In the June 16, 2007 issue of “Church News” is an adoption story that touched my heart. The Ozair and Rosicler Ribeiro family of Brazil already had three biological children when Ozair, a fireman, helped rescue a premature infant boy who’d been abandoned in a sewage ditch. The baby spent 45 days in the hospital, and Ozair visited him every day and very quickly, he fell in love with the tiny baby. He and his wife, new converts, adopted the infant and named him William. This child, whom they considered an angel straight from Heaven, ultimately paved the way for many, many more adopted children to join the family.

While the Ribeiros had never intended to have such a large family, the... more

One of my favorite sayings is a line stolen from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (which hearkens back to my high school days): “Something’s afoot at the Circle K.” And ever since we announced our desire and intention to adopt not one, but two, children from Ethiopia, I’ve felt “something’s afoot.”

I have no doubt that we made the right choice, because this choice was confirmed through fasting and prayer. Even the manner in which the idea sort of fell into my husband’s lap at the same time I’d been considering it points to my Heavenly Father’s... more

I came across this news story this morning: Children Bad for Planet

Having large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a big car and failing to reuse plastic bags, says a report to be published today by a green think tank.

This scares me. China’s one child policy, for example, is grounded in similar concerns about the negative effects of overpopulation, but I don’t think most people could look at China’s decades-long experiment as evidence of the wisdom of limiting population. On the surface,... more

For us personally, the news of Ethiopia's proposed family size restrictions comes at a crucial time. As regular readers of this blog may know, we’ve been wondering/thinking/pondering/praying about whether to adopt a boy or a girl for some time now, but neither decision seemed to be the right one. We kept putting it on the backburner, but when we mailed our dossier to our agency a couple of weeks ago, we knew we’d have to make this important decision sooner than later.

On our way to our fingerprint appointment last week, I finally confessed to my husband that I’d been feeling our “child” should... more

Additional resources:

The Genesis Group

From the website:

The Genesis Group was established to meet the needs of Black members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many of whom were descendants of early pioneers, with the hope of reactivating those who had left the Church and of supporting new converts of African descent. It was established in 1971 under the direction of President Harold B. Lee with the assistance of Elders Gordon B. Hinckley,... more

2 Nephi 26:33 "...and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."

Article of Faith Three

We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. (emphasis mine)

“Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie”

"There are statements in our literature by the early Brethren that we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes... more

I can’t possibly do justice to all the different theories (and theories, they are) about curses and lineage and when and where and how the policy began, but I use the story of Abel’s murder and Cain’s subsequent punishment to illustrate that the “knowledge” some church members have on the subject of blacks and the gospel can be damaging to our children. I believe that even neutral and even well-intentioned comments, if doctrinally incorrect, are our responsibility to counter, just as we would any other adoption-related misconceptions. But we can’t educate others if we don’t first educate ourselves, and I sincerely hope that caucasian LDS parents will take this education seriously. At the... more

Another reason it’s a good idea for caucasian parents who hope to adopt transracially to have a handhold on race and church history is because social workers who are aware of the church’s past policy want to know how this will be handled with the child. “What priesthood ban?” is not a good response. If you are going to be a parent of a black child, you owe it to the child to educate yourself. Consider the experiences of one adoptive family:

I will never forget sitting across the desk from the guardian ad litem for my first son in her Milwaukee office. She was a polished, accomplished woman. She was black.... more

Since I was hired to create this blog, I’ve been wanting to tackle the difficult subject of race issues and the Church. In the beginning, it sounded like a logical topic to cover for an LDS adoption blog, knowing that many members adopt transracially. But each time I tried to start mentally composing something, it seemed just too emotionally and intellectually challenging.

I’ve been doing a little “research” over the last few weeks, and I suppose I’ve been trying to get my own bearings on “the facts” and how I feel about them before I write about something... more

Even though Karen and I were miles apart, the Spirit bore witness to both of us that her choice and my growing up in the family I did were all in accordance with Heavenly Father’s plan.

Karen and I made plans to meet in person, and in the 13 years since that night, Karen has become a cherished friend. She has developed a special relationship with my sweet mother as well. Karen has never attempted to take my mother’s place. She simply adds another dimension of love to a life full of blessings. She has also become “Grandma Karen” to my... more