I can’t think of a better way to end April, Autism Awareness Month than by checking out this video.

This creation from Autism Speaks combines the music of Five for Fighting with images of autistic children. It is a moving testament to the thousands of families and children affected by this disorder.

The band is generously donating $0.49 to AUTISM SPEAKS each time the video is viewed.

Also, with Kleenex in hand, check out... more

This post is one that I wrote many months ago and did not publish. I struggled with whether to post it or not. As I reread it, I realized that many of the items on here were what many of us expected from adoption. We have discovered that adoption did not play out in our lives as we expected that it would.

Adoption would always be a perfect solution:

 If babies were blank slates that you could mold and shape into a an exact replica of yourself or whatever you wanted;

 If most mothers who gave their babies to others... more

LuLu’s trauma therapists have been using a variety of interventions and techniques with her. She is very open to all these “tools”. We have done some heavy-hitting things like EMDR and neurofeedback. We have also done psychodrama and visualization.

When LuLu was younger, less verbal, and because her trauma was pre-verbal, we had to use lots of experiential therapies. These days, LuLu is drawn to the visualization techniques. Last week we worked squarely on re-framing.

Very simply, re-framing something is putting it in a different... more

I have now been blogging about adoption for over three months, and I am LOVING it! It is so exciting to be able to share my own experiences with others who are new to the process and encourage them along the way.

When I accepted this position, I was ecstatic. My only reservation was how blogging about adoption at the rate of 43 posts a month might affect the way I think about my son. Would talking about his adoption so frequently cause me to think about him more as an “adopted child?” I am relieved... more

I have to admit that I really enjoy spending time with the birth families of my adoptive and foster children. The first reason, and probably the most important, is because it helps me to understand my child – also their child - better. I utilize the time together to ask valuable questions about medical history, about their personal milestones for maturing, about lifestyle, and about beliefs.

I don’t come at them with a list of questions, a pen and a clipboard, because that might be offensive. I do however, during the course of amiable conversation, periodically ask questions... more

I write much about the importance of a good support system and a part of getting the help you need is the ability to accept help that is offered to you. I know many people who said once we arrived home with our new toddler “If you ever need anything just call”. I’m not one to easily ask for help. An offer like that may seem welcoming and is probably sincere, but making that call to ask for help is difficult for me. I know many family members who would be happy to watch Livi so John and I could have an evening out.. something we have never done in... more

At the moment I have four pregnant daughters plus a daughter-in-law who is now expecting her first child. When one has 39 children it’s a matter of simple math to easily determine there’ll be a passel of grandchildren.

I have the emotional and physical energy left in me to parent another sibling group, but I don’t have the desire to do so anymore, as I am now looking at the decidedly positive aspects of being involved with all of my grandchildren. Raising my children has sometimes resembled a war zone, 20 years in Iraq, and I’m still... more

As with most things, I came to adoption in an unconventional way. Most folks decide that they would like to adopt … do the mountain of paperwork … get the approved homestudy …get a referral … then are matched with the child who will most likely become their own.

Not so with me. Though we talked about adoption forever, it wasn’t until I sat in front of my computer, just as I am now, tooling around reading posts from some of my e-mail discussion loops. Usually, I will just scan the e-mail headers in the digest version, and even at that, I don’t... more

I believe the current political mess caused the adoption slow down. This is just my pet theory. I haven't seen this is print.

I wrote some blogs about Ukrainian poverty and wealth... more

Most of us grew up in two parent families or wished that we did. Some young unmarried women choose adoption for their child because they desperately want for their child what they did not have - a father figure. In my era, families on television represented the ideal, and mostly consisted of a dad, mom and two or three children. A traditional two-parent family is still revered in many circles.

Although non-traditional families are more common, many people cling to the belief that a child needs both a father and a mother. This reverence for a two-parent... more