Marcie is the mother of two active boys, one from Russia and one from Guatemala. She is a former English and Reading teacher who lives in the Chicago burbs with her husband, two boys, and the obligatory black lab. She is the founder of Grown in My Heart and also writes at GadaboutMedia and GadaboutHealth. She is passionate about helping the special needs community and believes that everyone should take a daily nap.

Lisa is the mother of eleven children, seven by birth and four by adoption. With children ranging in age from 22 to two, she daily juggles diverse parenting issues ranging from potty training to editing graduate school admittance essays. As a passionate advocate for the adoption of HIV+ children, Lisa serves as the Family Care Coordinator for From HIV to Home. Married for 25 years, Lisa and her husband Russ raise their family in the Northwest. Lisa blogs about her life at A Bushel and a Peck.

Judy is the mother of four, one by birth and three by adoption. Judy and her husband raise their busy vibrant kiddos in the Midwest. Her passion is working with adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents, focusing primarily on issues inherent in adoption, transracial parenting and special needs. She strives for balance in that crazy thing called life. (Remembering to breathe is good…) Judy’s essays and articles appear in parenting magazines. Her stories are included in A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families: Stories That Celebrate a Special Gift of Love (Adams Media), Pieces of Me: Who Do I Want to Be? (EMK Press) and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom (Chicken Soup for the Soul). She presented for “Finding Our Stories Online” at the Stories from the Heart conference in Austin, Texas. Judy is an adoption educator and coach. You can find out more about and register for her classes Parenting Your Adopted Child: Tweens, Teens & Beyond. 

 Claudia Corrigan D’Arcy has spent almost 10 years independently researching adoption issues in preparation of the successful search and reunion with her own son in 2007 whom was placed for adoption. She has spent countless hours learning from, talking with, and educating others on adoption issues through her work, with adoption lobbying and activism and at national adoption conferences. She has been writing on her blog about almost every aspect of life as a birthmother since 2005. She has appeared on The Montel Williams Show as an expert in adoption scams and served on the blogger panel at the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Research Institute/ Ethica Adoption Ethics Conference. When not talking about adoption, she is the Director of Social Media at DragonSearch. Her writing can be found many places online including her blog, Musings of the Lame, Adopt-a-tude, Divine Caroline and many others.

Clint

Clint Costa is a licensed Illinois attorney and registered Illinois CPA practicing with the Chicago law firm of Shaheen Novoselsky Staat Filipowski and Eccleston, PC (whew…that’ s a mouthful). Clint focuses on transactional and estate planning matters, including tax, real estate, contracts, business formation and succession planning, estate plan drafting and administration. Clint is a graduate of DePaul University (BS Accounting) and the Chicago-Kent College of Law (JD), and is currently working toward an advanced legal degree, also from the Chicago-Kent College of Law (LL.M.). Clint and his wife, Julie, live in the land of milk and bungalows in Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood. Clint can be reached by email at ccosta@snsfe- law.com or by phone at (312) 621-4400.

Voni

Our lives can feel a little upside down sometimes. There are three kids, one husband, two furry children and me…and it seems always a lot of stuff going on. Our two youngest kids were adopted from Russia in 2005 at the ages of 6 and 7. In more than a million ways we are the normal American family: overscheduled, frazzled and loving. Underneath is more though: RAD (reactive attachment disorder) seems to become a large part of everyday – no matter how hard I try not to let it. We are ALL working on healing, both for our children and ourselves! Voni writes at Can I Get at Do-Over?

Tonggu Momma (otherwise known as TM) is an adoptive mother of one daughter from China. She and her husband continue to wait for a second adoption referral from China, with a log-in dating back to the summer of 2006. TM, a former teacher turned stay-at-home mom, loves to laugh, write, read with her six-year-old and stumble her way through Mandarin class. She also loves to sing, but only when no one is listening – because it’s THAT bad, y’all. She, her husband and daughter the Tongginator live in a house belonging to a cat they’ve nicknamed The Vortex of Vomit in the Washington, D.C. metro area. She blogs anonymously at Our Little Tongginator.

“Sabrina Merritt is a full time mother of two darling monsters, living in Central Oregon. After completing her family she became a Gestational Surrogate to help others do the same, birthing twins in late 2008. She is currently pregnant with her second surrogate pregnancy and is expecting a roller coaster of a journey with the finish line reached some time in October, 2010. When she’s not chasing children with her camera she’s blogging her adventures in surrogacy at www.bumpfairy.wordpress.com“

Melanie

Melanie Recoy was taken into the witness protection program at the age of two weeks after giving key testimony in the RICO trial of a prominent organized crime leader. Adopted by a mid-western couple unaware of her background, she has evaded those seeking to collect on the million dollar contract on her life. She blogs as Addie Pray at According To Addie.

Kristen

Kristen is the mom of four kids.  She adopted her oldest from fostercare, has two biological daughters, and recently brought her adopted son home from Haiti.  She is a marriage and family therapist, and is an adjunct professor of psychology at Vanguard University.  She blogs at Rage Against the Minivan, and is an editor and contributor at the parenting blog Mama Manifesto.  She and her husband have been married since 1996, and live in Southern California.

Carrie