Just the other day, I took my daughter in to the pediatrician because she had a strange rash on her stomach. Our regular pediatrician was gone and a locum doctor was there in her place. I had to explain about Cora’s albinism, which lead to a brief discussion about Haiti and how she’d been adopted. The doctor asked if we had other children, and I told her that we did and that Cora was one of three we’d just adopted from Haiti. She then asked if we were foster parents, and I told her that we had four birth children, two from China, and now the three from Haiti. She dropped Cora’s chart in her lap and exclaimed, “Oh my goodness! Does everyone around here know who you are? Are you well-known... more

Being an adoptive family or even a prospective adoptive family can open you up for all sorts of unwelcome questions, comments and general observations on your life. In my experience, I’ve only rarely been confronted by people who express overtly negative feelings on the subject of adoption, but I find that these kinds of run-ins aren’t the only ones that cause me to cringe. No, the worst encounters seem to occur when people’s ignorance gets in the way of their attempts to “praise” or offer “encouragement.” Just ask any couple that has experienced infertility... more

When we took that first step, neither of us could know how just how many potholes, hills, exits, traffic jams and accidents there would prove to be on that road, or how many beautiful and amazing sights we’d see along the way!

Our dossier went to China in late August 2001 after five months of loving preparation. The very next month, we received devastating news. My husband was losing his job. The ENT physician he was working with had quit, and the hospital didn’t think my husband’s job as an audiologist was safe without an ENT on staff. Because it’s a small hospital, they had no idea how long it would take to recruit another.

We had just hawked everything that wasn’t... more