A month of positive representations of adoption during National Adoption Month would be a welcome change. Here on the Adoption.com blogs there will be a great deal of focus on all aspects, information on events, suggestions for celebrating our children's adoptions, tributes to birth parents, recommendations for reading, details on various processes, and so on throughout November ... even more than is usually on offer.

Adoption.com also has an "National Adoption Awareness Month" calendar that has daily ideas for ways to commemorate adoption, today's suggesting that this is a good day to remind local libraries and book stores to promote reading material on adoption.

Make up a list of your favorites, then pass those along to people in charge of acquisitions, encouraging them to add your titles and more to their collections. Volunteering some of your time might help in the process of spreading the word and educating your part of the world.

For my part, I would like to compile bits of YOUR stories to share with readers as November and National Adoption Month rolls to a close. For the next few weeks, I will be welcoming adoption stories from readers ... short segments, just a paragraph or two ... that celebrate their adoptions, their children, their unique experiences, their wisdom, and will publish bits of the most inspiring here.

What better way to honor adoptive families than to hear their stories, to applaud their children and to recognize the dedication of their families? They, of course, being YOU!

Perhaps you have a special tale to tell about your adoption journey, a mantra that gets you through the tough times, an inspiration you would like to share. Maybe your kids really do say the darndest things or have accomplished wonders you want others to know about.

Were there miracles associated with your adoption? Incidents of time or place or contact that made all the difference in the world to your family?

And what are your greatest joys? The first real hug from a child who hadn't known how? A sentence in English about feeling safe? A toothless smile from a chubby face?

If you would like to participate, to share some of the beauty of your adoption experience with other readers here in honor of National Adoption Month, and to shift as much focus as possible toward what is good and right about adoption for 30 days out of 365 before getting back to the bickering that so dominates our community, send your stories to me at:
SandraB@adoptionBlogs.com.

Please understand that I may not be able to acknowledge each submission, that those chosen will appear in whole or in part on this blog, and that by sending stories to me you give your permission for the material to be used in the blog.

It's been a tough year for adoptive families, and I am looking forward to spending this month remembering the good stuff.