(continued from last post)

When I was pregnant and considering adoption, my friend Todd tried to counter all the socially conservative advice I was getting. “Heather, my mom raised me by herself. We had the best time. And look at me – I turned out great!” (Lack of modesty aside, he has.)

But Todd’s voice was in the minority in my world. As the Newsweek story states, “Conservatives warn that the surge in out-of-wedlock births will lead to problem kids who perpetuate the cycle.” This is what my family believed,... more

An interesting article in Newsweek online, “Putting Motherhood Before Matrimony”, says that four out of 10 births are to unmarried moms. Depending on your social and political views, this is either a distressing sign of the end times, or no big news.

In the adoption world, we tend to talk about single motherhood out of both sides of our mouths. If we’re speaking to women considering relinquishing, we say that single motherhood isn’t good enough, and that a child needs... more

Ok, I believe that this is the last question I have left from my “Questions” post. Please feel free to post a comment with a question any time though…this was a lot of fun!

Angela asked, “Aside from any places that may have personal significance to our children, what are some must-see places when visiting Ethiopia to pick-up the kids?”

I am afraid that I don’t have a ton of advice on this one… On both of our trips to Addis, our total and almost complete focus was on our new children, and we did not do a whole lot of site-seeing.

There are lots of “sites” that you can see just driving around in Addis…different historical markers and places that any driver worth his... more

My best friend Bethany was recently about this topic by another friend of ours. Bethany asked, “I know that you were asked this recently and thought it would be a great thing to talk about. Did you feel that it was taboo for you to be seen in Ethiopia as a Caucasian adopting an Ethiopian child. How did most of the Ethiopian people treat you?”

I have never heard that it was taboo to be seen in Ethiopia as a white woman with an Ethiopian child, and in the three weeks I have now spent in that country with our Ethiopian children, I certainly did not feel that way.

The Ethiopian people are very friendly, loving and kind people in general, and they love children. The culture very... more

This post has absolutely nothing to do with adoption and everything to do with our children. I couldn't help but notice the influx of posts regarding bloggers' kids birthdays and the readers responses that stated, likewise, their kids' birthdays were around the same time.

So, if you're a reader or a blogger and your kids birthday is in November, comment here. I always liked knowing when someone shared my birthday and its the same for my own kids. I think it is neat and interesting to "meet" people... more

I’m going to depart from my usual topic of parenting challenging children to an equally large challenge we’ve been experiencing…parenting a teenager whose friends’ parents have died. As odd as it seems to us, two of our 15-year-old’s friends have lost one of their parents in the last two weeks and a third one has a father hospitalized with cancer. And only a couple short months ago one of KayKay’s friends was diagnosed with leukemia and is currently in a fight of her own.

It’s a grim reality that I don’t remember experiencing as a high schooler…that... more

Friday is K's birthday. She'll be three.

Three.

Since she came into our lives when she was thirty days old, we've pretty much had her for her whole life.

Everyone tells me how the time flies.

It's true.

I'm in better shape now than I was three years ago, but I wouldn't have thought so then. I've lost ten pounds – enough to feel a difference.

Yesterday she was tired from walking so I put her on my shoulders and carried her home. I don't know if I could have done that three years ago.... more

Playing off Adrienne's recent book review and gift ideas from Coley for your placed child, I offer up this book review. Books are my thing as I'm a huge book nerd so I always try to buy the Munchkin books as presents. However, this was the first adoption related book that I bought for... more

In the comments to my blog regarding a letter to Karen and Jan, a commenter has asked What is Reg Day? I initially was going to respond in the comment section but thought that Reg Day deserves it’s own blog.

Reg Day 2006 was actually held on Saturday, November 18th. Previous years, Reg Day was held in October. This is the first year of a new tradition where Reg Day was held in November because November is National Adoption Awareness Month.

Like I said earlier Reg Day is an annual event to increase public awareness of the International... more

Navigating the system when you're new is a bit stressful. If you don't know the language, it can really be like stepping into a parallel universe.

These definitions will help you get around when you don't understand a word the caseworker, (CW) is saying:

CACG: Child Abuse Challenge Grant

CAD: Cost Allocation Plan

CAN: Child Abuse and Neglect

CAF: Children, Adults and Families. The program area at... more