Here is a topic I have heard come up a lot with transracial families… the “where to live” topic. I have heard people living in predominantly white neighborhoods voice concerns about adopting transracially. I have heard from people living in the South voice concerns about adopting transracially. I have even heard from people living in very diverse areas voice concerns about adopting transracially because of prejudice and stereotypes that tend to exist in diverse cities.

If you live in a predominantly white community, how is your child of a minority race going to feel standing out physically? How are they going to develop a strong self esteem and a healthy appreciation of their culture,... more

Since I was talking in my earlier post about our supportive community, I thought I would share this here. I posted it on my Rainbowkids blog right before we left for Ethiopia. I think it is a wonderful example of how a small rural community can be overwhelmingly supportive of a transracial family. With our first transracial adoption we had a lot of people question how we would raise a child of a minority race "here", (here being a small, predominantly white community in the Rocky Mountains). Although we don't have a large amount of diversity here, we do have a large number of other adoptive families, and our community is amazingly supportive of us and the other families. So we seek out cultural... more

As I was rereading some of my entries, I realized I missed a bunch of what I wanted to say in my entry on the “Blessings of Transracial Adoption," so here is a little bit more on the same topic.

I neglected to mention one of the biggest blessings, that has nothing to do with myself. One of the biggest blessings of transracial adoption happens for the good of the children in the family. All of my children have such wide-open, loving hearts. They know about other cultures and other races and while they “see” the differences, they do not see one as any better or “less good” than the other.... more

If you adopt an African American child or a biracial child, one of the hottest topics is hair care. It's not just a matter of childcare; hair is also a matter of great pride in the African American community. If you take your blonde haired daughter out in public with a head full of messy hair, chances are no one will say anything to you. But if you take your AA daughter out in public without her hair done, your chances of hearing comments are good, and the chances are especially good if you are a Caucasian mother.

So what's a newly adoptive mom to do?? If you grew up in a traditional Caucasian family, the chances of you knowing anything at all about cornrows, hot combs, relaxers or... more

Ok, since I started the whole “pesky and rude questions” things I thought I would share some of our family's most memorable experiences in public. I hope you find the humor in them…I have found that you have to laugh sometimes!

These are all true stories…in no particular order. Enjoy!

Josh and I and eight of the kids (all we had at that point), took a family trip to New York last summer. That is where all of my family lives, and most of them hadn’t met most of my kids, so we made the trip. I guess I had been spoiled living in a place where just about everyone knows us, and where there are a lot of other large and adoptive families. We were quite the spectacle in New York!... more

It never fails. You are out in public with your family, minding your own business, and someone starts eyeing your family. If you’re experienced, you can see them coming a mile away. More often than not the stranger approaches and with very little tact demands to know, “Are these kids yours?” or “Did you adopt these children?” or “Which ones are your REAL kids?” If you are first time adoptive parent of a child of another culture, people’s boldness may come as a surprise, or even a shock. I would never walk up to a couple I didn’t know if they were on their first marriage or any other personal question, but for some reason, when your family is visibly different than the majority, lots of people... more

So often when we talk about transracial adoption, or contemplate transracial adoption or read about transracial adoption, we hear about the difficulties. We hear about the challenges. What will our families think? What will our neighbors think? What will the child think? What will the community think? How can I raise a child of another race? Etc. etc. etc.

I think it is way overdue for us to do some thinking on the blessings of transracial adoption. Yes, there are challenges and difficulties associated with parenting a child of a different race than yourself, but I promise that the blessings are just as numerous.

My world has been completely changed by my children. I grew up... more

We have made it home sweet home from our trip to get our beautiful new son. I know that my topic is transracial adoption, but any one considering adopting an older child, I say go for it! Our son is just amazing. He is happy and sweet and loving and has settled in with us SO quickly. I will post our adoption story and photos for those that are interested. Sorry if you have already read it on Rainbowkids.

I have lots of new thoughts and topic ideas from my travels, so stay tuned for lots of posts here in the near future.

Here is our adoption story. We were adopting... more