I cannot remember where I heard or read this, but I have heard it said that adopted children are less likely to leave the home when they turn eighteen. They are also supposedly less likely to leave town to go to college or take a job. Instead, they are more likely to live at home while attending a local college or get a job closer to their adoptive parents' home.

I tried to find this article on the Internet but was not successful, so I must have read it in a book somewhere. I am not saying that this premise is true. I just thought this was... more

Is there something different about your adopted child’s eyes, especially in photographs? I was reading about the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s child of the month recently. Her name is Jaylynn and her mother noticed that Jaylynn’s eyes looked different in photographs. The nine-month-old’s eyes took on a yellowish reflection in her photos. Sometimes her eyes would cross. Her mother took her to the doctor, who referred her to specialist who discovered the tumors, and referred her to the Mayo clinic. Jaylynn was diagnosed... more

A reader e-mailed me and asked if I would share more about my personal story with our home study. I am working through a series about each of the interviews we had as part of the home study process.

In my last post, Home Study: Preparing for the Home Visit, I shared my complete overreaction to the social worker's scheduled home visit as our final interview in the home study process. I had spent hours steam-cleaning the carpet in our family room, and the social worker barely... more

My oldest, for as long as I can remember, spontaneously bursts into prayer when he sees an ambulance or police car. He will invoke God and ask Him to watch over the person in the ambulance or ask that the person pulled over by the police car will make better and wiser choices.

Now, with our two newest children in tow, they will do whatever their “Big Bubbie” does, and now they break out in prayer whenever they see an ambulance or police car!

It’s uncanny how alike the children are. There is no way they could know that when my oldest was younger (around... more

At the end of yesterday’s post, Forgiving Yourself, I asked readers to share what had helped them in the process of forgiving themselves. One reader, Susan in Maine, shared what has helped her in learning to forgive herself. One thing she mentioned was The Serenity Prayer. I found myself nodding reading Susan’s comment, as The Serenity Prayer, is something I have found myself repeating to myself a lot over the past six years I have become a birthmother, especially during the tough times. In fact, I have... more

Today, for whatever reason (maybe the "stir crazy-itis" I mentioned in my last blog), my daughter decided to open the door to a complete and utter stranger. She says she thought it was her dad (who had been outside taking care of the trash earlier). Nonetheless, a hard and fast rule here at Casa Stro is that you Never.Ever.Open.The.Door.To.Strangers. In fact, we're so hardline, even if someone the kids do know comes to the door, they need to come and get one of us to answer the door!

Thankfully... more

While watching a re-run of Law and Order today (as filtered through my TV Guardian), as the kids were napping, Briscoe and Curtis interviewed a woman who had clearly met the end of her rope. She was less than helpful and obviously frazzled. As the detectives were leaving, she said, "Look, I've been with three sick kids with the flu all week." Rey said, "I know how you feel." She replied, "No you don't! You get to go leave for work!" Well, here at Casa Stro, it's been a bit like that!

Two... more

I didn’t get this written in a very timely fashion today because I spent most of the morning on the telephone. For 90 minutes I spoke with Andrew Bridge, author of Hope’s Boy. Before making my next telephone appointment, I paid the guy who brought me more firewood and dealt with the fitness tech who (partially) repaired our treadmill. (It doesn’t elevate now … oh darn. I never liked that anyway!) My next phone call was with Jeff Katz, the driving force behind Listening to... more

Drugs Impacting the Foster Care System States continue to struggle with the number of foster children in care because of drugs. In Nebraska nearly 2 out of 5 foster children in foster care are there because their biological parents are addicted to methamphetamine. In Georgetown, Texas CPS says that more than half... more

Okay, so my last post got me thinking about the specific terms in adoption that are used to signify different steps in the adoption process; such as 'gotcha day' which is the term used in most international, and some foster care adoptions to describe the day that the parents get to meet their child. I, for one, am not a large fan of the term 'gotcha day' and don't feel that it really fits our situation since my adopted stepson had been living with me prior to his adoption.

'Adoption day' is another term that I am not too fond of. It just feels cold to me. "Happy Adoption Day" just... more