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
I’ll never tell you it isn’t hard, or that it wasn’t scary. He turns 7 years-old today and I look back at his first months home and I wish I could have known then, what I know now. I wish I would have known that fear lies to you. Fear tells you things like, “You have ruined your life, this… 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
There is no other life event that I know of, that is such a crazy leap. My marriage, even the birth of my children, both had a period of waiting and prior connection. With international adoption, you walk into this room and they sit you down and time stands still. You are recalling the photo from the referral listing that… Read More