Moose, over on the Guatemala Adoption blog, has been posting about raising funds for adoption and giving some good options and ideas.

Quoting from his blog where he details efforts of a group called ChildAdoptionFunds.org:

According to their site, this is what they will help you with:

We hope to empower you with enough confidence, so that you may have greater success with your fundraising goals. We have made available to you a fundraising assistance program,... more

I just finished watching the Angelina Jolie interview with Anderson Cooper. Aside from being astonished that the meager one hour of CNN that airs in Seychelles on weekday mornings consisted of a program I really wanted to see ... rather than their yachting show or an hour of golf ... my initial reaction is annoyance at the hoopla this interview has inspired on adoption-related websites over the past few days. (Unfortunately, the last 30 minutes ... I'm assuming the show was 90 minutes? ... are lost to me as our one TV station switched over to BBC at 8 am.)

Those jumping... more

Anyone looking for yet another positive aspect of international adoption need look not further than this report from India:

Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir have been startled by revelations that a large number of people arrested on suspicion of being terrorists are not actually so, but are unemployed youths, orphans and petty criminals ready to carry out attacks for a price.

Investigations in the recent terrorist strikes in the state revealed that unemployed... more

Mark's family is not big on Hallmark occasions, there being no Hallmark in their world and occasions usually amounting to nothing much more than some sitting around and a possible trip to the beach ... five or six meters away.

For the most part, holidays are underwhelming on this island. Even the biggies, Christmas and Easter, are less than festive in any classic "Dickens" sort of sense. Lots of folks break out the new duds and show them off at church services, and there's some singing going on on the AM radio station; a few gifts may be exchanged at Yule Tide and scrawny Charlie... more

A couple of things have come in in response to previous posts about Baroness Emma Nicholson.

First was a question about UNICEF's stance on international adoptions, or at least my take on their stance.

Let me bracket my interpretation between the following structures:

1) No matter how much UNICEF (or the Baroness) would like it to be, the world is NOT a perfect place. Bad things happen here all the time and nothing has ever changed that reality.

and

2)... more

Emma Nicholson, a life peer Member of the House of Lords, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, Member of the European Parliament and self-confessed opponent of international adoption is at it again. The UK's Daily News follows the story:

Following the publication in Monday's edition of British daily Financial Times of a full-page advertisement entitled "Romania's concealed childcare crisis" completed by 33 NGOs which denounced the child protection system in Romania... more

Just yesterday I was griping about shopping in Seychelles. Today, however, a usually frustrating trip to town has me relishing life here ... and the funny way we shop. (Not that I'd be finding relish, or anything like that, though.)

First stop was the post office over the island in Anse Royale where my PO Box is. While checking for mail, I couldn't help but notice a big old safe casually dumped outside the door. It's about three feet tall and at least a hundred years... more

A new supermarket opened in Victoria today. May not sound like a big deal, but here it warranted more than half of last night's newscast, with shots of shelves full of items people here usually travel to Singapore of Dubai to purchase ... really exotic and rare stuff like Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and Old El Paso salsa were two of the items I spotted during a quick pan. Rumor has it that fresh vegetables were going to be brought out for display this morning!

No matter how badly I may be craving new flavors and a real shopping experience, I'm staying well away. Why?... more

Well, we're home. The holiday is over and the catching-up with real life has begun.

More than a hundred emails were waiting for attention, and loads of laundry are stacking up as suitcases empty. The already long to-do list I left behind has grown ... my dogs need worming, Cj must have a haircut, appointments in town loom. Yikes!

On top of my agenda, no matter what other pressing matters shove this way and that for immediate tending, is keeping track of the bits and pieces of our first African adventure and adding them to the kids' Life Books.

Photos, boarding... 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