The New York Times reports on an adoptive mom moving from the old capital of the world to the new one. She's leaving New York City to start a new life in Shanghai with her 12-year-old daughter. And she's... more

Hey, you gotta read this: Chloe Comes Home is a blog written by Chloe Mellon, who was adopted from China and has, at the age of 9, gone back for the first time. Her dad is a journalist with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, so of course, her exploits are being published. There's video of Chloe and her two sisters (Brooke, 7, and Jessie, 4) eating in restaurants and playing with babies in orphanages... more

First: an announcement. Over in the China Adoption Forums, there's a writer for Redbook looking for adoptive moms of kids from China interested in being interviewed. And becoming a hero to an adoring crowd of Redbook readers, one would hope. You'll have to use your real name and allow photos of the family to appear in the magazine.

Second: another announcement. "Yes, Tiana, they do have boys in China."

I felt that needed to be said... more

While waiting for son (son!), we joined one of those cyberspace squats where you all sort of check the calendar together and go "Is the paperwork there yet? Are referrals here yet?" and when the answer is "No," you reminisce about Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and swap mix CDs. There's some talking about adoption and ... more

File this under things I don't have to worry about *exactly*:

The popular science journal Nature has a story on a woman donating her eggs to her own daughter, who has a medical condition that makes her unable of creating eggs of her own. It's the first time this has happened, and has ethicists raising their eyebrows. If the girl uses the donated eggs, her daughter will also be her own half-sister.

At least that's now Nature is pitching the story. There's a ... more

Just briefly: I was browsing over at the China Adoption forums and I found a discussion (more of an announcement, really, but this things can turn on a dime) about an interview with Jeff Gammage, author of China Ghosts, a memoir about his adopting his daughter from China.

It's now... more

Here's something to read from someone who went there and did that: Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jeff Gammage wrote a new book on his adopting from China, and his paper was nice enough to post an excerpt (with some great bios at the bottom of the piece). If I was just starting the process,... more

Going to China, but running around in a panic trying to figure out how and what and where? Journeywoman.com's "GirlTalk China" presents a big list of tips for women traveling in China.

Topics include: what to pack (and how), where to shop, how much things are worth, the etiquette of dinner invitations, and a whole bunch of other stuff. As the name implies, it's all geared toward woman travelers, but men can learn a thing or two, too.

There are also some sweet anecdotes (I like the "Will my adopted granddaughter remember?" series.)

Daughter, whose umbilical hernia starred in one or two old entries now has a new navel. There's a scar on it, and it doesn't stick out like it used to. She was not, technically, a "special needs" or "waiting" child, but there are things that are not like other children - the scar on her abdomen is already fading, but there are other, less obvious things. Being raised... more

As Mo recently pointed out, adoption never ends. The paperwork gets finished, and one day the kids grow up and leave home, but the process is never done. It'll last long after the parents are gone.

This endless process - the fitting in, the explaining, the looking for a place -- was the subject of a recent ... more