Do you remember when you first learned how to ride a two wheeler? Were you scared or excited? Was your mom or dad holding on when you realized you could do it, or did it take you a while to realize they had let go?

It is a momentous day here. Hannah has done her first day with no training wheels. Not really a big deal, right? After all, kids learn how to ride two wheelers every day. For kids with trust issues, it is a big deal.

If you can remember back to the day that you learned, you were probably a little afraid.... more

One of the things I do with my church is that I am a shawl minister. We deliver prayer shawls to people who need extra comfort, and sometimes to people who are celebrating a happy event. Today we were on deliveries and our first stop was to a mom and her six week old baby girl.

I love babies anyway, but this beautiful little girl is really sticking in my heart. We delivered the shawls because this baby is struggling with her health. She was born with a heart... more

We have equated Sammy coming home on weekend passes with a tornado coming through our home. Today is no exception.

Sammy was home for 3 hours when I discovered him in my office, which is a major No No in my house. I searched his pockets and found a cigarette lighter on him. This has been a problem for years. He finds them everywhere, and I believe he actively searches for them as well.

This led me to search his room where I found a small knife, and underneath the mattress I found a couple of porn magazines and some cigars he... more

We had a mini-vacation last night. Back in November I won a one night stay at a hotel and it had to be used before next weekend or it would no longer be valid. The hotel is located only a few blocks from my niece’s house. She lives with her mom almost an hour away from us.

I haven’t really blogged about my niece, but I adore her. She is 14 years old and is one awesome kid. She makes me very proud to be her Aunt. She and her best friend came over to the hotel, we ordered pizza, and went swimming. These two girls... more

Summer and the Memorial Day weekend are upon us. If you’re like most families, you have some type of travel, vacation or activity planned sometime during the summer.

Our family loves camping. Quite frankly, we can’t afford much more than that. We have taken some longer trips, usually to Texas to visit family, and with kids in various states of placement, transition, foster care or adoption, it can be a little complicated. Here are some things to remember.

• First and foremost, if you are crossing state lines with a child... more

The results of this very interesting survey are published in the May 8, 2007 issue of Woman’s Day magazine. Some questions and answers were a little surprising. Here are the top answers in each category. Their survey basis was 1000 mothers.

If stay-at-home moms got a paycheck, how much should they earn annually? $50,000 35%

Are women waiting longer to have children? 20% were 29 or older when you had your first child.

How do you think society views stay-at-home moms? People still seem to think that moms... more

As I wrote in my “Advocate hat” blog, we have a contentious relationship with the worker assigned to Sammy’s case.

She has called me a child abuser a couple of times, and recently started using the relationship between Sammy and Hannah to support this case.

Sammy and Hannah adore each other. They miss each other when they are apart, and look forward to Sammy’s weekends at home. Sammy carries Hannah every chance he gets.

The social worker... more

Today is my husband’s 40th birthday. I can say that, since I am younger than he is.

We do not have big plans for the day, but will be celebrating with the kids. I will travel to Sammy’s treatment foster home this afternoon to pick him for the weekend.

Birthdays ARE a big deal at our house. Much like our kids, my birthday was never celebrated, so I made a vow that my family would remember their birthdays. Most years it’s a simple family celebration.

We do have some traditions that are a must. The... more

I had a Love Thursday post planned, but given the events of our morning here, I’m changing things. This has nothing to do with foster care or adoption, just parenting and human compassion.

I mentioned in a previous blog that my husband is a volunteer firefighter and EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). This morning his pager went off a little bit before 5:00 AM. There was a house fire a few miles away from us. He was getting ready to leave for the fire, when some other members of the department asked him to be on standby for the... more

I’ve been doing some pretty heavy blogs again, and quite personally, I could use some humor. Yesterday, when I picked up Sammy, I was greeted by his therapist who told me about some serious things that we needed to address immediately.

At a seminar I heard this story, which I had heard before. It makes me laugh and smile. I hope it does the same for you.

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can,... more