A friend from the UK stopped by the other day on his way to one of the other islands to study some of the rare birds he specializes in, and since it's been more than a year since he's been around he noticed some big changes in my kids.

He has two of his own in England ... a girl Sam's age -- the first Ella to prompt the play on names that suggests his child and mine shouldn't date, a joke I've since worn thin (Sorry Lisa of Guatemalan blog... more

I wrote a Love Thursday blog last year called "Hangin' with my best friend" that feartured a shot of Mark and I deep in conversation in a hammock and talked about the ties that bind us ... strong and resilient ties ... that keep us functioning as parents smoothly and with very little friction, and continue to provide a rich environment for ever-growing love.

I could not be more pleased to know that Sam and Cj... more

When Mark and I began our first adoption journey, like many people new to the concept I had the idea that it was girls that were most likely to be needing homes and families.

The UK's Channel 4 production, "The Dying Rooms" swept the world, and the terrifying view into the world of unwanted little girls in China convinced many that boys had it easier and were far less likely to be in orphanages.

For many reasons ...... more

Sam and Cj have a life so different from that my first lot of kids lived as children. Of course, having a teen mom gives a whole different flavor to childhood from the one a kid gets when mother is closer to a grandmotherly age ... or even great-grandmotherly -- ack! ... and though both can be tasty, there's no denying they're not the same. (I tended to burn the cookies more often when I was younger, for one thing, and relied way too much on... more

Cj was still napping when I went to pick Sam up from school yesterday, so unlike most days when she beats me to his classroom, running in with her arms up ready for a hug from her big brother, I was alone.

Here's the conversation that followed on the drive home:

"So, where is Cj, Mom?" Sam asks.

"Sleeping," I answer. "She went down late for her nap, so didn't wake up in time to come with me."

"When I get bigger," he says after a moment's pondering, "I will hold Cj's... more