As I sit here typing, I'm looking out the window next to me at a pine tree in my backyard - one that's a bit taller than my house. We have tons of squirrels in this part of the country (my grandma calls them rodents) and it's not unusual at all for the trees to shake when there is no wind, as they are busy jumping from one branch to another. We have grey squirrels here, and have had only grey ones for as long as I can remember. In the past year or so, I started noticing a few families of black squirrels in a woody section of town, and they have since... more

As an adoptive parent, hopeful adoptive parent, someone touched by adoption or someone just interested in the subject, it is important to learn about "Adoption Language." Adoption language is the idea that there are positive ways to describe people or situations related to the adoption, and the introduction of different terms that will hopefully come to replace clichés that have long been in use. "If you stop and really think about what you’re saying, positive adoption language is just common sense. For example, take terms such as real parent, real mother, real father, real family – these terms imply that an adopted child is not a real part of the family. By using phrases like this, you are... more

This was an interesting article published recently on Interfaithfamily.com a site that anyone involved in an interfaith or intermarried family should look at. It has some good resources, especially for families who find themselves in that situation.

I would hope - as I know we all do - that things have changed in the adoption world since Dina Beach Lynch was growing up, but it's still a perspective that we should keep in mind.

Cheese Blintzes: An Adoptee Discovers Her Jewish Roots By Dina Beach Lynch

The gray fireproof box stood on the top... more

This quiz went around the internet a while ago, so many of you have probably seen it already. But for those who haven't, it's a fun quiz to do online which tells you based on your answers which religion matches your beliefs. Obviously take it with a grain of salt, but it is interesting to see what religions come up on the list, and the questions that are asked are decent as well. I'd say the quiz is superficial, vague by necessity, and doesn't destinguis very well between Conservative and Reform Judaism, not to mention the other movements of Judaism.

Beliefnet is a pretty well known site,... more

I've posted about people who say the wrong things to us - I think we've all been in fun situations like that. We all know people who just tend to say hurtful things, or have found ourselves in the company of acquaintances or even strangers who seem to put their foot in it so easily.

And then there's another breed of people, and it's that group I'm having a little trouble understanding. Some - I hate to say it, but mostly women I know - who in conversation about a potentially awkward topic choose to say some words quietly or barely audible. I'll give you an example - I was talking with the mother of a friend of mine who was chatting about how her granddaughter had "noticed that Anna... more

I posted earlier about the fact that some people don't celebrate Halloween. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, and you can read more about it on that post.

But I wanted to talk about being different. I feel like there are two conflicting messages being sent to our kids in this country. 1) Fit in. 2) Be unique.

So many kids work so hard to fit in, to be like everyone else, and some that stand out for one reason or another do get picked on - I certainly had my share of that as a child. And yet we have another philosophy that we should all be ourselves, be okay with who we are and be proud of... more

Well, we might be getting another kid soon. We might not. She might be available for adoption. She might not. At the beginning we were told she was a boy, so I'm also not entirely convinced she's a girl. Theoretically, she may have already been placed in another home, as this is an out of district case that our facilitator is dealing with, and the child's caseworker isn't returning the facilitator's phone calls.

Welcome to dealing with the foster care system. All things considered, Anna's adoption through "the system" went pretty well, but it seems that things in the department just get more and more complicated and less and less organized.

So what do I tell people? Should... more

There are some things I have yet to understand in my adventures as parent here in Anna-land. I do not understand why after being told not to do something ten times, threats of time-out given and carried out, does an unappealing and frankly not entertaining activity seem fun? The other day, I had Anna home and was watching a friend's two year old as a favor. Having recently been to the farmer's market, I had a small watermelon on the floor of my dining room. I was too exhausted to move it, and frankly thought the floor was the best place for it, as I pictured Anna pushing it off the table and me finding it smashed to pieces.

So, Anna and her friend decided to play with it. I asked... more

Avonlea asked a good question on a recent posting about the girls coming and going. Here it is:

How did you manage to adopt such a young child from fostercare? If you don't mind my asking.

When I explored the option it sounded like the only way you could do it was foster-adopt and I'm just not up for the risk of losing a child who is not legal free for adoption when they come into my home and heart.

It's a great question. You can actually adopt two types of kids through foster care. (Those who are legally free and fost-adopt) Anna was fost-adopt - meaning she was becoming available... more

The current issue of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles focuses on adoption from China, specifically by Jewish Families. I encourage you to peruse the issue as there are several articles of interest, but I just wanted to bring a few excerpts here.

The main piece is called Dual Identity, Double the Questions and talks about some tough issues including interracial adoption, conversion, coming of age and dating. My daughter is a minority within a minority within a minority: she's Jewish, adopted and Black. But I found a lot of interesting things and points to ponder in this issue that focuses on adoption from... more