My son and I were cuddling before bedtime, and we were playing a little game of ours. I will ask, “Who is my favorite kid in the world?,” and he will say, “Me!” I ran through a bunch of questions, such as:

Who is my favorite kindergartener? Who is my favorite boy? Who is my favorite hugger?

His response to each question was, “Me! Me! Me!”

Then, I told him how much I love him and that I am so happy that I am his mommy. I said that I was so lucky that God gave him to me to be... more

A couple of days ago I blogged about how I had "dripped" posts in for several days and sneaked off to Colorado to herd cows. Well... I had SO MUCH FUN!!! Who KNEW that chasing cows on horseback would be SO MUCH FUN??? I have much more appreciation for what turns on a Border collie!

I rode more in those three days than I have ridden in ages. Breakfast rides, moonlight rides, lunch rides, cattle drives... more

As Mo recently pointed out, adoption never ends. The paperwork gets finished, and one day the kids grow up and leave home, but the process is never done. It'll last long after the parents are gone.

This endless process - the fitting in, the explaining, the looking for a place -- was the subject of a recent ... more

When most of us set out to adopt for the first time, we have a naïve enthusiasm, and don’t suspect the adoption world of being flooded with worthless agencies and corrupt lawyers/facilitators. Some of us luck out, and hit on an honest, reputable agency with good lawyers. Others, not so lucky, can get held up for YEARS, or worse yet, never bring a child home. Stories like this are abundant and tragic.

To be honest, I was one of those naïve folks when I started researching adoption three years ago. There were so many agencies online, and I picked one that had a pretty decent website (NOT a good criteria to go by). To make a long story short, I got out in time, and my application check... more

I went to a meeting for Jewish Adoptive and Multicultural families in New York last week. Unfortunately, I came late and had to leave early, so I didn't get the benefit of the whole evening and missed out on shmoozing with other parents, which I really would have liked. But what I heard was good - it reinforced a lot of ideas and things that we are already doing as a family, and I was also able to pick up some literature that I'll be combing through over the next week or so. Although it seemed to be geared mostly to Jews adopting from China, a great deal of what was said is applicable to any adoptive parent.

Some ideas that I wanted to share with you -

-- If you... more

FRUA is still down. I miss it so much. Like many others, I use FRUA to see how dossier submission is going... and what appointment dates have been issued.

So I have decided to volunteer to gather statistics on dossier submissions and appointment dates.

Have you completed a Ukrainian adoption? Are you in the middle of a Ukrainian adoption?

I would like to ask you some questions. I will take whatever information you are comfortable with. I will respect your privacy... more

Here’s a fascinating story from Orange County, California – illustrating yet another way that babies can come as a total surprise.

In early March, a 39 year old woman named April Branum learned she was having a baby less than two days before his birth. Her obesity and various other factors had coincided to keep her unaware of her pregnancy until a visit to the emergency room necessitated an X-ray for stomach pain.

Of particular interest to me were the reader comments in... more

(Continued from here)

Friday, 18 June, 2004

I mentioned I could kick some behinds of parents who seem to think that adoption is a temporary thing and they can end it by returning the kids to Ethiopia. This consular officer does one better, though. She gets on the phone to the FBI, their local DCFS and someone else – the Dept of State? She tells the parents that they are committing federal offenses and they WILL be responsible for these children, or they will go to jail.

She said one family said to her “Don't go all 'moral' on us” while they gave all their 'moral' justifications for... more

What if I disagree with what the IEP Team decides? Well, as my grandmother would have advised, “you catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar.” This was her way of saying that much can be accomplished with the right tone. I have found this to be true in most of my life. It was, however, not true in our case when it comes to dealing with IEPs.

So, instead of quoting grandma on this one, I need to quote Pat Howey, a parent advocate who works often with Pete and Pam Wright... more

The Adoption Search is an interesting article via blogger Sandra.

For some in their 40s, 50s and older, adoption searching has been a Pandora's Box; for others, there is newfound peace with closure.

This is definitely a pertinent article for me. It talks about how older people are more in a place to have "more patience and wisdom about who they are and what they are looking for by reuniting."... more