Thank You, Atlantic Media

The trip to Guatemala seems all the more imminent after yesterday, my last day at work for eight weeks, so I want to take a moment to publicly thank my employer for helping make this adoption possible. Atlantic Media, which owns National Journal's Technology Daily, has contributed to our family's growth in two ways: a generous adoption reimbursement that now has helped defray some of the enormous costs of two of our three international adoptions, and a family-friendly leave policy that has enabled me to take several weeks of paid paternity/adoption leave.

I am especially grateful for the leave time. Kimberly is home-schooling our children and managing our household, and adding a 5-month-old infant to the mix is sure to shake things up for a while. We're hoping that my ability to stay home for a few weeks and play "Mr. Mom" will make the adjustment easier. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing. I foolishly told Kimberly she could be my boss for eight weeks, and she's still busy plotting how best to enslave me. But I'm thinking that as much as she hates chores like laundry and ironing that I'll be doing a lot of that.

I also hope to seize this time as an opportunity to get more involved in teaching Anthony (and Elli when she's in the mood for school). I taught them about Columbus last fall on Columbus Day and did some research on spiders for the homeschool science fair project Anthony did last month -- he won second place -- but otherwise I haven't had much spare time to get directly involved in their education. The kids and I all love coins, so one thing I want to teach them is how to count money -- how many pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and half-dollars make a dollar, for instance.

My love of politics, policy and history also might be useful in teaching our children at home some day, but it may be a bit early to be telling them about the battle between the blogs and the Federal Election Commission, the fight over the transition to digital television or even the Hague treaty on international adoption. Come to think of it, they may never get old enough for that stuff. :)))

But to get back to my original point: I wouldn't even have time to think about what I want to teach my children over the next several weeks, let alone be home to do it, if not for Atlantic Media. And if not for the company's adoption reimbursement, our family would be facing a greater financial burden. This country needs more employers that are willing to help couples adopt and adjust to the challenges of parenting and raising their precious children.

If you think your employer could be doing more to help adoptive families in particular, the Adoption-Friendly Workplace is a great resource of information. It offers a list of employers and the adoption/family benefits they offer. You also can go here, here or here for more information.