Long Story Short: Year of the Water Goat

Long Story Short: Year of the Water Goat is a must read for anyone who has or is considering adopted internationally, especially from China. Columnist Jan Risher believes one of the most important aspects of international adoption is the embracing of a new culture and country for the adopting family as well.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2003 was the year of the water goat. It was a big year for newspaper columnist Jan Risher and her family. They had just returned from China with a new baby girl at the end of 2002. By October in the year of the Water Goat, Risher was heading back to her youngest child's homeland to assist in starting an English program for the young adults too old to be adopted and remained in the orphanage where her daughter lived as an infant. Just outside the orphanage, Risher witnessed a young woman on a bike run over by a truck and the shocking aftermath of the accident. She spent the next two weeks in the Chinese state-run Social Welfare Institute growing to love and understand more of her daughter's heritage than would have otherwise been possible.

Though the insights she gained may only scratch the surface of the Chinese culture, they shaped her life as a wife, mother, friend and writer.

Risher is an award-winning journalist and writer who went around the world to get from Mississippi to Louisiana-- with stops in between ranging from the mountains of Slovakia, the streets of Paris, a tribal village in Burkina Faso to the hills of central Mexico. The Mississippi native has made her home in Lafayette, Louisiana. since 2001. A columnist for Lafayette, Louisiana’s The Daily Advertiser and former managing editor of The Times of Acadiana, she's also the mother of two daughters, ages 13 and 9. She loves reading, cooking, entertaining -- and food in general.

For more information, go to www.janrisher.com. The stories you are about to read are true. Risher is a frequent speaker at conferences and is available for public speaking engagements.