Jenks is a 1 year old neutered male. He is pictured to the right. Short story is that I rescued Jenks. I got him at 3 days old and bottle fed him. He is very close and loving to me.

My darling daughter Natasha over a 6 month period convinced me that she could take care of a rat. After some research, I agreed to a Hamster.

One of my biggest objections to adding a rodent to the household.... I thought our cats (Jenks... more

So I have a new animal in the house. Or rather Natasha has a new responsibility named Teddi. He is the Teddy Bear Hamster pictured left.

As I said here, Natasha started campaigning for a rat about 6 months ago. At first I refused. I have never had a pet rat and just couldn't go there mentally.

I could have shut Natasha down on the subject. I could have told Natasha to stop talking about the pet rat on... more

I have been busy (diabetic coma.. not mine, doing favor for single dad, work politics). But I haven't posted because I am just wasn't sure what to say. I am not depressed exactly... maybe more emotionally tired.

I want to adopt a second child but nothing is moving forward. I am registered as an adoptive family with foster care. However I am not accepting an risk placements. And the fact that I want to adopt a single child seems to be the problem.

I adopted my darling Natasha from Ukraine back... more

Yesterday was a weird day... many folks are waiting for the October appointment list.

Brief recap: The SDA (Ukrainian government adoption authority) is the only organization who can provide children's referrals. Families must travel to Ukraine for an appointment for the referral. Right now only families who filed a dossier between Feb 2004 and March 2006 are getting appointments. Some of dossiers are very old for various reasons including a shutdown/slowdown in Ukrainian adoptions in... more

International Ukrainian adoption has started up again as I mentioned in Ukrainian Adoption Happening: Sept 6 Appointment.

And Starbucks Loving Mommy has another interesting post about her adoption experience so far. She has her referral and is traveling by train to the Oblast.

RUMOR REMINDER: Remember... more

I know this is slightly old, but I really like the story about the dentists who travel to Ukrainian orphanages. As I wrote a while back dental health for many orphans is very poor. For some children their dental issues become very traumatic.... more

Good news.....

Amy (the Starbucks Loving Mommy) had her a SDA appointment is today. It was a brief (4 minutes) appointment. Blog is here.

This family adopted a son in 2003. He recently had his 5th birthday party. They are returning to adopt their son's bio sister. Their registration number is 156xx.

Amy will pick up the referral letter tommorow and they are off to Kramatorsk.

Dr Brothers' said something like... adopted younger children will be less impacted by loss then older children. I have never found that to be true. They cannot communicate as well, but young children are very familiar with loss. And they do remember.

My earliest memories are when I was 18 months old. It was the night that my youngest brother was born. And the next day when my family went to the hospital... more

Some adoptive parents receive advice that the younger a child is adopted, the fewer issues they potentially will have. At least this has been my life experience for the last 6 years. I adopted my darling daughter from Ukraine in 2000 and have mostly stayed involved with the adoption community.

I don't believe this is a good thing to say and I have heard it a few too many times. Children under 3 year of age are impacted by institutionalization. Children older then 3 years are impacted by institutionalization.... more

OK, I figured out why I was bugged by the word "best" in Dr. Joyce Brothers, International Adoption is Not For Everyone quiz.

Here is the question with "best". Dr Brothers stated the answer to this question was true. I strongly believe it is false.

2. It is best to adopt children who are very young -- under 2 or 3 years old -- because the institutional living... more