(from first part)...appeared to be very strange.

While they were not your typical foster parents, they did care for the children and treated them pretty well. The foster dad was suddenly diagnosed with cancer, and passed away about three months after they found out he had the disease. This was actually the beginning of my involvement with Brandi, though she had gone with us many times when I picked her brother up for visits.

When the foster father died, she took it... more

Yesterday I posted the results of a study that F. Jummer and M.H. van IJzendoorn published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that basically said that through a review of the literature, they discovered that adopted kids exhibit no greater behavioral problems than non-adopted children.

In an editorial in the same publication other findings were commented on, most notably, that age of adoption did not correlate with greater problems, children who are adopted into families of lower... more

Have you heard the news? On March 24, 2006, Roh Moo-hyun (South Korean president) nominated a woman to be the first female prime minister. Her name is Han Myung-sook.

The news just about bowled me over. How exciting. Not just any woman either, Han Myung-sook has a pretty impressive women’s rights background. Check out this link to an article and a picture.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200603/200603240018.html

Those of you who have known or have adopted a child that has severe abuse in their back ground must already know that the trauma of it never really goes away.

We were fortunate enough to find one of the most wonderful children's therapists still walking this earth. We called her Dr. Gabby.

I have met several therapists in my time with my adopted children. But Dr. Gabby is by far the most heartwarming and educationally accurate therapist of them all.

She knows how to treat the family like each person is important. Her smile and her forwardness helps you to feel open and as if you can talk about anything. Which of course you can.

As a parent she led us through... more

As I mentioned in parts 1 and 2, I realized early on in reunion that instead of grieving and dealing with my loss in the best possible way, I had merely covered it up. I slapped a band-aid on my heart and thought that I was okay for years.

Here are some of the ways I finally achieved some peace and resolution:

 The first helpful act that I took after being found was to tell my husband and enlist his support. He was a vital part of my healing and gave me the time and space to do all that I needed to do to heal. For over a year, he babied me, drew bubble baths for... more

There is a strong push by organizations, UNICEF is one, to keep orphaned children in their birth countries. Some feel that raising a child in a different culture, an unavoidable consequence by definition of international adoption, strips identity and robs an individual of a precious attachment to language, religion, societal norms, and so on.

Unfortunately, too often a life confined by borders of a country of birth becomes more of a prison sentence than an opportunity to be embraced by the loving arms of cultural identity, as documented by UNICEF itself.

Nearly... more

Well, now we have come to an area that every parent has faced at one time or another. Children are born in innocence only to be taught right from wrong at the very beginning of understanding. So it is cute as it is comical when we scold a two year old for doing something and even if they have the evidence right there in their hand. They lie and say, "NO".

After all we have maybe given them time out or tapped their hand to teach them, what they can or can not do. So now that they have done it. They know there has to be more behind mommy's words, so they are afraid and they naturally lie to be safe.

This is why I am a firm believer in allowing a child to touch objects and... more

The No Child Left Behind Act that President Bush put into effect has been under constant controversy and scrutiny since it was passed in 2002. Many feel that the Act is worthless, and not helping the children of America at all. The Act was recently reviewed, and those speaking in favor of the Act, found themselves on the defensive, as many upset parties spoke about the troubles and failures of the Act.

Many teachers feel pressured to pass students who do not qualify for a passing grade, in order to keep their jobs, as well as receive bonuses. Many against... more

Got a picture of my daughter a few weeks ago. Christmas lights twinkle in the background. She’s playing at the kitchen counter all decked out in her silver and blue princess dress and tiara, surrounded by at least a dozen jars of fresh new Play-Doh. Christmas loot, all.

Her face, glowing from the reflection of camera flash on glittery finery, wears the automatic smile of a child whose mother whips out the camera several times a day.

Indeed, in her less than 2 years home, she’s easily had hundreds of pictures taken of her. More pictures in a week probably than she’d have had in her whole... more

My one year old is sick. She's got the flu, with fever and vomiting. She and I were up rocking quite awhile during the night. While rocking I was thinking how precious it is to be cuddling her. Kids always seem to soak in the cuddles so eagerly while they're sick. If there is any good side to illness, maybe that is it.

While rocking I also got to thinking about attachment, and how it always feels so natural to rock a sick child. During normal times, the busyness of life can sometimes get in the way of cuddles. But illness forces life to screech to a halt and make time for nurturing.

Maybe if we thought of newly arrived kids as sick in a way, or at least emotionally... more