Redirect...

If you're an adoptive parent, please read this article from an adoptee.

Your child may grow up to be a lot like me (and that's not such an awful thing)

Fourth Best

Where's she from?
Taiwan, I say, leery of what's coming next.
She's SO lucky.

Sigh. I hear this entirely too frequently. And I KNOW people mean well. But really...IS she lucky?? Did she ask to be relinquished? Did she asked to be ripped from her foster mother after seven months and whisked away to a completely foreign land? Did she ask to be raised by white parents who know nothing about being Asian? No...she didn't.

I'd be doing all of my children a disservice if I didn't recognize that not only are they NOT lucky, but they landed in fourth best. First would have been birthfamily. Second would have been a family in their birth country. Third would've been an Asian family in another country. Fourth is us. Fourth.

Of course, I love my children and will always give them everything they need and deserve. But it is also my duty to educate those around me. My children were not saved, have no responsibility to feel grateful, and do NOT deserve to hear that they are "lucky" every time we're in public. We've come so far, yet we have so far left to go.

Fall

I love fall. The smells, the crisp air, the falling leaves, the colors...and of course apple cider and pumpkin donuts don't hurt either. :)

This past weekend we went to a local corn maze. It's amazingly large and we had a ball...ended up walking over 3 miles inside the corn! Now THAT'S a corn maze. Then we went to an orchard where the kids were able to play in a hay stack...we were hoping to pick apples, but turns out we missed apple picking season by two days. :( Oh well, we bought some honeycrisps and called it good.

Great Article...

I loved this article. It so very hits to the heart of adoption:

NY Times Article

Please do read the article. I especially liked this part:

"The miracle of adoption isn’t just the creation of a family from disparate, distant people. Adoption is a phoenix; a miracle that arises from the ashes of despair. A baby is abandoned, a family lost and a whole new world gained. Like nearly everything else, an adoptive family is born of both joy and pain."

Busy, busy, busy!!

Wow, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Last week, we went pony riding. :) Tessa learned how to climb up on my computer chair and send some emails. The big kids went back to school. Jake's in 3rd grade this year and Sara started kindergarten. And, mommy has 10 credit hours of social work classes. Yikes, I don't know HOW I'm going to keep up. So, updates to the blog may be even fewer than usual. If you still check in here from time to time, thanks a bunch! Happy Fall!

An Adoptive Mom's Letter for First Mom's

My friend Leceta wrote this about 13/14 years ago. This is good stuff.

http://www.comeunity.com/adoption/adopt/birthmothers.html

A Good Watch...

Another good resource for transracial adoptive parents is the documentary entitled, Las Hijas. Adult adoptees from Colombia are interviewed. It gives a good feel for what it's like to be Latina (they are all women in film) in a white society.

http://www.big-ox-media.com/lashijas/

You can order it at the link above, or if you're local, you can borrow it from me.

Have a great weekend!