Pumpkins and Joy

Tomorrow we have a pumpkin carving date with Beth. She's hosting us at her new place, which is a source of pride on all sorts of levels. I'm excited! It feels like an awfully long time since we last saw her.

Over the last year she's been calling now and then just to talk to Mari. Not that she doesn't chat with us boring adults, too, but she sometimes calls just to hear Mari's voice. Beth would maybe get a word or two out of her in the beginning, but now that Mari is a wise three-and-a-half-years old, she is way more chatty on the phone. It has been fun to watch that progression. It's like witnessing hints of their future relationship.

In their last chat, Marian told Beth that she's going to be a dinosaur for Halloween. She tells you this with great pride, always adding that she will scare you. (If you see her in costume, please act scared. Her sense of her own ability to generate terror as a three-foot high dino is slightly exaggerated.) Beth told Mari she was looking forward to seeing the pictures and I thought, why not just take the costume along and have an early Halloween tomorrow? Mari loves her costume and when she puts it on she comes at you, "claws" bared, with a baby roar and the most infectious, enthusiastic grin. It is those tiny moments that are some of what I most enjoy about being a parent. Beth may not be able to be trick-or-treating with Mari on Monday evening, but at least she can share a moment of Mari's Halloween joy with her.

Meet AmFam of American Family: Part II

Today is the second part of our interview with AmFam, who writes about her experience entering into an open adoption with her youngest daughter's first family in China (among many other topics) at American Family. You can read part one here.

She is answering readers' questions about her family's open adoption every day in November and has officially given folks permission to ask things they are afraid might be too rude or personal. So if anything from this interview has you wondering, ask away.

Meet AmFam of American Family: International Open Adoption

This latest interview from the Open Adoption Bloggers list is a real treat for me. AmFam's blog, American Family, has been a favorite of mine for years. She writes the way I wish I did: intelligently, sarcastically (one of my favorites: Emergency Code Whitey), and with a willingness to speak her mind on all sort of topics (see above). She and her family are now breaking new ground in international adoption, having successfully searched for and connected with their adopted daughter's first family in China.

I'll be publishing her interview over two days. Read on for the first installment...