“Big Fat Greek Wedding” Star Advocates for Foster Adoption”

I’ve written about Angelina Jolie, Katherine Heigl and Madonna adopting internationally, and about Sheryl Crow adopting an infant and Sandra Bullock’s adoption of an African-American infant from New Orleans. (Breaking news on Bullock: gossip sites like “Anything Hollywood”and “igossip” are saying Bullock wants to adopt a sibling for Louis, and wants to start the process now and hope that it won’t take as long as Louis’ adoption. Bullock and her then-husband Jesse James applied to adopt nearly four years ago. I haven’t heard any mainstream verification of this, though. ) It seems rarer to hear about celebrities adopting from foster … Continue reading

Month in Review: June 2008 Adoption Blogs

I kicked off the month by attending a Cultural Fair with exchange students and au pairs. In my blog Celebrating ALL Cultures, I assert that celebrating all cultures makes our kids believe we truly accept diversity and aren’t just accepting them because they are our kids. I talk about some of the history of adoption with Proxy Adoptions. This means adoptions where the prospective parents didn’t meet their children first. In the past this sometimes meant there was little in the way of a homestudy or any education for the adopting family. Today a homestudy is always done, and while … Continue reading

The Month of Mothers

Looking back over the month of May, I remember some very interesting conversations. I also remember reading some very interesting blogs, on diverse areas of Families.com and of our sister site Adoption.com. This twenty-first century method of “conversing” lets us read others’ thoughts, compose a reply with time to think about what we really mean, and read the reactions of many other people who may be very different from us. One of the conversations I read about at our sister site was about Birthmother’s Day. This day began to be celebrated in 1990 when a few birthmothers in Seattle gathered … Continue reading

What Would You Like to See in the Adoption Blog This Next Year?

What Would You Like to See in the Adoption Blog This Next Year? This blog will be a little different. I’m asking for comments from you, my readers. What has been helpful to you in the adoption blog this year? What would you like to see more of? More personal experience and reflections? More informational blogs? I, for one, would like to see more comments by readers, both in the blog comments and in the forums. The forums are a great tool to ask questions which I can then address in blogs. As many of you know, I have two … Continue reading

Ten Things I’m Thankful For about Adoption Today

1. Those birthmothers who choose life in the face of pressure to do otherwise. In many cases this is a brave, brave action. If my daughter ever asks if her birthmother loved her, I can answer in the affirmative—because otherwise she wouldn’t be here. 2. The birth family members who provide honest medical and social history for their children. This helps us give them better medical and developmental care, reassures them that they have a history like everyone else, and frees the mind from wondering too much about their past and lets it go on to other things. 3. The … Continue reading

Happy Mother’s Day, Foster Mothers

One of the greatest blessings of the Korean adoption system is the foster mothers. Infants and toddlers are taken care of in private homes by foster mothers. The majority of these foster mothers, though not all, are women whose own children are grown. They take usually one or sometimes two babies into their home for anywhere from two months to two years. They often carry the baby on their backs in the traditional Korean carrier quilt. The infant may sleep in the foster mother’s bed. If not, she sleeps on a mat on the floor in the foster mother’s room. … Continue reading

Family & Marriage: Grandparents Day

Today is Grandparent’s Day, a day that we pay honor to the parents of our parents and those that mean so much to us. When my daughter heard that was what today was, she great very excited and wanted to make a card and get presents for each of her grandmothers. I listened to her exciting chatter and my husband and I both had to smile. Of the two of us, he has two grandparents still living – his grandmother on his father’s side and his grandfather on his mother’s side. His grandfather celebrates his 96th birthday this November. My … Continue reading

Moms: Of Gifting to Ourselves

Did you get exactly what you wanted for Mother’s Day? I didn’t get what I asked for; instead, I got something even better. My fellow blogger, Stephanie, got what she wanted, a coffee machine, but it didn’t come from any of her children, or even her spouse. Rather, the self assured mother of three took the initiative to purchase the appliance, and gifted it to herself. Some may consider Stephanie’s move audacious, while others may consider it empowering. Personally, I classify it as self preservation. A requirement for many mothers out there. If you aren’t going to look out for … Continue reading

Shop to Help Kids!

I’d like to remind all of our readers that we can use our holiday shopping dollars to support people around the world, including our children’s countries of origin. Charities and/or fair trade cooperatives, which provide local craftspeople training and the chance to earn a fair price for their work, probably operate in your child’s country of origin, whatever that may be. One website alone (SERRV, which I reviewed last year) carries plaques and sculptural art made by Haitian artisans using recycled oil drums. SERRV carries scarves and textiles from India, Cambodia, Vietnam and Nepal as well as tableware from Chile … Continue reading

Another Time for Letting Go

I’m having mixed feelings about Regina starting kindergarten this week. Part of me wants to cry out that I haven’t had enough time with her– I should get an extra eight months! (Someone did once ask me Meg’s age when she was two and a half years old, and I responded “a year and a half” because that’s how long she’d been with me!) If Regina were a summer birthday I would definitely hold off on school, but she’s almost six. (And she has been wearing her sister’s outgrown uniforms since April.) I do sometimes feel a bit jealous about … Continue reading