Financial Assistance for Adoptions

My brother, who's a CFO of a credit union, passed this along, and I thought I'd share with everyone else:

America’s Christian CU To Finance AdoptionsCredit Union Journal Thursday, February 26, 2009 GLENDORA, Calif. – Couples who need help covering the cost of an adoption can now turn to America’s Christian CU. The $500 million credit union introduced its new adoption loan program that will help prospective parents cover the costs of travel, legal expenses, agency fees or any other cost related to adopting a child into their families. Some of those costs can add up to $40,000 to the adoption process. "We consider our new product, adoption loans, part of fulfilling our mission," Mendell Thompson, president of America’s Christian, said. "We understand the unique nature of adoptions and want to offer adoptive parents our help and support as they build their family."

Teddy Afro's Breakin' Out

We're huge fans of Teddy Afro, so we were happy to hear the news that he'll be released soon. Perhaps a new record is in his future?

Word on the street is that the car accident for which he was jailed was simply to quiet Teddy, who has been critical of the Ethiopian government. In fact, four of his songs have been banned from Ethiopian TV and radio. - Sarah

Welcome Home Dawit

Congratulations to Emily and Rich, who are now safely home from Ethiopia with their little one!

He's a Genius

Nigel's barely 11 months old, but he's already mastered sharing. He's especially generous with Cheerios. Too bad it's with the dogs.

How Open Should Parents Be?

A few weeks ago I finished reading Beautiful Boy, an amazing memoir about a father (who's a journalist) and his son's battle with addiction. The author himself, David Sheff, had issues with drugs as a teen and a young adult. He shared that part of his life with his son (they also shared a joint, but that's another issue), but as the memoir goes on, he regrets his honesty. Although he wanted his son to be able to relate and open up to him, he wondered if sharing his story was kind of like a rapper or sports star who speaks to a group of high school kids about the dangers of drugs - because they've been there. Experience speaks, but does it also make kids think "he did it, and he turned out OK?"

This book really sparked some questions for me. I truly believe that sharing information is powerful. It's why I became a journalist; it's why I have this blog; it's why I attend an adoption support group; it's why I think my self-deprecation is useful. But how much is too much?

And I'm not necessarily talking about strictly drug use. When your child enters puberty, do you talk about your premarital sex life? In trying to instill good values and morals in your child, do you share that you once stole something from the corner store? If your newly married adult daughter asks about relationships, do you tell her about the times you wanted to walk away from your marriage? Or the time that you cheated on your spouse? When your adolescent son questions his faith, do you admit that you hated God for many years?

I'm sure, as with many aspects of parenting, when we're in the moment we'll know the "right" thing to do (or either just act hastily and pray it works out), but it's certainly something to think about. - Sarah

More on Nadya Suleman

Since writing this post about Nadya Suleman, the single mother who recently gave birth to 8 babies, I've read up a little more about the situation. I also watched Ann Curry's interview with Suleman last night.

While I'm certainly not condoning what she has done (I can't even imagine parenting two kids with a husband, let alone 14 by myself), and I'm a bit outraged that she used what little funding she had to pay for IVF cycles instead of providing food for her existing 6 kids so they wouldn't have to rely on food stamps, I still feel she's being treated unfairly because she's a single mother.

I don't claim to know everything about IVF and I'm younger than Suleman, but when our IVF options were explained to us, there was talk of implanting more than 1 embryo. And I know several women who've had more than 1 embryo implanted, including this one I imagine- so why is there a witch hunt out for docs who implant more than 1? Yes, I realize 6 is excessive, but I can empathize with her concern for those embryos, and not wanting to destroy (read, kill) them. The ironic thing is that I feel like the people who are most up in arms about this are the same ones who fight to defend a woman's right to choose an abortion. So choice doesn't go both ways??

And come on, why are people making comparisons between her and Angelina Jolie? That kinda makes me sick.

Lastly, I really, really dislike Ann Curry. I think she's rude for the sake of being rude. I'm a journalist, so I know you have to ask tough questions, but she's just a jerk. [For instance, she recently interviewed Brad Pitt, asking him if he thought his good looks held him back (what the hell kind of question is that?). He said "I don't know what you're asking?" and she snapped "Oh yes you do." Get a grip lady, it's Brad Pitt, you're not grilling Ahmadinejad!] But she really pissed me off last night when she asked Suleman how taking student loans was different from welfare. Well, biatch, some people don't have mommies and daddies who pay for their schooling, so we peons have to take out loans! And I'm one of 'em! There were several semesters when Tim and I took the max loan amount so we could work less and study more.

Ok, that's it. Thanks for reading my rants, as incoherent and random as they are today. - Sarah

We Broke The Seal

You might recall that not too long ago I was bragging that Nigel had not yet gotten sick. I was diligent with Lysol wipes, and always cleaned his hands after we left someone's house or the mall play area. But come on: A 10-month-old, recently adopted from a developing country, now living in a house that's not always so clean and has three pets - I didn't know why, but it was awesome. WAS awesome. Somewhere along the line we let our guards down. We broke the sickness seal this week.

Tim had a pretty rough cold last week or so, and on Monday, I started to notice that Nigel had a little congestion in his chest. By Wednesday, all bets were off - and I sniffling away, too. It's not been a pretty sight, people. I was thrown up on; we've filled at least two trash cans with tissues; and I learned that Vicks makes a baby rub and our baby thermometer stinks! And I'm not going to lie... once I wiped Nigel's nose with my sleeve!

But Nigel has been a really good sport about it all. He's slept well, eaten a respectable amount of food, and remained in good spirits. And the wiggly thing has actually let me snuggle with him more than usual, which has made it all a little bearable! - Sarah

6 + 8 = Controversy

You've no doubt heard about the woman who gave birth to 8 babes last week. As it turns out, that same woman already has 6 children at home. I haven't followed too closely so therefore I haven't formed a solid opinion about it all, but something's just not settling with me. Not about the woman, but about how she's being treated in the media and the court of public opinion.

Almost immediately people came down on this woman with THE LOG OF JUDGEMENT (a nod to my pal Chad, there). However, we have TV shows to honor people like Jon and Kate, who, my friends, had twins before their additional 6 were born. Obviously they had more than the 2 embryos transplanted, which every fertility doc in the world is now saying is the max that they EVER implant. Come on!

So why the disparity in treatment? Is it because she's a single mom who lives at home with her 'rents? Are the far lefties pissed because there was talk about destroying the embryos left over from previous IVF cycles? I don't really know... but it just feels icky to me. - Sarah

A Dose of Red

Because I just love to perpetuate Southern stereotypes, Nigel, my mom and I went to Bass Pro Shop today while Tim took in the big game with his fantasy football buds. It's a sporting goods store with clothing, boats and, yes, guns, but it also has aquariums, a restaurant, stuffed wildlife - things that little boys would totally dig. Nigel took it all in, but was probably a little too young for it just now. Plus, I was totally occupied with steering his virgin baby eyes away from the guns, bows and pretend shooting range.

Nigel poses with the poor stuffed bear.

There was a general store, a restaurant and a NASCAR simulator inside the store.

Nigel and Lala (my mom) in front of the aquarium. The picture stinks so you can't see that there actually were some pretty large fish in there.