I have been babysitting my grandchildren while their parents work during the day for the last few weeks. They are currently one and two years old. They are the children of my oldest daughter, now 25. She came to us as a 13 year old with her younger sibling and joined our forever family by the miracle of adoption at 15. My youngest daughter by the miracle of adoption is one year old and falls right in between the ages of my two granddaughters. The three little girls have always loved each other, but lately they have been becoming best friends.

In the morning when they first... more

Every family has a whiner, right? We are lucky enough to have two whiners, probably because we have 11 children. I guess that makes our family the equivalent of two families so we probably deserve two of them. The whiners fall to their knees in imagined pain with the slightest touch from a sibling or a bump from a toy flying through the air. The whiners scream in pain and push out huge crocodile tears that flow down their faces to drip off from their chins. The whiners rush to tell the tale of their injuries to the nearest parent barely able to choke out the words between sobs.... more

I was talking to one of my new friends met through adoption blogs last week about the “stair step” siblings that she adopted. The children are currently teenagers, but at the time of their placement in her home, they were newborn, 11 months and 27 months. Three children in diapers at the same time sounds crazy and it makes life a little crazy while you are living it.

While Super Dad and I haven’t had the pleasure of adopting a sibling group like that, we have fostered several. I was reminded of what it was like last night to parent “stair step” children. Our oldest... more

With all of our teenagers off to summer camps and mission’s trips, Dani, our nine year old has been suddenly thrust into the position of big sister. That esteemed position of the eldest child, the sister whom all the little children look up to as a role model, a leader, and a comforter.

Apparently, she is taking her new role quite seriously. She is doing extra jobs around the house, without being asked to do them. She is doing the jobs that belonged to the teenagers who are currently at camp, and doing them correctly.

She... more

Many people who are involved in adoption feel that the pecking order should never be changed by bringing in an older child or children. Our family has violated this status quo many times over the past 14 years of our adoption journey. Since we are licensed foster parents, we have frequently been asked to foster teenagers, which temporarily disrupted the pecking order.

The first children we adopted were two girls. The oldest girl, a 15 year old, was 22 days older than our oldest child was. The second girl was 9, and nearly... more

Should you adopt out of birth order? Often people want to be told yes or no to such a question, but like any parenting decision, the issue is not black or white. A variety of factors are involved, with the dynamics and personalities of the children already in your home being a major factor.

Some adoption specialists will tell you that the safest route to take is to bring home a child who will be the youngest in the family. After all, if you gave birth, that is how it would be, and that way you... more