Gladney Blog

“Mommy, why doesn’t my hair look like yours?!”

I turned on Sesame Street and found a beautiful episode that gave dialogue to this dreaded age-old question.  NPR reported that Joey Mazzarino a head writer for Sesame Street, who is an Italian Father of an adopted Ethiopian daughter, wrote this episode to help teach his daughter to embrace her beauty after watching her play with her doll.

While watching this episode with my son I quickly fell in love with the catchy song  “don’t need a trip to the beauty shop, ’cause I love what I got on top….”. As well as the message that promotes self-love, acceptance and awareness that we are all different.

I'm grateful for this father starting a dialogue that our society needs. His creativity ignited conversations in homes, schools and playgrounds around the globe. Continue the conversation by attending Gladney University's training led by author and speaker, Rhonda Roorda entitled "Embracing the Heart, Mind, and Spirit of Transracial Adoption". Tickets are available for purchase for in person and live streaming attendance. 

Want to learn more about Mazzarino? Check out his interview on NPR.

This past weekend at Gladney's January Board Meeting, we celebrated the career of Ellen Wilson, Gladney's CFO for 19 years. 

James is almost 3 and is as cute as a little button! He laughs easily and is always smiling.

Sweet, sweet little Magnolia! Her little smile was worth every bit of effort it took to coax it out of her. She was a little shy at first but warmed up with a little effort on our part. And her little face lights up when she sees someone she knows.

The Chinese New Year is China's most important festival and holiday. Tuesday, February 5, 2019 begins The Year of the Pig. 

George is 5 years old and loves to play outside. He likes to learn new dances and picks them up quickly.

Mason is a 9 year old boy with no known medical needs. He is a quiet boy who loves to play sports and dreams of being a professional athlete. 

The adoption process can be stressful. Although there are scholarships and grants available to help with the fees, sometimes they don’t cover all of them. However, there are many ways to fundraise! One idea is creating a puzzle fundraiser. Each family or individual has the opportunity to “sponsor” a piece of the puzzle. In the end the puzzle can be a nice memento that can be hung on the wall. Here are some tips for organizing one:

Oh my, do we ever have the sweetest siblings to introduce today! There are 4 of them and they each have such precious, different personalities!

Read the latest information about Gladney's China and Taiwan's adoption program in the January 2019 Gladney Newsletter.