This week for Fresh Outlook Friday I'm featuring my friend Judy. Why? Because I can! And because the sentiment in her entry needs to be heard by more people. That said, this is your Tissue Warning.

Judy just recently started blogging in public. Just Enjoy Him features the life of Judy (a self-professed "snarky" librarian), Husband Frank and Nate, their super-cute son adopted from Vietnam. As Judy and I have gotten closer over the past year (or two?), I've watched her own feelings evolve... more

We do know that being married makes a pregnancy more acceptable even in 2007. People are less likely to suggest that a married couple place a baby for adoption, although apparently even that happens sometimes now. However, I think the adoption option is still often more suggested for an unmarried woman.

Back to the question, what determines if a woman parents, places her baby for adoption or becomes an adoptive mom? I honestly think that self-esteem is a large part of the difference. Adoptive parents are usually prepared, longing to parent... more

Relinguishing a child to adoption is a heavy burden for a woman, not one to take on unless there is no other viable solution. Losing a child to adoption crushes some birth mothers and they never recover. The scars on even the strongest women are permanent. Although they fade with time, they never completely dissappear.

Sadness lingers and it takes enormous strength for a birth mother to survive, thrive and make peace with her decision. Helen Keller and her mother were both fighters. They overcame odds that would paralyze many... more

While searching for something new and fresh on Thursday nights and Friday mornings, I must admit that I tend to look at domestic adoption news stories, group/forum discussions and blogs more often than the international set. My experience lies with domestic adoption and I feel most comfortable talking about issues within my realm of experience. However, today's Fresh Outlook comes from an international adoption blog.

251Michigan is adopting... more

This week, as the snow piles on us again, I feel a little heavier. It's not just because I've been eating Polish pastries (Paczki days are here!). It's not to be blamed on the snow because, trust me, I love snow. As much as I love winter, I start struggling with emotional things round about now. This year is harder for reasons I don't feel like talking about today. And so, today's "fresh outlook" is a deeper, harder look at some adoption issues. Controversial? A bit. Worth a ponder before you start your weekend? Probably. New and different? Definitely.

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In Part One, I covered how Christine has written a series of posts about open adoption and the benefits it offers to all involved in adoption. I'll now cover her last two posts in the series on this Fresh Outlook Friday!

In Part Three of her four part series, Christine offers us some stories and links... more

Today I bring to you not one post. Not two posts. Not three posts. But four posts on this Fresh Outlook Friday! The series of posts brought to us by Christine from Welcome to My Brain started on Wednesday. In the four part series, Christine talks openly about open adoption in hopes of dispelling myths and taking away some of the "scary parts" for those who don't really know anything about or understand the core of open adoption.

In Part... more

There are days in adoption that mean the world to one side and can crush the other. The day that the TPR was signed (oh, both times since my agency sucked) was quite possibly the lowest point in my life. At the same time, I can say with a high degree of certainty that it was at the very least a welcome relief for J & D. Finalization, though I did not attend, was a time in which I did not leave my room or eat for two days. Being legally wiped off of the map of my daughter's life was emotionaly destroying.

So that's why it's refreshing to hear another adoptive parent understand and discuss the dual emotions of the day. The... more

Wanting to start out the weekend on a good, solid and positive note, I sat down to seek out a blog post, article or forum discussion to share with you readers. (I'll be doing this on Friday mornings from here on out.) This morning I was moved to read the following blog for many reasons.

I've been reading Parenting #1 Through Open Adoption since the family brought their son home. They happened onto my Google blog alerts and from the title of their blog alone, I became intrigued. As the author mentions in today's post, all open adoptions look differently. I wondered what their would look like. I was hopeful. Today, she laid it all out... more

"And were an epitah to be my story I'd have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone; I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

Robert Frost

Unlike the other birth moms who blog on this site, I am an oldtimer. My son's adoption happened over 37 years ago. And yet, I am not "over it." At times, I think that I am fine - healed and loving life. I have struggled and worked hard to be where I am right now.

Mostly, I am in a good place and have accepted that... more