[BrandyHagz]

ADOPTION.COM FORUMS MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Vol. 2 No. 6 January 2006

Welcome to another issue of ADOPTION.COM FORUMS Monthly, bringing you the best and brightest from the Adoption.com discussion forums every month, and an invitation to join in. The support you have to offer or the story you have to tell may be just what someone else needs to hear.
http://forums.adoption.com

THIS MONTH:
* Announcements
* Chat Schedule
* Featured Forum
* Featured Posts
* Member in the Spotlight
* Favorite Stories of the Month
* Journal Entry
* The Photo Gallery

Sponsored by
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AdoptionShop.com's New CD: Do You Have A Little Love To Share
14 beautiful songs celebrate the shared love that is at the center of adoption. This collection of original words and music, by Janice Kapp Perry and Joy Saunders Lundberg, will touch the hearts of every member of the adoption community, from placing and adopting parents at the beginning of their journeys, to adoptive and birth families
after adoption, to adopted children and adults.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Adoption.com Forums Pass 1 Million Mark
More than 1 million posts have been made on the adoption.com forums. We thank every member who has contributed to the forums in one way or the other; you certainly help us make a difference!

Changes! Changes! Changes!
There are a lot of changes taking place within our Community of Forums. Please excuse our mess as we work hard to make our forums better for you, our members.

FertilityForums.com
Don't forget about FertilityForums.com. If you've struggled with fertility issues in the past, or are still struggling with them, be sure to check out the newest fertility resource on the web!

Welcome!
We would like to welcome all of our new forum hosts.


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CHAT SCHEDULE

Birth Mother Chat, Mondays, 10 pm EST, with FauxClaud in the Birth Parents room

Fost/Adopt - Getting Started, 2nd & 4th Monday, 10 pm EST, with NDN in Hosted room

Russian Adoption Chat, Wednesdays, 9 pm EST, with Shay in the International room

International Chats, Mondays, 1 pm EST, in the International room

Foster Adopt, Tuesdays, 9 pm EST, with Luv’mall in the Hosted room

Adoptees, Wednesdays, 9 pm EST, with mlassi in the Hosted room

Adoption Scrapbook and Lifebook, 2nd Wednesday of each month, 9 pmEST, with DianeScraps in the Hosted room

International Adoption, Get-together, every Thursday, 9 pm EST

http://chat.adoption.com

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FEATURED FORUM

Adoptive Parents Trying to Conceive after Adoption
A forum devoted to the unique situations and emotions surrounding trying to conceive after adopting.
http://forums.adoption.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2828

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FEATURED POSTS

* How Does Your Marriage Hold Up?
A dicussion about the stressors of marriage, family and foster-to-adopt.
How does your marriage hold up?

* Mom/Parents Having Trouble Attaching to Child?
A topic that is rarely discussed in the adoption community - parental attachment in adoption. Adoption isn't just about the children attaching to the parents.
Mom/Parents having trouble attaching to child??

* Balancing Your Child's Heritage
A discussion about honoring the birth heritage of children adopted internationally.
Balancing Your Child's Heritage

* Pros and Cons of Allowing Baby to Attach to a Blanket
A thread that discusses the pros and cons of material attachment in infants and toddlers.
Pros and cons of allowing baby to attach to a blanket

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MEMBER IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Heartened, adoptee

Heartened is a 34-year-old adoptee born and adopted in Illinois who is still trying to decide if she wants to actively seek out her birth family. From her non-identifying information, she has learned that she was actually the youngest of 5 or 6 children born to a couple who were in the process of divorcing. As far as she knows, she was the only child placed.

She is happily married and mother to three teenagers, as well as an aunt to a wonderful 6-year-old adopted from Russia.

Heartened is a newcomer to the adoption.com forums, having only joined in December of 2005. She says that it is the conversations she has had on these forums, as well as the posts she has read from other adoptees, which gave her the courage to take a significant step in her journey towards finding out the truth of her origins.

On January 10, 2006, Heartened submitted her registration with the ISRR (International Soundex Reunion Registry) and the IARMIE (Illinois Adoption Regesitry Medical Information Exchange). She has said that while she is not ready to actively search, she is open to being found by her birth family and has a particular interest in meeting her siblings.

Heartened is blogging her experiences, feelings and inner explorations on a blog she created titled "The Adoption Void."

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FAVORITE STORIES OF THE MONTH

* How Has Your Family Been Touched by Adoption, Maggie Beth
I think most of us on this Guatemala list are adoptive parents...
How has your family been touched by adoption?

* My Story, FH-SchmennaLeigh
My mother got pregnant with me at the age of eighteen...
My Story

* Use of the Term "Gotcha Day" - Pro or Con?, Bebitosmama
I was checking out this month's issue of Adoptive Families Magazine today"...
Use of the Term "Gotcha Day" -- Pro or Con? (X-post)

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JOURNAL ENTRY

Musemoon, foster/adopt mother in LA County
Aria's Adoption Journal
http://journals.adoption.com/?do=showjournal&j=317

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THE PHOTO GALLERY

Old Tyme Photo
http://photos.adoption.com/showimage.php?i=476

Our Christmas Angel
http://photos.adoption.com/showimage.php?i=478

Lya-Summer 2004
http://photos.adoption.com/showimage.php?i=443


Watch for ADOPTION.COM FORUMS MONTHLY each month and remember: the post that makes a difference in someone's life could be yours.


'Til next month
The ADOPTION.COM Forums Team


Previous Newsletters
For previous newsletters, visit http://forums.adoption.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2820.