Today’s the Friday before Spring Break begins, which means this morning the kids got out of bed a little more enthusiastically than usual. There’s nothing like the prospect of no school to make an early wake-up call more bearable.

For the next few days, I hope to sleep in late, too, although for me “late” means 7 a.m. That’s probably a function of age, or perhaps it’s just a sign that, yes, I am indeed turning into my mother. And Mom, if you’re reading this, there’s no one else I would rather turn into. Really~ xoxoxo

But before I pick up Mateo from kindergarten and vacation officially begins, I’m posting links to a few interesting articles. This story from NPR’s All Things Considered, Fewer Russian Adoptions Since Mom Sent Son Back, follows up last year’s story of Torry Hansen, the nurse from Tennessee who

 “put the international adoption world into an uproar when she sent her newly adopted 7-year-old back to Moscow on a one-way trip. Fearful of her son, Torry Hansen said she put him on a plane because he threatened to burn down the house and had psychological issues.”

I think the international adoption world’s reaction to the article indicates how atypical Hansen’s behavior was. Clearly she had reached a point where she could no longer cope. My hope is that Hansen’s action may lead to increased counseling and assistance for adoptive parents– before, during, and especially after the adoption process. The February 2011 Good Housekeeping article by Melissa Fay Greene on the effects of long-term foster or institutional care on relinquished or abandoned children is a step in the right direction. For anyone specifically interested in adoption from Russia, the NPR article includes links to past NPR coverage of the subject.

Also interesting is this article by Kara Andrade in the spring/summer edition of ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Citizen Media: Mobile Democracy, about the ways cell phone use is transforming Guatemala. Cell phone use has allowed us to maintain contact with our daughter’s birth family in a remote area of the country, one small example of the way access to a “larger world” –a nearby village, the capital city, or the United States–is expanding the experiences of many Guatemalans.

Finally, People magazine reports that Mariska Hargitay and her husband have adopted a baby girl, Amaya Josephine, born in the United States. Wonderful news!

Spring Break is off to a great start.

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