My name is Patty Lazarus.  I am a parent full-time, a tennis and golf enthusiast part-time, and an author.  Along with two almost-fully-grown boys, I have a ten-year old daughter I adopted at birth in the U.S.  The struggles I went through before she came into my life encouraged me to write a memoir which I called “March Into My Heart”.   The adoption all happened in the month of March, including her birth.  The book has not been published but will soon be available.
Over the course of ten years, the story of my adoption journey has been told to many people, many of whom have subsequently adopted their own children.  My original goal of writing the book was to keep track of the numerous emotions and details my husband and I went through during the adoption process, for our daughter to eventually read.  However, our experience enabled us to help others to adopt their own children which encouraged me to someday publish my memoir.  I hope people will find the strength and courage to face the realities of infertility, and potential joys of adoption, before it’s too late by reading my book. I never thought I would adopt a child and suddenly, it happened for us and was one of the best things we ever did.  I write this blog to introduce and explore the emotions, frustrations, joys, and numerous details surrounding adoption and to provide a forum for would-be adoptive parents, as well as other current adoptive parents, to collaborate and support each other. I call it “ChildDrenched” because most people suffer enormous emotion before, during and after they adopt their children.  I was once a person who was drowning in the passionate need for a child.  I hope I can help those who are ChildDrenched and that others who know that feeling chime in! The entries I will write come straight from the heart and others who read it might feel the same way I did about the need for a child in general.  For those people, it might be comforting and encouraging to read and comment.  However, this blog might not appeal to all would-be adoptive parents.  It might not help someone who didn’t go through what I did before adopting.  I lost an incredibly close relationship with my mother when my second child was just two months old and I really wanted a baby girl much more after her death.  If you don’t care whether or not you have a boy or a girl,  or if your reasons are different from mine, you might find some of these entries narrow in scope.  As this blog evolves, I hope it appeals to everyone who feels the desperation I felt for many years before adopting.