All is quiet in our house. My son had a burst of post-candy energy, but he went down without a fight. He was exhausted from the day’s activities. He had a party at school and then trick-or-treating after dinner. He had a blast. They were gone for nearly an hour. Now, he’s asleep and I’m going to be right behind him. I am very very tired. If you’re interested, here’s a link to my other blog to see our Halloween pictures.

Link: Halloween Memories

I’m... more

On May 12, 2004 Senate Bill 335 became NH law with an effective date of January 1, 2005. The legislation passed, allows adult adoptees (18 years of age or older) who has had an original birth certificate removed from vital statistics records due to an adoption. The registrar will issue a non certified copy of the unaltered, original certificate of birth of the adoptee with procedures, filing fees, and waiting periods that are the same as non adopted citizens of the state. In order for an adoptee to obtain a copy of the original birth certificate... more

As I read other bloggers’ thoughts on Halloween this morning, I began to reflect on past Halloweens and recalled which stood out in my mind the most. Since my children are grown now, my most recent memories are of three much loved grandchildren.

On a recent weekend, my granddaughter proudly showed me her costume for this year. She had a prepackaged combo this year, and as she pulled out the pieces from the bag, she explained each item in great detail. At eight years old, she is very articulate!

Eventually, she decided that she... more

When we adopted Little J his Russian name was Yuri. At the orphanage they called him Yura. It was very cute, and we'd planned to keep it, but when we met him it became really apparent he didn't know his name. You could call him anything in a sing-songy voice and he'd turn and look at you. So we changed it to give him my grandfather's first name (his brother has his paternal great-grandfather's first name) and we kept his Russian name as his middle name.

Yuri has kind of obvious teasing potential. The first thing that comes to my mind is "urine." Not nice. Plus, apparently the English version of Yuri is George, which is a nice name but not very common these days. Little J is very familiar... more

Anybody else been following that Heroes show on NBC? I've been watching the episodes online and I'm mulling over the whole, "I just got off the phone with your biological parents" thing.

Because, of course, orphans are always superheroes. We've established that. With mighty powers. And specialness.

Hmmmm.

I've always - as many parents - feared SIDS, although I never had a newborn in the house or very young infant where the fear would be justified. But anyway, I bring you an excerpt from this article - something we should know about and certainly a way to look at SIDS in a new light.

In a small study with big implications, researchers found some of the strongest evidence yet that sudden infant death syndrome -- a medical and sometimes legal mystery once known as crib death -- may be caused by brain stem abnormalities.

The finding "takes the mystery away from SIDS," said Marian Willinger,... more

Grant over over on the China Adoption blog got a great question today and I thought I'd research it a bit.

I've paraphrased the question:

Do other parents from other countries come to the USA to adopt children?

Actually I had heard that some older foster children had gone to Canada to be adopted, as we can't get them placed here in the USA.

It's hard to find research to support this fact - I've been all over spending waaaay... more

As I have mentioned before DE is one of the few states that permits an adoptee to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate if their natural parent has not filed a disclosure veto. What this means for the adoptee is that if there is a disclosure veto on file, the adoptee will not be able to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate. The adoptee who is requesting would be notified accordingly.

How the disclosure veto works is when the adoptee files an application for their original birth certificate Vital Statistics sends out... more

Hello! I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloweeen, but thought that I would be too obvious in repeating everyone else's wishes in the Title line, so I decided to add a little mystery. If your brain isn't working to it's peak on this crazy day, HH and H x 2 is for "Happy Halloween"

It isn't even afternoon and we have been enjoying the festivities to the max around this joint. I dressed up as a skater girl, which was pretty easy as that is kind of how I dress anyway. I've been telling everyone that I'm Pharrell's girlfriend! And if you don't... more

What a long and emotional day today was. Let me start from the end, and then I’ll tell it in order (it’s less painful that way). We just heard that our waiver is finally, DONE. It was done on Friday. (We know this thanks to our Senator’s office, who got Immigration in Washington DC involved…). There was no outgoing mail on Friday, so it went out first thing Monday morning. We’re hoping and praying that it arrives in the morning, so we can make the flight tomorrow evening.

If we miss tomorrow night’s flight, we can fork out $1500 to upgrade to business class for the Friday flight. I am not waiting any longer than I have to to go home, so if that it our only option, that is what we’ll... more