Taking the advice from fellow Guide, Liz Kennedy, I decided to let you all know that I have a fan page on Facebook. I link to it in my weekly newsletter, but I decided to blog about it as well.

I've also decided to share more with you via the Facebook fan page. I plan to feature:

• weekly music videos with lyrics that relate to the topic of adoption, foster care and surrounding issues
• videos of children transitioning into new adoptive homes, sharing their feelings about adoption or foster care, and more
• interviews of adoptees and birth family as they embark on adoption searches and reunions
• my About.com Adoption & Foster Care blogs and recommended books and blogs
• other topics fans of About Adoption & Foster Care recommend.

So make checking my fan page a part of your Facebook ritual and visit often.

I'd like to invite you to become a Facebook fan of About Adoption & Foster Care. I hope that as a fan, you will share your opinions, suggest topics for coverage and discuss adoption and foster care issues. Thank you!

Andy Lyons / Getty Images

I'm totally excited to find a Super Bowl connection for my Web site.  Actually it's a Peyton Manning, of the Indianapolis Colts, connection and all the wonderful work he does to help children in need, including foster children.

Yes, we know that Peyton Manning is known for his skills on the football field, but I didn't know about his big heart for children.

Check out the following list of fast facts about this Super Bowl Champion

• Started the PeyBack Foundation which in 2009, donated

  • $500,00 to 48 community organizations in Indiana
  • $135,000 to 31 groups in Knoxville, Tenn
  • $142,000 to 25 charities in New Orleans

• Manning also spends time with the children his foundation serves taking time for

  • Zoo trips with hundreds of kids
  • Trips to the Children's museum
  • Thanksgiving food drive
  • Handing out bags of groceries to needy families
  • Baseball games and bowling

• Organizes the PeyBack Classic where high school kids play football in the Lucas Oil Stadium.

• Contributes to the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital where he regularly visits the children.

• Involved with "Project 18" to help bring about healthy eating and exercise programs for children in an effort to fight obesity in childhood.

• Invites Indiana foster children to watch the Colts play and then meet him after the game.

Take a bit and read more about the work Peyton Manning does to give back to his community.

Need ideas on what you can do? Check out 9 Ways to Help Children in Foster Care.

Interested in being a foster parent? Learn more by reading, 6 Foster Care Skills You Need to Know Before Becoming a Foster Parent.

SOURCE:

Peyton Manning off the field is strong presence in local community causes - nola.com

The drama seems to continue for the 10 Americans who were arrested last Friday for attempting to take 33 Haitian children out of Haiti and into the Dominican Republic. Today they were charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy, but were lucky enough to escape the greater charge of human trafficking. The judge now has up to 3 months to decide whether to continue on with the legal proceedings or release the group. If convicted they could face up to 15 years in a Haitian prison.

Reports state that the group maintains that it was just a misunderstanding, that they were just trying to help, good intentions and all that. The group now states that they realize they were in the wrong and wish to be released to continue to help Haiti.

I can't speak for the group, but I think it would be common knowledge that proper forms, documentation, and identification would be needed to transport any child, anywhere. Even as foster parents, we must carry identification for our foster children.

The reports also mention that the children were told they were going to be educated and be brought back to Haiti for visitation. That seems a bit shady, wasn't that the same ruse used in the Samoan adoptions highlighted in a recent news investigation piece?

The State Department is allowing the Haitian government to call the shots with the case regarding the 10 American Baptists with members ranging in age from 18 - 55. The 33 Haitian children are being cared for by SOS Children's Villages.

I don't believe they deserve 15 years - if it was just simple idiocy. Do you think they deserve to be sentenced harshly or released and sent home with their tails between their legs?

SOURCE:
Haiti Charges Americans With Child Abduction - The New York Times

We had a conversation with our daughter recently about some of her behavior. You know, not doing chores, blowing us off when we try to talk to her, not allowing me to acknowledge her existence in public. You know, tween stuff. We took the opportunity to talk to her while we were driving to Grandma's house for a visit - this way she doesn't have to look us in the eye. She also doesn't have to see that her dad's blood was boiling and he doesn't have to see her eye-rolling. Talking it out in the car, it's a win-win really.

As we discussed our frustrations with each other, it hit me - it's a communication problem, to be more specific, a love language problem. My husband's love language is acts of service. My love language is physical touch and words of affirmation (basically hold my hand and tell me I'm pretty and I'll feel loved for days). Our daughter's love language is gifts. (I bought her a wide-toothed comb because she kept taking mine. She was so thrilled. That $1.00 comb let her know that I was thinking of her that day.)

I explained to her that as she gets older, she is more responsible for building the relationships around her. When she blows off chores or doesn't let me give her one quick hug and kiss before school, she's kind of saying, that she doesn't care about our feelings. She seemed to understand even though she rolled her eyes a few times. That's OK, I'll hug and kiss her anyway. Sometimes, she even asks for a hug - so I roll my eyes and give her a squeeze. Tweens are fun that way.

This post is part of About.com's "All About Love" Parenting Blog Carnival. Follow the link for more musings about love, parenting and families.

Suggested Reading:
Parenting with the Five Love Languages
Adoption Children's Book Review: In My Heart