As promised, here is my review of Dan Brennan's book:

Dan Brennan’s ground-breaking book “Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions” courageously attacks the oldest and most difficult wall dividing the Christian church—the wall between male and female. Brick by brick, he dismantles the notion that intimate, even passionate, friendships between men and women are impossible and dangerous. He builds instead an eloquent case that male/female friendships are healthy, and necessary for becoming whole and complete people.

I was trying to decide what to blog about today, and I happened across a book that sounds like it would be the book of my heart if I wrote non-fiction. It's called Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions: Engaging the Mystery of Friendship Between Men and Women, by Dan J. Brennan. It's a positive discussion about non-romantic friendships between men and women--regardless of marital status. The author has self-published the book--I imagine because the subject matter may be too much of a hot-potato for most Christian publishers. But from what I've seen of it so far, it looks very well-written and professionally produced.

I've always loved roses. Several years ago, I discovered David Austin roses. They're also called "English roses" and I love the catalog the company puts out. Each rose has an intriguing name--"Othello," "Evelyn," "Glamis Castle," "A Shropshire Lad"--and the descriptions of the fragrance reads like a wine description:

Evelyn: Its great glory is its wonderful fragrance, which is similar in style to an Old Rose, but with a sumptuous fruity note reminiscent of fresh peaches and apricot.

Munstead Wood: There is a strong Old Rose fragrance with a fruity note. Our fragrance expert, Robert Calkin, assesses this as ‘warm and fruity with blackberry, blueberry and damson’.

Princess Alexandra of Kent: They have a delicious fresh Tea fragrance which, interestingly, changes completely to lemon as the flower ages – eventually taking on additional hints of blackcurrants.

Really? Adoptive mom put her kid back on a plane to Russia with a "to whom it may concern" note because she didn't know what to do with him--seriously?

Gah. This is the sort of thing that gives the adoption community ulcers. First, can I just vent that the media does an incredibly sucky job of covering ANY POSITIVE adoption story? Good grief. Are there not hundreds of families who have amazing stories of hope and triumph in overcoming difficulties with their kids--adopted or not? Are the only stories worth covering the failures?

We in the adoption community have lamented that before, so this is not new, nor does it surprise me. But since I have this blog, and since I've got a book published about adoption, as well as being an adoptive mom, I'd like to just say a few things for the record:

1)  I don't care WHAT your kid's problem is, you don't put him on a plane and send him back. What part of "forever family" did she not understand? Parents don't get return receipts on children. You don't get a refund. You don't get an exchange. They're not an overgrown puppy to be listed in online classifieds for a "rehoming fee" and they most certainly cannot be thrown out because they weren't what you wanted, expected, or were ready for. They are CHILDREN, and no matter what problems they end up with or how they break your heart or disappoint you, you don't abandon them. Ever. Period. End of discussion.

It's official! Today is the birth date for Lucky Baby, my fourth novel. It marks a new direction in my writing, and I'm so excited to see how people respond to it. Lucky Baby is about a motely collection of flawed people who find the strength and courage to become a family. They do it through Chinese adoption, but what I'm exploring in this novel is not just adoption, but what it means to love. I'm fascinated by how strangers and people wholly unrelated to each other can develop such strong attachment to each other that not even the worst circumstances can tear them apart. How does this happen? Where do we find that kind of love?