LuLu has always cracked me up whenever we talk about the Fruit of the Spirit. She is most fascinated with this topic, because she so longs for the fruit. One year it was the theme of our Vacation Bible School and the children all got bracelets with one of the fruits on the bracelet. LuLu chose Self Control.

The irony is huge here, as LuLu is truly the most impulsive child I have ever met. If the thought goes through her head she acts on it or speaks it. While I can explain that all away with the ADHD and OCD diagnoses, it doesn’t make it any easier to live with. And probably the... more

The CDC is at it again, trying to prove that the thimerosal in vaccines does not cause neurological damage. It appears that the harder the try to prove this, the more it looks like mercury is to blame for a whole host of neurological/neuropsychological disorders.

This article, from David Kirby, clearly outlines the questionable parts of a recent CDC report published yesterday in the New England Journal... more

Happy belated birthday, Grigori Alexandrovich.

No, I'm not referring to one of my kids. I just realized that I missed celebrating earlier this week the birthday of a famous Russian that I had put on my calendar: Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin.

If that name's not ringing any bells, think of the last name with the word "village" after it. A "Potemkin village" is an idiom that you hear all the time, but what do you know about how it got started?

Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, or more formally, Prince Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski, was born... more

Continued from the previous post, where we've been wondering if and how adoption impacts marriage, or vice versa.

Although it often falls to the hopeful mom to climb the Kilimanjaro of paperwork and whittle it down to a manageable pile with handy x's in all appropriate places, there's no saving the hubby some time-consuming and downright uncomfortable dealings as the process of adoption becomes more of a project than a pastime. Home study visits, physical checks, fingerprinting... more

After the blog I just wrote on Brother Number Two, I need to cleanse my soul with something pleasant ... a good idea, perhaps.

Hey! Here's one!

We've all heard of the $100 laptop, right? The one that's supposed to connect kids in underdeveloped countries to the WWW, thereby giving them access to education... more

I didn't come up with the idea for this particular tradition. In fact, Munchkin's Mom surprised me on Nick's first birthday (and simultaneously left me in tears!). This idea works for any open adoption family that loves books and works especially well when there are children of close age proximity on both sides of the adult triad.

Each year, whether you choose a birthday, holiday or random event, pick out a book to send to your placed child. Your child can also pick a book to send to either you, if you have no parented children, or to your parented... more

Like so many of us touched by Cambodia, I've spent way too much time being upset and angry over the tragic history of my children's country of birth. I've done the crying at sites of historical horrors and heard the first-hand accounts of more suffering than anyone should ever have to imagine, must less live through or die from. I've read the books, seen the photos, watched the films and absorbed as much as I could of the Cambodia that produced these kids I love with every fiber of my being.

I am almost beyond reacting from the gut, having spent almost five years... more

Learning about other countries and their customs and laws surely puts things in perspective. Another recent story out of India tells about forbidden love, unplanned pregnancy, an "almost" adoption and a happy ending. I mean, two happy endings on the birth parent blog in one week? It's kind of crazy up in here.

You see, it starts out with Manju, the mother in question. It turns out she is a (child-bride) widow. Her community forbids widows to marry again. (I'm curious as to whether non-widows are allowed... more

When we were going through our list of “criteria” for which children we could take into our home, and which we couldn’t one of the things at the top of our not list was medically fragile children. I would probably change that decision now. I know some parents who have medically fragile children, and still lead very busy and active lives.

My husband has a good basic medical knowledge. He has been a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for a little over ten years. He says the only thing he hasn’t done is deliver a baby, and unfortunately I can’t help him... more

Oddly, I've just had a cluster of Mandarin language stuff hit my inbox, in the form of two useful web resources and one fascinating (and inspirational) bit of research.

Resource #1:

Professional Mandarin tutor and Chinese translator Samuel Chong, from Beijing and Los Angeles, has provided a list of adoption related phrases in Mandarin Chinese. They're mp3s and they're free.

Yes,... more