Things have been running so hot and heavy on this blog for a while that I figure it's time for a bit of a breather, a little levity, a jigger of jocularity ... and a darned fine example of the humor some adoptive parents manage to create out of the dense ether of an Internet group dedicated to support, communication and fair interchange. Background:

A while back, in one of my more snitty moods, partially brought on by the aforementioned hot and heaviness, I responded to a post on the ... more

Adding a second child often prompts a debate, or at least some deep and careful thought, in all families, and adoptive families are no exception. In fact, the discussion may be much wider ranging when issues of domestic vs. international, infant vs. older child, boy vs. girl, Ethiopia vs. Ukraine, special needs vs. none,... more

As adoptive parents, we spend a lot of time contemplating the impact adoption may have on our children. We worry about everything from attachment to post-traumatic stress to developing good birth parent relationships to positive representations of birth country cultures, and on and on and on.

With so much filling our anxiety plate, we might be forgiven for occasionally forgetting that our kids have not only adoption-related issues to face, but also those plain old regular ones that all children have to deal with over the course of their lives. ... more

Today is a special day in our house. February 8th marks the 4th anniversary of our family including Sam.

On this day in 2003, we arrived in Cambodia and made our way to AOA, the orphanage that cared for Rath Sen Chey until we were allowed to make the trip and claim him as our Samuel Eric Benoiton. We named him Sam, but the way, for a reason ... Mark and I could not combine our chromosomes, but we could put our initials together, so Sandra And Mark make Sam.

I can conjure images from the day perfectly, reliving the... more

First, it's Mark's 40th birthday. Happy Birthday, Darlin' ... and no matter how old you may be feeling, you're still a handsome hunk o' L-O-V-E!

Second, it's a deadline day for the book I'm working on. Yikes! Of course, the forces of the universe know this, so caused a day-long power cut yesterday, and today have my broadband connection not working. Sheeeesh. As if it's not stressful enough! But number three on today's hit parade is the biggie: Sam has his first day at big kid school!

He'll only go for... more

Continuing the saga of Holly Richardson that started here .

She is also a midwife, and delivering babies seems the perfect job for her. Not content to limit herself to bringing little Americans into the world, she takes her skills on the road. This year she's helped mothers in Rwanda and Zambia. She's now inviting others to help with a project in Zambia. Here's a recent post from her:

Hi friends... more

More on Holly Richardson ...

Not only do many of Holly's kids live with physical limitations, many suffer from mental and emotional fallout from harsh beginnings.

One of their son's fascination with fire sparked a blaze that destroyed the family home. Twenty kids, some in wheelchairs, and suddenly homeless ... what does that bring out in you? Well, in the Richardsons it brought out fortitude, and gratitude for friends by the many.

Unsure what to do, Holly's first response... more

Faster than a speeding vacuum cleaner set on 'Nascar' ... stronger than a two-year old's poopy diaper ... able to leap Kilimanjaros of laundry in a single bound ... Not plane nor bird nor Doc Joyce Brothers, it's a good example of Supermothers! I've been wanting to write about Holly Richardson since I started this blog, but her story, like her family, is so big that I'd not narrowed down the focus enough to know where to start.

Although there are many places where a story about Holly could begin, the basic grabber is this: she's... more

A number of readers, while conveying very nice birthday wishes (Thank you!), have commented on the fact that the timing of my birth puts me in that category of astrological identifiers known as Leo.

Yep. A lion I was born, and a lion I will always be ... except when I'm a rabbit.

The day and month of my first appearance on the planet dictate, in terms of Western astrology, my Leo-ness. The year of my birth, in the Chinese horoscope, puts me smack-dab in the middle of rabbit-hood ... a Metal Rabbit, to be exact.

A Leo is ... more

With Michelle over on the Foster Adopt blog, and a load of folks on the forums talking about the right time to add siblings to the family mix, if at all, this report caught my eye this morning.

It's a hot topic on the playground, how much time is the right amount between siblings?

If you have a choice in the matter, is it better to have kids one after the other or wait a few years?

... more