Adoption & Foster Care
As a Boy Thinketh: Homeschooling, Again
As a Boy Thinketh: Homeschooling, Again I withdrew our two young sons, Sam and Charlie from public school on Thursday to homeschool, again. And I have no horror story to report. To all the teachers and administrators, I know your work is impossible. This is not about any one shortcoming or failure, this is about…
Read MoreHow to Know If You Should Help Suffering Children
How do you know if you should help suffering children? For many of us, this question is utterly preposterous. Of course. What a ridiculous query. I speak from experience. There is a reason I can go where I am about to go – because I said no to an injured 3-month-old baby boy. I believed…
Read MoreHow to Hold On Without Letting Go
When our oldest vandal son, Sam was about 3 he carried two Hotwheels cars with him wherever he went. One in each hand. He wouldn’t let them go. On an outing to Target, as I stood in the checkout line Sam drove his two cars over the Snickers display making boy noises. An elderly woman…
Read MoreIt’s a Jungle, Not a Petting Zoo
It’s a Jungle, Not a Petting Zoo Our oldest daughter, Maggie, is in Costa Rica with her college friends. They went together to celebrate their graduation. Also, to “play with sloths.” This has been a lifelong goal of Maggie’s. Maggie has walked a favored path. She’s been swimming on the beaches of Venezuela, Costa Rica,…
Read MoreMondays, Babies, Zits, and Stolen Cars
Today is a Monday if there ever was a Monday. Up to my neck in babies, zits and stolen cars. God, help me believe. Help me believe, help my unbelief. I have to go to the bank to redeposit a deposit that wasn’t properly deposited the first time I deposited it. The foster-love has an…
Read MoreGrief Isn’t a Lack of Faith…
Grief drenched me. From the windows of my bedroom on the second story of our home on our 640-acre ranch, I could see the sky morphing from daytime to a water colored twilight. The master bedroom glowed with purple hues. My husband Justin, who always generous and thoughtful, had excused me for the evening. I…
Read MoreWhy we aren’t counting the days our son was in foster care…
I understand why people do. And I understand it marks redemption for some. I appreciate the pictures of both children adopted and children returning to their birth homes. Redemption. We are coming upon the adoption of a certain vandal. But we won’t be posting how many days he was in foster care… here is why:…
Read MoreReal Mom: A Heart Story
(Originally Posted Jan 2016) Today is the anniversary of the birth of my real motherhood. The delivery was painful, joyful, and earth shattering. I had given birth four times before. I had miscarried once. I have a negative threshold for physical pain – I had 4 failed epidurals. Well, one completely numbed my right foot,…
Read MoreFoster Care: Hoping for the Hurt
Foster Care: Hoping for the Hurt This will probably not reach the masses. I don’t care. If my words fall upon the heart of one… I have succeeded. I just left a house with broken spirits. Addicted spirits. Fighting spirits. Spirits… Who have given up on their life, their old life. Among those spirits is…
Read MoreI am In Love with Another Woman
This will probably not reach the masses. I don’t care. If my words fall upon the heart of one… I have succeeded. I just left a house with broken spirits. Addicted spirits. Fighting spirits. Spirits… Who have given up on their life, their old life. Among those spirits is a young woman – whom I…
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