Melody Ip

3 days ago | seattleschild.com | Melody Ip

Amy Baker of south Seattle loves being the fun auntie. When kids visit, they can expect to make pancakes and cookies and create with Play-Doh. What differentiates her from most aunties is that the children who stay with her are in the foster care system — and kids stay with Baker only briefly. As a respite caregiver, Baker supports full-time foster parents when they need a break — whether they want a breather at home or need a more extended vacation to  refresh their compassionate parenting stores.

3 days ago | seattleschild.com | Melody Ip

For the first two years that 12-year-old Anna was with her foster family, all family birthdays were celebrated in secret. While Anna stayed in another room, the family would whisper-sing “Happy Birthday” in the kitchen. “If she knew it was your birthday, she’d throw a tantrum and ruin it for you,” says Granite Falls foster mom Jennifer Christensen, who also has three biological children between 15 and 21.

2 weeks ago | mochimag.com | Melody Ip

I have a confession: I’ve only “played” mahjong once, and I put that word in quotation marks because we didn’t even finish a whole game. I was in my late 30s, and my white mother-in-law was trying to teach me. Mahjong was not a part of my childhood — my parents don’t even know how to play. Their families equated the game with gambling, which was frowned upon in their households. But over the last year, the desire to try again resurfaced.

2 weeks ago | seattleschild.com | Melody Ip

When Abby and Jason Low got married in May 2005, they didn’t foresee that the next 20 years would encompass infertility, adoption, biological births, an interstate relocation to Washington, and foster parenting. But over the years, the family’s Christian faith and spirit of service have meant opening their hearts and home — their family now includes five kids. The Lows adopted their eldest, 14-year-old Micah, when he was 2 weeks old after about three years of trying to conceive.

2 weeks ago | seattleschild.com | Melody Ip

Visitors to Seattle love to ask about the weather: Does it really rain a lot? Does it ever snow? How hot do summers get? As someone who has lived here for 19 years, answering these questions is complicated. The only predictable fact about Seattle weather is that it’s unpredictable — and even more so over recent years when we’ve had Snowmaggedon, record-setting triple-digit summers, and a bomb cyclone. Clearly, describing Seattle’s climate is not straightforward.