I cannot believe how energized I feel tonight. I knew I needed a vacation but I had no idea how badly I needed it. I prepared a nice dinner for a change. I made sure I was available to “play” with my daughter when she arrived home from school—we both rode my horse. I walked the dogs twice and worked all four of them on obedience and/or agility.

I was pumped up when I wrote the exuberant “chasing cattle was a ton of fun” post… and I’m not sure... more

A couple of days ago I blogged about how I had "dripped" posts in for several days and sneaked off to Colorado to herd cows. Well... I had SO MUCH FUN!!! Who KNEW that chasing cows on horseback would be SO MUCH FUN??? I have much more appreciation for what turns on a Border collie!

I rode more in those three days than I have ridden in ages. Breakfast rides, moonlight rides, lunch rides, cattle drives... more

I have a confession to make. I have been “dripping” these posts out for the last several days. While you all have been thinking I am hunched over my computer cranking out new masterpieces every day… in actuality I have been rounding up cattle in Colorado with three of my girlfriends!

For the first time in ages I left my computer at home. I haven’t been writing blogs, creating newsletters, emailing or talking to stressed... more

OK, it has been a pretty doom and gloom series of posts I have run lately, so now we’re going to lighten it up! Although I still miss my beloved Lexie, life around here has somewhat stabilized with five dogs. I thought it was about time I gave you an update on how the new family members were doing, as well as the old-timers!

The pup weighed in Tuesday at nearly 17 pounds. It was only a few weeks ago that she was 9 pounds. She is all legs, and she has lost her puppy face and most of her puppy breath. Her head is more the “elementary... more

I am writing this morning from St. Louis. My husband and I drove the four hours here on Friday afternoon in order to attend a Love and Respect marriage conference… courtesy of Kyle and Marie. Their first anniversary is coming up next month and they attended this conference a few months ago. They were so impressed with the message they asked us if we would like to attend, and ultimately this opportunity became our Christmas present from them. How cool is that?

There was a great deal of good information... more

I apologize if you are tired of me pontificating about the Virginia Tech incident… but I simply am not able to put this behind me just yet. Not from a parental perspective, and not from a child mental health advocacy perspective.

I heard something on the news a few minutes ago that really grabbed my attention. I didn’t catch the commentator’s name (actually it was an “interviewee”) but it was Fox News. The person speaking was a criminal profiler and she was talking about the development... more

I just returned from the Rotary club presentation. Even little presentations take gearing up for… and I’m usually pretty drained afterwards. I have no clue how Nancy Thomas keeps the schedule she does! I came home to a sea of hungry dogs. They have all been satisfied and as soon as their food digests, we’ll all go for a walk and decompress. Do you have a mental picture of me walking FIVE dogs?

The presentation went well. Very tough to describe our lives in 15 minutes. Interestingly enough,... more

This morning I am preparing (read: dressing up) for a workshop at noon to over a hundred Rotary Club members. I have 25 minutes or so to explain attachment and trauma issues in some meaningful way that they will remember my message. I have devoted nearly 6 minutes of my precious time to excerpts from Nancy Ashe’s talk at last summer’s ATN conference. How better to understand how an unattached person thinks than to hear it first person?

As I was gulping my coffee (partly to fight the migraine that tried to... more

One of the hardest parts about parenting these kids is figuring out how to balance hope with realism. If we continue to believe we can change anything if we try hard enough, or that our child will embrace our family if only we did a, b or c… and it doesn’t happen… we lose hope. And losing hope has such finality. But if we hold on to hope and do so in terms of our own expectations, we run a significant risk of being disappointed. And not disappointed once or twice, but over and over... more

Although I have been company-less for 72 hours, I’m still draggin’ my wagon… I don’t seem to bounce back like I used to be able to do. Plenty of folks tell me I have a lot of energy for a half-centurion… but I sure feel tired this week!

Yesterday I arranged a three-way call with a couple who adopted two daughters through foster care 5 years ago. It was one of those “take them for a week or two of respite” deals that turned into five years of “respite” (they did legally adopt them)… And guess what? Only two weeks ago they received the diagnosis of RAD on... more