I typically don't talk about matters of race here but recently I was watching a live stream where two individuals, a husband and wife, were talking about politics and then life in general. The subject of adoption came up and then the subject of transracial adoption came up. Personally having a child who is not the same race as me has given me a variety of experiences out in public (in the south) that I wouldn't otherwise have had. Some white people scoff, some white people swoon. Some black people scoff, some black people swoon. People of all races have an opinion, and their opinion is not culturally exclusive. I reject the notion that because someone is black, they automatically own a set of opinions and beliefs that all black people on God's green earth would agree with, just as is the case for white people, Christians, Jews, Indians, Hispanics, etc. During the live stream, the wife said that if a white family adopts a black baby, they should "raise him as a black child." The husband (also black) said to his wife, "So what does that mean exactly?" She replied, "What do you mean?" And he said "What does that mean for day to day life? What do you do in your day that a white person does not do in their day that would distinguish your daily routine as "black" and theirs as "white?" She was silent. Then she said, "Good point." Because she, just like me, woke up, drank some coffee, got dressed, put on makeup, went to the grocery store, etc, etc. The conversation continued down this path and some good points were made--that the distinction is mostly internal, with a few exceptions for sure, but that in the actual day to day routine of life--from picking Shepherd up from his crib in the morning, to changing him, to feeding him, to playing with him, to putting his down for a nap--the ins and outs of life with our son is governed by our beliefs as parents, not our beliefs as white parents. 
Our child is being raised differently than our white neighbors next door, and differently than our other white neighbors, and differently than our other black neighbors and their children. I reject the notion that because I have less melanin in my skin, I am incapable of raising our son properly. I absolutely disagree with those in opposition to transracial adoption who throw around the phrase, "How to be black." As mentioned above, there isn't one way to be black or one way to be white. There isn't one specific set of experiences or attitudes that is universal to each race. In the same breath, I also know that there WILL be tough conversations about race that we will have to have as we prepare Shepherd to one day operate in the world apart from us. I am not raising him to be "colorblind," because the large majority of our society, especially here in the south, is NOT colorblind. I wish this wasn't the case. It would be damaging of us to raise him without an understanding of racism and how it affects the world around us. He will know what white privilege means. But Shepherd is first and foremost my son, not my "black" son, and the way we parent him has everything to do with our understanding of the Gospel and who we are as Believers, NOT who we are as white people. Similarly, we don't hold to traditions for the sake of holding to traditions. Our family's beliefs, attitudes, and activities are not governed by traditions of race. The same couple pondered the question, "Would white families be okay with black families adopting white children?" To which the exact argument I'm making above would apply. Some would be great with it, some would not be. I hope to see an influx of families of all races adopting outside of their race, especially in the south. It changes things.

On infant loss..
4. Still hard.

On home-building..
5. Much easier and less stressful than I anticipated! We move in about 6 weeks and then I can stop living out of boxes.

On coffee..
6. Need more. Byyyye!