Mediterranean Diet Wins Glowing Reviews

It seems as if people are always looking for the perfect diet. But, it often alludes us. We either feel deprived of food or don’t want to eat what we can have. Worse yet, there are the diets that just don’t work! For years, I have been hearing good things about the Mediterranean diet. This is the diet primarily followed by people that live in the southern regions of Italy, Greece, and Spain. It includes a lot of fruit and vegetables along with olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fish, dairy, meat (but not red), and yes, even wine. The diet … Continue reading →

Medical Information Needed

When you have adopted children there are certain things you do not know such as the biological medical history. This is especially true when you adopt a child from child protective services like we did. We have been asking the biological mother for birth family history since we first met her during the medication of Rebecca. As I have mentioned in the past the biological mother voided the mediation agreement when she disappeared and our letters kept getting returned. I tracked the biological mother down a few times already and asked her for the information but she has repeatedly failed … Continue reading →

Open, Semi-Open or Closed Adoption part 4

I realize that some biological or adoptive parents want to keep the personal contact information private. Some fear the bond being too close between the biological parents that it may affect the bond between the adoptive family and the child. I do not want to say that would never happen because I suppose it could but I personally think if the child is loved by the adopted parents that the child would have the best of both worlds. If the biological parent is well balanced, emotionally stable than the benefits of having some form of contact with the biological parents, … Continue reading →

Open, Semi-Open or Closed Adoption part 3

With open adoption both the biological family and the adoptive families know the names, addresses and contact information for each other. In our situation and the fact the biological mother did not seem to me to have the ability to make great decisions so we did not want her to know our information. We were concerned that if she had our information we would eventually hear a knock at the door and she would be there. We actually took preventative measures to insure that she did not know our information. We used my maiden name for any introductions and papers … Continue reading →

Open, Semi-Open or Closed Adoption part 2

If you are considering placing your unborn child up for adoption or you’re considering adoption I hope that you read my last entry. If you did you will realize that both the adoptive and birth families have decisions to consider. The decision to participate in an open, semi-open or a closed adoption are decisions that both parties need to decide on. The first part of thinking about the decision is to consider how comfortable you are with sharing your child’s life with another person who is responsible for your child. I can see it from a few different positions. As … Continue reading →

Open, Semi-Open or Closed Adoption

There are many women out there facing an unplanned pregnancy and if you are considering placing your unborn child up for adoption GOOD FOR YOU. As I am sure you know there are thousands of potential parents just waiting for a child to call their own. Before you begin deciding on the parents for your child you need to give some other issues some thoughts. Choosing the adoptive parents is an extremely important decision but there are other decisions that you need to make before you begin the process of choosing the family. First you need to think about whether … Continue reading →

What Should We Tell?

If you have adopted children one thing you think about is how you will explain to the kids what their life story is. Of course our kids all know they are adopted we have never kept that a secret we actually speak of it with great pride. We tell them that they were chosen by us in specific. I had actually made a story up for them talking about how we looked high and low then we looked in our hearts and found them. We have explained to them that when people have babies from the tummy they do not … Continue reading →

India Adoption

I learned something the other day that I did not know. There are an overwhelming number of baby girls placed in orphanages in India. The situation is much like that of the baby girls in China little girls born in India are quite often given up for adoption and placed in orphanages. In India preference is given to India residence first then Non Resident Indian and then foreign citizens may adopt the child. When considering adoption from India married couples, single women are eligible to adopt and under special approval a single man. A single man is only able to … Continue reading →

Wednesday’s Child

I was watching the news today and they had their Wednesday child special segment. Wednesday’s child is featuring kids that are in the foster care system that are waiting for a forever family. The two today were nine year old twins that had been in foster care for a while. They were sweet, intelligent and caring kids. When the little girl was asked what she wanted her answer was a family to love her. Now I am sucker for kids but they were so darn cute. They loved each other and the only family criteria she had is that she … Continue reading →

Our First Christmas

When I think back to this week I always refer back to the joy and happiness of my first Christmas as a Mom. I remember Steve who was 3 lying under the tree looking up at the lights. There was many nights that we would get up to check on the kids and the Christmas tree would be on and Steve was just curled up under it like our cat does. I know that he had a very hard young life and so we wanted this to be an absolutely amazing Christmas for him. I will admit we did go … Continue reading →