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

I spent a fair amount of time on the phone yesterday, talking to a mom who was soon embarking on a road trip across several states to meet a potential new family member. This mom and her husband had one bio daughter who was a couple of years older than the child they were traveling to meet. The child in question arrived in the USA six months ago and was disrupting from the first placement. I’m sure you know where I’m going with this … this mom's family is potentially the next placement for this child.

At the end of the 45 minute conversation, this mom said,... more

Notwithstanding the fact that I have been trying really hard to drop a few pounds, I have eaten like a rescued refugee these past few days. Everything we ate for dinner tonight was already blessed once.

I spent all day dragging up Christmas decorations and putting up my Snow Village ceramic houses. I was going to brave Black Friday like Julie did, but when I woke up it just didn’t seem like a good idea. I shopped from my computer instead! Much, much easier.

It... more

This morning I am cooking for Thanksgiving. I retrieve my folks from the airport at 3 PM, weather willing. I have a pork roast and sauerkraut in the crock-pot for dinner tonight. As I was preparing it this morning, it occurred to me it might not be the best choice for my stomach, which is highly disturbed with me as I ingest my third round of antibiotics—and a kills-everything one at that. However, I’m making it because my mom is one of the few people who will eat the sauerkraut with me, although Beth will eat some. I highly doubt Dora will touch it with a ten-foot... more

It has been a busy day, as usual, but it was punctuated by my frequent checks of my last post to see what inspiring comments had been left. Who knew it would be such an interesting dialog?

I have read various readers’ theories about who "fearless" might be … and there is another possibility. I think this person who is so clearly quite unhappy with me might be my son, Tommy. Tommy has asked me not to write about him, and I haven’t. It was not particularly... more

Bipette, the reader who is struggling with an unofficial foster son, wrote a poignant comment in response to my last post. I’d like to address some of her questions and thoughts.

This giving, nurturing mom is struggling mightily with the concept of being a “hard to get” mom and not chasing this boy in her zeal to get him to commit to the family. It is important to remember that I... more

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, Dora is struggling with lowering her walls and letting me in. There is an analogy I have heard for many years … apple or onion? If a child is an apple, there’s a core inside, but a peel that has to be breached before the core can be reached. If a child is an onion, it is just layer after layer of the same thing … but nothing at the core. Some folks may be offended at the analogy, but I think it is very accurate. As much as it distresses me to state it, I believe Amy is an onion. I’m not sure what is underneath the shallow... more

One of my regular readers has been trying to incorporate an older teen boy into her home, with varying degrees of success. Recently, this courageous and giving mom posted that her “son” states, “he's having an identity crisis. Who or what does he really want to be?”

This comment falls right on the heels of a conversation I had in the car with Beth just a few days ago. I believe it was actually on her birthday, as she was turning 11 years old. She... more

My cousin just left for her 6-hour drive home, but we sure had a fabulous time. She’s just a young thing—fifteen years younger than I, but we have lots of fun together. Her dad is actually my second cousin, so we are truly shirt-tale relatives. She’s a whiz at sewing and has far more grey cells working than I do right now, so while she was here she whipped up a valance for our recently finished basement, as well as another sewing project for the basement. We went to the fabric store and once again, I was reminded that I used to have a life (pre-ATN.)

It... more

I haven’t had a moment to crank out a blog this past couple of days. Yesterday was two therapy appointments and a doctor’s appointment—my bad finger is going south yet again. I am on my third round of antibiotics, this time a med that will apparently kill off most anything, which no doubt means all the good bugs in my body will die too. So I can’t wait to see what the next couple of weeks bring! I have my... more