Day 14: Sharing Control

We're on the ground, safe and sound in Colorado. Our conference begins tonight

Before I share today's Preparing to Parent link, I want to share with you about something fun I've been doing this summer. I've been taking Ordinary Miracles and the Crazy 9's manual photography class, Manual 'n More.

I've always loved taking photos, and I even have a fancy DSLR camera. Problem is, for years I've used it like it was a big, bulky, expensive point and shoot.

When I looked at all those dials and modes and settings, I felt a little woozy, and I usually quickly chose that green box, fully automatic mode.

Over the years, I've gotten some great shots -- totally by accident. I was at the mercy of that beast of a camera. It controlled me; I certainly didn't control it. I didn't even understand it.

Last Friday, after just a couple of weeks in Manual 'n More, I took the above photo of my 13-year-old son, Nathan. I took it totally in manual mode. I chose the ISO. I chose the shutter speed. I chose the aperture value. And I'll tell you a little secret. Now, I even know what those words mean!

I know a lot of you are waiting to travel to adopt your new child, and I know that for some of you the wait is getting long. Now would be a great time to take a class and learn to capture amazing photos on your once-in-a-lifetime adoption trip. After our 31 days series is up, I'll fill you in a little more on the details of the class. But for now, you can learn more about Manual 'n More here.

Nancy, who teaches the Manual 'n More class, is also an adoptive mama. This week she wrote a post that perfectly illustrates what Karyn Purvis talked about in our video yesterday. Even though Nancy adopted her daughter at 12 months old, parents of older children can learn a lot from how she's handling her daughter's current struggles with food. It's a beautiful example of sharing control.

Take some time today to read "Food issues and binging 5 years later."