Which infants have the highest risk of developing diabetes as they mature? Asians, Native Hawaiians, blacks, Hispanics, and other Pacific Islanders, have significantly higher risks of developing diabetes than whites do. Non-Hispanic whites have nearly an 8.7 percent chance of developing diabetes, while non-Hispanic blacks have a 13.3 percent chance. When you group all of the Hispanic/Latino population together they have... more

It’s happened to me several times. Someone in my world describes a child they find comparable in some way to LuLu. And without realizing it, invariably they end up telling me the child was internationally adopted.

“The other little peanut I had once,” says LuLu’s OT yesterday, “who reminds me so much of LuLu, was this sweet girl with Tourettes adopted from Russia.” I suspect the therapist’s comparison was focused on the fact that both girls had the diagnosis of Tourettes and had perseverative vocal tics that were very interesting. As she continued to tell me... more

Today’s children who are becoming teenagers are using inhalants more often than marijuana or prescription drugs. A new government report shows that inhaling common household products is the preferred way to get high for those becoming teenagers. According to health officials, household products like shoe polish, glue, aerosol air fresheners, hair sprays, nail polish, paint solvents, degreasers, gasoline, and lighter fluid are all possibilities for getting high. The results of the study were presented on Thursday at the National Press club in Washington, D.C. The National... more

Sexually transmitted diseases are in the news again shocking people with their skyrocketing numbers. A new government study suggests that over three million teenaged girls have at least one sexually transmitted disease (STD.) They say that boils down to one out of every four teenage girls having an STD. There is worse news yet if you look inside of those averages. Nearly half of all African American teenage girls have an STD compared to about 20 percent of Caucasian teenage girls. Then when we look at statistics for the sexual... more

I’m following an online conversation among adoptive parents. It all started with the announcement that one mom has an acquaintance who is looking to “rehome” their newly adopted child. There has been a flood of opinion about adoptive parents who would decide that they can’t/won’t parent a child, presumably because of his/her challenges.

There are parents who are totally appalled that these parents would “give up” on the child so quickly. There are others who hop into the fray announcing that they themselves have either dissolved an adoption or given it... more

Happy Chinese New Year (albeit a bit late). This is the Year of the Rat, a special occasion in our household, since LuLu was born in the year of the Rat. Unlike what we in Western cultures think, Rats hold a place of real honor in the ancient Chinese culture, and is the first animal of the Chinese zodiac. The legend contents that as the animals crossed the river to the Jade Emperor in a contest to see who would arrive first, it was the rat, clever fellow that he was, who climbed aboard the Ox’s back and then scurried... more

To finish the series on disability law, we need to look at the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Known to the general public as the act that caused all the handicapped parking spaces, ramps and wheelchair access restrooms, this act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications.

The three basic obligations under ADA are to:

1. not discriminate based on disability.

2. provide effective communication to those with disabilities

3. provide physical access

The... more

The beginning of a new year always finds me buried knee deep in paperwork. Like most people who are expecting a tax refund, we like to file as soon as possible. In order to pull that off by the first week of February I need to begin sorting paperwork and entering numbers now. This is partly because we have a farm that makes many of our purchases and utilities tax deductible. On top of that we finalized two adoptions during 2007, so that adds another stack of paperwork. One of our adoptions has a fixed deductible not requiring any receipts because it was considered... more

Every day of this Christmas break I have planned to: a. write a holiday letter; b. have LuLu do just a little bit of school work; and c. catch up on a work project I put off until this week. Well, the week is technically over and the only one of these things that has gotten done is a couple hours of geometry that Kay did with LuLu yesterday.

Mostly, I’m concerned that our holiday letter won’t get written. Last year I actually got the picture taken, letter written and cards all mailed before Christmas. This year…zippo. I had planned on us taking a picture... more

I started to write this blog a few days ago to tell you how fortunate we are to have a circle of friends who are nearly like family to us. We’ve been going to church with these people for over 10 years, and they are dear enough to us that we see them usually twice a week, and share all kinds of life events. (One even went with me to help admit LuLu to the psych hospital this fall, since Super Dad was out of town.) I’m not sure how we would survive being several hundreds of miles away from all family members if we didn’t have friends who were close enough to take... more