What does your family do when you are snowed in and can’t go anywhere? I am sure that the county has their plow and salt trucks out in force, but they haven’t made it out to the country roads yet. My mother lives within the city limits and they haven’t even plowed her street yet. Apparently, with all of the blowing and drifting going on, the county is having trouble keeping the main roads clear. This is only the second Sunday that I can remember our church canceling all services due to inclement weather. I didn’t even attempt to go anywhere today in my 15 passenger van,... more

I have been thinking about creating a morning ritual for starting the day off right with my adopted children for quite a while now, but just haven’t done it. With older adopted special needs children you never quite know how they are going to act each day. Because we homeschool it is particularly important to me what their attitudes are like each day. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a special morning routine that sort of set things off on the right foot every morning? I knew a family that had adopted six children. Every morning she sat out on the porch with them talking quietly and... more

If your children are anything like mine they probably want to spend every spare minute playing video games. My children think a day off from school, like a holiday, means video game free time from sun up until sun down. As parents, we sometimes have to curtail video game time to allow our children to participate in other activities as well. If you have adopted siblings that suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, like we have, then you know how difficult it can be to get them to transition to another activity. I also find it interesting how my children with attention deficit... more

Looking for ideas to make your adopted children really feel like part of their new family? You probably want to establish family memories that your adopted children will enjoy, consider unique, and want to talk about later. Fun things that they will want to take pictures of and put in their life books or scrapbooks. I came across an article yesterday in the Clean Home Journal suggesting fun family autumn ideas. I always seem to put an adoption spin on things that I see and read, even though that wasn’t the author’s original intention. This pumpkin carving... more

I have to share the most amazing story of survival with you. I still cannot believe it myself, though I see it with my own eyes. Yesterday, at this time I was crying because we had found one of our favorite pets dead. She had been missing for over three months.

Today, we headed out to have a family burial. In the past when a cherished family pet has died all of the children gather around, we dig a grave, we place the deceased in the hole, we pray, and we make a grave marker. That is what we intended to do today.

Maybe I should go back to the beginning. About every... more

Our oldest adopted daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks. She has always been a sentimental person and has always coveted her family’s fellowship. The first few years she lived with us she really only coveted her birth family’s time, but now that she is older, her adopted family’s time as well. It isn’t surprising that she asked both of her birth sisters to be in her wedding, as well as her sister-in-law to be. We were a little surprised when she asked her 17-year-old brother to stand up at the wedding with the... more

At the Christian school that I attend, the eighth graders in my class are taking a social skills class during the first period of the day. This class focuses on building solid foundations for learning and using proper social behavior. It also focuses on developing good moral character, manners and etiquette. One of the neat things about this class is the boys have to practice their manners at lunch by pushing in the seats of the girls in my class. We are also learning proper table manners, social manners and verbal manners.

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Being a good sibling also means being a good daughter or son. Before the adoption of Gracesyn, I never knew the effort my mom and my dad had to put into raising me. Since the adoption of Grace, I understand and appreciate a little more about the hard work it takes to care for a little one. As a small thank you to my parents I can help them out as they care for the needs of a busy toddler. Here are a few suggestions you may want to consider to help your parents.

After a long day at work, coming home to care for a little one while cooking... more

My little sister Gracie and I are eleven years apart. She is two and a half and I am fourteen. Some of my friends with adoptive siblings do not have that big of an age difference. My point? How do you connect with your sibling when there is a big age difference? Maybe there is a small age difference between you and your sibling and you are looking for ways to connect with them? I have found that doing some things that Gracie enjoys doing are actually really fun.

For the girls I have found that having a tea party is a great... more

A few weeks ago, my two little cousins came over to spend the night with Gracie and me to celebrate the Chinese New Year together. My mother found this poem of an anonymous writer that describes a toddler’s perspective. I could not help but to be reminded of my little cousins and Gracie when I read this poem for the first time. I am sure if you are the older sibling to a toddler brother or sister then you should be able to identify with this.

Toddler Rules of Property If I like it, it... more