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For those of you who have your children home with you for the holidays - Congratulations! Now that the holidays are upon us, you might find yourself traveling with said children. In Jack's first year, we took six planes, all over the country, and two trains from Massachusetts to New York and back. We became instant experts on traveling with an infant. If you are going to fly with an infant under 14 days old, get a doctor's note! I called the airline we flew with Jack, and asked them if I needed one. The customer service rep said no. Imagine my surprise when we were almost arrested for not having said note. It's a long story, but the point is, even if the… [more]

• Jack's birthday
• Her

I was cleaning out my email account recently, when I came across a URL I had sent myself to look at. It's from June 1st, regarding Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban adopting a baby from Vietnam. I wasn't struck by the article, which by now is old news, but by the comments. (I'm leaving in all the spelling mistakes. Really people, how hard is it to read what you write before you click post?) Doesnt anyone want to adopt an AMERICAN child??!!! ~ E I was thinking the same thing!! There are so many children that need loving parents right here in our own country and everyone seems to be going overseas to adopt. ~ M I dont understand celebrities. Yes children of other… [more]

God does not play dice with the universe: He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.

The Open Adoption Roundtable is a series of occasional writing prompts about open adoption. It's designed to showcase of the diversity of thought and experience in the open adoption community. This round we're going to consider one critique of fully open adoptions. Have you ever heard--or perhaps even made--statements like these? "We have medical histories and can share the information we have about their birth parents with our children now. If they feel a need to initiate contact with their birth families when they are adults, we will fully support them." "The decision to have a relationship with her bio family should be hers when she is ready. Creating a relationship between them before she wants it might cause issues in the future." "Children deserve to have just… [more]

Grown In My Heart's Adoption Carnival III asks: What is your most treasured adoption photo (or two)? I don't have permission to post pictures of Jack's birthmother (S) and the son she parents ("Iggy"), so I had to blur my favorite photo. You can see Jack, who is 7 months old. He's sitting between Iggy, then age 2, and S. We went back to Missouri in August 2006 to finalize Jack's adoption. We were able to spend a few hours with S and Iggy. Iggy was a little competitive with the baby. He seemed to like Jack OK, but vastly preferred getting attention from my husband to actively playing with Jack. I regret not spending more time with S after… [more]

adopt transitive verb 1 : to take by choice into a relationship; especially : to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) as one's own child2 : to take up and practice or use [adopted a moderate tone]3 : to accept formally and put into effect [adopt a constitutional amendment]4 : to choose (a textbook) for required study in a course intransitive verb1 : to adopt a child [couples choosing to adopt]2 : to sponsor the care and maintenance of [adopt a highway] ~ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Who knew that the word adopt had so many meanings. I didn't, and I make a living on words. Why am I quoting the dictionary? Two reasons. First, November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Courtney wrote an informative post on the Adoptive… [more]

If you've ever gotten into a discussion or even read about abortion, you've likely encountered comments about anti-abortion protesters adopting the babies they believe they're saving. An offhand remark about abortion on an adoption group resulted in one woman proudly stating that she and her husband stand in front of their local "abortion clinic" with the sign "WE WANT TO ADOPT YOUR BABY. ALL EXPENSES PAID." When I first read that, my mind went blank. Then I thought, Wow. Wow, that's just wrong. Because what she and her husband are essentially saying is, "WE WANT TO BUY YOUR BABY." If the sign read "We want to adopt your baby" and ended there, somehow that would be acceptable, though presumptuous. A woman could walk up and… [more]