A new book by Anne Tyler ("Breathing Lessons", "The Accidental Tourist") has international adoption at the root. "Digging to "America", fiction focusing on the parents' point of view, is getting good reviews:

In her latest novel, "Digging to America," Anne Tyler flips this perspective on its head, focusing instead on the way international adoptions are experienced by the parents. Tyler, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Breathing Lessons," has routinely delivered... more

Among the Dyaks, the tribal people of Borneo, it is common for a person's name to change many times over the course of their life. When they're born, they're called something ugly and distasteful ... literally ... like worm or slug, in hopes of keeping spirits from finding the little darlings too tempting to leave in the worldly realm.

The occasion of the first birthday is celebrated with a naming ceremony where the baby gets the adorable moniker... more

A news report today showed the remnants of a Palestinian family after a day at the beach turned to mayhem when they were reported to have became targets for Israeli gunboats. A twelve-year old girl was filmed as she rushed to the bodies of her father and siblings, screaming and completely overwhelmed by the insane situation she'd just witnessed. Her mother was later interviewed from her hospital bed where she was being treated for injuries suffered in the attack. With understandable venom, she didn't grieve as much as curse.

"I want to see Israeli mothers with dead children... more

I live in a realm of World Cup frenzy. People around me are completely nuts for the sport of soccer (although they insist on calling it 'football'), and now that the World Cup has kicked off in Germany, just about everyone I know has become one with whichever comfy cushion most easily facilitates the squirming convulsions that come with spectating the "beautiful game' and is refusing to budge more than a few centimeters from their TVs.

And talk about a sport bringing out the fierce in normally mild-mannered folk! My friend Gay, normally so veddy, veddy propah,... more

I knew I'd get to this story eventually. It's been with me for almost thirty-five years now, and has been told over and over again. It became such a standard at baby showers in Northern California, that I once had it told TO me without the person doing the telling having any idea that the story is actually ABOUT me.

I'm prompted to write it now by an ongoing topic on the Guatemala Adoption Forum and the Moose's blog.

Once... more

With our trip to Kenya now just a week away, I'm thinking about travel in general.

In my not often humble opinion, travel is one of the best things about international adoption. Even if the travel doesn't happen for the adoption ... for some do choose to have their child escorted to their new home country ... having such an important link to another part of the world opens up the possibilities for travel at some time in the family's collective future.

I didn't grow up as an explorer of the larger world, although my dad was keen to put miles on our cars' odometers... more

We'll be off to the beach in about an hour. It's not unusual for Sam, Cj and me to take a mid-week dip, but today is a special occasion ... we're going to help Gay celebrate "Liberation Day".

This is not a Seychelles holiday, so we'll have the beach to ourselves, but it's a big deal where Gay comes from: Jersey, Channel Islands.

For history buffs, here's a bit about it:

During the Second World War, the Channel Islands were declared a demilitarised zone, and were occupied... more

Talking yesterday about kids and language, I focused on children that have had a fairly easy time transitioning from one to another, or from one to many.

This has not always been my experience, however.

Our foster son, with us primarily from the ages of two to four, had a very difficult time learning to speak. Some reasons for this were hardwired, as he suffers from FAE and the learning problems that come with. Partly, though, he was just plain confused for too long.

T... more

"Practically anything you do will be insignificant, but it is important that you do it." Gandhi

This wonderful quote from the Mahatma sits smack dab in the middle of the home page of an amazing organization and fairly well sums up the soul of the group, Chances by Choice.

Chances by Choice was founded in late 2002 by Margaret Fleming who has worked in the field of adoption for many years and is the adoptive mother of several HIV/AIDS children. Therefore it seemed... more

Deep in a conversation about major world issues with a six-year old a while back, I asked what languages he spoke.

"Creole, Anglaise," he said without missing a beat, "and a little English."

Yes, kids 'get' the language thing in ways adults can only guess.

This little boy's parents are South African, but from the age of about two he spent a great deal of time with his Seychellois nanny's family and is every bit as fluent in Creole as he is in his native tongue ... a fact that neither surprises nor impresses him. Shifting from one to another as... more