Still in Singapore, I'm using this week away from my desk to foist old posts off on y'all. This one is about lost hope ... a condition that hits me often when the news from the world sucks and same-old, same-old seems to have grabbed the planet never to let go.

There's a line in the film "The Big Chill" where Jeff Goldblum's character, trying unsuccessfully to get the editor of the magazine he works for to buy a story on... more

Sorry, but I'm still publishing these ghosts-of-blog-posts-past.

This post,first published on the Older Parent blog, is one that's been asked for more times than any other. Seems many can relate to the title: "Reluctant Spouses ... Speak Slowly"

Mark and Sam and Cj have just gone off on an adventure. While Mark totes Cj in the baby pack, Sam carries snacks in his 'packpack', and the anticipation of... more

While I'm away and shoving old posts down everyone's neck, I might as well dredge up one that strongly makes a point for international adoption.

There is a strong push by organizations, UNICEF is one, to keep orphaned children in their birth countries. Some feel that raising a child in a different culture, an unavoidable consequence by definition of international adoption, strips identity and robs an individual of a precious... more

As I was saying ...

Now, before anyone starts on at me for having the nerve to adopt two little kids without a written guarantee that I'll be playing field hockey when I'm eighty, you can rest assured that my health was considered more carefully than most during our process ... by me, and everyone else involved.

Contingency plans are in place should I bite the big one any time soon, but no one will be madder about it than me.

Things are just getting good.

Life right now is the best it ever has been for me. Although... more

We're flying to Singapore tonight, so it's a busy day. I never start packing until the day of departure, as it's not a process that takes a lot of thought for me, although now that I have to organize a week's needs for four of us it is more complicated. (Mark is pretty useless when it comes to this sort of thing.)

I've been going back over old posts and will be reposting some of my favorites while I'm gone. I've set them to drip (that's the rather disgusting term in blogspeak for putting posts in a queue to publish at certain times), so there... more

I wrote not long ago about the far-less-uncommon than expected reunions that, thanks to the wonders of the Internet and advanced genetics, are happening these days between siblings separated in birth countries and adopted by different families.

Two sets of twins from China have reuniting stories to rival any movie script. Even Stephen Spielberg, an adoptive parent himself, would not have had the vision to conceive such convoluted plots as these.

Imagine... more

I had tomorrow morning's blog half together in my mind, but the news has shifted my perception just enough to make what was going to be a "isn't my kid just adorable" post into something else ... something I want to get out of my system before I go to bed.

Earlier today, before the birthday gift saga posted earlier, my assistant and I were standing in my kitchen, having a cup of tea and chatting. We're taking her to Singapore with us in a couple of weeks ... I'll go into this more at a later date ... and we were talking about... more

Two back-to-back stories from the UK in todays news have me scratching my head and wondering about the point of it all ... all being the legions and the millions (people and dollars, respectively) that are thrown at the ever-increasing AIDS crisis in Africa.

There is simply something wrong with this picture. So many competing aid groups are clamoring for a piece of the money pie, working in their own directions, feathering their own nests supporting administrative systems, and banging their own drums while pressing their own agendas.

In... more

More from a participant's experience with Jane Brown Playshops, this time a mother's take on her kids' participation:

The 2 hour playshop is designed for children ages 5 and up. After the playshop, parents are given a general wrap-up.

This particular workshop session had approximately 15 kids ages 5-8 years old, most of whom were transracially internationally adopted. Jane conducted the workshop with the help of two young adult Korean adoptees. During... more

Jane Brown's name soon becomes familiar to families who've adopted internationally. As the creator of Adoption Playshops, she is one of the pioneers in the exploration of issues involving racial identity in adoptees. With adult adoptees assisting, she conducts seminars and workshops all over the USA and Canada.

Here's some of what she says on the FCC (Families with Children from China) website about her work:

We... more