Yesterday, I wrote about my son's better than expected adjustment to our adoption of the girls. I was feeling pretty confident and rather smug about the way he seemed to work right through the kinks that came up in the initial phases.

I'm not particularly objective, but, I am rather impressed with how well our children get along with one another despite typical and sometimes intense sibling squabbles. When push comes to shove they watch out for one another and they take care of one another. At times it has required some prodding, but, in general my son has done a first rate job at being... more

When we adopted our son in January 2005, he was eight months old. He responded at that time to Kazakh, the native language of Kazakhstan. Other than "a-dee-see-sah," which apparently means "come here" in Kazakh, our son doesn't recognize anything but English now. Obviously, he had no trouble getting use to English as his speaking language because he was so young. I would imagine that the language difference between parents and older children may take some getting used to.

Anyone who adopts from Kazakhstan might benefit from this simple dictionary... more

Aha, two of my favorite subjects coming together plus now I know where I heard that "Let food be your medicine" quote--our old buddy Hippocrates.

Instead of putting in so much money into these cancer "fighting" drugs that have so many awful side effects (including death), why aren't we putting more money into organic food? Or why are we spending so much money and resources trying to make food "healthier" (with dubious long-term effects) with genetic engineering? My other personal motto is, "Don't mess with mother nature."

Check out this article... more

Continuing on with the dependency process, the next step is the settlement conference, or mediation. Mediation is an alternative to trial. At this point, all the parties meet and can possibly agree on how to progress, if everyone cooperates and tries to work toward a solution.

Not everybody has to agree in the beginning, but since there is now more information available about the parties involved, there can be more meaningful discussions of the issues at hand. Any thing that is talked about in mediation is strictly confidential, and many of the discussions will be very emotional.... more

I was hoping to write a post about Ethicanet's response to the US signing onto the Hague's new adoption guidelines, but My Diligent Spouse just called me to say our TA (Travel Approval) has arrived at our agency.

So, China has said "Red Rover, Red Rover, send grant on over!" and the agency has now faxed the TA back to the US Consulate, who will then, sometime over the next 48-72 hours, give us an appointment wherein we will take an oath of naturalization on behalf of a small human being in our arms. At least he won't have to learn all the stuff my parents did when they got naturalized.... more

I was going to start a series of blogs today about my favorite therapeutic parenting techniques, but I am not feeling especially good about my parenting techniques in general right now. After that nice warm and fuzzy (and heartfelt) blog showing Beth’s picture and describing how crazy about each other we are, and then the one about using Love and Logic parenting… well, once again, I blew it.

Beth and I are “the Velcro twins” in so many ways. We hang out together pretty much all the time. Her dad works a lot and the older kids are either next door (wink wink) or off at school.

Last night Beth and I had a blast riding our horses on a beautiful seventy degree day. On the way... more

Since my own family’s adventures in adoption began in Asia, I decided to start my “Transracial Adoption Options” series in Asia. In alphabetical order, I will post information on China, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. At this point, sadly, Cambodia still remains closed to international adoptions, but if it does reopen, I will certainly add it.

Ok, so China is first!

China is a very popular choice for transracial adoptions. The huge number of baby girls left orphaned because of China’s one-child policy and other factors combined with a process that is fairly “stream-lined”... more

A couple of days ago a column, "To Russia With Notions," was published in the "Lives" section of the New York Times. (You may have to register to look at the article, but it's free. I can't say that you'll enjoy the article if you bother to link to it, but in any case, I'll summarize the article below)

The writer, Catherine Texier, traveled with her Russian boyfriend to Moscow, his home city, to stay with his family in their apartment. They go despite his protests. She really wants to see where he's from.... more

Today, I was made aware of yet another indicator that mercury toxicity may be at the center (or at least a MAJOR player) in the increased autism rates in recent years. This latest study, done by David Geier and Dr. Mark Geier is to be published in the Spring 2006 American Journal of Physicians and Surgeons. A pre-published copy of the report is here.

The researchers conclude that the significant decrease in the number of newly-diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders in children between mid-2002 and 2005 corresponds with the recommendation of removing thimerosal from vaccines. Thimerosal is a preservative found in many vaccines... more

I came across this little list on the National Clearinghouse On Child Abuse and Neglect Information. I thought that it was a wonderful list, especially for adoptive families who are dealing with older, emotionally damaged children who have a hard time with the words “I love you.” This list shows both parents and children how to say and show each other that each member of the family is loved and cared for in many different ways. By having so many different ways to show and say “I love you,” there... more