Tag Archives: heritage

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is one of the best romantic comedies to come out of the last decade. Written by Nia Vardalos as a commentary on what’s good and not so good about being Greek, she also stars as the main character, Toula Portokalos. Toula’s family owns and operates a Greek restaurant called “Dancing Zorba’s.” Their lives revolve around food, dancing, eating, running the restaurant, eating, huge family gatherings, and eating. They’re a very tight and interconnected family, but there are times when Toula feels they’re a little too tight. Everyone knows everyone else’s business, and it’s just assumed … Continue reading →

Meow Means Mischief – Ann Whitehead Nagda

In the intermediate book “Meow Means Mischief,” we meet Rana, a girl who has just moved to a new home with her little sister Tara and her parents. She’s insecure about her new school – the other children seem so confident and like they know what they’re doing all the time. Rana knows the move was good for her family – the house is bigger and they have room for the things they need, but she still feels like an outsider. One day Rana sees a cute little kitten outside the patio doors, and she falls in love with it. … Continue reading →

Teach Your Children About Their Heritage

July is a great month to focus on your heritage. It is so easy to teach your children about their heritage and family history in conjunction with the Fourth of July and Pioneer Day at church. You could focus your family home evening lessons around the founding of our country at the beginning of this month and then mid-month talk about the pioneer heritage of the church. You can share with your children the conversion stories of the first members of the church in your family. If you are the first member then you are a pioneer and you can … Continue reading →

The Window – Michael Dorris

Rayona knows her mother’s not responsible enough to take care of her, but that doesn’t keep her from having fierce loyalty. For years she’s made excuses for her mom’s midweek benders and hangovers, the lack of food in the fridge from grocery money spent on alcohol instead, and the days missed at work because her mom was too “sick” to go in. When Rayona’s dad comes for a visit and sees how things really are, he removes Rayona from the house and calls in a rehab clinic to take in the mom. At first, Rayona thinks she’ll be living with … Continue reading →

What’s Wrong With a Little Tradition?

Everything seems to be about progress, progress, progress! As a parent, I am constantly hearing from kids that things are “old school” or old-fashioned. Now, I like to think I’m as forward-thinking and progressive as the next forty-year-old, but what’s so wrong with a little tradition, that’s what I would like to know?! I think there are some things that just never go out of style–good manners, nice tablecloths, after-dinner dessert, Sunday afternoon walks–I’m actually a little sad that things like gloves and hats have gone out of style (although I wouldn’t go so far as to advocate for corsets … Continue reading →

Balto II: Wolf Quest (2000)

Rather than leaving you in suspense as to my feelings about this movie, I’ll just tell you upfront that I didn’t care for it. It’s supposedly the sequel to “Balto.” However, “Balto” was supposedly based on a true story, and “Balto II” is a sequel to the fictional parts of the story. You see, the real Balto was not part wolf, and the entire plot surrounding “Balto II” focuses on Balto coming to grips with his wolfy heritage. Balto and Jenna are now parents. All the puppies but one look like Jenna, and the other one, Aleu, looks like Balto, … Continue reading →

Children’s Day

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We are familiar with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. But did you know that 26 countries in the world celebrate Children’s Day? Some adoptive parents’ groups have activities for their members to celebrate this day, which in South Korea is May 5. This might be one part of your child’s ethnic heritage well worth celebrating. Even if your family does not hail in part from a country where Children’s Day is celebrated, it could become a well-loved family tradition and an excellent way of showing our children how glad we are that they are ours. Japan now proclaims May 5 … Continue reading →

Child of the Owl – Laurence Yep

Laurence Yep is another one of my favorite young adult authors. In “Child of the Owl,” he takes us to a world he knew well – Chinatown in the 1960’s. Our character is Casey, the twelve-year-old daughter of a compulsive gambler named Barney. He’s taken her all over the country, following one hot tip after another, most of the time having to live in run-down hotels and washing dishes in restaurants for their dinner. He keeps telling her that someday, he’ll hit it big and they’ll have a penthouse full of comics and games and clothes, and she pretends to … Continue reading →

Feeling Different from Family?

My mother is worried. She is worried that taking our daughters to Korean culture camp, Korean lessons and Korean-adoptee playgroups will make them feel different from the rest of us. Part of me wants to roll my eyes at her and scream, “I think they’ve noticed we’re a bit different, Mom.” While we’re lucky to live in a pretty diverse community, my daughter does hear people ask me where her mother is. She’s heard someone make a condescending remark about how my children obviously have different fathers. She’s even been told once by another child that she “doesn’t look like … Continue reading →

Gospel Doctrine: “I Am A (Spiritual) Child of God”

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When I studied this week’s lesson, something jumped out at me that I just had to share, despite my intention of taking it easy after the recent birth of my baby. Studying John 8, I became intrigued by the Savior’s dialogue on being a child of God rather than a child of Satan. Since I had previously struggled with the idea of being a child of Christ, as put forth by King Benjamin in Mosiah 5:7, as well as the reverse of being a child of Satan (see Alma 5:39-41), today’s scripture study seemed to be an ideal time to … Continue reading →