Chen Chronicles

An observation of a friend prompted today's blog post.  I usually do not go overboard when it comes to political correctness, or PC as my husband and I like to call it. This is a sensitive enough topic, alone, without having to throw in the PC issue.  This friend observed some signs at our church which advertised for our Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPs) group.  The fliers had a who, what, when, where, kind of format and under the who, they stated, "In utero through eighth grade."   As many of you know, I am an adoptive mother and this bothered me as well as a friend of mine who understands that not all mothers come in the form of biology. I normally would not take offense to something like this, except that the audience the group wishes to attract is ALL mothers-to-be.   I know many might argue that a "prospective adoptive parent," isn't an "expectant mother," but many of us travel this journey of miles of paperwork and red tape because we h...

Okay, so firstly, Aaron and I BOTH want to thank everyone who continues to pray for us as we await news on our baby girl, Katie Allison Chen. There have been some recent developments in adoption news between the U.S. and Russia and at least one newspaper (The Moscow Times, I believe) reported this morning that an agreement between the U.S. and Russia was signed. This, however, sadly is not the case. BUT, the latest information received over the past couple of weeks is indicative of a move in the right direction for both countries to come to a mutual agreement about how the children should be protected once they are released to adoptive parents in the United States. 1. Joint Statement of U.S. and Russian Delegations on Inter-Country Adoption On July 21-23 in Moscow, U.S. and Russian experts led by Mary Ellen Hickey, the Managing Director for Overseas Citizen Services at the U.S. Department of State and Alina Levitskaya, the Director of Department of Upbringing and ...