Geographies of Kinship: how you can help

Setting: In Korea, sitting down to lunch with our guide while visiting my birth city. Me (talking about one of Patrick’s past co-workers): I had never thought about Koreans being adopted into other countries besides the U.S. It was so weird to see a Korean open her mouth and speak with a Danish accent. Our […]

{Reveiw} The Adoptive & Foster Parent Guide

Adoption books can be intimidating.  They’re often long and wordy.  If you are reading as part of your training, they’re like drinking from a fire hydrant because they cover so many topics to accomodate all the types of adoptions, children, and parenting styles.  Mostly likely half the book won’t apply to you but you’re not […]

Seeing past the behavior

Four years ago, if I had seen myself with Ty out in public, I would have judged.  If I had seen the mistrust, disrespect, anger, and hyperactive behavior, I would have assumed we needed more discipline and structure. But that was B.T. (Before Ty). This spring Ty got a formal diagnosis for something I had […]

And then there were 7!

Our agency called at 8:30 this morning and announced that our son passed court!  They’d been telling us “definitely tomorrow” for almost 3 weeks so this was a pretty big deal.  The kids all started jumping around and chanting, “John passed court! John passed court!” John (his chosen American name) is legally a Corkum which […]

Making Room

In preparation for welcoming 2 additional kiddos into the house, we needed to do a little re-organizing and re-arranging.  Phase I: The Front Hallway Regardless of the big kids coming, this was a problem. BEFORE We used to have wall-to-wall white carpet which made it a necessity for the kids to drop their shoes on […]

Sign Language & a Contest

It all started with this sign. Maybe you have to experience Addis traffic before you can fully appreciate that this sign probably means something like, “Run for your life and drag your kid with you when crossing!” Then we started noticing other people in signs who seemed decidely less frazzled. Some were even brave enough […]

HOAs

As we drove through the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we couldn’t help wondering… Wouldn’t it be nice if HOA stood for the Homes for Orphans Assocation? Wouldn’t it be nice if they took all the energy they use fighting the evilness of sheds and channeled it toward finding families for kids who are living […]

No man’s land

I know a lot of you have been asking or wondering if we have an update about the big kids.  Most commonly asked is “when are they coming home?”  Trust me if I knew something, I would be yelling it from the rooftops.  But, alas, we are in that no man’s land called “DID NOT […]