Most of us have heard about postpartum depression. The hormones at work in a woman’s body after she gives birth are very powerful and can cause extreme emotions and often a sort of “surge” of depression known as postpartum depression. This depression is treatable and often the mother is feeling more herself in a relatively short amount of time.

When parents adopt a child they do not really ever expect to go through similar depression because the have not gone through an actual, physical pregnancy, but research is beginning to show that... more

Something that I have overlooked talking about is the fact that the Passover story is perhaps one of the earliest records of an adoption taking place. Moses, as an infant, was placed in the Nile River in a basket (because Pharoh had decreed that all male infants should be killed, Moses' mother was trying to save him) and he was retrieved by the daughter of Pharoh himself and raised in his household. The name Moses, as the Bible states, comes from "because I drew him out of the waters." Although one could say that there is an earlier adoption story in the Bible with Abraham and Lot, I think that was more of a case of Lot being taken under Abraham's wing and helped out in life. Besides, Lot... more

Okay - here we are in the final stretch. I think it's hard to imagine what prepping for Passover is unless you have experienced it. There's the full house spring cleaning, turning your kitchen inside out, purchasing large quantities of food, cooking, more cooking and getting ready for the seders.

But there's still time! Passover begins Monday evening, so there is still a bit of time to do some last minute crafts. Here's Naomi's top 5 list of things you can still do (with or without kids) before lighting candles for Passover.

1. Make a matzah cover. We always seem to run short of these at our seder. An 18 inch-ish square of light colored material from a craft store will do... more

Last year as I was writing about Korean holidays, I focused on the “official” Korean holidays. This year, for some reason, I started wondering how the Korean people celebrate some of the holidays that I celebrate. Are they the same? How are they different?

In my family, we’re getting ready for Easter. Easter was not listed on the Korean official holiday list, but I am aware that over half of Korea is currently Christian so I figured there had to be something out there about it. Here in the United States, Easter is often associated with the Easter... more

While talking to our kids about their adoption experience can be a time to connect and discover how their little minds are processing things, there can also be some tough stuff in adoption we will need to explain as well.

Explaining some difficult things that perhaps led up to an adoptive placement is one example. Knowing how to speak to your child about situations that were at play in their birthparent’s life that precipitated an adoption is hard and needs to be addressed with care for how the explanations will effect the child’s self esteem.... more

Recently I wrote a post about how a county in Ohio is attaching posters to pizza boxes featuring the photos and last known addresses of parents who are failing to pay their court ordered child support. This is the first county in America to think outside the box in such a manner, and try to go above in beyond when it comes to catching parents who are not taking on responsibility for the children that they have created.

However, one reader brought up a great point. What about the parents, the custodial parents, who go out of their way... more

My almost ten year old just returned from Girl Scout camp today. She had a great time! I went to pick her up, I just love those times because it seems like we have some of the best conversations about what is going on in her life, and often adoption is part of that conversation. Today was just such a time and we talked at length about adoption and her feelings about being an adopted person. Then suddenly she had a light bulb moment, she asked if she could share some information with adoptive parents about being adopted and I thought that was... more

Today, in what seemed like just a few short moments, LuLu managed to kick a hole through the area of wall in the hallway that was repaired a few months ago. (ARGH!) What precipitated this was not being able to find me. I had told her about an hour earlier that on my agenda for today was hosing the porch off to remove the pollen. I was outside wrangling with the garden hose and could hear the kicking, but LuLu kicks the walls or stomps on the floor at least once a day (usually in her room where the walls are reinforced). So frankly I didn’t think... more

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are some of the biggest sites online. More will be added periodically. (Note: ** denotes the generic sites only, as the site has a multiplicity of support groups, and you can search by specific topic, such as international, trans-racial, geographical, etc.)

Faith-Based Sites:

Adoption.com: Faith Based Forums Christian Adoptions

Adopting.org: Faith in Adoption

Christian... more

I build most on my Friday news recap from mainstream media sources, in and out of Russia. But the Internet has opened news-gathering and opinion-offering to a wide range of other voices. Here are some interesting ones that I have discovered recently. This is not an endorsement, but merely an acknowledgement that reporting on Russia--and indeed any topic--now comes in many forms.

"La Russophobe" wears its opposition to President Vladimir Putin pretty openly, complete with a countdown counter to the end of his term. There are lots of links to other opposition blogs on the right side of the page.

"Scraps... more