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Category Archives: Adoption and Orphan Care
Older Child Adoption | What I Would Have Done Differently
For various reasons, the three older kids are not living at home. One wants to return, the other two are desperately trying to find their wings so that they can fly the nest for good. With more mental margin than I’ve had in years, I’ve been reflecting over our experience of adopting older kids and […]
Items for an ER “GO” bag
We are walking through the third, in-patient psych hospitalization for our daughter in less than 6 weesk. For the last 2.5 years, we tried every trick we could to keep this from happening, but her repeated childhood traumas have left such an indelible mark on her development and personality and her coping mechanisms are so maladaptive and […]
What I Learned from Adopting Teenagers
I wanted to publish a post like this on Monday (Airplane Day for John and Kayla), but I was had been waiting all night in the ER for psych bed for one of the other kids. That’s a story for another post, but you can keep our family in your prayers. This has been a long […]
Love Through the Eyes of an Adoptive Mom
1 Corinthians 1If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. (MSG) “Creaking of a rusty gate” –annoying, abrasive, rubbed the wrong way. Never take your paradigm for granted. We have 3 children who entered our family at the ages of 11, […]
Our Summer Safety Plan
Three years ago, we were jumping through hoops, ripping through red tape, and fighting for the right to bring home our sixth child (now 14). Apparently bringing home 3 unrelated adolescents through international adoption is frowned upon. We understood why, but keeping the connection between her and our son, because they were raised together, seemed […]
Relationship and Reconciliation
The end of our pastor’s sermon yesterday really challenged me. You can listen to it here. It’s the one based on Matt 11:25-30. Start at time marker 21:45. It was about reconciliation. He talked about how reconciliation comes at cost. The cost is great (especially to our pride) but we can choose to focus on what […]
Race, Riots, and Relationship
The facts: 1. Freddie Gray was a black young man who was arrested and died in police custody. 2. Freddie’s death sparks protests which then turn violent and create a crazy, downward spiral throughout Baltimore City. 3. We own a coffee shop in the heart of the city. 4. We are a part of a […]