Tag Archives: international adoption

New Adoption Programs with Shorter Wait Times

My last blog referred to a site listing adoption requirements by country, including several countries with small and fairly new adoption programs. Many of these programs have shorter timeframes than countries whose adoption programs are more well-known. A word of caution is in order here: timeframes can be unpredictable when a country is new. Perhaps their court system or passport and visa offices don’t work as quickly as their adoption approval process. Perhaps the system will be vulnerable to major changes when a new administration and/or legislative body takes office. While these programs are understandably attractive to those who want … Continue reading →

Adoption Programs You’ve Never Heard Of

In fiscal year 2008, Guatemala, China and Russia were countries with the first, second, and third most adoptions to the United States, according to U.S. State Department figures. In fourth place was Ethiopia, in fifth South Korea, in sixth Vietnam, in seventh Ukraine, in eighth Kazakhstan, in ninth India, in tenth Columbia. The 2007 rankings were much the same: China and Guatemala switched first and second place, the countries in third through ninth place were the same, and in FY 2007 Liberia was in tenth place instead of Columbia. The Country Guidelines tab on the Rainbow Kids website lists some … Continue reading →

Our Holiday Too

Today, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday is observed by government agencies, public schools, and many private schools and offices. Some businesses, however, deal with holidays such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veterans’ Day by remaining open (in a global economy, many of them must). Instead of these holidays, many give their employees two or more “personal holidays” that they can take throughout the year. I can appreciate the flexibility of this arrangement. I also admit that before there was this holiday, when I was in high school and college, our school day had assemblies, prayer services, speakers and … Continue reading →

Friday Funny: the Befuddled Santa

Our scrapbooking blogger Nicole had a series she called the Friday Funnies . In that spirit I offer this humorous holiday incident, wondering whether other adopted kids have had the same experience. My five-year-old and I were at a smaller shopping mall in our neighborhood. Santa wasn’t busy at the time. He saw my daughter looking at him and came closer to the picket fence of the space defined for photo-taking. “Nee How! Nee How!” he said leaning toward Regina. He waved vigorously. “Nee how!” I was wondering what was in Santa’s eggnog that day when I remembered that Ni … Continue reading →

Waiting for Writers and Readers.

Sometimes we chaff at how long it takes for things to happen, for God to answer our prayers. In the life of a writer a lot of time is spent waiting. Waiting for characters to be fleshed out. Of course we may still be writing at the same time and getting to know our characters. Waiting for a cooling off period after a draft of a manuscript is written, before going back to edit and revise. Then, when it is finally off to a publisher waiting for their response. Waiting for the postman to come with the good news of … Continue reading →

How Soon We Forget!

How soon we can forget the way God acts in our lives! This is one of the advantages of keeping a journal. For years I’ve been a huge fan of journals for quiet times, probably way back since I read ‘A Man Called Peter,’ by Catherine Marshall. I call mine a communuon journal because it records my communion with God, Bible readings, prayers, thoughts and how God speaks to me. This morning I plucked put one of those old journals and looked at the first page. Like Courtney I’ve been feeling a bit disenchanted with novel writing recently. I was … Continue reading →

So You Think the Olympics Ended in August? Think Again!

Why would I be writing about another Olympic role model with adoption ties a month after the Olympic Games ended? Well, in reality the Games ended just this past week. From September 6-13, the Paralympic Games took place in Beijing. The world’s second-largest sporting event–elite competitions for athletes with physical or visual disabilities–draws the best disabled athletes from all over the world. The “para” in Paralympics is for “parallel”, on a par with, rather than paraplegic as some people assume. The Paralympic Games are held in the same year and at the same location as the Olympic Games. Cities and … Continue reading →

Dreams and Desires Fulfilled

My talk on Saturday started off with my childhood dreams. At varying times in my life I wanted to be a wife and mother, a writer, a singer, a teacher and a missionary. Now anyone who knows me knows I’d be the world’s worst in a missionary situation. I am literally terrified of anything that creeps or crawls and much prefer my own home than being away. Over the years those childhood dreams had been pushed aside. I’d forgotten about them mostly. But God hadn’t. When I look back at those desires I had as a child of being a … Continue reading →

Is Artistic Genius an Excuse?

Are those with exceptional artistic or creative talent outside the rules for normal relationships and marriage boundaries? So often in today’s society, and even past society that seems to be the case. We make excuses because they are a genius. That was some of the thoughts that came out of the play Mick and I saw last night. We went with friends to see our local drama group’s production of the play Mr. Bailey’s Minder by Australian author Debra Oswald. The play is the ‘tough, funny and bighearted story of an abusive and cantankerous’ artist called Leo Bailey. Leo has … Continue reading →

C. S. Lewis – Latter-day Truths in Narnia – Marianna Richardson and Christine Thackeray

I had the most marvelous opportunity a couple of weekends ago to read “C.S. Lewis –Latter-day Truths in Narnia,” and I loved every minute of it. I’ve been a fan of Lewis’s since I was ten, when I first picked up “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” and was amazed to discover that Aslan was a type of Christ. I remember running in to my mom and telling her, “This is just like Jesus.” She didn’t humor me by letting me think I’d discovered it on my own—instead, she said, “I know”—but that didn’t diminish my discovery. I read … Continue reading →