Have you ever heard anyone call their spouse “my better half”? There is a religious reason for that term. In Judaism, the belief is a soul is created by God and then cut in half and sent to earth. Two halves that must find each other and come together to create a whole. Our mission […]
If Joseph was a guy who played by the rules, my next theory is he also knew a lot about his family tree. I believe Joseph studied the great patriarchs, prophets and kings of Israel as any dedicated Torah scholar should. Three of his ancestors are especially important in understanding Joseph. Abraham, his forefather, faithfully […]
What does the word just mean? It can be used as an adverb, as in “I’ll be there in just a minute” (meaning I’ll be there just before your clothes go out of style). Or Just Do It. (Great idea. But what is the “It” I should be doing?) The meaning of just is precisely or totally or completely. […]
We are a culture obsessed with awards, aren’t we? Participation trophies, annual certificates of appreciation, engraved plaques for most improved scout team player, whatever. We just can’t get enough of them. So I’ve decided to create an award. I mean, why not? All you have to do is declare the award exists and make an […]
What? You’ve never heard of it? The Michael Reagan Syndrome is when a person who happens to be adopted is constantly referred to as the adopted son or daughter of ________. (Don’t bother googling it, it’s a made up term.) Michael Reagan is the oldest son of President Ronald Reagan with his first wife, Jane […]
Search the internet and you will find countless articles about what NOT to say to people who have adopted. (901,000 Google results last I checked) There exists a whole litany of dumb remarks that are commonly said about adoption. Unfortuately, most adoptive parents never forget these comments and the people who say them. You remember […]
Here is the one remark that sends adoptive parents straight to the moon: “I could never love a child that was not my own”. And other variations of the same ignorant line: “Do you have any children of your own”? “Can’t you have your own kids”? “If you adopt a kid, then maybe you will have […]
Grace is God’s unmerited favor, a kindness we don’t deserve. There is nothing we have done, nor can ever do to earn this favor. It is a gift of the purest kind. Even though Grace is God’s domain, sometimes Grace comes from another person, or in our case, two people. Our son’s birthparents. We […]
We met our youngest son the way most extended family members do: Looking through a glass window in the hospital nursery. It was a surreal, out-of-body kind of experience and to make matters even worse, at that moment we did not know if he would actually become our son or not. At that moment, we […]
You who are struggling with infertility, you are dear to me. You hold a special place in my heart. All of us who have walked in your shoes are bonded by an invisible thread of knowing. Knowing an ache for a child who does not exist, except in our dreams. Perhaps there is no way […]
Our Story (How we got Thing One and Thing Two) We met in college, dated through undergrad and got married before graduate school. Coming from large families, we knew we wanted children. We loved kids and the idea of little ones running around. There was a big unknown, however. In my senior year of high […]
Many years ago I watched “A Life Apart: Hasidism in America”, a documentary about the history and culture of Ultra Orthodox Jews. Full of beautiful stories, there is a scene that has long stayed with me. In it, a young boy celebrates his third birthday with an Upsherin ceremony. He has his first ever haircut […]
Along with the excitement about The Idea, I soon realized there were countless details to work out to make this book a reality. Even though I was an artist with a BFA and MFA in Drawing and Painting, the truth was I had: No experience with illustration. Large Mixed Media Abstract Images? Why, yes. Realistic […]
It was the first Christmas after September 11th, when the hearts of all humanity were broken and tender. We knew the world had changed and would never really be the same, but many of us were trying to reach back to our old lives, to recreate something familiar, something comforting. Something to remind us of […]
Seeking A Heart Like Joseph’s My parents gave me the name Mary Clare in honor two of great saints and most likely with the belief this name would shape their daughter’s future character. They hoped I would grow up to be a woman of faith like Mary … and perhaps be a bit feisty like […]