I am always on the lookout for ways to bring color into our life and make our home more fully represent our family. For example, when I decorated our bathroom with an ocean theme, I was delighted to find a wallpaper border that featured kids of every color splashing together on the beach.

Here are some lovely sites that feature products that may help broaden and bring more diversity into your world.

iCelebrateDiversity.com- This site has many lovely items, but my favorite is a chunky pendant featuring little children of... more

If you think racism no longer exists in our society, you may want to read this article on Yahoo News: Black men quietly combating stereotypes.

It seems that black men still scare a lot of people these days. Black boys are more likely to be expelled from school. They are more often seen as trouble-makers. They are more likely to be stopped by police officers.

Every day, African-American men consciously work to offset stereotypes about them — that they are dangerous, aggressive, angry. Some smile a lot, dress conservatively and speak with deference: "Yes, sir," or "No, ma'am."... more

Yesterday my 4 year old found my tube of sunless bronzing lotion and asked how the lady got so brown. (You may remember she and I talked about this before.) I told her the lady used the lotion. She said, "You put the lotion on too. Then you can be brown like me."

"You think I should be brown?" I asked.

"Yes, I want you to match with me."

I explained to her that the lotion would only make me a little brown, not a lot, and that both our colors were nice. She looked unconvinced by my reassurrance.

Though I know this type of comment is normal for a child whose parents don't 'match' her, I always feel a little sad when my daughter brings up the fact.... more

The other night I was writing and doing my best to ignore the sci-fi movie my husband was watching on TV. It was typical Saturday evening TV. There were aliens taking over, ripping the livers out of some unfortunate souls and scaring the liver out of everyone else. Not my kind of movie.

The movie reminded me of a real beef I have with the movie industry these days. It was the Black good guy, not the white good guy, who became possessed by an alien. It's the phenomenon of the Black Sidekick, a variation of which is the sacrificial Black sidekick-- the good guy who dies in the end.

Ever... more

I've been thinking about the things I have learned since I became the mother of black children. I'm almost embarrassed to admit some of this, but I'm sharing with the thought that it will doubtless cheer you to read about my foolishness.

Skin I got my first Ethiopian daughter on a Monday, and by Tuesday evening I had already ruined her skin. I was sure of it. She was 20 months old, and when they had handed her to me, except for a few chicken pox scars, her skin was lovely. But by Tuesday evening her whole face was covered with tiny zit-like bumps.

The next day, worried, I asked an orphanage worker about it.

"Were you outside a lot... more

Last Sunday in the church nursery my one year old was playing with a baby doll. The doll was pale and blonde, an extreme contrast to my little girl who was rocking her ever-so-tenderly. It reminded me again that I need to donate a brown baby to our church nursery.

Now, I don't have a problem with my kiddo rocking a white dolly. But about 3/4 of the baby dolls currently in use at our house are brown. Here's why. We happen to live in a fairly 'white' area of the US. I can't encourage a massive influx of Black people into our community, as much as I would like to. But I can provide my girls with appealing... more

Ethiopian kids tend to have very dry skin, which is made even more obvious because the dark tone of the skin makes any dryness at all look grey and 'ashy'. My girls need lots more moisturizer than my Caucasian kids do.

When their skin gets very dry, they can even develop tiny dry bumps all over, especially where clothing rubs across tummies. And when frequent nose-wiping is in order, their cheeks really suffer.

I've found that to keep their skin looking its best, daily generous use of lotion is the way to go. My favorite low-cost solution is the Walmart Equate' brand version of Eucerin... more

My 3 year old is a natural social bug. Wherever she goes she makes friends. She also has the funniest way with words-- at least once a day she has me cracking up over something.

The other day her comment was: "Mommy, I put some chapstick on yesterday. But you can't see it any more because it got mixed up with my drool."

It pays to listen to that child. She's almost always good for a laugh. Yesterday at the playground I saw her chatting animatedly with a new little girl. I'm always especially interested when she is chatting with someone new. I wandered over her direction to overhear the conversation.

When I showed up, the other little girl looked from me to my daughter... more

Earlier I shared with you the story of the pool incident. When I went home to tell my husband about it, I was still angry with that little kid. I know it was silly to be ticked at a 6 year old. But I was. What right did she have to challenge the rightness of our family? I was also ticked at our whole community-- the sheer irritating whiteness of it.

My irritation, I realized, stemmed from a feeling of vulnerability in that area. It touched upon a weakness in our family and I didn’t like it. My daughter should have the right to grow up in a family where she felt normal. But our family,... more

Once when my daughter was two, we were at the pool, splashing around in the baby area. At one point a little girl, 6 or so, looked at us and asked me if I was my daughter's mom. I said yes.

She looked confused, and said in a rather hostile tone, “You’re white. She’s brown. That’s weird.”

“God makes people all colors,” I said, smiling to hide the sudden urge to slap this little punk.

“That’s weird,” the child repeated, sounding angry. The reality of us seemed to have unbalanced the order in her world, and was apparently really ticking her off. Her mom, embarrassed, scooped her up and hauled her off, whispering intensely into her ear as they went.

My girl,... more