Every fifteen seconds, a child loses one parent to AIDS. Today there are more than fifteen million AIDS orphans in the world.

This coming Sunday, the 7th of May, will be World AIDS Orphans Day. From now until Sunday, HIV/AIDS and the children will be what I'm thinking and writing about.

To begin ... some raw numbers, very raw ...

AIDS orphans by country -- Only the... more

Chaul Chnam Thmey

That's Khmer for "Happy New Year".

There is a three day run of celebrations to ring in the Year of the Dog.

A bit about it:

In Cambodia, Khmer New Year is the greatest traditional festival. The Khmer New Year festival originated from Bramhmanism, a part of Hinduism, which was a religion that Khmer believed in before Buddhism. Later on Buddhism became associated... more

One of the many great things about having adopted kids is the fact that they have so many celebratory dates. Sam’s birthday is in November. His Gotcha/Family was day before yesterday, and today is his Official Adoption Day, the 10th of February. Developing family traditions to mark each event is a work in progress and will evolve as he gets older. All get a good amount of hullabaloo and fun. On this day three years ago he was finger printed, photographed and became in every legal sense OURS. Photos from the G&R (Giving and Receiving … the last official step in the official process with lots of officials showing up to get in the official photo) show a happy, if a bit nervous,... more