Search Results for: blog adopted and proud

Make It Easier And It Will Get Done

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Making your bed sounds like such a simple thing. It’s the new habit I’ve adopted and I have to tell you, it’s not the first time I’ve decided this was going to become a habit. Several times in the past I have decided to work on habits that will help my house stay cleaner. The first day or two I jumped out of bed and made the bed. I was so proud. I found myself picking up the room and keeping it neater. What a bonus, I was actually motivated to be neater. Then, I overslept, I jumped out of … Continue reading →

Adoption in the Little House TV series, seasons 4, 5 and 6

This is a series of blogs on adoption references in well-known TV shows or books that our children will likely come across. The last few blogs have focused on the TV show Little House on the Prairie. You can find the first blog in the series by clicking here. In the fourth season episode “Be My Friend”, Laura finds messages in a bottle from a desperate girl who is isolated in the woods with her fanatical father, from whom she has concealed her pregnancy. Charles and Laura find the baby, whom Laura cares for while Charles inquires of the minister … Continue reading →

U.S. Runner Says Support of his Adopted Country and Family is “As Good as Gold”

After reading about the athlete who refused his bronze medal and declared this Olympics a failure because he’d wanted gold, and about other athletes who have been stripped of their medals, it’s refreshing to find an athlete who seems to have the true Olympic spirit and an appreciation of what’s important. Runner Lopez Lomong appears to have that spirit–toward the Olympic Games as well as toward his adopted family and country. “I came here for the pride and love of my country,” said Lomong. “I came here to try my best to represent the country and to be a great … Continue reading →

“Give Me German Shepherds or Give Me Death” – A Chat with Historical Fiction Author Sandra Worth

If you’re not familiar with her work, this author’s name may be familiar to you because of an interview she honored me with over in Marriage. As part of our exchanges I found out she was the proud momma of a new puppy. Until that point I hadn’t realized she was also a dog lover. (I’d only known her as author extraordinaire.) “I must have another interview,” I said. “Sure,” she agreed. So, here it is. Sandra Worth generously sharing some more about her life. Enjoy! Courtney Mroch: What kind of things do you write about? (Genre, subject matter, themes, … Continue reading →

Reading and Thinking about Birthmothers

Reviewing all these adoption books has got me wondering. I’ve always read adoption books to the kids, but not ones that focus on birthmothers as much as the ones I’ve been reading lately. Over and over I read interviews with adopted teens and adults saying that they were curious about their birthparents and longed to talk about them, but their adoptive parents didn’t seem open and/or the kids feared hurting the adopted parents’ feelings. Social workers now seem to counsel parents to speak openly about birthparents. Recently a spate of books dealing with birthparents have been published, such as Mommy … Continue reading →

A Child’s Stages of Thinking about What It Means to Be Adopted

In their book Inside Transracial Adoption, Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall (both adoptive parents) look at attitudes toward adoption in general, and then transracial adoption in particular, as going through several stages. Steinberg and Hall name these stages as: Pre-Conscious, Contact, Disintegration, Internalization, Immersion/Emerging. The authors look at what these stages might mean for the adoptee, adoptive parent and birthparent. I will try to give a brief and easy-to-read summary here some of what they say about issues of adopted children, then my next blog will discuss adoptive parents. In the Pre-Conscious Stage, the child knows only his/her own family … Continue reading →

Talking About Tough Issues: Criminal Activity/Birthparents in Prison and Incest

This is one of a series on talking about tough issues with your adopted children. For general principles of talking about tough topics, see the first blog in the series. Talking about criminal activity or a birthparent in prison: For young children: “When adults break an important law (rule) and it might be dangerous to others, they go to a big time-out place. Your birthmother will be there for many years. You couldn’t wait that long for parents to raise you, so you will be with us until you grow up—and we will love you even after that.” For an … Continue reading →

“To Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity”

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Most parents would assume that once a child is legally theirs, their citizenship extends to that child. After all, plenty of parents serving abroad in the military or on business give birth overseas and their children are citizens. We have always been told that having one parent who is a U.S. citizen automatically makes a child a U.S. citizen. Except, adopted children haven’t always had this protection. Until recently, children adopted from other countries had to go through a separate naturalization process (forms, filing fees, sometimes court appearance). There have been cases in which adoptive parents assumed that their citizenship … Continue reading →

Adoption and Heritage Presentations at School

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In my last blog I wrote about questions from classmates that have been bothering Meg. I wrote about how I had worried that making a class presentation on adoption would just call extra attention to Meg and make adoption seem like a big deal. In my experience the only parents who came and made a presentation to the class about their child were parents whose child was newly diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. They came to explain to the other kids why their daughter was in the hospital and what she’d be able to eat when she returned. I don’t … Continue reading →

Funny, and Frustrating, Boy Stories

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Our five adopted boys are growing up in the country. We have several decent creeks and a lot of trees on the property. We have to carefully word everything that we tell them that they can do. Recently, they had permission to go down by the creek which they interpreted as, “Even though it is a cold day, get wet up to your shoulders and be sure to get a lot of mud on your clothes and shoes.” It was not the first time that we have had to completely undress them in the garage and carry them to the … Continue reading →