Author Archives: shannon2818

Anyone who’s been through an adoption, knows that the process is painfully slow. In Michigan, where we live, the superintendent of the Michigan Children’s Institute  is the only person authorized to approve adoptions for children in foster care. The state senate has introduced a bill that would allow the superintendent to authorize a designee toContinue reading “Speeding up the adoption process (slightly)”

BE was all about April Fools’ Day this year. She kept telling me different little stories just to see if I would believe her. So, I told her about poisson d’avril. My father’s family is from France and I studied French for many years. In my high school French class, our teacher would always tellContinue reading “April Fish (poisson d’avril)”

We’re fortunate enough to still be in touch with BE and BC’s foster family. The kids were only four months (BC) and 3  (BE) when they went to live with this family. The parents, AL and CL, have been foster parenting for nearly 20 years and we’re so glad they were the ones to takeContinue reading “BE and BC’s foster family”

Book review: The Family of Adoption by Joyce Maguire Pavao I’ve read a lot of adoption books by now, and the first five chapters of  The Family of Adoption (there are only six) are pretty basic. The author is the founder of the Center for Family Connections – an adoption resource center. She spends most of theContinue reading “Finding families for children”

See writing reject #1 here. The New York Times has an essay section called “Modern Love” which features submissions from writers. I wrote the following submission a few months ago, and I just got word today that it was rejected. It’s a pretty concise history of our adoption, so I wanted to share it here. DecidingContinue reading “Writing reject #2: Modern Love”

This past week we celebrated BC’s third birthday. Just like BE’s birthday, this was BC’s second birthday with us. Both kids have changed a lot in the past year and half, but sometimes it seems that BC’s changes are more obvious. Along the way, he stopped being a baby and became a little boy. HeContinue reading “BC’s birthday”

When J and I first decided to adopt, we told our agency that we were interested in children 2 to 9 years old. We were told that adopting a 2 to 5 year old through the foster care system is very rare. So, we expected to be matched with a child (or children) 7, 8, orContinue reading “Talking about adoption with a 3-year-old”

Check out my essay about writing and adoption at crescendoh.com!

Before we had kids, laundry day was Sunday. Now, Sunday has turned into the start of laundry week. (To the tune of “Happy Days” …) Sunday, Monday, laundry days   Tuesday, Wednesday, laundry days   Thursday, Friday, laundry days   Saturday, breather day Foldin’ all week with you …

A friend of mine was adopted at age two. She once told me that she always hated her birthday because it made her sad that she was no longer with her first family. I thought about this yesterday, when I sat down to talk with BE. BE has a particular behavior that seemed under controlContinue reading “Chocolate milk memories”