A Great Article on Trans Racial Adoption

I have written on transracial adoption before on this blog. I guess my ideas on it are not always the most popular (if you ask a trans racial adoptee or even some social workers) proven by the mere fact that we are adopting transracially. I have read through every blog, book and article imaginable featuring stances on the positive side and negative side of adoption. This is perhaps one of the most balanced views of a TRA I have ever seen. And, guess what? It was written by an 8th grader and then posted on her sibling's transracial adoption blog. Check it out:

http://kadnexus.wordpress.com/2007/06/04/my-sisters-adoption-essay/

Bookshelf

This is what I should have on our family bookshelves.

Adoption Update

Hi All. Well, the CCAA just processed this month's referrals in a record 22 days. They have not processed this quickly in a while. Now, it is only for 4 days of referrals but could it mean a speed up is on the way? We hope so.

Please keep us in your thoughts as we hope for a speedy referral.

And, pray for us because if we do not receive a SN older referral we will be getting an infant! It is enough to make me laugh that Nathan and I will be getting an infant when I am 37 and he is 35.

Dana

Backyard Fun

Well, our time as homeschoolers has come to a close. It is difficult at times to not say, we homeschool. The ideology that embodies homeschoolers is one that we embrace. To be free wheeling with our family and not bowing down to the government influence of education in America, to be able to live our lives without the constraints of other people's idea of how our time should be spent, to be able to pick up and go wherever and whenever, all of these things are part of that.

There are 3 HS families that we really hung with the past few months. One move away in May and the other left a couple of weeks ago. The third, still here and still in contact with us just adopted two boys and are fully occupied with them. I think it actually helped that two of the families moved away in our transition into school.

Above is a photo of four of the kids including two of the ones that moved.

Bye guys, we'll miss you and maybe we'll see you in CA someday!

Vietnamese Orphans

I think I would feel better about the length of time that governments take to facilitate adoptions if it were not for the fact that thousands and thousands of children were not waiting for families:

http://tinquehuong.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/vietnams-abandoned-children/

Quote
You are worried about seeing him
spend his early years in doing nothing.
What! Is it nothing to be happy?
Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long?
Never in his life will he be so busy again.
~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abyss and Harvest

It's hard you know. Change. It's hard for me. Hard for Nathan. Hard for Noah. I have felt for a few weeks the way I felt about 11 years ago. A friend told me it was as if I were on the edge of a cliff ready to jump. I think he thought I was jumping into a scary place. The truth is, I jumped into an incredible phase of growth and prosperity. I changed jobs, moved, met Nathan, and began the incredible spiritual journey bringing my closer to the Divine.

The truth is, I was jumping into the abyss. What I knew at that time was that my life was not as it should be and I needed to jump...to be the fool in terms of the tarot....to find peace and contentment and my soul's longing.

Now, here I am again, at the edge of the abyss and about to jump. I'm working up the nerve. I am counting on Spirit to provide the cloud of hope and joy to lift me from the abyss into the light.

Noah has begun school and I find myself splitting my days between seriously cleaning, organizing and painting our home and job hunting. Right now, as things stand, I am waiting to hear if my Father has repurchased our old family business or whether I will be working somewhere else, such as the Mall. (I am guessing whatever job I have will begin in September). I am embarking on a new teaching journey that will begin in September. I am waiting to meet the Ethiopian representative for our adoption agency as we have begun revisiting that program (also the first week of September). And, in September I will begin offering a spiritual cinema movie and discussion group once a month at FUUN.

Amazingly, the last time I was on the edge of the abyss was in late August and the changes came fast and furious in September. It is part of the cycle of life. We are in the harvest time of the year. Llamas was the first harvest. We are quickly approaching the second harvest with the Autumnal Equinox. I know that I am in harvest mode for all of the things I have set into motion the past few months. I am looking forward to a bountiful harvest in my life and wish you one as well.

I'll keep you posted as these changes unfold in mine and my family's life.

China by Tori Amos

"China"

All the way to New York
I can feel the distance getting close
You're right next to me
But I need an airplane
I can feel the distance as you breathe
Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build the great wall around you
In your eyes I saw the future
Together you just look away in the distance

China decorates our table
Funny how the cracks don't seem to show
Pour the wine dear
You say we'll take a holiday
But we never can agree on where to go

Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build the great wall around you
In your eyes I saw the future
Together you just look away in the distance

China all the way to New York
Maybe you got lost in Mexico
You're right next to me
I think that you can hear me
Funny how the distance
Learns to grow

Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build the great wall around you
In your eyes I saw the future
Together you just look away in the distance

I can feel the distance
I can feel the distance
I can feel the distance getting close