Without realizing I was going to do it, I just took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh as I placed my fingers on the keyboard in preparation of composing this post. I am SO tired of the whole Madonna mega-media-mess, but I can not allow myself to shut up about it just yet.

I was over on the forums this morning and opened a Madonna-related thread to see how opinion is running at the moment. I started reading with the first post from much earlier in the week and was not surprised to see how the mood... more

I wrote yesterday about a silly study of few infertile women and some really puny numbers that indicated that having mothers who gave birth to them sometime in their late 20s might be the cause of their infertility. Well, guess what? It must have been a really slow news day, especially in Britain, because the story of this study was plastered all over this morning's papers.

From a tiny margin of a couple of years in a dinky population studied, the ... more

I apologize for being so absentee on my posting lately. My aging parents arrived on Wednesday. I was unprepared for the advancement of my mom’s Parkinson’s disease, or for that matter, my dad’s frailty. After the grueling past month, to see my mom showing more symptoms than I had ever seen before really threw me for a loop. She was tired, and had over done it this past week.

After resting a few days, she looks better, but still I can see progression. I have been extremely fortunate to have my parents remain healthy for so... more

Adoption reunion can spark some intense sexual feelings. This can happen in reunion natural mothers and sons, natural fathers and daughters, siblings of opposite sex, and more distant relatives. Some have engaged in a sexual relations with their natural relative while others have described experiences ranging from intense erotic feelings toward their relatives to sexual behavior such as fondling and touching. The best way to explain it is when the lost relative is met for the first time an overwhelming and complicated rush of emotions and an almost irresistible sense of falling in... more

I am feeling so nostalgic tonight. My baby boy (I know, he is getting too big for that title) Noah turned ten years old on Wednesday. His birthday party is tomorrow and I was driving home from Wal-Mart after stopping to grab a few last minute party items and thinking about this birthday. His 10th! His grand ole’ entrance into double digit-hood!

I can not believe I am the Mom of a double digit-er! It seems as if it was only yesterday that he was that tiny premature baby boy pictured above. And now here we are a whole ten years later! Where did all the years go? He won’t be my little... more

I believe I have posted before about my love for the Supernanny show. Not only do I feel better about my own family when I see those out-of-control children, but I also think that Supernanny Jo gives real, solid parenting advice. Plus she looks fabulous in her purple suit. If I get a job I may have to get myself one.

I found out earlier today that Supernanny is having a casting call - and they are looking for an adoptive family to profile!

May be cool, or may be awful. It'll depend a lot on... more

Over the years – I have collected various links and stored them in my “favorites” – along with some addresses and phone numbers. Some of them are Kazakhstan specific, while others are dealing with adoption and last but not list – helpful links to help in the process. I’ll share some of them with you below:

A must book mark for any families adopting from Kazakhstan, Susan is an adoptive parent who has created an award winning site. http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/

Excellent resource from with every step in the process of adopting. http://www.adoption.com/

Look who... more

There has been a lot of “debate” about how “right’ or “wrong” it is for Americans to adopt African orphans in the media lately…brought on no doubt by the Material Girl herself.

I wanted to give my thoughts on this, as an American adoptive mom, who is actually in Africa.

I have said numerous times on my blog that I do not believe that international adoption is the answer to the problems of poverty and famine and illness and all of the other tragedies of society that are plaguing so many parts of the world.

I believe the a child’s culture and country of birth are a very important piece of who they are, and that a nation’s children are one of their greatest resources,... more

It’s Friday night here in Addis, and I have had two full days of Belane all to myself. She is an amazing little person.

She definitely can hear, as she has started repeating things that I say, even things that I say in a quiet voice. She may have a mild hearing loss as I do notice sometimes that she doesn’t hear things when there is a lot of background noise…and it could be that she had ear infections along the way that affected her hearing and caused others to worry. Whatever the deal is, it is a minor issue and not a major one. She is a chatterbox!

She is still potty trained…not a single accident day or night. She does enjoy trips to the bathroom, and has quite the routine... more

When Zero Tolerance policies run head-on into IDEA it’s not surprising to learn that special needs children are being arrested (handcuffed and removed from school) at an ever-increasing rate. Some parents are reporting that children as young as 5 (kindergarteners) are being handcuffed and removed from schools by police. Many with known (documented) disabilities such as autism, Tourettes and ADHD.

It’s a scary possibility, and one that seems to be on the rise. A child with a disability gets frustrated, melts down, gets out of control. School personnel are unable (or... more