Complicated, heartbreaking and thought-provoking, this film gets inside this family’s struggle and joy at growing their family through International adoption. I was devastated at the thought of this little girl having been abandoned on the street at the age of 2, and even though I’m sure it was a little like being abducted to an alien planet when she came to America with her Jewish parents from New Jersey at the age of 8, it has ultimately become a loving and wonderful place for her to grow up.

Being adopted myself, this series is especially interesting to me. I also know several people who’ve adopted children Internationally and some working on Domestic adoptions, so I’ll be watching all the films and reviewing them here.

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

POV: Adoption Stories Premieres 8/31 on PBS. Check local listings for stations and showtimes.

{I attended the PBS Press Tour this summer and was given copies of these films to review.}

For example, instead of a traffic jam on the 405, we were delayed on the road in Yellowstone by the herds of bison just crossing whenever they felt like it, or for that matter, just walking down the road whenever they felt like it.

(Have you ever tried to tell a Bison what to do? Doesn’t work, trust me.)

I felt like we were on North American Animal Safari half the time, since, besides the hundreds of Bison, we saw a Black Bear cub, a few dozen Elk (some up close), some deer, a Bald eagle, a Trumpeter Swan, and on our last day, wolves. (Luckily, through a very long lens.) It was amazing to see them all — and to see that they can all roam free there.

The other half of the time I felt like we were exploring an ancient volcano, which we actually were, except that it’s not dormant by any means. Having grown up on Maui and now living in Los Angeles, I tend to think the only serious earth science action takes place near the tectonic plates, but it turns out there’s a volcanic hot spot underneath Wyoming, and it’s still got something to show. The geysers and hot pots were amazing to see, even though it did give us pause when we really thought about it too long…

We spent a little time out of the park in West Yellowstone, and it was a perfect illustration of the necessity of the National Park system: without that protection, all of Yellowstone would surely be covered in billboards, housing developments and geyser-fed hot tubs. And so I thank goodness it isn’t. We spent time in the wilderness and swam in fresh water (as opposed to the ocean), and even though I’m glad to be home, I am so, so glad to know that the wilderness in Yellowstone is there, protected from billboards and safe for Bison. And I’m so grateful to Ken Burns and PBS for the inspiration.

Summer’s almost over, and I am anticipating the return of our daily school-year routine (with its attendant stress), the hours I will have to write without interruption, and the challenge of watching as my kids stretch and grow.

I am also anticipating all the changes coming our way since my eldest is going to be a middle-schooler this year. That means he’ll be attending a new school, which we’ll need to drive to instead of walk. Plus he has to wear a uniform this year, which he’s not very happy about.

I’m so proud of and amazed by my son, who’s grown so much in the past year, and who delights me on a daily basis, and I worry about what middle school will be like for him. Will it be like the movies? (I can’t believe I just wrote that, but it should tell you the level of worry I’m dealing with here.)

I’m sad to see him leave elementary school – it really feels like just a minute ago he started Kindergarten. But I knew it would happen, right? It had to eventually: he’s 11 now and I admit I couldn’t even imagine that the day he was born.

He was so tiny once, and he occupied so much of my world then. The hours I spent not leaving the house because I was such a clueless new mom!  I would just stare at him. Stare.

Then, my worries were that he wasn’t getting enough milk or that he hadn’t rolled over at the right stage. Now I worry if he’ll make new friends easily, or if he can stop telling himself he’s not good at math.

Clearly this is more about me than him, more about letting go of my baby and embracing my son. So wish me luck.

We spent time unplugged from our daily routine, from the news of the world and from TV and the internet, which was great to do, especially for our kids. But we missed those things. Those things are part of our lives.

The entire trip, as I marveled at Nature, I also saw clearly that I am not meant to live in the wilderness, and neither is my family. We are urban dwellers.

I grew up in semi-wilderness (there were stores and movies theaters, but we lived far away from them), and for me there’s an old familiar feeling of not wanting to be too long in the woods.

I used to feel badly about it, like there was something wrong with me for not wanting to unplug and live the quiet life. But I’ve come to accept myself on many levels. This is who I am and I am glad to be home.

At least, the visual part is stunning.

I have to tell you right now that despite the envy-inspiring locations and the A-list cast, I was ultimately disappointed in the movie since, you guessed it, I read the book. It’s a tale of woe shared by book readers/movie viewers since the first time a book was ever made into a movie, and I won’t be the last to say it: they changed things from the book that I thought were critical to the telling of the story. But it wasn’t my story to tell, and there you have it.

This is my story to tell, and I’ll tell you what I think they shouldn’t have changed.

The book has been criticized (and now the film will be as well) for being a boring story of one woman’s navel-gazing. In my opinion, anyone who says that has either never admitted to having had a spiritual crisis or never got out of theirs. Because we all have them, at least pretty much everyone I’ve ever met has. And Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the book and the protagonist of the story, had her crisis in the midst of what most people would call a perfect life.

For many, it’s hard to understand her dissatisfaction because they would envy her circumstances, and unfortunately, the movie will not help solve that problem: everything in Julia’s Robert’s fictionalized New York life is fantastic, at least from the outside, including her job as a writer, her husband Billy Crudup and her Rebound Boyfriend, James Franco. (The casting is quite delicious all around.)

The point is, what can seem like a palace to onlookers may be a prison to the person living in it. It’s all a choice, and since this is a free country, no one can make you love your life, no matter how great it is or it seems to be.

So, Elizabeth Gilbert had a spiritual crisis, got a book deal, and traveled the world to write the book and heal her spirit, which she managed to do fairly well, eating her way though Rome, meeting my all-time favorite character in non-fiction, Richard From Texas (so well played by Richard Jenkins in the film), and falling in love with the man of her dreams in possibly the most beautiful place on earth, Bali. Now, on the surface, this is fluff and not really that interesting as a life-lesson-self-help sort of tale, since I am not about to 1) get a book deal, or 2) jet off around the world for a year. And neither is most of the reading public, which is why I think most people dislike the book. But the movie skips over something seriously important: Elizabeth Gilbert had a spiritual awakening that she wrote about in her book. She actually finds God, and she gets through her crisis and figures out her life. That’s kind of a major point, which the movie kind of fuzzes over.

The implication in the movie is that meeting the Javier Bardem character is what changes her life, and he’s so dreamy/sexy that it’s easy to imagine that might actually be true. But it makes the movie much less interesting and the bulls-eye for the critics much larger.

The truth is you can have a spiritual awakening in Van Nuys; you don’t have to fly to India or Bali, and Gilbert has said as much herself. This happens to have been her story, one that resonated particularly with me.

And so while this movie may not help you have a spiritual awakening, it will certainly delight your senses, and that is not a disappointment.

{I attended the screening of this film as a guest of Sony Pictures.}

I am at once both hopeful about the future of America and concerned that I’ll have to watch more Annoying Orange look-alikes for the next dozen years…

Then, I turned 48, which I grant you is not at the level of 50, milestone-wise, but I still felt it was a marker of the major variety. Especially since most days I think, “I can’t be over 25…”

And then my eldest turned 11, which, again, is not as big a deal as when he turned 10, but there’s something about being so solidly IN the double digits that gave me pause.

And at the end of the summer, which is rapidly approaching, he’ll start Middle School, which is a milestone the likes of which I have not yet experienced as a mom. It’s terrifying just conceptually, but add to that the act that we will have to drive to school now, after 6 years of walking.

Big changes – and all in the space of one season.

1. I learned about Yahoo! Shine (the women’s lifestyle site), Yahoo! Green (tips for living an eco-life), Yahoo! For Good (inspiring people to take action to change the world), and Yahoo! Safely (with answers to questions about online safety) — and was very impressed with them all.

2. Flickr, it turns out, is an awesome photo-sharing community owned by Yahoo! Who knew? (Um, apparently about 50 million people before me.) Yahoo! generously gave me a pro account so I can try to catch up to the rest of the world.

3. I could learn about SEO and content style tips all day long and not get bored, so this book Yahoo!’s editorial staff gave me is especially cool. 4. Traveling with my buddies from LA, Elise and Yvonne, was fun, but nothing beats having your name (spelled correctly) on a piece of paper held by the limo driver.
5. Some bloggers are super crafty and even travel with craft supplies to share,while others of us lean more toward liquid refreshment. 6. If live tweeting on a big screen in the room with the Motherboarders is wrong, I never want to be right again. 7. Cupcakes with a Y! on them are just downright adorable, no getting around that. 8. When Los Angeles Mom Bloggers get together in Palo Alto for dinner, we make a very attractive group.

Me, Kimberly Clayton Blaine, Yvonne Condes, Marsha Takeda-Morrison, April McCaffrey, Elise Derby and Donna Schwartz Mills

8. The Four Seasons Palo Alto is a luxurious hotel, and my kids can’t get over there being a TV in the bathroom. 9. Yes, Yahoo! has a rubber ducky. 10. Spending time in the company of smart, connected women will always be one of my top choices in life.  Thank you, Yahoo!

I’m trying out cars and Ford invited me to the reveal of the 2011 Ford Explorer on Venice Beach, where they apparently played in the sand a bit. I haven’t driven it yet; it won’t be out until the end of the year, so stay tuned for the report. And no, Mike Rowe was not in attendance, unfortunately.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., LA 90007. The Museum is open 7 days a week from 9:30am to 5pm, except major holidays – check their website for details. Admission is always FREE on the First Tuesday of the Month.