I’ve been saving this picture for a special occasion.  I’ll tell you about it in a minute, but for now let me share some of what I’ve been reading.  I’ve saved up quite a few articles since my last What I’m Reading post.

Nicole at Living Out His Love wrote a wonderful blog post on bringing siblings on their adoption trip.  I’ve added a link to my post on taking your family with you to China.

Beijing Today ran an article on The New Face of Child Abandonment in China.

Jill at Ripped Jeans and Bifocals wrote an excellent post on her experience with post-adoption depression.

A very informative article on understanding the extent of speech and language delays in older adopted children on Smart Speech Therapy.

There is a new post on the NHBO blog on adopting two unrelated at once who are also artificially twinned.  I thought it had a good mixture of pros and cons and added the link to my post which covered that topic.

On CNN, an article about Ho Feng Shan: The ‘Chinese Schindler’ who saved thousands of Jews.

Another good post at NHBO on the pros and cons of visiting your child’s orphanage.  We were so glad that we visited Leo’s orphanage, although it was a very long drive.

The Holt blog posted about the stigma against HIV in China.  China is only beginning to prepare files for children who are HIV+ to be adopted internationally because they feel the children are unadoptable.  I hope more parents will consider this special need so that China will begin to give more of these children a chance for a family.  China used to not prepare the files of children with Down Syndrome but they are found on every photolisting.  Hopefully that will be a reality for HIV+ children in the future.

The Cincinnati Enquirer produced a short film profiling the Ayers family who adopted a 7 year old boy with dwarfism.  They themselves have osteogenesis imperfecta, which is a form of dwarfism, and both use wheelchairs.  The film is intended, in part, to raise awareness for the challenges which parents with disabilities face.  Not only could the Ayers family not adopt domestically from foster care, but Ohio state law would allow their children to be removed from their home simply because they have physical disability.  You can watch the film here.  I loved the concluding comment “If two people in wheelchairs can adopt, then you can too!”

I absolutely loved the post Who Would Want A Dad Like Me? which ran around Father’s Day at NHBO.  Such a wonderful reminder that you shouldn’t be afraid to adopt because you aren’t a perfect parent.  These kids just want parents, not perfection.

Which brings me to the announcement.  You probably guessed it already–yes, we are adopting again!  We are early in the process and have not yet been matched with a child.  Because of privacy concerns, I will not be posting much about it on the blog but have started a closed Facebook group for those who would like updates as we go along.  Because I keep my Facebook friends list pretty small (please don’t be offended if you have sent me a request and I didn’t accept!), the group will allow you to get updates even if we aren’t “friends.”

If you would like to join the group, send a request to the link below but also e-mail me at mayfikn @ gmail (dot) com to let me know your Facebook name and that you are a blog reader.  I will then get you added to the group.

Mine In China, Too