I'm on a "vacation" of sorts - off to Kansas City to attend my grandmother's funeral. It's completely relaxing to be sans LuLu for the next few days. I have no guilt saying this, because sometimes other family business takes priority over the constant parenting of a special child and it is nice to spend time with my family unencumbered by my everyday responsibilities. Plus, I've left her in the capable hands of my awesome hubby. He already had vacation scheduled since next week is spring break. No exotic beaches for us. We were planning on sticking around the house and immersing ourselves in home repair.

So, at the crack of dawn this morning, I trekked to Hartsfield International... more

Yay! I opened the mail today and it came! Anna's birth certificate finally arrived! Anna's adoption was official as of the beginning of October 2005, at which time I was told it would be between 4 - 6 months until we got her new birth certificate. We are now in March - about six months by my count. I called the Bureau of Vital Statistics last week just to check on things, and I was told that it would be another six to eight weeks, as they were currently working on the September adoptions.

Normally, I wouldn't care about how long it takes to get the new papers processed. We know she's adopted and that's that. Except for when you are trying to plan for a vacation. We have plans to be... more

Okay, we've finally had a slew of days over thirty degrees and thoughts are turning to summer.

As part of our personal clean-up effort, I am urging my husband to find better socks. Cotton looks nice and clean, seems natural, but did you know it uses some of the most and worst pesticides of any crop? Then there's all these artificial "dry fit" fibers that are also worrisome. Socks and undies are important to consider because they are the items that are closest to your body and therefore heat up the most and can transfer things into your skin. Okay, no cotton socks?

Well,... more

In this post I talked about some of my favorite movies that tackled the race issue. If you check out the comments, some people added some other great titles to my short list. There are literally hundreds of movies that deal with racial issues, some good, some bad.

Well, yesterday on one of the email adoption lists I am on, someone posted a link of adoption related movies. I have to say that there is a part of me that cringes when I hear about a movie with adoption in it. Don’t get me wrong…I... more

Q. What sort of information does the court need to have in the petition? A. The petition should contain the following information: the adopted name of the person; the county of the adoption; the birth date of the adoptee; the names of the adoption parents; the date of the adoption, if known; the file number of the adoption, if known. It should also contain current information about the adopted person: current name, address, telephone number, social security number, reasons why the adopted person is interested in seeking non- identifying information or in having an agent... more

Finally! The trees and flowers are blooming, the air is warm and soft, and the breeze comes as a gentle caress of the face. It is just beautiful outside. We spent the morning cleaning up the front yard, and the car, as well as running around, taking pictures of the flowers, and having a grand old time.

My adopted stepson had a half day today, so my toddler was anxious to see his brother get off the bus. The minute the bus pulled up, my three year old became so excited, and as soon as he saw his brother, he yelled the loudest “HI” that he could muster up. With... more

Alas, gentle reader, you have stumbled right into the seventh installment of Troublesome Fictions, that sweet, sticky trap wherein grant exposes his black, geeky heart to the world -- all the while, of course, examining the popular stories that make him feel weird now that he's an adoptive parent.

This week, grant is launching himself on an ongoing mission to seek out new life, and new civilizations, all of which seem to have giant rubber foreheads. But none bigger than the forehead on ... more

It's that time of year!!! You are looking at a professional garage sale junkie. It is a longstanding family tradition for us to hold a garage sale each spring. In our community, there is also a town-wide garage sale in April. This idea has quickly spread to surrounding communities, and there is more or less now a town-wide garage sale in this area everything weekend of April and May!

All of this talk of garage sales got me thinking about what I did with the proceeds of our last garage sale. We all know adoption isn't cheap. It takes a great deal... more

There have been no in-betweens this week. Everything in my life has veered from one extreme or the other. A few examples:

Clutching the Codeine My son and I have been passing colds, flu and bronchitis back and forth for the past two months. This was my week to “enjoy” bronchitis. Ever tried to blog while you’re loopy on cough syrup with codeine? I briefly thought about attempting it, but I dozed off before I could summon the energy to turn on my computer. Instead, I read a Christian murder mystery. The term “Christian murder mystery” is an oxymoron,... more

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It was the day before my brother's birthday. I clearly remembered that as we piled into Marcelo's car on that warm Tuesday afternoon. Kristina and I had been in Guatemala since the weekend but Monday, November 24, 2003 finally came and it was time to go meet with the social worker at the orphanage in Antigua. We were having an incredible time with the kids at the Word of Life camp but today our minds and hearts were intent on the meeting we were about to have.

We arrived at Mi Hogar Manchen in Antigua Guatemala around mid-day. Marcelo... more