Books and Blogs

Four years ago this week, we met Mia for the first time. As I sift through my memory of those anxious and wonderful days, I'm reminded of how special our trip was. Just one of the many spectacular things about our trip was a chance meeting on the plane from Kolkata to London. We chatted with Maura Hurley Basu who was traveling with her husband and two young children. She was gracious and kind and we truly enjoyed the conversation. Originally from New York, Maura now works at a school (Shikshamitra: Friends of Learning) for children living in the slum community. She offered to send me a book she wrote. The book is called To the Local Bazaar, and is written in English and Bengali. The book is about a young girl and her mother going to the bazaar, and is illustrated by Karuna Chitrakar, a local folk artist. This method of art is more than 1,000 years old and has been handed down to Chitrakar from generation to generation. This type of art is called the 'pata' style and is traditionally painted on a scroll. If any of you adoptive moms would be interested in purchasing a book, I would be more than happy to put you in contact with Maura.

2010 Asian Festival!!!

I recently "met" another blog mom named Kari Gibson. She has two bio kids and a baby girl from Ethiopia. She had the amazing 'Simply Love' idea to help adoptive parents raise money for their adoptions. I'm sure some of you have seen the t-shirts. If not, here's a sample:

Front...

Back...

Goodness, I love these shirts! Above you will see the male shirt...by the way, you can pick your country. She has a large list of countries, and if you don't see the country you are adopting from you can name the shirt! If you are interested in raising money for your adoption, you can contact Kari at karigib@gmail.com.

Anyway, Kari (her crazy-fun blog is My Crazy Adoption) asked to feature our story as her May family profile. If you think you have a grasp on our story...skip our article and check out the rest of her blog. If you are not familiar with our story and you'd like it in a nutshell (he, he, I'm picturing Mike Myers in Austin Powers right now) just click here. By the way, Kari's biological daughter, Hannah, was born at 26 weeks, weighing only 1 lb. 5 oz. Oh, we have so, so much in common!

Well, Mia's Gotcha Day is tomorrow. I have a special post planned for tomorrow!