November is National Adoption Month. I obviously believe in adoption. But each year only 250,000 of the world’s orphans are adopted. That’s less than 1%. It is estimated there are between 143 and 210 million orphans worldwide. That’s half the size of the US. If all orphans formed their own country, it would be among the 10 largest nations in …
8 Ways to Pray for Orphans
At lunch yesterday we joked about the silly questions my kids are sometimes asked about being adopted. “Is he your adopted brother?” Dara: “He’s my brother.” “Do you speak Kazakh?” My favorite was, “Are you gonna tell them?” Well, the girls are Central Asian, so… But in the midst of Christmas tree lights, brightly wrapped presents, and dinners with way too …
The Year We Missed Easter
Eighteen years ago, we missed Easter. Twice. On Sunday, March 27, 1999, we met Mira in Kazakhstan for the first time. All the next week we came to visit her, driving up a long and curvy, still snowy road from the capital city of Almaty to Esik, a journey of about only 40 miles but over an hour by car. I …
One More Time, Just For Fun
When I decided to take a few weeks’ break in January, I didn’t expect to be gone this long. But a lot of things have happened that kept me away. One of those things was my youngest daughter getting her learner’s permit. In Maryland, you can get that at 15 years and nine months old. You keep that for nine …
Gotcha!
I always think of adding my kids to our family in terms of the holidays. Emma was born on Christmas Eve. Mira was born on December 21, but we met her on the day we celebrate Easter in the west and brought her home on Orthodox Easter, one week later. And Dara and Johnny we brought home two days before …
I Am Not A Child Trafficker
This is how an anti-adoption activist replied to a tweet of mine saying a quarter million children from around the world had become part of American families through international adoption since 1971. I (stupidly) responded, asking if I should have left my daughter in a baby house without enough food. He replied with a link to his website, which was basically pages and …
Defending Catelynn
I cannot believe I am going to do this. I am going to defend a Teen Mom. You know, not a normal teen mom, an MTV Teen Mom. I don’t follow this show, although I’ve watched a few episodes. But this story has blown up all over the internet, and I heard about it. So here it is: In 2009, Catelynn …
Why Would You Want to Do That?
A case in Qatar this week made international headlines. An American couple of Asian descent has just been released after being trapped in the tiny middle-eastern country of Qatar for almost two years. In 2012, the Huangs were relocated to Doha, the capital of Qatar, by his employer to work on a major infrastructure project for the 2022 World Cup. …
Father Knows Best
Yesterday was the Fourth of July, so like everyone else I was thinking of our freedom, our country, our privileges. As you know, my three adopted kids came from Kazakhstan. Buggy had to apply for her citizenship after we brought her home in April 1999. It was a formality—they had to grant it, but we still had to fill out …