Every blog I write is written for you. No one here is more important to me than my readers ... not organizations or other bloggers, not editors, not myself. I write about what I feel you want and need to know ... and occasionally to entertain ... and I write as well and as honestly as I possibly can. I work very hard to do the best job I'm able to do, and I do it seven days a week.

Although I compose blogs for you ... to provide information, to exchange ideas, to give a smile or encourage a ponder ... I am compelled to do this by something deep within me. Blogging is one way I strive to contribute to postive change in the wider world, and this is why my dedication to writing here is so deep.

Over the past years a personal mission has presented itself to me, a mission to do everything within my power to insure that adoption remains an option for the world's children and to confront all those who would conspire to remove the possibility of families for those without the privilege of parents who can or will care for them. Years of travel and my own children's potential futures prior to adoption provide an incentive for continued action that I'll never ignore, and I can't for the life of me understand a mindset that would actively condemn children to the short lives of desperation and misery that are far too common in our world.

Addressing issues, exposing hidden agendas, calling a spade a spade, and not allowing the central focus of adoption ... the children ... to be hijacked by those who beat an entirely different drum; these are the parameters within which the bulk of my mission is contained.

Getting this gig writing for Adoption.com has allowed me to pursue this mission of mine by giving me a platform from which I can reach a wide audience; perhaps to touch and nudge some in positions of influence to regard issues they may have missed while being distracted by strident voices clamoring to divert attention, occasionally I'll even stir a bit of controversy into stagnant conversations. At the same time, the job lets me learn as I gather information to pass along, keeping me up-to-date, fresh, and feeling my finger on the pulse of something I care deeply about.

By blogging here, I've also been included in a community of like-minded individuals sharing information, thoughts and ideas as freely with me as I do with them. I've grown so close to people I will never meet, people I know only by their avatar, that I have laughed my head off at their escapades and been brought to tears over their sorrows.

I am very happy to be here.

This recent round of hoopla has made me even more appreciative of the company I work for and the powers-that-be halfway around the world making this all happen every day. When calls came in reacting to posts addressing an article I saw to be anti-adoption and insulting, to say the least ... many calls, I'm sure ... for my head on a plate, for my immediate dismissal, for me to stand on one leg whistling Dixie while reabsorbing every word I've ever written with my lips firmly planted on someone's totally undeserving backside I had so recently finished figuratively kicking, I received nothing but support for my work, appreciation for my writing and respect for my integrity.

Knowing the higher-ups in the company and the bulk of my readers are behind me means more than I can adequately express. I am very grateful, and I thank you all.

Now that all that's cleared up, I'll get to work ...