Welcome to 2010!

The new year is finally here, and Choice Moms is unveiling -- on a weekly and monthly basis -- new content and resources in great packages. Check in here regularly to stay in touch.

For example, check here to learn about Haiti adoptions from our colleague Dawn Davenport at Creating a Family.

1. Events: Thanks to our sponsors, we are in the planning stages of Choice Mom networking events in Austin, Texas (March 13), San Francisco (May 16), Washington D.C. (July 10), New York City (likely July 11) and Toronto (September). We are also doing a Choice Moms Expo in Minneapolis on April 25, and potentially a gathering in Ireland this summer. See EVENTS section for more details.

2. Audio Library: We're building a content-rich library of the best of our Choosing Single Motherhood online radio show and Choice Chat podcasts, accessible by code. If you hadn't bought the "Do I Have a Dad?" CD before we ran out, you can now purchase the code and be directed to the Download Center. Many more topics to come in 2010.

3. Article Packages: We are nearly done with a new version of this website in which you'll be able to search for keywords and content packages. Want to hear the stories of other Choice Moms who have faced unique -- and typical -- issues on the journey? Have questions about donor conception? Fertility? Budgeting as a single parent? Finding childcare? At-home insemination? These topics and more will be easily accessible, thanks to new website advertisers.

4. Discussion board: The overwhelming value of the Choice Moms discussion group in just the past few years -- now with more than 1,200 members -- has led to the creation of a new Forum option here on the website that will enable women to more easily find others who share the same stage and concerns. Such as those in the two-week wait process. Parenting multiples. Sharing commonalities in the lesbian/queer community. Stay tuned, as we'll be opening up the board soon.

5. Radio show: Although the show is currently on hiatus, we have 11 more shows in the works, ranging from conversations with known donors, to raising boys/girls without a father, to a conversation with Choice Mom Lori Gottlieb and her book about "Marrying Mr. Good Enough." Thanks to sponsors Sepal and California Cryobank, new shows will return in February. We now have a phone line to record questions you'd like me to address, perhaps with an expert, at (612) 234-4506 ext. 101. Call now with your concern. It might be used on the show, so don't use your first name if you'd prefer more anonymity; don't use any other identifying information -- other than an email address that I will edit out, so I can let you know if it airs.

6. Choice Mom Vacation: I'm in the beginning stages of planning a group vacation to Ireland or Italy this summer. Sometime between mid-July and mid-August. If this appeals to you, take this NEW survey.

In other news, if you haven't already heard:

• I'm now a featured blogger on Fertility Authority, thanks not only to my status as someone who helps single women have babies (my favorite tagline at cocktail parties) but because Choice Moms is now a very solid market in the fertility industry. Check out the blog for single women here.
  
• Choice Moms was a "word of the year" contender for 2009 by New Oxford's New American dictionary. I created the term only five years ago in my "Choosing Single Motherhood" book to put the emphasis on Choice, not Single, in our motherhood journey.
  
• Human Fertility journal published the findings of Susan Golombok's Cambridge University survey of who Choice Moms are, and are not. Notable findings: we have a high percentage of post-graduate degrees...and we don't hate men. But, of course, we knew that. (Copyright prohibits me from uploading the entire article, which the journal has available for purchase here, but see the news release for some of the details).

As always, welcome to the discussion and welcome to the journey.

Your host,
Mikki Morrissette
Choice Moms founder

Choice Moms is a proud sponsor of CARE, which helps mothers and children worldwide.