We've been cooking so much Ethiopian food around here lately that our repertoire of Korean recipes has been neglected. Several times in the last couple weeks, our Korean boys have requested some of their favorite Korean foods. Today finally I got all the ingredients together to make kimbap.

The boys were eager to introduce their new sisters to some real Korean food. As much as I adore kimbap, I had some serious reservations about whether the girls would appreciate this introduction. They were really good about trying new foods in the first month home. But now that some of the newness is wearing off, I am hearing... more

I’m sitting in a hotel room watching TV with my husband while the girls supposedly go to sleep. We had a boring day in the car but fun tonight … at least I did! There were 45 out of my 72 classmates present, and hopefully more will be in attendance at tomorrow night’s party. Boy, we’re an old bunch of folks!

We were about an hour late to the party, after driving all day and losing an hour to a time zone change. I arrived just as they were introducing the classes, and the “class of honor” was the Silver Anniversary Class of ’82. We lined up and one by one took the... more

You know the old saying, “blood is thicker than water?” You adopt an older sibling group, already in their teens. You parent them as best you can considering their ages, unique individual issues, and ongoing connection to their birth family. However, in just a few short years they are adults, they move out of your home, and begin blaming you for everything. They turn against your family, and everything your family stands for.

They come into your house and begin making accusations. They belittle your parenting skills and the choices you made for them as their parent.... more

My teenage daughter and I are at an impasse when it comes to homework. She will not turn in her schoolwork to be corrected. She is doing her assignments, but she will not have them graded. This stubbornness is a problem for several reasons.

She doesn’t always understand written directions until I explain them to her and show her several examples. Therefore, if she doesn’t have her work checked for a few weeks, she may complete several assignments incorrectly, by following the wrong procedures. By then, the incorrect methodology is ingrained in her mind,... more

I had my sixteenth grandchild this evening, a pretty little girl named after two grandmothers, Hazel Bailey. Hazel Bay for short as one great grandmother has always been called Bay.

This is my birth daughter’s second child. When she had her first child Ray, it was my ninth grandchild and one of my adopted daughters who’d been with me nearly 20 years actually said to me, “I’ll bet you’re really happy about this one.”

She shocked me with that statement.

I was happy every time I had a grandchild, a little daunted to find myself with one at age 40 certainly,... more

The Russian food preference genes have kicked in again.

No, not more potatoes, cucumbers and beets. This time, it's a real budget-buster: smoked fish.

I happened to be in my friendly neighborhood Whole Foods store with my little guy the other day, and over by the fish counter they were having a tasting of smoked fish. There was a big platter of salmon and whitefish from Ducktrap River Fish Farm, just about at my younger son's eye level.

The... more

My previous blog gave you some wisdom from parents who had “been there, done that” and it is valuable information. Now that you’ve had a little bit of time to digest that set of comments, here is the remainder.

I wish I had known how deeply attachment disorder affects a child. It is really about deep, deep hurt inside the child. A broken heart beyond what love can ever reach I was not prepared for my child to reject me from her heart every minute of every day. Every hug... more

I had a rough night last night. Lots of sadness, lots of emotions, just an all around cruddy time. By the time I forced myself to sleep it was 2:00 in the morning and I wound up getting hardly any sleep at all. But everything got brighter around 5:30 this morning when I was awoken by a sweet little voice from the room next to mine.

Miss Ella was awake with a dirty diaper and stirring. I got right up to see what was wrong because she hardly ever wakes up before 7 am. I was greeted with the sweetest, sleepiest smiling baby who was so happy to see me. I got to hold that... more

With great angst I took my little Ella to her first day of preschool two days ago. You may ask why at only twenty-three months I am taking her to preschool. Well, Ella lives her life in a home surrounded by adults in a beautiful neighborhood where there are no other children around during the day. This summer she became interested in being around other children, and I decided that a few hours a week at preschool would be beneficial and enjoyable.

Being a major fretter, I searched high and low for the perfect program. I found it but had to have a friend pull a few... more

As part of Charlie’s birthday gift, I gave him a tote bag that I am embellished with his name and dinosaurs. I was giving him some books and art stuff and thought putting it in a tote bag might be good to help him keep it together and knew that he is very fond of dinosaurs, so I chose to embellish with dinosaur appliqués. I always try to give Charlie’s sister, N, a little something too, so I made her a fun smaller bag that could be used as a purse if she wanted to.

These may look hard to make but they really aren’t once you get started! Birthmoms could make one for their child;... more