April 1, 2014 Kam 5 Comments

So we have some great friends in this life. Tamara & Jason are among them. We met back in the late ‘90’s when our hubbies were attending seminary in Fort Worth. We were carefree… with good jobs, a love for coffee, and no kids between us. We played often, laughed hard, took trips and lived …Read More

March 19, 2014 a father's perspective, HIV, Mike 6 Comments

Mike is dad to six. Two of his children, adopted from China, have HIV. Today he shares from-the-heart about their journey. You can read a previous post he shared here. Growing up in the Midwest in the 80s, my picture of HIV was framed by after-school specials, the evening news, and MTV. I had never …Read More

March 17, 2014 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 1 Comments

My daughter and I reclined comfortably together at a park yesterday, beside a calm lake in which Chinese men, bent with age, stood stirring the water around their boats with long oars. A thousand Chinese faces passed us by, upturned at the sunny sky and squinting at their beloved kites in the wind. Some of …Read More

March 12, 2014 heart defect, Kristi, vision issues 2 Comments

This month I meant to share with you about a difficult conversation one of my kids and I have been dancing around for months now. And I will share that conversation at some point. But it won’t be today. Today my heart is broken, my thoughts are disjointed and my emotions are raw. I just …Read More

March 5, 2014 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 0 Comments

There’s an old saying that “timing is everything.” And it’s true. The moment at which something enters our lives does make a difference in how it is received. For better or for worse. My “baby” just celebrated his fifth birthday, which is his fourth birthday with us. This one was bittersweet to me. After nearly …Read More

March 1, 2014 heart defect, hypospadias, Kam, Urogenital System 1 Comments

So happy March, y’all! Are you as excited about spring coming to your neck of the woods as I am about it coming to mine? Whew. And I only live in the South. Can’t imagine how you folks in other parts of the country are still managing to maintain sanity right about now! But hold …Read More

February 17, 2014 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 1 Comments

We call her Jubi, or Jubi Sue, or sometimes Jubes. But her name is Jubilee, and she loves her name. The other day her daddy wrote “Jubi” on her paper cup and she was not happy. “Where are the rest of the letters, Daddy?” she asked with a frown. “My name has an l and …Read More

February 11, 2014 heart defect, Kristi, vision issues 1 Comments

Character band-aids. They seemed to me like a colorful slice of a pacifier that we ever so gently stick on our children’s wounds…sometimes they even actually even cover blood. I have in the past had what you could call a ‘love/hate relationship’ with character band-aids. That is until a Mother’s Day tea in one of …Read More

February 5, 2014 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 3 Comments

I’m not exactly what you’d call a “holiday” person. I know people who have decorations ranging from Christmas trees to pumpkins to shamrocks to pink and red hearts that they put up as the seasons rotate. Bu I’m not one of them. I’m a minimalist. The only holiday I decorate for is Christmas and that’s …Read More

January 17, 2014 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 0 Comments

Jubilee didn’t just get a mom and dad when she was adopted. She got three brothers, three grandparents, three uncles, one aunt, and three cousins. But even though adoption brings children into extended families, church bodies, and communities, the most important thing adoption does is place children into immediate families. Not immediately families, mind you, …Read More

January 5, 2014 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 1 Comments

It’s been three years and one month since I stood in the Civil Affairs building in Zhengzhou and took the sweetest boy into my arms. It was the end of 13 long months of waiting, and the love I felt for my son during all those agonizing months was nothing compared to the explosion that …Read More

January 1, 2014 Kam, Urogenital System 7 Comments

So another year has come and gone. It never fails that I experience both highs and lows as we wave goodbye {and sometimes “Good Riddance!”} to one and a hearty “Hello, come on in!” to the other. Are you the same? A lot has taken place in our family over the last two years. At …Read More

December 17, 2013 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 0 Comments

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 Adoption has seasons of its own. The first season can last for years. It starts as a seed, usually, planted in our hearts, by friends, or media, or God. During this time, we pray for wisdom, seek the counsel …Read More

December 9, 2013 birth family, Nancy, protecting their story, telling their life story 1 Comments

Tess: I remember my first mama. My mama in beitnam. Me: Oh you do? Tess: She looked like an angel, but she didn’t have any wings. She wore a white dress, and she was bootiful. Me: I imagine that your Vietnam mama was very beautiful, just like you. Tess: And I love her. And at …Read More

December 5, 2013 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 0 Comments

One of the hardest things…for me, at least…about being an adoptive parent is knowing that I missed out on my child(ren)’s life in China. And I’ve found that the older the child is when they join our family, the harder it is to deal with that loss of knowledge about my child’s past. Our early …Read More

December 1, 2013 hypospadias, Kam, Urogenital System 0 Comments

I’ve posted here before that I’m an idiot. There’s no denying. And my idiocy is magnified at the pedi urologist’s office. But recently, I scored one for the mommy dummies of the world, because I was right! Our Gabe wasn’t doing well. I couldn’t put my finger on it. He was cranky and pulling at …Read More

November 17, 2013 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 0 Comments

For the past three weeks, my mom and mother-in-law have been visiting from the States! Jubilee has especially loved it, with two more women in the house to offset the incessant wrestling matches and Lego building. “Let’s read magazines,” she suggests, handing each of us a copy of Good Housekeeping or Rachael Ray. We snuggle …Read More

November 5, 2013 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 0 Comments

There’s been some kind of virus floating through our house for the past week or so. And as I predicted it would, the illness is slowly making its rounds through the family. Last night we got hit with a “double whammy”. As my husband and I were tucking our sweet China babies into bed we …Read More

November 1, 2013 heart defect, hypospadias, Kam, Urogenital System 3 Comments

I’m not sure if I’ve posted here before about the long and winding road we walk with our Joel in regards to education. In a nutshell, Joel came home to us at age 3 having spent his life in an orphanage. He was not speaking Thai at all and we were told by his pediatrician …Read More

October 17, 2013 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 1 Comments

All kids have “love tanks” – deep wells within their hearts which hold the fuel they run on: love. What happens when those tanks run low? I’m no expert, but I can tell you what happens when my Jubilee’s tank is low. “Mom, what did you buy at the store? Hi Mom. Mom? Mom, where’d …Read More

October 9, 2013 birth family, developmental delays, DNA and genetic testing, Nancy 1 Comments

{Part I, Dark brown hair, Light brown hair is here} It’s discussed pretty regularly in the adoption community. To test or not to test. Now just to make sure we’re all on the same page here, I’m not talking about genetic testing as advised by your doctor for medical reasons. I’m talking about genetic analysis …Read More

October 5, 2013 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 0 Comments

I am the proud mama of four-year-old virtual twins, both adopted from China. And while they were adopted in two separate adoptions, 23 months apart, they are every bit as much of brother and sister as they can be. This has its benefits. The two of them always have a built-in playmate. As their mother, …Read More

September 17, 2013 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 3 Comments

Once we’ve had our adopted Chinese children home for a while, they become very American, don’t they? Fluent English speakers, pudgy and healthy, faces aglow. Video games, Kraft mac-n-cheese, Gap Kids clearance clothes, and all the rest. But then there are moments when Jubilee will stop what she is doing and stare off into space, …Read More

September 9, 2013 birth family, Nancy, telling their life story 6 Comments

I was putting Tess’s hair into pig tails, getting her ready for school and tying bows in her piggies. We live in a Caucasian community bombarded with messages about what beauty is, and in its absence what it is not, in every magazine, billboard, and television commercial. I figure I need to counter balance the …Read More

September 5, 2013 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 6 Comments

As pre-adoptive parents prepare to bring our children home, we go through hours upon hours of parent training. Not to mention meetings with our social worker, and any reading we may do on our own to help prepare for the day our new son or daughter joins their forever family. One of the topics that …Read More

September 2, 2013 heart defect, Kam 0 Comments

My mind has been doing the very same thing this week that it did three years ago. In 2010, our son, Joel {aka The Thai Tornado}, would be celebrating his first year home in the coming days and I couldn’t get the images, the smells and the memories out of my head. They came flooding …Read More

August 17, 2013 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 11 Comments

I do not run marathons. I do not run at all, in fact, although I used to, once upon a time. To train for soccer, I ran high school cross country; my short, muscular legs weighing me down as I trudged through sand and even snow (I lived in Michigan). While I struggled to keep …Read More

August 11, 2013 heart defect, Kristi, vision issues 7 Comments

Our sweet Natalie. It’s been over two years now that we’ve prayed for her to find a family and nearly one year since we’ve been racing to make her part of ours. In pictures I’ve watched her go from a baby to a toddler to an adorable preschooler. While it seemed the wait would be …Read More

August 5, 2013 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 3 Comments

It all started nearly three years ago. As soon as we brought our first son home from China, I began scheduling appointments at our local children’s hospital to have specialists review the needs listed in his file. Initially there were four doctors we were working with…then three…and finally we were left only with two as …Read More

August 1, 2013 heart defect, Kam, Urogenital System 0 Comments

So the last time we chatted, our Gabe had a surgery looming. As we say in the South, a “big, honkin’ surgery.” We knew what we wanted to have happen…a graft to be taken from our Little Prince’s mouth {ouch} to build his urethra {as well as tubes placed in his ears for recurrent and …Read More

July 17, 2013 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 3 Comments

Jubilee doesn’t throw fits, hoard her toys, act irrationally, or withdraw emotionally. In fact, on the surface she is a very “normal” child. Except when no one is looking. Then she destroys things. She tears the wheels off matchbox cars, scribbles on her brother’s artwork, takes apart completed Lego sets, sits on things, rips things, …Read More

July 9, 2013 binging, developmental delays, early intervention, feeding challenges, feeding/swallowing therapy, food issues, hoarding, Nancy 19 Comments

Feeding a child is deeply rooted within us mamas. It’s almost beyond maternal and instinctual. It’s a part of what we do, and right or wrong, it’s a part of how we measure our success. And when it didn’t go according to plan, it affected me much more than I could have imagined. Being a …Read More

July 7, 2013 Eileen, HepB+ 2 Comments

My youngest just graduated from kindergarten. Come September, he’ll ride a bus, he’ll carry a lunchbox, he’ll have a pencil case. And so in preparation for all of that, we took him to the “big kid” school to register. I was given the usual forms–proof of immunization, emergency contact list, permission to access the internet, …Read More

July 6, 2013 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 1 Comments

It’s hardly been a month since we finalized our son’s adoption. We’re still in the getting settled in and trying to discover our “new normal” phase. The jetlag has passed, we’ve had our first post placement visit with our social worker, and bonding through movies and board games is a key focus of mine. Our …Read More

July 3, 2013 Kam 9 Comments

I wrote most of this post at 12:37am Monday morning. Before anything happened. Before reality came. I was broken and sad and pondering some weighty things. And sleep just would not come. Do you ever do this? Does your mind spin and swirl and succumb to hard thoughts late at night? Do you see faces …Read More

June 23, 2013 Angie, cl/cp 3 Comments

Mystery Mama, I wish you were here today. Today of all days, you should be here. Our daughter turns 3 today. Watching her open gifts and boss her brothers around…you should be here. You should get to take a turn chasing her on the scooter she learned to ride last week and giggling when she …Read More

June 17, 2013 birthmark, hemangioma, Kayla 12 Comments

Kayla is a home school mom who loves to read, write, cook, and travel. She lives in East Asia with her husband and four awesome kids – three biological sons and one daughter, Jubilee, who is adopted from China. She blogs at Life is But a Breath. We all face that moment of truth when …Read More

June 11, 2013 heart defect, Kristi, vision issues 0 Comments

This school year one of my closest friend’s daughters has helped keep Daniel and I company one day a week. Our Mondays together have included some preschool lessons, lunch time, rest time and of course plenty of play time. Two precious kiddos, born on different continents in 2008. These “built-in best friends” now live in …Read More

June 5, 2013 heart defect, older child adoption, Tara 12 Comments

It was two-and-a-half years ago that I approached the very same building and found a precious baby boy already inside waiting for me. That was the moment I had dreamed of for so many years…I was finally adopting from China. Today was a different scenario. I found myself waiting (not so patiently) in that room …Read More

June 1, 2013 first weeks home, first year home, heart defect, Kam 1 Comments

So the little prince and I were at Target the other day when my phone rang. Our dear friends needed a little help and thought of us… Because she said, “You guys ‘get it!’” And I guess she’s right about that. They have been home from China for six months with their sweet boy and …Read More

May 23, 2013 Angie, cl/cp 3 Comments

she and i spend a lot of days like this. her in my arms, snuggling, giggling, crying, jabbering about all types of things. though my arms tire, my heart never does. holding a wee one in their greatest as well as saddest moments is of the deepest treasures not just in motherhood, but life in …Read More

May 9, 2013 Attachment, attachment activities, attachment challenges, developmental delays, Nancy, parent-to-child attachment 2 Comments

I tell people all the time, especially when we’re knee deep in discussions about adoption or attachment issues. Ya know, some kiddos just don’t handle institutionalization well. Some come out of it just fine. Some go straight to their new family and never look back with smiles and enthusiasm. And others, like our sweet thing, …Read More

May 7, 2013 Eileen, HepB+ 3 Comments

If you’d asked me seven years ago, right before we adopted our beautiful daughter, if I knew anything about Hep B, I’d have said sure. It’s a virus. It has something to do with the liver. What else do you need to know? As it turned out, our daughter’s case taught us that there was …Read More

May 5, 2013 heart defect, Tara 1 Comments

The process of watching an adopted child become a part of their family is beautiful to behold. The “Gotcha Day” videos get me every time. But beyond that comes the intertwining that takes place over time. My husband and I already had three biological children when we adopted our son from China in 2010. And …Read More

May 1, 2013 Kam 8 Comments

So that is the question I hear out of our Thai Tornado’s mouth incessantly. Why? I can’t remember when our girls went through this stage. It seems they were much younger. Joel will be seven in four months. He seems old to me…but maybe I’m just old and can’t remember. Yeah, that’s more plausible. Why …Read More

April 11, 2013 heart defect, Kristi, port wine stain, vision issues 3 Comments

I watch her run across the yard, her straight, black ponytail bouncing over her self-selected outfit (which today, for once, is rather tame) and from the back she seems like just any other, everyday, six year old girl. Then something grabs her attention and she turns around. As she glances past me her face breaks into …Read More

April 9, 2013 clubfoot, developmental delays, Education, IEP, Nancy, public school 1 Comments

Dear IEP team members, As the mama to the little girl that we just spent over an hour talking about, I want to say more than our 60-minute time slot allowed. IEP meetings are hard. {That may be the understatement of the year.} They suck. For a parent, sometimes it feels like IEP meetings are a laundry list of how …Read More

April 5, 2013 heart defect, Tara 4 Comments

My husband and I are in the throes of adoption for yet a third time.  I think any adoptive parent would tell you that the process isn’t easy.  It’s frustrating and disappointing.  Rarely are the waits shorter than you expected or the news better than you expected to hear. Last week was one of *those* …Read More

April 2, 2013 heart defect, hypospadias, Kam, Urogenital System 3 Comments

So I’m a moron. I mean it. A complete and total dork. My idiocy seems to come out NOT in front of fellow idiots, but around uber smart, genius type people. You know, those who intimidate the heck out of you and before whom you know ahead of time that you should just keep your …Read More

March 23, 2013 Angie, cl/cp 5 Comments

she finds my pillow or my arm or holds my hand… and stays close by through the night. her wild and spunky and determined self finds rest. for years i dreamed of this. waited endlessly to have her snuggling in my arms. wept thousands of tears over the days we were apart. and she is …Read More