I can’t believe it has been over a month since I have posted a blog. It feels good to sit down and write another entry … and yet, I have been so insanely busy that I haven’t had a moment to even think about the blog, much less write it. Let me tell you what has happened in my life this past month …

My last entry showed you a photo of the used (but new to us) horse trailer my husband and I recently purchased. We traveled to Indiana to retrieve the trailer. Ten minutes after leaving the trailer lot, we stopped to get gas, and being unfamiliar with the (non-existent) turning radius of the trailer,... more

I have received some excellent and thought-provoking comments about Dora’s brief stay in respite care while I had my surgery. I will answer the questions and respond to the comments in a post in the near future … but this morning I am compelled to address yet another school shooting tragedy. I was actually presenting a luncheon... more

I would guess that anyone reading this blog would know what the word orphan meant. Most of us would state it means a child without parents, although Answers.com clarifies it to mean a child whose parents are dead. Answers.com lists a second definition as a child who has been deprived of parental care and has not been adopted.

Another definition is one that lacks support, supervision, or care.

All of the above definitions are nouns. Answers.com... more

I have received several phone calls or emails this past few days, from parents reading this blog, posting on ATN’s various listserves, or referred to me by individuals. The common theme in their questions for me centers on “Will he heal? Is there hope?”

One dad said, “Life is no fun … all we do is exist. He eats, sleeps and poops—nothing else.” This dad continued his post by describing all the attempts he and his wife have made to engage his son in life. Music lessons, sports, peer-attended social outings, etc. His son is inappropriate, passive-aggressive, disinterested... more

I haven’t posted much about Dora lately, but she is struggling. Her anger rules her decisions, in spite of awesome therapy sessions addressing her issues and providing her with better choices. Her therapist commented that she knows many smart kids who make dumb choices ... and currently Dora is one of them.

Dora continues to give nothing back, but wants to leap into Beth’s life just the same. My response is to explain to her it doesn’t work like that; if she chooses not act like a daughter, she can be a boarder, but she will have to contribute to the household... more

This is the first chance I have had in three days to sit down and write a blog. Although the washer repairman was supposed to come last Thursday, I received a call an hour before the scheduled appointment, informing me they didn’t have the part and wouldn’t be coming. I haven’t yet received a new appointment time … so of course, I still have no washer. Thursday night, I schlepped 6 loads next door to my neighbor's house and brought them home to dry in my still-functioning dryer. A highly inefficient way to do laundry ... not to mention that we live on five acres and my neighbor is not... more

Greetings from Kansas, where there’s no place like home! After sloshing around in wet snow, ice and windy conditions in St. Paul, Minnesota last weekend, I arrived home last night in time to rock a couple of girls before bed. The roads were a bit scary around St. Paul, but not bad after I was halfway to Des Moines.

Steph and I had a wonderful time. We slept in on Saturday and then spent all afternoon at Caribou coffee, eating bagels, drinking lattes and doing our respective work. She read the Bible in ancient Greek; I struggled with the ATN database and wrote donor... more

Interestingly enough, my son and daughter continue to post on this site. One reader speculated several days ago—before the most recent posts by Anchulee and Tony—that they might actually enjoy the publicity. Regardless, their comments almost beg for responses …

Anchulee stated in a recent comment that I had told her once that she was my “guinea pig.” If one Googles “guinea pig”, one of the definitions... more

Well, I hardly know where to begin. Seems I never have a lack of blog material these days. I’m my usual comatose self at nearly 11 PM, aggravated by the fact that I was up with one of the dogs at 4 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep because of the horrible stomach issues I am still addressing. Tomorrow I’m calling the doc and getting a different antibiotic … I don’t think I can hang in there another five days with this one.

Steph and her boyfriend were here for the weekend, although they weren’t here on Thursday for Thanksgiving. My folks don’t leave until... more

Imagine my surprise to check in on my blog tonight and find a message from “Amy”, who used her real name, signed in and dressed me down in a comment. A previous blog sported another comment from “fearless” who sounds even more like my very disgruntled son, Tommy. Some of my family members are of the opinion that Tommy talked Amy into commenting. Who knows.

In “fearless’s” latest... more