Although there are plenty of us 'older' folks who are totally comfortable with throwing ourselves into the deep end of life's pool by adopting children, not everyone would choose to parent into their golden years. (Excuse the upcoming tangent, but why is the time of dotage called the "golden years"? Silver, I could see ... although even that is euphemistic ... but golden? In my case, anyway, advancing years have taken almost all the blond out of my hair and made a rich, golden tan much harder to pull off with worries about the debt I'm paying... more

In a recent post, I introduced you to my efforts at digital scrapbooking. In this post, I will share some of my favorite digital scrapbooking websites and the programs I personally use in my own digital scrapbooks.

Just like with old fashioned scrapbooking, digital pages are created by layering photos with backgrounds and embellishments. Many of the digital scrapbooking programs come with lots of backgrounds, embellishments, clip art, etc. that can be used to enhance your pages.... more

If like my darling husband, Mark, your fondest desire is to make certain your newly adopted child will still be sharing your bed ... co-sleeping, as it's called ... right up to and beyond the time he starts shaving, here are a few pointers on how to keep your little one out of his own bed and sleeping sideways in yours. Some of these tips may not apply if children come to you at older ages, but if like us your kids are home as small babies, you'll have the perfect opportunity to condition them to spending each night... more

Photo courtesy of Google Images.

Several adopting parents on various Guatemalan yahoo groups are still reporting holdups in getting “Pink” from the US Embassy in Guatemala. I don’t have a magic ball, but I assume that the slow down is due to the increased scrutiny I spoke about in last week's blog. At one time, getting out of PGN meant that you’d PROBABLY be picking up your child in Guatemala within four to six weeks. Unfortunately, that is no longer always... more

Celebrity and international adoption go together like soup and sandwich in the media, and so many people are happy as clam chowder to be served up whatever can be scraped from the bottom of whatever pot happens to be going around at any given moment ... most of it unpleasant pap with a revolting flavor and lingering aftertaste.

I'm... more

Writing yesterday about the planning stages of our up-coming trip to Cambodia ... even though we haven't yet established exactly how up-coming it will be ... I mentioned the fact that we'll be spending at least a couple of days at AOA, the... more

Thanks to all of you who commented for my book giveaway. It was great to hear from everyone! The winner of the book is Jill, who blogs at Reeves-Family. Jill, email me your address, and I'll head that book your way!

Recently, MTV emailed me asking for help in finding some adoptees looking for their birth fathers. They are looking for adoptees and others between the ages of 16 and 28, who are looking for their fathers for a potential show.

Not only are they looking for adoptees, but others who were separated from their fathers at an early age. This include those who wish to find their sperm donors. If you are interested email them at: father@mtvstaff.com with the details of your story.

Since... more

The Welfare Of The People Shall Be The Supreme Law- Motto of the state of Missouri.

I have not been able to write very much lately, I have been too consumed with the welfare of my family, most importantly my three children. We are about to become one of the many Missouri families to lose our health coverage thanks to a loophole in our state laws covering foster, adoptive, and low income families. It really just makes me sick thinking about it.

Currently our family’s... more

Are you worried about your child wetting the bed? Primary nocturnal enuresis is the most common form of bedwetting. Between five and seven million children in the United States, over the age of six years, wet their beds every night. However, research indicates less than two percent of children will still wet the bed once they reach puberty, or the age of fifteen years. Children under the age of five years will wet their beds as a part of their normal development.

Boys... more