If you have not been reading along on the New York Times adoption blog, Relative Choices, you are really missing out on a variety of wonderful articles.

I will continue on with more posts about my definition of adoption in my next posts, but I wanted to call attention to some of these great articles.

Today's article is titled "Blind Date in Addis", and it is written by the fabulous Dr. Jane Aronson, also known as "the orphan doctor", who is a pediatrician, founder and medical director of Worldwide Orphans Foundation, and adoptive mother. I respect her highly for the work she has done in Ethiopia for HIV+ children and thousands of other children around the world.

In her article, Dr. Jane talks about meeting her son, an older child, for the first time. She discusses openly and honestly the feelings of panic and "what have I done" during her early days with her son, and the fears surrounding the fact that she does not love her new son instantly. It is a great, and very honest, look at a parent's feelings and experiences during her first minutes and days with a new child.

The next article I want to share is titled "Leaving Vietnam" and was written by Huong Sutliff, a 13 year-old girl remembering the day she was placed with her new adoptive parents. We so rarely get to see what a placement feels like from the child's point of view and it is such a beautiful piece. I think all adoptive parents need to read this one, and if you pair it together with Jane's post above, you get a look at an adoptive placement from a child's point of view and from a parent's point of view.

The third article from Relative Choices that you need to read is "Tracing My Roots Back to Korea" by Katy Robinson.

In this article the author shares her feelings growing up as a transracial adoptee and her feelings that led to her desire to search out her birth family in Korea. She says so many things about culture and identity that are important for transracial adoptive parents to hear, to know and to be prepared for. This story also shows how a birth family search can end happily for all involved. Katy finds her Korean family and builds a relationship with them, but continues her healthy and loving relationship with her adoptive family as well.

It is a beautiful story of transracial adoption.

There is some good reading for you this weekend. And I have to say "bravo" to the NY Times for publishing such honest and well-written articles on adoption. I am looking forward to reading more.

* Picture from Liquid Library