I grew up with Sesame Street. When I was too old to watch Sesame Street, my sister was the right age and I found myself watching a whole new generation of Sesame Street. There was one song on Sesame Street that has stuck with me through the years. Totally out of the blue, I find myself humming the tune, but I couldn’t remember all of the lyrics.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I typed in what I remembered… “we all sing with the same voice” and there were the lyrics. It was just like I remembered. Time hadn’t changed the fact that I liked... more

I always love to check out Third Mom’s blog. She generally has very deep thoughts to share and interesting questions to raise. This post is just about remembering when her two Korean adoptees arrived. Reading other people’s memories always makes me remember mine with a little more clarity.

Link: Trying To Remember

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Julia’s Jam is still my favorite Korean adoptee blog. It’s not that I share common feelings or experiences all the time – sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. I just enjoy the way she gives her point without making everyone sound like villains.... more

I am still amazed by how much I’ve been caught by the NASCAR craze. Sports of any kind have never been my thing and cars don’t really interest me as a general rule. Truthfully, if my company didn’t have an interest in racing, I wouldn’t watch it at all. The facts are that my company does have an interest so because of that, I spend many Sundays (and sometimes Saturdays) watching the cars going around and around in circles. I can tell you who is who. I have my favorites and I not what it means when an announcer says a car is tight or loose coming... more

Part 1 - Introduction

Part 2 - Disappointment & Failure

Part 3 - Anxiety

Part 4 - Guilt

Relief, Contentment & Disappointment (Again)

When parents talk about the first time they met their child (whether through travel or arrival), they talk... more

I’m a little distracted tonight. We went to a kindergarten readiness meeting at my son’s daycare and I’m having trouble imagining my baby in kindergarten. He’s only three, but they are already prepping them for bigger and better things. They explained their curriculum and how it’s designed to teach basic reading and writing skills before kindergarten.

To top it off, they showed us the private kindergarten room. We really think that we will keep our son at this daycare through kindergarten. After all, there is a definite bonus... more

Part 1 - Introduction

Part 2 - Disappointment & Failure

Part 3 - Anxiety

Guilt

Last year, I wrote a post about guilt and I was thinking that guilt would be a perfect emotion for this series. Up until... more

Part 1 - Introduction

Part 2 - Disappointment & Failure

Anxiety

Anxiety is that emotion that causes a waiting parent to call the social worker once a week even though they’ve promised you that they will call you the minute that they have news. The adoption process is full of ups and downs that feed anxiety and make... more

Disappointment & Failure

Before people become to upset with me, I am not saying that Korean adoption is a disappointment. What I did want to share is that often parents arrive at the adoption process with a battle weariness that stems from disappointments. For many parents, by the time you get to the Korean adoption process, they’ve tried to conceive naturally, they’ve tried fertility treatments and they’ve tried domestic adoption. Disappointment is a part of life.

I don’t think that feeling disappointed makes you a bad person. I did not experience this process, but I’ve read about it with enough regularity that I know it’s not abnormal. It seems to me that if you try... more

They are talking about six to nine inches of snow in the next few days. When I hear that, I start thinking about nesting – finding warms places in my house where I can cuddle with my family under blankets. When I nest, I tend to have time to think. As I've mentioned before, this often a dangerous thing.

When parents share their adoption experience, you mostly hear about the good parts. With Korean adoption, parents talk about the happy moments. I remember my son’s arrival day. I remember her first smile. I remember the day the judge said we were... more

When I went to get my hair cut his week-end, I took my son with me and he was an angel. The woman who cuts my hair made several comments about how good he was being and I made a comment that my husband and I figure our second child will be a hellion since our first has been so easy.

Her immediate response to my question was to ask me if I was expecting. I think that I answered a little sharply because I have no interest in being pregnant. I tend to react a little strongly because no one ever stops to consider that adoption is an option.... more