I hate the first week of school. It fills me with anxiety and dread. I once loved the smell of new crayons and was excited over the new backpacks and folders. Now I worry. I parent children from hard places; children who have experienced trauma. I’ve been lucky the last two years. I had a teacher that “got it”. I… Read More
I’ve waited to write about this. Mostly I wanted to process my hurt and honestly, my anger. Recently I went to a conference for Christian orphan care. I was with a group of amazing adoptive mamas. These women had adopted children with special needs and they were as tough as they come. That week I was honored to sit with… Read More
I am a nurse. I am also a parent to 7 children. I guess this qualifies me for lots of things, but one of my favorite parts of my job is teaching inmates about parenting and trauma. Two days ago I was teaching 15 male inmates about parenting and we had just completed the ACES (adverse childhood events) quiz. I… Read More
We spent the weekend running crazy. I was the solo parent, as my husband and oldest daughter were back East visiting the college she will attend next year. I found myself diapering, cathing, cleaning, laundering, feeding tubing (is that a word?) and generally running the second I swung my legs out of bed and my feet hit the floor. We… Read More
Three months home! How’s she doing? Is she going to be okay? Is the emotional damage of two years in an orphanage and foster care going to be repairable? I breathe in these questions everyday. And I silently exhale the answer, No she’s not okay and she may never truly be okay. Today, in this moment, I’m parenting in the… Read More
I’ve never really talked about him. I guess I wanted to forget and deep inside I hoped that the passing of time would fade his story. He was in my home a shorter time than most of our foster children. He did not reunify with family, he was not adopted, he was not moved to another home. He died. He died,… Read More