Something new has been added!

We have a gopher.

..

So much for the greater metropolis of Los Angeles being a "sterile environment." I swear, I have more wildlife in my backyard than in the whole of Griffith Park.

The list (and not inclusive, I find new stuff every day) grows - raccoons, possums, rats (oh ghad the rats - so cute so plentiful so OHNOES), mice, squirrels...and now? Gophers. Maybe ground squirrels. Doubtful. Dunno.

Big hole. Lots of nicely turned earth. Right in the front of the mailbox.

I have two people to call. My yard man and Terminix. Poor gopher. Your life is going to get *very* interesting shortly.

Something new has been added!

We have a gopher.

..

So much for the greater metropolis of Los Angeles being a "sterile environment." I swear, I have more wildlife in my backyard than in the whole of Griffith Park.

The list (and not inclusive, I find new stuff every day) grows - raccoons, possums, rats (oh ghad the rats - so cute so plentiful so OHNOES), mice, squirrels...and now? Gophers. Maybe ground squirrels. Doubtful. Dunno.

Big hole. Lots of nicely turned earth. Right in the front of the mailbox.

I have two people to call. My yard man and Terminix. Poor gopher. Your life is going to get *very* interesting shortly.

Something new has been added!

We have a gopher.

..

So much for the greater metropolis of Los Angeles being a "sterile environment." I swear, I have more wildlife in my backyard than in the whole of Griffith Park.

The list (and not inclusive, I find new stuff every day) grows - raccoons, possums, rats (oh ghad the rats - so cute so plentiful so OHNOES), mice, squirrels...and now? Gophers. Maybe ground squirrels. Doubtful. Dunno.

Big hole. Lots of nicely turned earth. Right in the front of the mailbox.

I have two people to call. My yard man and Terminix. Poor gopher. Your life is going to get *very* interesting shortly.

Pertinent and timely -

Foreign adoptions have long been a big business in the United States, with an estimated 22,000 children being adopted last year, mostly from China, Russia and Ethiopia. Ethiopia's relatively easy system has seen thousands adopted in recent years. Adoption agencies in Ethiopia have burgeoned in the past two years from about five to more than 20. Liberia is another African country where several new adoption agencies have recently been established.

But many African child care organizations are wary of foreign adoptions.

Madonna has done it again. If you've been watching Google News (hell, turn on any news 'source' in love with babies (and not people in general) and you'd have caught this one) - she's in the process of adopting an orphan from Malawi - and people are none too pleased with her for it. This article claims that this is only the first in many children she plans to move into a 4,000 bed orphanage.

The only thing I thought when I heard about it was, 'well, I can't blame her for going out of country for an adoption.'

I wish some of Josephine Baker's children would step forward - or could step forward - and tell their stories. As I understand, none of them went into the music business...and that's about all I've heard. Digging deep into Google (and then googling the names of the children), I found this one entry mentioning the oldest of the children, Akio Bouillon.

It isn't a bad entry, and as one might expect - if it's truly awful, you might have heard more. If it was a good relationship - where's the news in that? There's plenty of entries outlining Baker's financial excesses...and that they rendered her and the children homeless...but nowhere are there entries of the children castigating their adoptive parents. (Find one? Let me know. It's useful information!)

Forming an family out of adopting children has to be accepted as a formation-at-need, not a happy accident. You go where the need is, you want to adopt children.

Madonna's adopting a child from Malawi. Let her, if all the protocols and requirements are met. And that's the only reservation I'd have about it.

Pertinent and timely -

Foreign adoptions have long been a big business in the United States, with an estimated 22,000 children being adopted last year, mostly from China, Russia and Ethiopia. Ethiopia's relatively easy system has seen thousands adopted in recent years. Adoption agencies in Ethiopia have burgeoned in the past two years from about five to more than 20. Liberia is another African country where several new adoption agencies have recently been established.

But many African child care organizations are wary of foreign adoptions.

Madonna has done it again. If you've been watching Google News (hell, turn on any news 'source' in love with babies (and not people in general) and you'd have caught this one) - she's in the process of adopting an orphan from Malawi - and people are none too pleased with her for it. This article claims that this is only the first in many children she plans to move into a 4,000 bed orphanage.

The only thing I thought when I heard about it was, 'well, I can't blame her for going out of country for an adoption.'

I wish some of Josephine Baker's children would step forward - or could step forward - and tell their stories. As I understand, none of them went into the music business...and that's about all I've heard. Digging deep into Google (and then googling the names of the children), I found this one entry mentioning the oldest of the children, Akio Bouillon.

It isn't a bad entry, and as one might expect - if it's truly awful, you might have heard more. If it was a good relationship - where's the news in that? There's plenty of entries outlining Baker's financial excesses...and that they rendered her and the children homeless...but nowhere are there entries of the children castigating their adoptive parents. (Find one? Let me know. It's useful information!)

Forming an family out of adopting children has to be accepted as a formation-at-need, not a happy accident. You go where the need is, you want to adopt children.

Madonna's adopting a child from Malawi. Let her, if all the protocols and requirements are met. And that's the only reservation I'd have about it.

Pertinent and timely -

Foreign adoptions have long been a big business in the United States, with an estimated 22,000 children being adopted last year, mostly from China, Russia and Ethiopia. Ethiopia's relatively easy system has seen thousands adopted in recent years. Adoption agencies in Ethiopia have burgeoned in the past two years from about five to more than 20. Liberia is another African country where several new adoption agencies have recently been established.

But many African child care organizations are wary of foreign adoptions.

Madonna has done it again. If you've been watching Google News (hell, turn on any news 'source' in love with babies (and not people in general) and you'd have caught this one) - she's in the process of adopting an orphan from Malawi - and people are none too pleased with her for it. This article claims that this is only the first in many children she plans to move into a 4,000 bed orphanage.

The only thing I thought when I heard about it was, 'well, I can't blame her for going out of country for an adoption.'

I wish some of Josephine Baker's children would step forward - or could step forward - and tell their stories. As I understand, none of them went into the music business...and that's about all I've heard. Digging deep into Google (and then googling the names of the children), I found this one entry mentioning the oldest of the children, Akio Bouillon.

It isn't a bad entry, and as one might expect - if it's truly awful, you might have heard more. If it was a good relationship - where's the news in that? There's plenty of entries outlining Baker's financial excesses...and that they rendered her and the children homeless...but nowhere are there entries of the children castigating their adoptive parents. (Find one? Let me know. It's useful information!)

Forming an family out of adopting children has to be accepted as a formation-at-need, not a happy accident. You go where the need is, you want to adopt children.

Madonna's adopting a child from Malawi. Let her, if all the protocols and requirements are met. And that's the only reservation I'd have about it.