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Month in Review: July 2008 Adoption Blogs, Part One

The first week of July I shared how my daughter asked if she could be president some day and I had to say probably not. Mommy, Can I Be the President Some Day? tells this story and The Natural-Born Citizen Act tells of an attempted remedy for this law. Ensuring Our Children’s Proof of Citizenship, and, A Little Ceremony Could Have Been a Good Thing talks about getting a Certificate of Citizenship, and about my nostalgia for a naturalization ceremony even while I recognize that the automatic citizenship law of 2001 is a good thing. I share yet another profound … Continue reading →

Mommy, Can I Be the President Some Day?

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I remember wondering what I’d say if my daughter asked me whether she could become the President of the United States when she grew up. I hoped she wouldn’t. It’s not really that important, of course. Who in their right mind would want to be President, with all the criticism, loss of privacy, danger of being assassinated, responsibility for so many lives? Well, okay, I used to want to be. It just seemed like the fastest way to save the world, like I wanted to when I was an idealistic teenager. But I soon realized that I didn’t have the … Continue reading →

Work It

If I took my daughter to work with me, this is what she’d be doing all day Yup, knocking back donuts. It takes more skill than you’d think. Look at those jaw muscles in action. Is that sweat on her temple? No, I don’t work in law enforcement, unless you call breaking up fights and threatening jail time for pint-sized cookie thieves, policing. Rather, I work a series of mundane jobs in order to pay the bills. The lack of excitement on my job fronts is why I didn’t partake in Take Your Child to Work Day. On the fourth … Continue reading →

Re-Evaluation

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Lately, I’ve been feeling a little like I’m keeping really busy, but not really accomplishing much. This was manifested to me the week my daughter was out of preschool, and I scheduled a playdate for every single day that she was out of school. A thought came to me, “Why do I feel the need to be so busy?” “What am I afraid of?” Being at home with my kids? So, I started to re-evaluate my priorities. Because of my new calling, and other life events, I felt like I had to start cutting back somewhere. I had to start … Continue reading →

De-Cluttering your House, Body, and Soul

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I am not a minimalist, although I have been accused of being one. My husband and I both don’t like a lot of “stuff”. It could be because we have moved 7 times in our 8 years of marriage. And, frankly, when you have a lot of stuff, you have to move all that stuff, and I hate moving! But, recently, we had an Enrichment meeting at church on how to get organized. It got me thinking about what I could organize better at home. I immediately thought, I have to get rid of some toys because Christmas is coming … Continue reading →

Should There Be Dual Citizenship for Internationally Adopted Children?

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My last blogs were about the boy sent back to Russia and in which jurisdiction the abandonment occurred. (You can click here if you missed last week’s update .) I learned from his adoption agency’s website that children adopted from Russia to the U.S. have dual citizenship in both countries. This was news to me. Adopting from Korea, we were advised to inform our agency when the adoption was finalized so that they could sent a request to South Korea to remove her from the Korean citizenship rolls. This was especially important because all male citizens in South Korea serve … Continue reading →

A New Normal

Many parents who adopt transracially deeply feel that looks shouldn’t matter. And in one sense they shouldn’t. But I’ve come to see that looks cause assumptions to be made. Assumptions that my daughter is lost, although she’s standing right next to me. (She’s Korean and I’m fair-skinned.) Assumptions that I’m her babysitter. Assumptions that she doesn’t speak English. Certain aspects of how one looks carry assumptions based on past experiences and emotions. Different people have different assumptions about who feels threatening and who feels comforting. The more we are around something, the more it becomes part of what we define … Continue reading →

Natural-Born Citizen Act

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Yesterday’s blog talked about our children’s citizenship. While our internationally adopted children now are considered citizens from the time the adoption is finalized and they have entered the U.S., they are not considered “natural-born citizens”. This means that they can never become President or Vice President of the United States. Granted, the chances of becoming President are not great and it is unlikely this will have a significant impact on their career decisions. If government is their calling, there are many positions in which they can serve. Nevertheless, “You could be President someday” is a common way of encouraging children, … Continue reading →

Reading Between The Lines

My best friend called me from Hawaii last night and before we hung up she asked me what I thought about Paris Hilton’s appearance on CNN. I told her to read my blog. (Just kidding.) Actually, our discussion focused more about how much the 26-year-old millionairess went on about how “rough” she had it behind bars. According to the socialite, prison food stunk, she was traumatized by the fact she couldn’t hug her family members because of that darn glass partition, and she was sooooo cold it was almost unbearable. My friend’s take on Hilton’s situation went something like this: … Continue reading →

RS/EQ: Going Without

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The prophets have taught us increasingly to avoid debt. As we struggle through this modern world, that may be hard to comprehend. For many families – especially young families – it seems hard to go through life on a small paycheck. But the sad reality for most Americans is that, as their paychecks increase, so does their spending. Right now, our nation has a negative savings rate. As a country, we are spending more than we are saving. President Kimball urges us to “live within (our) means and not beyond them.” What does it mean to live within your means? … Continue reading →