Have you been asked this about your children: “Where are they from?” Or has your child been asked the question?

Is this one of “those questions” that adoptive parents dread? Or is it, instead, a question that is welcomed?

Like with everything else, it probably depends on the person, family and situation. Here’s a situation I experienced today:

At the grocery store, a girl passed by with a t-shirt read “Bad is the new good”. Three teen daughters, all in the states now for less than two years tried to figure out what that... more

My daughter goes to a playgroup every Friday. The Mom’s sit in a really cool observation room behind a police like mirror two way glass where we can see & hear our little angels in action but they are none the wiser that we are watching. The Mom’s all talk about general Mom stuff and somewhere along the line I mentioned that we adopted Livi from Russia. This past week this one Mom asked me about our adoption… at first her questions were the general type “was it a hard process?” and such… the curious questions that almost everyone has.... more

I’m following up my first post on this subject because there is more I wanted to tell you about the transition in languages and how we helped Livi. We changed our daughter’s name. If she had been much older we don’t know that we would had changed it at all. We felt she was young enough at 16 months old to handle the change. I had my heart set on a certain name so we decided to change it. On our visits during trip one we called her by her birth name. It was shortened to a nickname by the Orphanage staff and we called her by that name. On trip two we called her... more

This is the end of My frequently asked questions series. This one always threw me for a loop. Does she speak Russian? Our daughter was 14 months at referral and 16 months old when we brought her home. I remember calling to make a pediatrician appt prior to bringing our daughter home. The nurse said “ well the doctor doesn’t speak Russian” I was flabbergasted. I explained that I did not need him to speak to her in Russian. She is only 16 months old. I simply needed him to examine her and give her a check up. If I remember right most homegrown 16 months old are not speaking in full sentences yet.

The average 16 month old knows how to say 5 words besides Mom & Dad. I guess I can see... more

Frequently Asked Questions week:

When people find out that our daughter is adopted they usually have the same questions.The one that always surprises me is will you tell her she is adopted? Or Does she know she is adopted? I guess these come as a surprise to me because I can’t imagine an adoption being kept a secret. I know in the past this was the case. But in this day & age I cant imagine someone not knowing they are adopted. How we became a family is such a special story. I don’t point out that she is adopted but I don’t hide... more

Frequently Asked Questions week

A rather outspoken member of my family said that I was wrong to adopt from Russia with so many needy children in “ Our own backyard” Many people asked why Russia? Our story has less to do with why we decided to adopt from Russia and more about why we decided against a domestic adoption. I think people make assumptions about both routes and each has its negatives & positives. I don’t see one as better than the other.Adoption is all about Love. In the end a child gets a loving family.

People choose the route that... more