Book Review

The hubs is a big Crichton fan.  Lil'O... not so much.

On a more serious note, here are some adoption books we have read so far and our thoughts.

By far my favorite has been Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child: From Your First Hours Together Through the Teen Years by Patty Cogen. (Thanks for the recommendation Jessie and Denny!) It covers such practical things such as, issues with sleep, eating, eye contact, regulating emotions, and building resiliency.  Another great feature is that it addresses all issues from the child's point of view, which seems like such an obvious thing, but many books seem to focus on the parents' perceptions.  It also speaks about helping your child set down survival skills and learn to pick up family skills.  I haven't even finished it yet, but I can tell that the minute I finish, I'm going to have to go back and start again.  It's a real gem of help.

The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis was also really great to read.  I particularly liked reading about disciplining kids and dealing with behavior problems without destroying the trust that has already been built. 

Adopted For Life by Russell Moore is a good book if you are on the fence about adopting, want to read about a beautiful adoption story, or want to start an adoption ministry at your church.  However, it doesn't have much to offer in the way of dealing with issues your children may be experiencing once home.

Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge is helpful in that it is written by someone who was adopted and can write with first-hand experience and emotion. This book was helpful in knowing or anticipating what kind of fears our children will experience, as well as times they will grieve.  I will warn you though, the tone of the book is pretty bitter.  It seems like Sherrie grew up in a family that tried to sweep all adoption issues under the rug, and her book is a warning against doing just that.

Scott Simon's Baby We Were Meant for Each Other is one family's memoir of their adoption stories from China.  It's a sweet read, and is more on the chicken soup side, rather than giving advice for arising issues. 

Successful Adoption: A Guide for Christian Families by Natalie Gillespie was worthless.  This book was probably outdated by the time it arrived at the publisher.  The internet is your best friend in looking up agencies, countries, paperwork, and issues surrounding adoption.  Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on it, though, since we did read it and then successfully adopted....

Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker is another family memoir that I loved reading.  It speaks to the tenacity of crazy love that parents experience even before kids are "theirs".  We had someone ask us during the process if we ever thought about giving up, that it was too hard.  It was a mind-blowing question.  Leave our sons?  No.  It didn't cross our minds. 

What about you?  Any  favorite books you could recommend?  They don't even have to be adoption related, I promise! 

S-Man's current favorite is Dr. Seuss's ABC book.  (Thanks again Megan and Peter!).  The other night we were reading it, and were on the page with the letter "D".  S said, "I'm coming W!" Hilarious.

Other favorites have been Galimoto and Do you do a Digeridoo?

Lil'O still loves to look at the photo album we left for him in July. Too sweet! We wanted him to be able to see our faces every day, since we knew we wouldn't return for a month or two.