Last week, we talked about 153 Million Orphans That number is big, but it’s kind of abstract. What does this mean? Let’s think about us again for a minute (we like to do that, don’t we?  I know I do.) If you’re reading this, you probably live in the United States, Canada, or Europe.  Sorry if the rest of you feel left out…it’s just what Google Analytics tells me.  But I digress. There are 140 million children in the United States, Canada, and Europe.  Where we live.  Every kid we see at the bus stop, or at birthday parties, or in […]

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In 2006, we met Masha In 2007, while we were adopting Masha, we met Lena. A little backstory…. During the time when be were adopting Masha, the crazy idea that we might actually want TWO kids crossed our minds.  We realized that God had better plans for us than we did, and we also realized that immigration officials weren’t likely to be all “Oh, well GOD told you to take home an extra kid.  Sure, let’s just rubber-stamp your paperwork and you’ll be on your way.”  Anyone who’s adopted or knows anyone who’s adopted knows it’s not that simple at […]

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  153 MILLION children have lost at least one parent.  That’s roughly half the population of the United States. That’s 8.3% of ALL the children in the world.   95 Million children who have no father to play catch with. (More than the population of Germany!) 40 Million children with no mother to kiss them goodnight. (More than there are people in California!) 18 Million children with no parents at all to love them or protect them. (Almost as many people as in the State of New York)   What are we going to do about it? Leave a comment… This is important. Subscribe via email […]

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When I was growing up, I refused to eat broccoli. In fact, I refused to eat a lot of things.  During one phase, I refused to eat anything except cold hot dogs and cottage cheese.  If I was feeling extraordinarily flexible, I might consider a Libbyland TV Dinner. This led to no small amount of conflict in my house, usually culminating in the words every child has heard and every parent has uttered at least once:  “THERE ARE CHILDREN STARVING IN CHINA”  (or Africa, for those of you who are a little younger than me and don’t remember Libbyland dinners….) […]

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Adopting Masha, in 500 words or less.  Hmm.  Do compound words count?  Uh oh.  I’m up to 19 already. Here we go…. We received our clearance to travel the day of my mother’s wake. We travelled on Mother’s Day. We survived jet lag with pharmaceutical help. We saw a monkey dressed like a child. We met with the Ukrainian State Department of Adoption (the official referral) on our 9th anniversary. We watched a Ukrainian dogfight. We boarded an overnight train to southern Ukraine. We were reunited with Masha! We learned to shower in a bathtub. We visited a beach adjacent […]

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