My husband gave me this book by Deanna Favre, and I was a little less than thrilled. I didn’t tell him, but I had no intention of reading the book, since I considered it “the breast cancer book.”

I was pleasantly surprised when I read the book that it’s not all about breast cancer. In fact, I learned quite a bit about Brett and Deanna Favre, and being a Packer fan, I was quite interested in learning about Brett.

There were several things that were informative... more

I was browsing through the bookstore the other day and stumbled across two books that are great for foster care adoption. One is specifically an adoption book, but the other is not.

First I’ll tell you about the non-adoption book.

I am a fan of the author Jan Karon. She wrote a series of books called “The Mitford Series”. I have read every one of them. The two main characters in the book are Father Timothy Cavanaugh, and his neighbor turned wife, Cynthia Coopersmith. A secondary character, but very much... more

Virtually every state in the country has a Safe Haven law.

What is a safe haven law? This allows a new parent to safely leave their child with a responsible person rather than abandoning the child or doing something even worse. The parents are free from prosecution, if they follow the regulations of the safe haven laws.

The laws vary by each state, so if you, or someone you know, is considering this, please check the regulations for the state. The child will then be placed in foster care and receive care and services.

So how do the regulations vary... more

One of the parents on the ATN lists asked about using yoga for kids. Kids in foster care or in a special needs adoption placement are stressed. Is this home going to be “the” home? How long before I move again? Is anyone here going to hurt me? Will I get to see my brother and sisters?

Yoga is a wonderful way to help relieve stress. Nancy Thomas has taken a lot of criticism for her use of “strong sitting” with kids. It’s really just a form of yoga. Strong sitting involves a child sitting... more

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. That’s why everything is pink this month.

Most of us are fortunate to have family history to know whether or not we are at risk. I fall into the at risk category for several reasons. One of them is that I have an aunt who had breast cancer twice. It eventually spread to the rest of her body and she passed away several years ago.

What if you are a foster or adopted child? Family history is an important thing, so what do you do?

Most foster... more

We have had intermittent service with our internet connection over the past month, but it dropped drastically in the last week where it would go out for hours at a time.

For someone who works and makes a living through the internet, this is a horrifying thing. I lose my connection to the world and can not make money. UGH!

It’s amazing how much we come to rely on the internet. I find most of my support and friends through the internet. Since I live in a rural area, there is not an abundance of parents that I can talk to that live in similar situations.... more

My husband is a sports nut. With NASCAR and professional football coinciding right now, our weekends are consumed by sports. My TV showed nothing but sports all weekend and then again Monday night. Believe me, this was not my choice.

However, every so often something interesting creeps into sports. One of them is a player for the Tennessee Titans, Keith Bulluck. He is... more

One of the links off of Mariska Hargitay’s website was for Safe Horizon. I spent some time investigating the site, and I got some information from them.

Safe Horizon does not focus only on child abuse. They work with victims of all types of abuse. Everything ranging from child abuse, to date rape, stalking, domestic violence and abuse in teenage dating situations, along with helping the victims of the World Trade Center attacks.

They... more

I’m a Law & Order junkie. I’ll watch just about any episode of just about any one of the shows. The other night I was watching an episode of Law & Order Special Victims Unit.

If you’re not familiar with the show, all the stories center around sex crimes or crimes against children.

The show I was watching was called “Choice” and originally aired in 2003. Josie Bissett guest stars as a woman attacked by her husband. As the story line develops, it is revealed that her character is pregnant and is an... more

I blogged briefly about this book by Dr. Robert F. Newby, PH.D. The full title is “Your Struggling Child: A Guide to Diagnosing, Understanding & Advocating for Your Child with Learning, Behavior or Emotional Problems”. It is a long title for a great book.

I am only a few chapters into it, and I think it is a must have for almost every parent, and especially for kids from foster care or with any type of trauma in their history. I very rarely read “work” books... more