Thanks for your responses on my blog on adoptism They are great!

As people involved in adoption, I think many of us know immediately what is meant by “adoptism” and discrimination based on adoption. We feel it everywhere – from newspaper articles that MUST point out that such-and-such a person in adopted and WHY is that relevant to the story?!), to those that still profess that adoption is less than. That's what makes "adoptism" such a hot topic - I believe it DOES touch everyone, but not all do.

And as an aside, don't we have room to include all members of the triad, or circle, or star or whichever... more

It's a couple of days early for “Love Thursday”, but I wanted to post today about a great love story. Twenty-one years ago today, a young couple were married. They were 24 and 21 years old – just babies – and like all young couples, their heads were full of idealistic dreams. They wanted a large family – 6 or 8 children – and envisioned that they would all be biologically born to them and that all would be healthy and well. They figured they would be “normal”.

Little did they know the path life would take for them. The birth of their first son one year... more

Munda Wanga Environmental Park

This is a combination small zoo and botanical gardens. I was told “Munda Wanga” means “My Garden”. It's about 20 minutes from downtown, so expect your taxi fare to and from to run you close to $40. Combine other errands with it if you can. :)

When we were there, we especially enjoyed the baby monkey “nursery” - dang, they're cute! We also liked the lions (they're huge), the American black bear (I thought that was funny) and “Phoenix” the elephant, born in about 2001. She was very friendly, let me pet her trunk – then had no trouble popping open her locked gate and trotting down the path towards her nighttime enclosure.... more

In Lusaka, the capital city, there are some places you can go:

The National Museum. Even though it's small, it's still interesting, especially the collection on witch doctoring. (I was hear during the national elections in the fall of 06 – one of the contenders said if you did not vote for him, you were the son of a witch doctor. The newspapers are FULL of ads for witch doctors who can (supposedly) do anything from find a lost love, cure infertility, see if your spouse is cheating – even cure AIDS. It's BIG STUFF here.) They also have an exhibit on the history of Zambia, mostly in writing, but a few photos and artifacts as well. Price of admission is about $2.

Kabwata... more

Is there such a thing as too many children? Mother Teresa said "How can there be too many children? That would be like saying there are too many flowers." One cute children's book is called “Always Room for One More”. Some families feel that way about children – there's always room at the table, in the home and in the heart for “just one more”. Several of our bloggers are moms to large families – Cindy... more

You survived the flights, you made it out of the airport – hooray! On your way to where ever you are staying, ask if you can stop and get some water – you'll want it that first night at least for brushing your teeth and taking your anti-malarial medication.

Hopefully you ended up on a flight that arrives in the evening in Lusaka, so it will be late enough on Zambian time that you can just go to bed. Anything after about 8 pm sounds good to me. If you think you'll have trouble making it all the way through the night, you may want to take a sleeping... more

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If you are headed to Lusaka through Heathrow (London) instead of Jo'berg (South Africa), you can get out and see some sites if you have at least 6 hours for your layover. Anything shorter than that, just stay put. If you have enough time, change $100 into pounds, take the tube (subway) into downtown and you can see the House of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, part of the Thames and the London Eye. Depending on how... more

You are coming to Zambia, but it's the first time you've ever left the States - you need to know what to do. Or you've traveled before, but could use a refresher. Here are some more specifics of getting into Lusaka, Zambia.

You've checked your luggage and have been given boarding passes. Sometimes you will receive boarding passes that get you to your first stop in Africa. Sometimes, though you'll only receive boarding passes to DC. If you fly South African air from DC to Johannesburg, you'll need to get from the terminal you land in to the international... more

Now you're on the plane, heading to Africa. Just what ARE you going to do over the next 30+ hours? Here are some ideas: (Oh, and Mary, over on the Ethiopia blog, has some serious ideas and recommendations and lots of good ideas in her travel section. Erin,... more

You're on your way to Africa - hooray! Here are some (hopefully) helpful hints for the airport process.

Get to the airport a good two hours early. When you check-in, make sure your luggage gets tagged all the way through to your final destination. Every once in a while, someone mistakenly tags them for only part of the trip, either your last US destination or your first Africa stop. Going to retrieve them, re-tag them and getting back through security, well that's a big pain in the tookus. Baggage allowance is 2 bags, 50 pounds a piece. You can go... more