If you've read my bio, you'll see that I promised in it to talk not only about what I know, but also to raise some of the issues I am still grappling with and hopefully get some feedback from you, my readers.

I do have readers, right? I do get some comments-- thanks very much to those of you who have made my day by commenting! But a fair number of my posts get zero comments, and I have to confess to feeling sometimes like I am speaking to an empty room.

So, here's your chance to let me know you're out there! De-lurk, as it is said in the blogging world. Here's one issue I am trying to figure out. Give me a hand in coming up with some good responses, OK?

At least half... more

Our family has always been blonde and pale and Scandinavian/Irish/German, with few exceptions. My husband’s aunts were adopted from an Indian reservation in the 60’s. And his uncle married a lady from India. But that was the extent of the diversity in our family--- til our kids came along, anyway. But change is a-coming and I am so excited about it! A few weeks ago I got a call from a cousin of mine who is interested in adopting from Ethiopia someday. I think I wore her ear off, chattering so much! I am so thrilled for them.

Then over Christmas, my step-sister brought home her fiance for everyone to meet. They are planning on getting married this spring. He is from Nigeria... more

As we have brought children from different countries into our family, I have put a lot of energy into learning about their culture. I spent hours learning rudimentary Korean via Rosetta Stone. I know how to cook Korean kimbap and mandu. We have Ethiopian traditional dresses for our daughters and I am getting better and better at making injera, Ethiopian flat bread.

I read an interesting viewpoint over at 'Twice The Rice' Ji-in is an adult Korean adoptee. She talks... more

Moose over on the Guatemala Adoption blog wrote on the topic of rude comments. His post got me thinking about something that happened to me recently along those lines.

I was cornered by a lady very interested in my family, our adoptions and our Ethiopian children. Question after question-- she covered all the ones I have struggled over the years to answer. Now, thankfully, I have pat answers to most of them.

But one line of conversation in particular left me fuming. After studying my baby's face carefully, the woman declared, “She doesn’t have African features.’

I laughed. ‘Well,... more

We’ve always talked openly with our kids about their adoptions. So far my boys (nearly 8) have not been nearly as interested in talking about birth family as my 3-1/2 year old. She regularly sprinkles comments into her conversation. Today it was “My birthmom made chocolate cookies too. And she had a brown bowl, like you.”

And on and on she went. She is a chatterbox, always, and she is at the age where fantastic stories are the norm. But I always listen carefully to the birthmom talk. It seems like such a window into her soul. Tonight she asked me which of our kids grew in my belly. I listed off the names of our 4 biggest kids. It seems obvious to us big people, I suppose.... more

My Korean boys, my baby, and I were invited to a birthday party the other night-- a Korean first-birthday celebration. In Korean culture, the first birthday is one of two ‘big’ birthdays in your life, the second being the 60th birthday. The house was packed with a wonderfully diverse group of people, much more so than is usual in the community where I live.

We have done fairly well at making friends in the Korean community. We have attended the local Korean school off and on. And I have a good Korean friend with whom I have lots in common. We don’t get together as often as I would like, but when we do, we cook up a storm-- she’s taught me lots of authentic Korean dishes. We chat... more