As anyone who's stumbled across me once or twice knows, I am a big fan of adoption. From where I sit, it's right on just about every level possible, managing to pull off so many positives in circumstances that can be heavily weighted toward the negative, the dire and the disastrous. Yes, when the question involves children with no one to care for them and families longing for little ones, adoption is a very good answer.

There are those, however, who don't feel this way. I'm not talking about the anti-adoption... more

Do you know of special relationships between a mother and a daughter? Is there a woman who has inspired you? Someone who goes the extra mile to make the world a better place, and makes others want to, too?

If so, the Huffington Post and iVillage would like you to share.

In an effort to celebrate mothers and daughters, " ... and not just biological mothers and daughters,... 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

Over on the International Adoption Blog I've been writing a lot this month on my children's birth country, Cambodia. April is a big month for Cam-related events and topics in my house, from Cj's birthday to... more

For all the plusses adoption presents, there are also minuses, one of which is having had no control of what went on with, or into, our kids before they came to us. With studies now proving that much of what gives kids strong bones comes from the time before they were born, and very little chance for adoptive parents to get full details on every aspect of maternal health and nutrition during pregnancy, it's important we do what we... more

As I wrote last week, osteoporosis is a concern for older parents. Toting kids may help build our bone density, therefore giving yet another reason why adopting later in life can be good for our health, but our worries shouldn't be limited to our own old bones. With our kids coming to us after beginning and growing in another woman, we've had no control over what went into them right up until the time they entered... more

I posed this conundrum in my last post:

Aside from a few obvious similarities ... both being about baths, and neither written for children ... what is the connection between the songs "Splish, Splash" and "Mother's Lament"? And to stretch the point just a bit more, what... more

I sing to my kids. I sing all the time, and there are very few occasions that don't inspire me to burst forth into one song or another. Given that I was born in 1951 and spent many a Saturday with Dick Clark, many of the songs in my head can be traced to vestiges of various forms of Rock & Roll.

Bath time, for example, brings out two old favorites that are naturals for the event -- "Splish, Splash" and ... more

I've been talking about money lately, so this story from the UK titled, "Older Men Build the Biggest Debts" grabbed my eye. According to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, there's been a 65% increase in demands for service in the last year with significant numbers of older people needing help to get back... more

Teaching our children to feather their nests securely is vital, but it is just as important for those of us finding ourselves caring for elderly parents at the same time we have little ones at home to get help on that angle, as well.

For that other slice of bread on our sandwich ... we are the filling, of course ...... more