In April I shared some information with you that I learned at the dentist office and the pediatric office. First, the dentist suggested that I have some of my children assessed for tonsillectomies for multiple reasons. The dentist had actually seen children with straight teeth just a few months after their tonsillectomies, who previously were candidates for orthodontics. In addition, the children were mouth breathing, which causes calcification,... more

As always, the weekly news from Cambodia is about some good, some bad and some ugly. It never ceases to amaze me how the dichotomy that is the country is all pervasive, from the grand to the horrible, to the ancient to the brand-spanking-new, right up to from the historical to today's news.

Starting with another big bump in tourism, with Korea being the country sending the most visitors. A ... more

A new movie out of India is taking on the adoption theme in true Bollywood fashion. With a hunchbacked, black-toothed ghoul of an orphanage director , babies and toddlers going to families while the older kids are forced to sleep on threadbare mats and eat "unappetising yellow rice", it's only cricket that can save the day.

Not A cricket. The game of cricket; the mind-numblingly boring pastime that works people in some parts of the world into a frenzy and apparently provides the a gateway to the better life.

A magic cricket bat, no little drama, a life lesson or two, and everyone lives happily... more

California is in the process of trying to help the foster children that are aging out of the system by passing AB 845 which will offer transitional housing to the foster children along job training, financial planning, education needs and other resources.

Some senators are threatening to block this, and it is believed that it may fall short of two-thirds majority votes. So, any foster children living, or who knows someone living in California please, email or fax your local congress at the link provided below to support the much needed change in the foster care system.

It is time to make... more

Since foster parents can be viewed as employees of the state does the public (including the biological parents) have the right to our names, address and other information? This has been some of the talk since the problems with the Ohio foster care system. Does this open a whole new can of worms so to speak?

Some foster parents have done horrible things to the foster children in their care and some have even died, which should not happen. I cannot see how making foster parent's information public would be able to stop tragedies in foster care.

The truth is... more

This has been one challenging week, it is a good thing our family is heading to Branson for eight days of R & R starting Saturday! We plan to re-connect with friends there who are also adoptive parents of three children around the same ages as ours. Part of the plan is to attempt to pull our heads above all the recent stresses, and find our way back to the real reasons that we chose to adopt our children in the first place, to be a family.

When I was a young girl I know I dreamed of becoming a mommy,... more

Natasha and I recently toured a food bank. I was amazed to find out that about 11% of the United States population are food insecure.

I delighted in Natasha's very developmentally appropriate behavior during the tour. Natasha is now 10 years old and came home from the orphanage 6.5 years ago.

Her longest lasting post-institutional... more

I really hope I make it to Heaven, because in my head, I live in a Utopian society – everyone does the right thing, rules are fair, and atrocities don’t exist.

If you’ve read my road trip series, you know my family loves the superstore circuit. Tonight, upon exiting our local superstore, we went to our car, only to find a really big ding to the back of it. No note, no nothing. I just couldn’t fathom why someone wouldn’t go into the store, or at least stick their card or a note under the windshield.

But, then again, I can’t fathom the tragedy... more

I started answering some of Jan's questions about ethical international adoptions yesterday. She wanted to know why families ignore warnings and take the risk of an unethical adoption?

Yesterday I wrote about the sometimes useless and general warnings that adoptive parents receive from the US State Department and US Embassy in Kyiv. Today... more

Book Review: D is for Dragon Dance, by Ying Chang Compestine and Yongsheng Xuan.

Like C is for China (as reviewed previously on here), this book is a Chinese-themed abecedarium, but... more