Since some of you are enjoying my rendition of our safari via your armchairs ... or, more likely, desks ... I thought I'd post some photos.

We have Sam and his hero, Calam, pretending to fish in a an elephant water hole in Tsavo National Park.

A shot proving that Cj was with us, even though just about everything went over her head. We will be reminding her of her first trip to Africa for a long time.

And a completely typical snap of the... more

This is cross-posted from the International Adoption Blog

After four hours of driving, Sam was a bit surprised that we headed for the car again soon after checking into our room at the Kilaguni Lodge.

When the answer to, "Where are we going?" came back, "We're not going anywhere ... just for a game drive," he looked confused, but for a kid who loves animals the way Sam does a game drive is the perfect thing follow to a long car session.

Within a very short time we'd spotted our first animal, a lone impala, and that was a sight! All of... more

I'm cross-posting this on both the International Adoption Blog and the Older Parent Adoption Blog. Sorry for the repetition if you read both.

Here's the list of things Sam's decided he wants to do in Africa: golf, play football, carry suitcases, buy toys and books.

Where any of this comes from is beyond me. A child's perspective is so removed from the adult way of looking at the world that it's as if different planets are inhabited by each species.

My world today if full of packing, details, laundry, lists and 'don't forget the__' anxieties.... more

Sam had another adventure yesterday ... this time he and Gay were joined by Mo, an expert on all things botanical and native to Seychelles.

This is one of the aspects of older motherhood I really, really love ... having friends who enjoy my kids for who they are. Not for playmate potential for their own toddlers or as baby-sitting tokens to be cashed in later, but as people.

Friends of younger mothers tend to fall on one of two sides of the kid fence: they have their own and are really busy with them, or they're really busy with other stuff and don't want anything... more

Good news ...

Some very nice news from Australia for all looking towards our kids' teen years with a bit of trepidation.

Seems the huge majority of adolescents like their parents a lot, aren't the moody and superficial monsters often portrayed, and are doing very well on the road to adulthood.

The snapshot, drawn from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics survey, and data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, shows there are 1.1 million... more

Mark and Sam and Cj have just gone off on an adventure. While Mark totes Cj in the baby pack, Sam carries snacks in his 'packpack', and the anticipation of a good time being had by all is high.

Watching my husband go happily off with both kids puts me in mind of all the hopefully adoptive mothers I hear from who are dealing with what are almost affectionately called, "reluctant spouses".

Well, Ladies, I think we may just have to admit to ourselves that some men can be a bit slow on the up-take. I know. I know. That's a very sexist statement and well deserving of... more

Am I not big on high-tech toys because I'm an old mom?

No.

Sure, way back in the days when I was a kid "Operation" was about the most complicated toy around (the magnet-body part combo being quite sophisticated), aside from giant frisbees of dinosaur poop, of course, and dolls did little more than "drink and wet", which was pretty straightforward a process, but that doesn't mean I'm not savvy.

I swing with the big kids to a certain height on computer usage, can make movies with my phone, program my car CD player AND change the cycle on my dishwasher, so it's not that... more

Go to the beach on Saturday morning; revisit the essence on Monday night -- that's how it works in my house.

With the sun shining, the Indian Ocean as flat as a lake on a windless day, and a few hours with nothing to do but wallow in the shallows with my three-year old and my one-year old, Saturdays in Seychelles can be wonderful.

My children are real beach kids, completely comfortable in floaties and sunscreen, fascinated by hermit crabs and sea cucumbers, and happy as clams when they're wet. Sam is almost a swimmer now, and although he maintains a healthy... more

Following up on the first step on our adoption journey... after T's mother returned we had occasional contact for a while, spending what time we could with him. A few months later, however, he and his mother left the country. The circumstances of their leaving and the scene at the airport are too heart-breaking to recant here, and far too complicated. I will never forget the pain of that day and can only wonder how a four-year old interpreted events.

In one of those amazing-what-a-small-world-it-is... more

An article in Adoptive Familes mag about the idea that adoptive families are predestined to be together has me thinking about the trail of bread crumbs on our meandering path.

There is no random scattering behind my family, but a careful morsel-by-morsel placing that guides a wonderfully scenic tour of our adoption journey I like to take often.

Starting from today and looking back down the path, I can revisit our trip to Cambodia for Cj, our wait, our preparation of documents, our... more