We had a pleasant surprise this afternoon while attending open houses for graduation seniors. One of my daughters has a birth sibling graduating from high school this year. Of course, we were invited to the open house. We have maintained contact with him by having periodic visits and phone calls throughout the 11 years since their adoptions. We have done the same with the other four birth siblings as well, although we had more visits when the children were younger. There were six siblings, who were adopted by four separate families. When we arrived at the open house, two... more

Celebrity Baby Blog is reporting that actor Maurice Bernard and his wife, Paula, have adopted her teen-aged sister following the death of her mother.

I remember watching Mr. Bernard on All My Children when I was in college in the early 80's. He's also native to the San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up. He's been an incredible champion of getting the word out about bi-polar disorder, which he suffers from, and though I don't have it, I have struggled with Dysthemia and... more

I was listening to my favorite Christian radio station this morning. The morning DJs are young adults because the station wants teenagers to listen, so they give them people to whom they can relate. Actually, the music and contests are geared more towards teenagers as well, but I like the music. So, the DJs were talking about Mother’s Day and wondering what some of their listeners were planning to do for their moms. A teenage girl called in and said that her mom didn’t want anything for Mother’s Day. The DJs made a couple of suggestions, which did include housework. The... more

“Who is your favorite kid, Mom?” “Am I your favorite?” “He is your favorite, that’s why you let him have one of your sodas, right?” “Why do you like my brother best?” “You like the girls better than the boys, don’t you?” “The baby is your favorite isn’t she?” Which version of this question have you heard? If you are parenting several children from various backgrounds then you have probably heard them all, just as I have. For a few years, I tried to argue. I tried to tell the questioning child that I loved them all equally. Eventually, after years of being worn down, I just started... more

Yes, there are many positives of being a large adoptive family. Unfortunately, this week I have been living through one of the negative attributes of a being a large adoptive family. I wrote about Rotavirus going through our family and affecting everyone a couple of weeks ago. This week, it has been the 48-hour flu bug. We kept our granddaughters Saturday night, knowing that earlier in the week, they had the flu. Apparently, they were still contagious. They are 12 months and two, Amigrace, our toddler, is 20 months. Being toddlers, they frequently sampled each other’s sippy cups,... more

As a foster and adoptive parent for 14 years as well as a birth parent for 25 years, you might think that I have seen or heard it all. It is true that I do not shock or surprise easily and when a child tries to shock me, I usually reciprocate. Sometimes I help or go along with a joke. Thus, my children are likely to tell me or ask me just about anything. Yesterday, my 18-year-old son asked me to help him with a dare. His boss has resigned and today is the going away party. His boss is balding and some coworkers thought it would be funny if Shea cut his hair to look... more

Imagine living with eight children, five of whom have had rotavirus for the past two weeks. While Super Dad and I tried to stay healthy, it was just a matter of time until the rotavirus spread to us. It is hard to avoid contracting a virus from sick toddlers who don’t cover their mouths when they cough, have chronic diarrhea, and sleep in your bed when they feel sick. It has been over two weeks since SD and I have been able to sleep all night. Little children always seem to run the highest fevers in the middle of the night. Worried parents stay awake after giving them... more

I have talked about some of my children being very close in age a few times. I have even mentioned that sometimes people ask me if they are twins. This is partly because they have similar hair and eye color. We honestly didn’t plan to adopt children that all looked like birth siblings, it just turned out that way. We didn’t plan to create artificial twins either. The children were placed here in foster care and years later became available for adoption. When they originally were placed in our home, they actually had a return home plan. Obviously, they did not return home. After... more

Many years ago, a young woman called me for information about foster care. She told me that she did not intend to adopt because she already had three young children. However, she realized that there was a need for foster homes and she wanted to help. As I listened, she explained that she really only wanted to foster infants and toddlers. I asked her if she really thought that she could provide a home to a young child for 12 to 18 months and then walk away. I also explained that our agency had many homes on a waiting list who wanted an infant or a toddler to adopt. Our agency really... more

I remember my parents talking about toddlers entering the curtain climber stage and then the terrible twos. It does present a funny word picture if you think about your toddler hanging from the curtains like a feisty kitten. My daughter is almost 18 months old and based on her recent feats; I would say that she has officially entered the curtain climber stage. In the last week, I have had to grab her off the top of one of our computer desk, about 10 times. In our playroom, also known as our library and computer room, we have two large desks. Each desk has a computer and... more