DrMom

And thank goodness our homestudy agency here in Florida was great about updating our 8 year old Tennessee homestudy when we decided to adopt again!

When we got married we planned to have several children - 3 or 4 - or who knows, maybe more - and we also planned to adopt some of them. It never occurred to me that after so many years of running in fear from one single sperm (remember those health class movies?) that I would be unable to conceive! All our friends had babies - several who were teachers planned to have them over summer break - and did just that. So we did some fertility treatments. No luck. Then decided to adopt. Had the baby for 3 days when the mom changed her mind and decided to parent. Decided to be child free. Revi

Speaking of what "used to be" in caring for children and also thinking about playpens reminded me of B.F. Skinner (I had the pleasure of meeting Fred Skinner once - one of my Profs was his graduate assistant. If you took psych you no doubt remember the Skinner Box) and his "baby tender." Anyway, according to his web site, when his wife was pregnant, "she wondered whether he might design a crib that would be safer than the typical crib with its bars that could trap a leg and blankets that could suffocate a baby. He could, and did. Proud of his new invention, an enclosed and heated crib with

As some of you know, we brought a baby home from the hospital only to have it reclaimed by the mother 3 days later. That was a painful, wrenching experience for us - and was at first interpreted by us as somthing that God had not intended to happen. And clearly He did not intend for that child to be ours, however, hindsight being what it is - He clearly intended for us to match with that birthmother - He knew we were strong enough to take the disappointment and He knew that the 3 days would be exactly the right amount of time for the birth mother and father to decide they did, in fact, love

While there are some special challenges with adopting an older child I am not sure they are any 'worse' than the challenges you get with a newborn. And boy oh boy do we ever know what those folks are missing!

Claudia - have you read Purpose driven life? In it, the author Rick Warren, argues that God created each of us for a specific purpose, and that if we don't do our portion of that plan - it doesn't get done. Your comment about "practicing being better servants" reminded me of my reading - as this is one of the major themes of the book. I know a lot of churches take the 40 days of the Lent to read this book - you read a (short) chapter a day for the 40 days - I have read almost the entire book and was planning to attempt to figure out my 'purpose' during the days of Lent. Warren says that i

Asked by a relative: "You DO know what time of the month you can get pregnant, right?"

Our children do have two mothers - me, and the mother who gave birth to them and gave them a wonderful start in life - So in very many important ways I do think of Carmen and Net as our birthmothers - because they are the ones who gave birth to our family. Right now we are refering to Elizabeth's mother as Mama 'Net and I am just mama or mommie. I think there are a lot of families who might call the birthmother Mom and the forever mother Mommie or something similar. I don't think that is confusing to the child - they accept it just like they accept anyone's name and to them Mom is a diff

It was interesting how God opened so many doors for this adoption - leaving us no doubt that this was his will for our family - I will post more of this story in who is this Dr Mom person? Thank you all for your prayers and support - Cat

How exciting that so many families are growing!!! What a wonderful Christmas this year!

Susan, How wonderful for you that you are starting another adoption! As you already know, it is an exciting, hectic, and absolutely wonderful time. Domestic adoption isn't quite as complicated as international adoption - you only have to have 1,000 pounds of paperwork instead of 10,000! LOL You ask what you can do while you are in the planning stages: Go ahead with your homestudy. Maybe you will be finished well ahead of time and that will be one less hassle to worry about. Since you already have an almost 3-year-old, your home is probably already baby-safe - but if it isn't go a

When hubby and I got married, we wanted 3 or 4 children. We have since come to realize that we will be a family of three not the parents of 3 (or even 2) and I, the only child of an only child, will be raising an only child. How did I come to live peacefully with this realization? Hmm, well, some days I am much more peaceful than other days. But in the same way I came to peace with my inability to produce children from my body and common items you have around the house I realize this is just more of God's plan for us. I don't understand it, but there it is, so I might as well accept

When in sorrow.....................................call John 14 When men fail you.................................call Psalm 27 When you have sinned..............................call Psalm 51 When you worry.............................call Matthew 6:19-34 When you are in danger............................call Psalm 91 When God seems far away..........................call Psalm 139 When your faith needs stirring..................call Hebrews 11 When you are lonely and fearful...................call Psalm 23 When you grow bitter and critical.........call I Corinthians 13

Our infertility doctor knew another Abrazo family - when we told him we were stopping treatment and going to Russia to adopt, he asked if we specifically wanted to adopt from Russia - we said we were too old (at 39) to adopt here and that even if we could find an agency that would take us, I didn't want to wait 5 years or more for a newborn! He said he would have the other patient call us - and in the meantime it was an agency called Abrazo in San Antonio -- I called directory assistance and got the number and spoke with Holly before I ever was able to speak with the Abrazo family that liv