"Woman Is Surrogate Mom to Baby Gorillas"

Do you know what I thought when I saw this headline? Do you know?

Yes, that's what I thought. I thought she was carrying two (or more?) baby gorillas in her uterus. And that alarmed me! Surrogacy already alarms me, but cross-species surrogacy? Gah!

Carrying another person's child in your womb, on purpose: this is what surrogate means to me. But obviously I've been reading the adoption/fertility/parenting literature too... more

This is one of my favorite pictures. It's me and Big J when Big J was about 3. We were camping in the mountains. I believe we were at Tweetsie Railroad when this was taken. I believe that's a mini golf club in my hand. Tweetsie, if you don't know, is this cowboy/country/Appalachian amusement park that every kid from this part of the world should visit at least once, even though I think it's ridiculously expensive for what you get.

Anyway, you can't see this in the picture, but I happened to be 8 weeks pregnant that weekend.... more

For whatever reason, November has always been a month that has inspired new resolves in me. It's my 'I-need-to-start-a-diet" month. My self-improvement month. My big life questions month. Forget January 1st - November 1st is my own personal New Year's.

Actually, I know the reason. November is my birthday month. Not another year to do such and such, I always tell myself. By the time I'm 35, 36, 37, or this next birthday, 38, I will have accomplished blah blah blah.

Well, I am not skinny this birthday, although I have been good about changing... more

I have been working on an adoption ABC book on and off for a couple of months (yes, I am slow with the kids' books, fast with the blogging...funny how it is when I'm allowed unlimited words how much I can yak...and how when I have to make it short and sweet how difficult it becomes).

I am having big problems with the letters Q and Z.

I need help.

A while back a wonderful poster gave me some possibilities for some of my more difficult letters, like U, X, and Y. Really brilliant. But I'm still stuck... more

By "it" I mean adoption.

Of course, it's my job on this blog to talk about adoption. I'm supposed to focus on the issues of those hoping to adopt - the who, what, why, where, and when of adoption.

But some days I can't think of anything to write about. And some days I don't want to think about it. Because although my family was formed through adoption I don't think of my family as any different from most other families.

Or let me put it this way: all families are different. Mine is no different than anyone else's I know.

I don't know anyone who has the perfect... more

Michelle, who is one of the writers of the Older Parent Adoption Blog, recently did a list of "100 things about me" to celebrate her 100th post in that blog.

Well, I happen to be over the 100 blog mark, but this month I have written the MAXIMUM number of blogs for adoptionblogs for each of the two blogs I write. That doesn't mean much to anyone besides the others who write blogs at this site, but I have to tell you, it was quite a feat.

The magic number for two blogs is 86. Here are the first 43.

And here are the second:

44. My favorite... more

Michelle, who is one of the writers of the Older Parent Adoption Blog, recently did a list of "100 things about me" to celebrate her 100th post in that blog.

Well, I happen to be over the 100 blog mark, but this month I have written the MAXIMUM number of blogs for adoptionblogs for each of the two blogs I write. That doesn't mean much to anyone besides the others who write blogs at this site, but I have to tell you, it was quite a feat.

The magic number for two blogs is 86. So here are 86 things about me.

1. I went to 6 different elementary schools, and no, I'm not a military brat.

2. I love bacon beyond reason.

3. I love to read.

4. I love to... more

Well, folks - I have a confession to make!

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to write about.

I need ideas, and I need a lot of them!

I'm responsible for writing two blogs (yup, count 'em, two) here at adoptionblogs and some days I am feeling rather lost. What should I say? What do people want me to say? Should I cover certain topics? What do you want to know?

This is the Hoping to Adopt blog...and while I'm hoping to adopt I am not in the process, or even close to the process. I have a reluctant spouse and a little boy who needs a few more years... more

You all, I have made a mistake. A serious mistake, one which has delighted my children and annoyed my husband (so what else is new?)

I was on a walk with a friend and we found a kitten. I couldn't let it stay in the middle of the road. I brought it home.

It is a cute little kitten, maybe 8 weeks old. Solid black with an adorable flowered collar. It obviously belongs to someone, although it was pretty hungry when it got to my house. It like to play. It purrs. It annoys my other (16 year old, diabetic, set-in-his-ways) cat.

But it... more

Anne Lamott (probably best known for Operating Instructions, her memoir about her son's first year), in Bird by Bird, her book about writing, tells the story of her brother and a report he had to do when he was in elementary or middle school. The report included a page on something like every single bird found in... more