We did something few families do (or few social workers let happen). We adopted three, unrelated, older children (all with double-digit ages) basically all at once and out of birthorder when we already had a kid from a hard place in our home. Can you count the red flags? We’re at about T plus a year. […]
Stacy starts her book by telling her family’s story. Like many families (including ours), hers was blindsided by the unique needs of kids from trauma. Busy families in the “trenches” will appreciate the format of this resource. It’s apparent that Stacy has indeed been in your shoes at some point over her 12 years of […]
Sometimes you just need a humor intermission. These are some quotes I’ve been collecting over the last year. Most of them come from the girls. I don’t need dessert…it’s not my business. A major learning theme this year is to worry about yourself (in terms of tattling, etc.) This is really hard for hypervigilant kids. […]
The bag of tricks just keeps getting bigger. Today’s trick: Get silly! (aka…grasping at straws.) This morning, Mia got to the bathroom just before Grace. It was perceived by Grace that Mia was maliciously cutting her off. Grace: Mia, you look devil. Patrick (in a sharp tone): Grace, I don’t ever want to hear that […]
This is the fifth post in a series that answers the questions you asked. To read the rest of the series, click here. How do you spend your time before your adopted kids are fluent in English? It seems like I could handle that for a couple hours a day, but all the time would […]
For this installment of {Voices}, I asked our oldest daughter to speak to issues with siblings and parents. Here is her recorded response in Amharic. (You can save the sound file to your computer by right clicking the link.) The roughly translated transcript is below: “It is hard to live with siblings that are biological […]
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I won’t lie. Grace has given us a run for our money in terms of behavior. In stressful situations, people tend to flee, fight, or freeze. Grace is a fighter. As a kid from a hard place, she is constantly in a state of high alert and very high stress so she is fighting the majority […]
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This is the fourth post in a series that answers the questions you asked. To read the rest of the series, click here. I apologize that the answers to your fab questions have rolled out quite as quickly as I imagined. Thanks for your patience. Our son is almost 5 and in thinking about adopting again, […]