Whether you’re celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanza, the next four or five weeks will be insanely busy for all of us. We need to do things to take care of ourselves.

Tomorrow I am going over to my friend Elaine’s house. We have a day of knitting planned. Like Marie,I am an avid knitter. I have only been knitting for a few years, and haven’t mastered some of the more complicated patterns yet, but I can make some beautiful things.

Elaine and her daughter do not knit,... more

Tomorrow afternoon I will head off with about forty of my church friends. We have an annual women’s retreat at a beautiful camp about an hour away from our church. To the best of my knowledge, there will be no other foster or adoptive parents in the group.

This will be my fourth or fifth year attending, I can’t quite remember, but it has been wonderfully renewing each year. One of our pastors, and her sister-in-law help to lead the retreat. They have both become dear friends.

It’s been about eighteen months since... more

This is the time of year when I typically want to run away from my family. We very rarely get away. The last “real” vacation that I had was over three years ago, and I can’t tell you the last time that my husband and I vacationed together.

Yes, there are times that you need to be away from your kids. You need to regenerate emotionally and physically. Past blogs have talked about sending kids to respite, but it’s perfectly OK or mom (or dad) to leave for respite too.

About this... more

I have been overwhelmed for so long, that I didn’t remember what a “real life” was like.

Since we lost our foster kids, Sammy’s needs have been so strong that I devoted so much energy to him, along with various other projects. Last night I started back on the road to a real life.

For several years, I bowled several times a month on a league. Even when I had foster kids, it was my scheduled time out. I really enjoyed it. It ended when our abuse allegations came, partly because... more

I have been struggling a great deal with keep up with my life lately. Much like the walking wounded that Julie described in her blog.This is a large part of the reason that I made a fairly large decision last week. I stepped down from my position as Administrative Assistant for the Attachment & Trauma Network. I know the person who is taking my place, and she’ll do a great job. I am staying on in a different capacity because I still believe in what ATN... more

I did not inherit the cleaning gene from my great-grandmother, although I am like her in many other ways. When I was working full time outside the house, and Sammy was about seven or eight years old, I had a “cleaning lady”.

She was one of my insurance customers and she came in every other week and did the “basic” cleaning on my house. Dusting, vacuuming, clean the tub, scrub the floor. You know, the big stuff.

It was one of the best things I ever did. I wish I had the funds to do this now. My house would never pass a white glove inspection, but since our... more

The past couple of months, and especially the past couple of weeks, I have been completely buried in work and barely know which end is up.

A few times during the year, I will take what I call a “mental health day.” This means that if I have to get kiddos off to school, I may go back to bed and sleep for a few more hours. Chores will wait for the day, and I usually try to get out of the house and do something for myself. I did a bit of that yesterday after shuffling Hannah off to school, but not nearly enough.

I attended Mother’s Group at my church, which I do... more

I did a very poor job of taking care of myself during the conference, and I am feeling the effects now. Very long hours of work, very little sleep and poor diet, have brought on a bout of anemia. I am rather susceptible anyway, but it is rearing its big ugly head right now. I have bruises all over my legs, and I have no idea where they came from. The last couple of days while we have been packing up, I have been hit by waves of nausea and dizzy spells. My body has let me know that I have been abusing it.

However, I am glad... more

This has been a hot topic on the Adoption.com forums. I thought I was the only one struggling with it, but I am certainly not alone.

I was familiar with an Alan Jackson song with this title. Here is the chorus:

Well I'm a-gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a holler About workin' all summer just to try an' earn a dollar Sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do... more

My morning started off a little differently than expected. Laying in bed last night I was contemplating what to write for a blog today, and quite honestly, I can’t remember what it was because I always read my e-mail when I get up in the morning.

I was greeted by a great change in plans when I saw that one of our speakers dropped out for the ATN conference, and Julie... more