Continued from my last post...

My best friend and I organized a garage sale to raise money for Belane’s adoption and help pay off some of my friend’s adoption (they brought home the greatest little boy from Ethiopia a few months ago). Two other friends decided to come help us organize things, and we really appreciated the help. We had a ton of stuff (including freshly baked treats to sell) and we were well organized. The only thing that we didn’t plan for was the rain. We’ve lived in our town for over six years, and being in the mountains, the rain usually blows in and blows out. I can’t ever remember it raining for hours on end. But that is what it did…it rained and rained and rained.... more

Thanks to those of you who commented on the last post, regarding the article about the mother struggling with her daughter’s dark skin. I have to admit that I read the article and “stewed” over it a few days before I posted about it.

Here are some random thoughts tonight…

I am a sensitive gal by nature, and Josh often tells me that I need to have thicker skin. I think that I have “toughened” up quite a bit over the past few years…I really have been able to take a “if you’re with you’re with me and if not, that’s sad for you” sort of attitude most of the time. (Although occasionally I still let things get to me…such as was evident in this... more

I recently came across this poem on a friend’s blog. It was my favorite poem when we studied poetry in college, and it was a pleasant surprise to “rediscover” it…almost like finding a favorite old photograph in an old forgotten album.

Reading this poem now, it has different meaning to me as it did when I was in college. In college, I read it as a romantic poem (which it certainly is). I am a romantic and I can definitely enjoy this poem thinking about Josh, my best friend and true love.

And yet when I read this poem, although it is not how... more

As I have discussed quite a few times, I get plenty of comments when I am out and about with our large, transracial family that typically fall either into the "completely rude", "abosolutely ridiculous" or "make me feel wierd" categories.

For example, the woman in the grocery store that walks up and right in front of all of my kids demands to know which ones are "really mine". Put that one in the rude category.

Or the woman at the beach who declared that it disturbed her that "all those children" were calling me Mom. Put that one... more

If you do any research online about adoption, you are sure to come across articles/blogs/stories written by now adult-adoptees who shed a lot of light on what the early generations of adoptive parents “did wrong”.

Years ago adoption was a “big dark secret” that often was kept from a child who somehow still sensed something was “different” about them. Often this secret came out later in life with difficult affects on all involved, but especially the adoptee. Today, adoption is openly discussed. It is no longer a dark secret to be ashamed about, but something many people celebrate. Beyond being discussed in a family, many adoptions today are now “open”, where the birth family and adoptive... more

Those of you who know me, even if it is only through my writings, know that I am mostly a “glass half-full, look on the bright side, the sun will come out tomorrow eternal optimist”, who likes to give people the benefit of the doubt, let bygones be bygones, look on the sunny side of life and forgive and forget.

So forgive me if this late night post doesn’t sound a lot like the usual me. Even us happy gals need to vent once in a while.

Can I just say how sick I am of people that feel like they have to tear me and my family down? Can I say how tired I am of people who seem to think that they know better about what is right for Josh and I and our children? Of people who feel obligated... more

Most of life’s big events involve planning and preparation. Weddings and marriage, buying a home, giving birth to a child, etc. all require a decent amount of preparation, and adoption is no different.

If you are adopting transracially, there is an even greater importance of preparing for your adoption. Adoption.com has a great article on their website titled "Prepare for a Transracial Adoption".

This article is great if you are just starting out on your adoption journey, and is also a great “refresher” if your child or children are already... more

In some recent “blog surfing”, which I do once in a while to check out other blogs, see what is making headlines and getting ideas for my own blog, I came across this post on the Chunk O Funk blog. Chunk is a dad that writes about his life (and is not, as I can tell, an adoptive dad).

But he had an experience that reminded me of something that adoptive parents do need to keep in the back of their minds and be prepared for.

Chunk was out in the world with his son, and at the end of a long day, his son had a typical pre-schooler melt down when he dropped a candy out of him mouth and his dad threw it... more

The Washington Post had an article last week titled “The Young Apprentice” that highlights an African American couple who are raising their son in the United States. In the article the parents share their fears and their concerns about their son growing up to be a black man in the United States, and the ways that they were striving to prepare him for the realities that were inevitable as he grew older.

The parents talk about how life was for them as children and then as they grew up, and when and how they first felt racism in their lives. They talk about what they want their son to know... more

Sorry about the “long time no post”. We took a spontaneous week-end getaway trip and I didn’t write up any posts in advance.

What a great time we had though. We went to Utah for a party/get together for adoptive families and that was so much fun. It was a three-hour drive for us, so we left early on Saturday morning, hitting a WalMart and doing a quick stock-up and then went right to the party.

You can’t go wrong with perfect weather, a ton of food, a large outdoor place to play and lots of kids. My kids ran and played and ate themselves silly and had so much fun seeing other families “like ours”. Not only did all of the other families there have kids that were adopted, but... more