Speaking of unwanted attention, there’s the air travel portion of our trip that is giving me pause. We’ve flown with six, but never with nine, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad apprehensive about it. I was able to pick seats on all but one leg of our flight, so we’ll be appealing to the sensibilities of strangers on that flight to allow us to sit together. I have a plan in case no one volunteers to move seats. It involves baby pinching. A crying kid ought to scare most people off, right?

In case you’re wondering, nine is the most... more

OK, I’ve been keeping a little secret that I’m bursting at the seams to share: we’re going to Disneyland!

“OK, that sounds fun,” you say, “but what does it have to do with adoption?”

Much, my friend. Much.

You see, it all started when we began planning a “family honeymoon” of sorts for after the arrival of our three newest kids. We knew better than to head off on some fabulously wonderful vacation a week or two after they showed up because, one, we were broke, two, the pesky diarrhea problem would have put a damper on things,... more

I wonder, though, if some of these arguments are actually moot, and maybe the “competition” isn’t as stiff as some might think. I know MANY adoptive families – far more than the average Joe – and I can’t think of a single one who is able to have biological children (meaning perfectly fertile and without medical complications that might make pregnancy risky) and has adopted the proverbial HWN just because they wanted to choose adoption first (or instead.) Families like this may certainly exist, but I’ve yet to meet one. No, most of the families I’ve encountered with biological and adopted children, or only adopted children (but who could have biological children) have been made up of children... more

While researching something entirely different, I ran across this blog post today and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

When we were first debating adding a fifth child (presumably by birth) and subsequently encountered the idea of international adoption, I spent a good chunk of time wondering whether we should adopt if we were able to have biological children. I worried about the commandment to “multiply and replenish the earth,” and whether I was somehow ducking my responsibility in this area by choosing adoption (though this concern seems pretty silly to me now). Later, even after we had our adoption... more