All American Boy in the Big Apple!

So proud to be a US citizen and honor his Armenian heritage.

Born From Her Heart: I Love My Mommy.

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Okay… This is Adorable. Two New US Citizen’s Celebrating America’s Birthday!

Source: http://martiniadoptionroad.blogspot.com

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Somewhere A Child is Waiting for You!

A Big Shout Out to our NC Senator Richard Burr

A Big Shout Out to our NC Senator Richard Burr for signing the letter in support of opposing the Drastic 95% USCIS fee increase!!!!

How to Make A New Citizen? #Adopt!

What could be more patriotic than making a waiting child a new US Citizen, through the gift of adoption?  Happy Birthday America!  We love you!

New Webcast: Adoption & Identity

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As a child grows, their understanding of adoption becomes more nuanced and complex. Unresolved (and often unasked) questions surrounding birth family, the decision to place them for adoption, or how much of who they are is related to their DNA vs. their upbringing often weighs more heavily on them. These feelings and questions may be difficult to wrestle with, and are essential to identity formation.

Join us as Michelle Madrid-Branch, an internationally placed adopted person, author and renowned speaker on the topic of adoption, shares her personal journey to self. Her insights are sharp and candid as she relays coming to terms with various aspects of her story and piecing together for herself the things that mattered going forward.

Building from Michelle’s story, Carmen Knight, an experienced adoption therapist and transracially placed adopted person herself, will expand upon the lessons from Michelle’s story and thereby help all parents learn how to:

• Identify opportunities to help your child process various pieces of their story
• Empathize with their conflicting feelings of loss and stay part of the conversation
• Recognize how common life events can serve as emotional triggers for adopted people

Click here to learn more and register

Watch Me Now: Determination, Grace, Unlimited Talent = Miss Lusie!

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Watch Me Now: Girl Receives Doll with Matching Prosthetic!

Source: foxnews.com

The gift of a new toy is met with enthusiasm by most children, but for one Texas girl, a doll that looks just like her triggered tears of joy.

Courtney Fletcher Bennett gave her daughter Emma a new American Girl doll that was custom fitted with a prosthetic right leg, just like hers.

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News From Armenia: A loving son, a fun brother – a fulfilling life.

Source: http://digital.olivesoftware.com

By Katie Martin



Some events in life are priceless such as weddings, graduations or births.

But for Christie Orta, an important life moment was a simple trip to the beach a couple of weeks ago.

“That one moment was worth more than every penny we paid and every tear that I cried, just to see him sitting in the ocean,” Christie said as she showed a video of her newly adopted son, Edgar, 4, playing in the surf.

“He was so excited he didn’t know what to do with himself,” she said. “He was flapping his arms so hard I’m surprised he didn’t fly away, he was just so excited.”

Since 2013 Christie and her husband, Raymundo Orta, have been working through the adoption process to bring Edgar, who has Down syndrome, home from Armenia. In February, they, along with their biological daughter, Laura, 9, officially became a family of four, bringing Edgar home to Savannah.

“I think he has completed our family in ways that we never thought he would. He’s made us a better family,” Christie said. “People have said he’s so blessed to be in a family now, but I think the opposite. We’re so blessed to have him.”

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News from Ukraine: Celebrating Forever Families and Our Newest US Citizen!

Hopscotch is celebrating this forever family welcoming their beautiful daughter home and her US citizenship day!

Four Reasons Adoption Can Be Expensive

Source: http://showhope.org

One of the most common questions people ask about adoption is,  “Why is it so expensive? If there are millions of waiting children around the world, why is it so difficult to bring them home?”

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VanHalle Family Fundraiser to Support Two Waiting Armenian Children!

The VanHalle Family is hosting a fundraiser to support the future adoption of two wonderful waiting children in Armenia.  You can help grow their sponsorship accounts and show your support with a t-shirt purchase.  Proceeds will be donated to each of their sponsorship accounts on Reece’s Rainbow. 

How International Adoption Can be Wholly Misunderstood

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-couple-cleared-daughters-death-leaves-qatar-121649335.html

By Abdullah Rebhy

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — An American couple cleared of charges in their adopted daughter's death left the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar on Wednesday, leaving behind them a nearly two-year saga that ended with a court ruling absolving them of any wrongdoing.

The Los Angeles couple, Matthew and Grace Huang, caught international attention after they were arrested in January 2013 on murder charges following the death in Qatar of their 8-year-old daughter Gloria, who was born in Ghana.

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Kybele, Inc in action in Ghana

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Your Hopscotch Adoptions Team: Serving All Children, All Families, All Faiths.

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News from Ukraine: Two Families

News from Ukraine: Please keep our two Hopscotch families in your thoughts and prayers as they travel to bring their children home from Ukraine.

News from Morocco: Congratulations to our Hopscotch Family!!

News from Morocco: Congratulations to our Hopscotch Family!!  Yesterday a beautiful baby boy joined his forever family.  Hurry Home!!   

Winning Over Reluctant Family to Your Adoption Plans

Source: http://www.creatingafamily.org/blog/httpwwwcreatingafamilycomblogadoption-domestic-international-embryo-fostercarewinning-over-reluctant-family-to-your-adoption-plans/

Thanks Dawn Davenport @ Creating A Family

After deciding that adoption is the right choice for building your family, you naturally want everyone to be as excited as you.  Unfortunately, this may not happen.  While you are at the screaming it from the roof top stage, your parents, siblings and extended family may be at the “Slow down and consider your options” stage or the “Are you nuts” stage.  Remember that your decision to adopt evolved over time after much researching, soul searching, discussing, and praying.  Unless you’ve shared every step of this journey with them, your family has not had the benefit of this process.  So while it might be nice if they were totally psyched about your adoption, it’s probably unfair to expect them to be at the same place as you.

So what do you do if your family doesn’t share your excitement about your adoption plans?  First, if you think you may get a less than enthusiastic response, consider writing your family a letter telling them of your decision before you talk with them in person.  We chose this approach with my husband’s parents.  They like to think about things and discuss it between themselves before talking with others, so a letter gave them this opportunity.  Also, a letter allowed us to explain our reasons, and set the stage for their response by telling them how excited we were.

If you tell them in person, think about what you want to say and choose your words carefully.  One friend reported that she started the conversation with “I’ve got great news!”  Her parents assumed she was going to tell them she was pregnant, and their initial response at learning of the adoption was less than she had hoped.  They recouped quickly, however, and are now doting grandparents to her two children.

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All American Girl with an Armenian Heart and Soul