I’ve been living in a fog of chocolate, family, parties and a messy house. Who has time to write?

Thank goodness for Sandra that this blog is kept up with, as Dr. G is out of town and I’m just out of time.

I read that Sandra has writing deadlines elsewhere, but she still manages to keep up with both her blogs, and I, of course, feel totally inadequate.

I only have one child – she has two!

I don’t... more

Oh please say it isn’t so.

This morning I heard on the radio that Madonna actually offered David’s dad money so he could stay with family in Malawi, and the Dad turned down the cash.

Then I head that another woman had David’s adoption already in the works but when Madonna came her adoption went out the window.

I’m starting to not trust anything Madonna says. I don’t believe she offered money as that wouldn’t have taken so long to hit the news … would it?

Another mom had her adoption with David stopped because of Madonna.

Oh... more

How about this for another reason to adopt your children if you're wanting them later in life? Or not.

Women who put off having children until later in life risk passing on an infertility risk to their daughters, researchers warned yesterday. This discovery is the first evidence that the reduced fertility seen in older women causes genetic damage which is passed on at the time that they conceive, to their female children, causing reduced fertility in them.

According... more

Regardless of whatever anyone else thinks, Madonna is coming off pretty darn good on Oprah right now.

Her story:

She did go through a homestudy before she ever went to Africa.

She has completed the international adoption requirements.

Bio dad did consent.

Madonna says she will have an open adoption with bio dad - as Madonna will continue to travel to Africa and continue her work there. She will be taking David with her for visits.

Madonna will continue to have visits by a caseworker until the adoption is finalized.

She encourages others to adopt from Africa and that has already gotten flames in the blogger world - yet understand that... more

MM left a comment on one of my posts and wrote that maybe 50 is the new 40. That tickled me because MM has been one of our more vocal readers opposed to older parenting, though she admits to being less rigid about the notion than she was when she first stated reading our blog. I think that's neat, and our editor should find that to be rewarding. I don't believe our primary agenda is to change people's opinions with any of our blogs, but to encourage them to think and consider alternative points of view. Seems like with at least one of our readers, MM, we're accomplishing... more

I've been meaning to post this for a very long time (pun there whether I intend it, or not), because I love it, and because it says so well what constantly confuses me:

I Could Give All To Time

- A Poem by Robert Frost

To Time it never seems that he is brave To set himself against the peaks of snow To lay them level with the running wave, Nor is he overjoyed when they lie low, But only grave, contemplative and grave.

What now is inland shall be ocean isle, Then eddies... more

Rosamond 'Roz" Carr, fashion illustrator, flower farmer, author, famous friend, hero of post-genocide Rwanda, and award-winning carer of orphaned children died on Friday at the age of 94.

From the Rwanda Project:

As a young fashion illustrator in New York City, Rosamond Halsey married an adventurous hunter-explorer, Kenneth Carr, whom she journeyed with to the Belgian Congo in 1949. After their eventual divorce, Kenneth left, while Rosamond... more

Continued from my previous post where we're celebrating different faces of motherhood.

The older mother ...

There isn't a single thing I've experienced that would have been easier if I'd been younger. I'm sure it will get more difficult as Delilah gets older and her friends start asking why her 'granny' takes her to school. But then she's only four: I've still got a few years to start saving for the plastic surgery.

... more

The lead article for this story is on the International Adoption Blog.

The celebration of the many faces of motherhood contines with interviews with ten different varieties of moms explaining their situations and their choices. The working mom (more than 70 per cent of all married or cohabiting mothers with dependent children go out... more

Continued from here. Here in Seychelles, by a huge majority, the elderly are cared for by their children, and occupants of the "old folks home" are almost exclusively childless.

Mark's grandmother lives with her youngest son and his family, right next door to Mark's parents, and most of her children visit often and contribute to her support in one way or another. It's grandchildren who take her to church and... more