It is not lost on me that National Adoption month occurs in a month we set aside for thankfulness. Sometimes, I look at my life…I watch my kids playing together fighting over stuff and things just seem so…surreal. I usually hate it when people describe situations as surreal because I’m never sure what exactly they’re…
November is National Adoption Month. You may see stuff in your Facebook feed about being “chosen” and “born in my heart, not under it.” Those are wonderful sentiments. This isn’t an article about wonderful sentiments, so hold on, okay? What not to say to adoptive families My sons did not enter this world via my…
Have you ever heard someone say they’re colorblind? I’m not talking about the inability to distinguish between red and green, I’m talking about the people who claim they don’t notice racial or ethnic differences. I beg to differ. My husband, my daughter and I are white, and my two boys are Chinese. Our family was…
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This quote from Romeo and Juliet pops into my head every time I get drawn into a discussion on names. What the hell does that even mean? I guess this is probably the time where I admit…
“Be careful how you phrase that question about egg rolls,” a comment from someone near and dear might go. “Jill’s sensitive about Chinese stuff.” adoption My two boys are adopted from China. My nearest and dearest have commented on my “adoption sensitivity” a time or 700 over the past few years. But I don’t think…
I don’t know my son’s birthday. He has an official birth date of record. Someday he will go to the DMV to apply for a driver’s license and there is a date he will put down. It’s probably pretty close to the actual day he was born but that piece of the puzzle, that nugget…
I’ve been on what I like to call the adoption crazy train since 2011, when we first decided to adopt our son Zack from China. For those of you who are new here, welcome, and I’ll take a second to catch you up. We adopted our son Zack in 2012 after our daughter Laura was…
No one talked to me about post adoption depression until after we adopted. This isn’t something I ever heard discussed outside of adoption circles. Maybe it’s time to change that? Here’s part of my story. Three things you need to know about post-adoption depression [Tweet “3 things you need to know about post adoption depression #adoption #postadoptiondepression #national…
I’m not shy but I’m an introvert. I like other humans but I have a limited tolerance for “peopling”—you know, cocktail parties, wedding receptions, any place where small talk is on the menu. If I have to attend an event where a “Hello, My Name Is” nametag is offered, anxiety will be my plus one….
Lately, I’ve had several people ask me to recommend adoption books. While I can easily rattle off a few titles that I’ve read on my journey to adoption, I don’t want to mislead people. There isn’t one book I’ve read that I can point to and say: “Oh yes…this taught me all the things about…