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Eleven

As with any 11 year old, this one has moved through various stages.

Baby & Toddler Years

At the start I was an infertility blogger. As time passed and I moved farther away from my own infertility struggles, I morphed into more of a mommyblogger. Along the way, I delved into adoption, and focused my efforts there.

As I explored adoption’s many facets with other adoption writers, I go the crazy idea that I could write a book and get it published. The result, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption, is now on required/recommended reading lists at adoption agencies around the country.

On the subject of adoption, I’ve used this space to counter “experts,” like Dear Abby, a patriarchal demandist, and the Today Show.

Tween Years

In more recent years, I write less about my kids, now teenagers (as so often happens to mommybloggers — adoptive or otherwise). I write more about actual challenges of parenting, and practical advice for dealing with those challenges.

Sometimes I get lucky and get to blog about travels and adventures, and sometimes about pop culture, like movies and TV shows. Sometimes I get lucky and get to interview thought leaders. Sometimes, thanks to this blog,  I get lucky and meet people who become my dear friends.

Thank You

Though it’s not polite to ask for gifts, I do invite you to let me know, in a comment below, a memory you have of either me or of a post here on LavenderLuz.com.

Thank you all for visiting, for reading, for commenting, for being part of this space over the last 4000+ days. I look forward to celebrating future blogoversaries with you as the years roll by.

With gratitude!

27 Responses

  1. Thank you Lori for being brave enough to share parenting/infertility/adoption struggles many of us face- but are often afraid to speak out loud. You have made others know they are not alone! Happy 11th!

  2. Happy blogoversary Lor! I found this space as it was morphing, but I’m so grateful I did. My memory of this space ranges from when your book was first published to hearing about your family’s rafting adventures to laughing about first parenting memories that left you having to drain a tub while on vacation. It was because of you that I found “Sweet Grapes” and my heart found the first footholds towards healing.

    And I will forever treasure our lunch. Truly was an amazing day.

    1. Ahh, Cristy, these are all such wonderful memories, especially our lunch. I want to repeat that one, for sure (not the poop one, though!).

      I am so grateful that our blogs brought us together. ❤

  3. Eleven — wow. Time flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it?? 😉 I think my earliest memory of you would be some of the book tours we both participated in! You have been such a wise and calming voice in our community, and I have learned so much from you over the years! And I am sooooo jealous that you & Cristy got to have lunch together!!

    1. Oh, I loved reading books together.

      And having lunch with Cristy is definitely something to be jealous of. For my next trick, I’d love to make her jealous of me having lunch with YOU!

  4. Happy Blogoversary – and who can ever forget your wonderful and hilarious family stories? Although this blog has mostly been about being a mom, I’ve loved the interplay with you, your sisters, your parents, and your in-laws!

  5. I remember your Appellation Trail post! Now I’ll have to look and see how long ago that was. And we had lunch almost two years ago! I’ll be back in your neighborhood one day.

  6. Congratulations on 11 years! I am so grateful to have found you and your space, and it has been so helpful as I went through my own embryo adoption and adoption journeys, and while I didn’t become a parent, your voice in this community on so many topics is so needed, so appreciated, so useful! I love your posts, from the deep to the funny to the pictures of flowers and Dexter. One of my lifegoals is to find a way to have lunch with you, too! Somehow that’s got to happen. 🙂 Congratulations, and thank you for putting yourself out there on this space!

    1. The only thing better than you visiting Denver and meeting up for lunch here would be me getting to come to your home and your lovely office to meet for lunch with YOU.

      I’m so glad you like my posts about Dexter. And I’m grateful our paths have crossed through blogging ❤

    1. Sherrie! You were one of the first voices in adoption that I ever heard! (Well, read, anyway.) When I read your book, openness made so much sense to me.

  7. A lot of what I know about open adoption I learned from you. 🙂 I have so many memories … listening to your sisters sing with you, trips to the ER, the post from Listen to your Mother, Perfect Moment Mondays that made ME more mindful … what a gift your voice has been. Happy 11, Lori.

  8. Happy blogoversary. Well, I remember the terrible day you had to change the blog name and brainstorming about that. BUT I also remember that wonderful birthday post where all the versions of yourself arrived for the celebration. So the bitter with the sweet 🙂

  9. Hi Lori! I found your blog when we moved towards adoption and you helped pave my way towards openness and what this means. We were recently placed with another little girl and our family, formed through open adoption, is now complete. Your book was the first one I read after adopting our eldest and it helped shaped everything about our open adoption relationship. Thank you!!!

  10. I was convinced I had responded to this – maybe I got distracted when I headed off to try and find when I first “met” you. I suspect it was about the time of the salons, which was about six years ago I think? I have appreciated the conversations we have had over the years, and the fact that you are open (see what I did there?) to so many of us, regardless of our outcomes.

    I am also jealous that you and Cristy got to meet each other.

    Happy blogoversary!

  11. Happy blogiversary! Even though it was brief, I was so grateful for the chance to meet you and T for coffee a few years back! I hope we can do it again.

    The post you wrote (I think for a birthday) about meeting yourself at different ages and the gifts each past self brought impacted me deeply and I still think about it!

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