Will you be able to love an adopted child as much as if you had given birth to him? If you already have a biological child, are you prepared to embrace your adopted child so that you love him just as much as your biological child? Will the fact that you are not biologically related affect your ability to accept your adopted child as your "own"?

If you are not sure whether you will be able to fully love and embrace an adopted child as your child, then you are not yet ready to adopt. Every child deserves to be loved wholeheartedly. The child does not ask to be... more

Tell me if this sounds strange to you, too ...

The US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are among the groups advising Cambodia's new national heritage police force, the agency that will be responsible for protecting the country's ancient temples from pillage.

Sure, I get that the FBI might have something going on illicit trading in antiquities, but Homeland Security? Sounds a bit of a stretch.

And... more

Here are the rest of my tips on putting together a photo album for your child, while you are waiting for the adoption to be completed. You can read the first two posts in this series here and here.

- If you have weather very different from where your child lives, include a picture of that. Ben LOVED the picture we sent of the kids playing in the snow, since he had never seen snow in Ethiopia.

- For many of our adoptions, we have taken an hour or two on an afternoon to take photos just... more

In my last two posts, Abused Adopted Child: Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Abused Adopted Child: Alter Parts, I talked about an abused adopted child's experience with DID. In this post, I will discuss other forms of dissociative disorders.

As I shared in Abused... more

A comment yesterday has stayed in my mind regarding “nothing of their former lives.” The exact quote was,

“It always surprised me to hear him and his siblings talk about their childhoods, because I knew nothing of their "former" lives...my reality was what I knew.”

Now that eight of my grown children have had their own children, what should they say about their early childhood years before they were adopted? When their children are old enough, should they spill the beans?

So far, my oldest granddaughter, now 12, knows very little about her... more

In reading over the comments left on yesterday's blog about falling in love with my husband, I'm thinking this morning about how often I hear adoptive parents singing the praises of their mates and wondering if there's a correlation between successful marriage and adoption.

Not to discount the many single adoptive parents in the world. Not at all! Having been a single mom for a long time myself, I have nothing but respect for those who take on the mantle of parent without... more

Today was our children’s birth brother’s birthday. We mailed off a big package on Monday that included handmade cards from all three of my children. Yesterday, I sent an e-mail to the kids’ birth grandmother (who has custody of this birth sibling), to ask if it would be alright to have the kids call him today to sing “Happy Birthday” and if so, arrange a time (given the time difference). So, today we called.

The kids got to talk to their birth grandmother, birth aunt, birth sibling... more

In my last post I started offering tips on making the perfect photo album to send to your child while you are waiting to be united. Here are some more tips.

- Label the pictures. An album full of smiling faces is nice, but it is much more helpful if your child can get to know who is who. If you use an album where you slide photos into a sleeve, you can write on the plastic sleeve with a permanent marker. (However, if the pictures get pulled out and put back incorrectly, confusion can occur! Belane's album had a rough life in Ethiopia, and when she came home she had Daddy's picture in the... more

In many adoption programs, the adoptive parents have an opportunity to send a small package to their child-to-be, as a way to "introduce" themselves and let the child know that they have a new family. While small gifts are often a part of this package, often the most important part is the photo album.

Since this photo album will be your child's first look at you, your family, your home and his new life, it is very important. With all of our children, these photo albums have not only been very treasured items, but they have also really seemed to help our children "recognize" us and their new siblings once they were placed with us.

Even Amanda and Belane, who were both young... more

Today after school I get handed a little note by my fifth-grader that just crashed my mood for the rest of the evening. It was a notice that she will be attending a detention on Monday for “failing to turn in assignments.” Apparently three missed assignments in one day, earns you the detention.

Well one of the papers her father and I were aware of, she had forgotten to bring it home in her folder to complete. The other two papers in question were only missing one answer on each, and this was because her dad was unsure of what the teacher was looking for, so he instructed... more