I skimmed the recent posts this morning from one of ATN’s listserves, and several interesting things caught my eye. The first was this comment from one of the moms:

What a miserable situation to be in … that of an adoptive parent of a child with RAD and whatever else. Boy would I like to get off the wagon and start over. I just want to yell, "HELP" to someone and have all of our situations fixed. I want these kids "healed" so that they can lead... more

In this post I wrote about the National Center on Fathering, and I received this comment from Brad in response:

3 out of 4 of my adoptive children (a domestic sibling group) have left home and basically "returned" to the birthfather and have "written me off". It is very hard to listen to things like the sermon you mention and be hopeful. Yes, I probably should, but it... more

Our sermon for Father's Day was delivered by a guest preacher … and what a preacher he was.

My family belongs to a very large, very prominent Methodist church. We joined when there were 400 or so members, in 1994. Now there are over 15,000. Our pastor has written books and is well known throughout the country for his intellect, his preaching... more

Stephanie is a waitress this summer, at the same restaurant she has worked at in Illinois and even Minnesota, where she is in college. It’s a chain, if you haven’t figured that out …

Kyle also waited tables, as did my husband (in college) and I, in high school and college. In fact, I worked at … are you ready? … Farrell’s fantastic fabulous fountain of fun! Just for jollies, I Googled it tonight, and was surprised to find it is making a comeback. I guess some old things still... more

In this post I mentioned the fact that Deb Hannah’s daughter framed her time in college by the events surrounding her troubled adoptive siblings. She started college at the peak of a family crisis, and graduated the day after the last of five troubled children left the family. The fact that Deb’s healthy children’s lives were so affected by the unhealthy children is one of... more

I have been discussing the purpose of our parenting. Is our “job” to only parent children who provide pleasure and reciprocity in our life, or is it to serve the least, the last and the lost? Are we wrong to want and/or expect something positive to come back our way? Maybe not wrong, but human …

Deb Hannah sent me an email that started me thinking about this. She said:

I know that Beth is doing wonderfully and your relationship is everything you want it to be, and in some ways that can validate us as parents.... more

Once again I am going to warn you that I will be spilling the beans on Deb Hannah’s book, so if you’d rather wait to read this, you’ve been warned!

Deb and her husband Joe adopted five children after having given birth to four. The five adoptees arrived as two sibling groups—three and two. If you go to Deb’s website, you see a picture... more

I had a great discussion this morning with Pat Johnston of Perspectives Press. I have known Pat for twenty years or more and I very much value her friendship and her wisdom. We talked about many things, and I will be processing our conversation for several days. But there was one thing in particular she told me that I want to share.

We were talking about ATN, my reasons for starting it and where I want it to go. We talked about the perception... more

I talked to a mom this morning who has already signed up for ATN’s conference this August. I am really getting excited about this event, for many reasons. But probably the most significant reason is how energized everyone feels when they are actually in the physical proximity of other parents who are leading parallel lives. As long as I have been living this life, and as stress-free as my parenting existence is now, with no challenging kids... more

Yesterday I spoke on the phone with one of the most awesome moms I know. She is parenting what my friend Julie affectionately calls “The Combo Platter Kid.” Only this mom’s kid is a different kind of combo platter than Julie’s LuLu is.

I have blogged about this mom before. She has really struggled herself to understand her son’s behaviors and how best to intervene.... more