A common skin condition that many Ethiopian children have on homecoming is molluscum. Molluscum are small, harmless wart-like growths on the skin that are caused by a virus. Most often these growths can be found on the trunk, arms, legs, and face. They can also be in the hair.

Molluscum can be as small as a millimeter or larger than diameter of a pencil eraser. Some have a whitish top similar to a blister, and others look pinkish and wart-like. (photos) Kids may have just one, or many at a time.

Molluscum are spread by skin contact or through sharing items such as gym mats or equipment.... more

This afternoon we were at the grocery store, cruising through the dairy aisle. My 12 year old (home 6 weeks) said something in Amharic that I didn't understand. And then my two year old (home 2 years) said something back to her that I also didn't understand.

My 12 year old burst out laughing and explained. "I say 'I'm cold' in Amharic. She say 'really?'-- in Amharic!"

Keep in mind that until the big girls arrived home 6 weeks ago, the two year old's only exposure to Amharic has been the half dozen or so words I know. I do NOT know how to say 'really?' in Amharic. In fact, I can't even remember it long enough to blog the actual word. (It is something like 'ah-nut', I... more

Is your family planning on adopting a sibling group or a 'twin' close in age to one of your other children? If so, you would be wise to do some extra prep work before your new children come home to help those first 6 months go a little more smoothly.

First of all, remember that this is going to a tremendous change for your existing children. Even if the new child's adjustment goes smoothly, and your other kids are excited about the new child, reality has a way of surprising you.

There will be days when the new kids are sucking up time like a desert sucks rain. Times when the new kids are repeatedly getting into the 'old' kids' stuff. Times when mom and dad are crankier... more

Families with adopted children sometimes find that their children's classmates are uninformed about adoption. Unfortunately many young children will manifest that lack of information by asking the adopted children awkward questions or making unkind comments.

Families can handle this in a couple ways. We can coach our kids to think ahead and have an answer planned and ready when a friend asks a question such as, "Is that your real mom?" Some families also opt to go into their children's classrooms near the start of each school year to do a brief adoption talk, helping kids learn a little more about adoptive families.

If you opt to talk to your child's class, here are some... more

Since we are a homeschooling family, the decision to homeschool our newest children was a fairly simple one. We are open to considering other options for our girls if they became necessary for some reason. But my experience with homeschooling has me convinced that homeschooling offers many benefits to newly arrived children. Some of the biggest benefits include the tutoring style of teaching, and the ability to personalize curriculum to the children's needs.

We've made it through our first week of homeschooling, and so far things are going pretty well. There are the usual pangs from various children... more

When people inquire about our girls, they often are curious about how they are doing at learning English. When we arrived in Ethiopia four weeks ago, our girls could speak a little English already. I would estimate that they knew several dozen words-- much more than the dozen or so words we'd learned in Amharic, that's for sure.

During the first days together we tried to keep the language very simple: short sentences with lots of gestures. It was more difficult than I thought to not be able to communicate well. My husband was concerned all along that the language would be a problem. But for some dumb reason I didn't worry. I had read a lot of stories from other adoptive families... more

Do you have a ‘powerful’ kid? One who will argue you under the table rather than follow your instructions or admit he was wrong? I have a few kids like that myself.

These kids tend to be highly intelligent. They can very easily become entirely devoted to and obsessed with getting their own way, and won‘t hesitate to wage emotional war on mom in the heat of trying to avoid consequences.

I have at times succumbed to the power of 'you don't love me!', especially in the case of my adopted ones, fearing adoption/attachment issues. When I hear that, I do address that and try to make sure that is not truly a fear.

However on mulling it all over in regards to my kids,... more

My new 11 year old daughter is teaching me to make injera. But today as I watched her, I realized she is bringing much more to her new family than just a formula for producing proper injera.

Each time as my daughter has finished cooking the injera, when she has only a little batter left to cook she calls her 9 year old sister. Her sister comes running to make one last smaller piece of injera for herself. The younger girl them claims that piece of injera for herself, to eat with... more

When we adopted our first Black child, my eyes were opened to the lack of diversity in my own world. I realized that not only did we live in a predominantly white community, but we also watched TV shows that featured mostly white characters, read books where white people were the main characters, and bought Disney movies where the princesses were almost uniformly pale-skinned.

I began a hunt through bookstores for books with African-American characters. I was a voracious reader as a child, but the only Black characters that I remember reading about were very stereotypically drawn Southern... more

Friday morning found me fussing over hair. Our agency had arranged for us to meet with our girls' uncle who had traveled all the way from Harar to meet us, and I wanted them to look nice. But the meeting time -- 9:30 AM -- had me in a bit of a time crunch. Now with four Ethiopian girls, hair dominates my life in a whole new way.

A couple evenings earlier, three of my girls ALL decided they wanted their hair done and proceeded to unbraid--at 8 PM, no less. I had a moment of pure panic at the sight of three heads of hair all loose at once, and so close to bedtime. The younger of our new girls has soft, loosely curled hair like my little girls -- a familiar challenge. My older daughter... more