Six months. We have been a family for longer, but home only six months. It seems unreal because it feels like Miss Ella has always been here. I remember the time without her, but she has changed our lives so drastically that I feel like she’s been home forever.

Our hotel room in Viet Nam was mostly comprised of our huge bed, so Ella spent most of her time on there. She would army crawl around, but we didn’t know if she could actually crawl or not, due to lack of floor time. Well, as soon as we got back home and entered... more

I’ll bet that many would expect the title of my post today to be “Life Without Cole,” but my world exists with him in it, whether he’s here in person or not. I have my life and my family because of him and he is always here with me as I survive each day. His spirit is one with mine, just as he is with his daddy.

Today is my son Cole’s second birthday. It has been two long and short years since we were able to see and hold our baby for the first and last time on this Earth. These years have been so remarkably... more

Ella and I took part in “Take Your Child to Work Day” yesterday. Actually, for my mom it was “Take Your Child and Grandchild to Work Day.” My mom is a school nurse at a lovely, small elementary school where literally everyone knows all about Ella and has been a huge support to my mom and us throughout our family building process. They had all seen tons of pictures, but yesterday was the first time that Ella got to meet everyone at the school. It was an awesome experience to be welcomed so warmly... more

It absolutely blows my mind that some families do not support their family member’s decision to adopt. They do not support a new child entering the family because that child will be different. The fact that they do not welcome a child; any child, into their family is sickening to me. It’s sickening because the reason they are most likely shunning the adoptive family is because they now include someone who has a different skin color, is a different race, comes from an unknown background, is disabled…sadly, the list could... more

As a scrapper, I had all these dreams about the intricately beautiful and detailed pages I would make for my daughter when she came home. That was before she was actually here and before I realized that I would be lucky to carve out ten minutes a week to work on a scrapbook layout. We have been home six months and I have only completed six or seven pages and have a photo box full of photos (and hundreds more that need to be ordered from snapfish!)

So I have realized two things: I need to find time to work on... more

I have a lot to learn. I have spent some time recently reading the blogs of adult transracial adoptees, birthparents and other adoptive parents. I will reiterate: I have a lot to learn. We all do. It can be difficult for adoptive parents to take a step back and look at adoption through eyes that are not their own. It is hard to hear from others who have been negatively affected by adoption. But I think it is necessary. Not that I agree with everything I read, but it does open my mind as well as my eyes. And you can’t go... more

We recently received a request to send pictures to Viet Nam. We didn’t know that we should have sent them in along with our post placement report, so our agency director asked us to send them in to accompany the report. I have about a trillion pictures of Ella and of us as a family to choose from, but I wanted to choose pictures that best illustrated her life here with us.

I chose pictures that spanned the past few months, but most were from recent holidays and events. They will see her enjoying Christmas, Easter... more

We went to our very first Families With Children From Viet Nam (FCVN) get together this past weekend and had such a nice time! It was such a relaxed, happy group of people that I was quick to forget that I was meeting these families for the first time.

There were about eight families there who are all at different stages of the adoption process. Some are still in the paperwork stage, some have recently returned home, others adopted before the shutdown; so it was really great to see all these different families come together... more

At our first home study meeting we were informed that by adopting transracially, it would be as if we were walking down the street with a big old neon sign attached to our family. We were told how we would be an open target for questions and comments and we had better start thinking about how we were going to handle our new neon-ness.

Now that Ella’s home, I don’t always notice that we look different from everyone else. For the first weeks and months home I was aware that we looked different as a pair than most other moms and kids... more

Well, it happened. My little Ella is now officially a one year old! She celebrated her first birthday this week and it was a wonderful occasion. It was so much fun for me to plan and get ready and then be able to carry out her birthday plans (and yes, I know that she doesn’t really know what was going on :).)

Her birthday was extra special because since my husband has spring break all week, we got to spend the whole day together as a family. The big event for the day was going to have her pictures taken at Picture... more