Breeanna and her sister used to live with their birth mom. When times got a little rough and the birth mom lost her job, the court placed the children with the birth father at his request.

At that time in her life Breeanna's birth mom had been drinking and was depressed, so she didn't fight this action. She wanted what she thought was best for her daughters.

This is a true story. Breeanna's birth mom attends our church and my husband was the one who suggested that she just ask Breeanna if she liked collecting pencils. He also directed her to an attorney where she filed papers to fight for custody of her girls.

They are still in court and the case is pending. The... more

Dad and mom were very upset that Breeanna had taken the pencils. More over they had never known her to lie to them. She had never taken anything that did not belong to her. So the parents went in to talk to Breeanna. The mom was so upset that she spanked Breeanna. Breeanna was very upset. She cried and could not even speak. Her dad told her to get the pencils and give them to him right this minute.

She reached under her pillow and pulled out four beautiful pencils. He took them from her and told her she was grounded.

The next morning Breeanna and her sister were to go spend time with their biological mom. She could not wait to tell her how dad had let her other mom... more

It was time for class to start and the teacher asked everyone to be seated. After the morning pledge of allegiance. She did attendance and told the children to prepare for their spelling tests.

All the children got out their pencils and paper. Breeanna was amazed as she looked around and saw brightly colored pencils in other classmates hands.

All day long she could not get her mind off those pencils. So after lunch she pretended to tie her shoes while the rest of the kids got in line for outside recess. When no one was looking she helped herself to one of her friend's pencils.

After recess was over the teacher called her class to order. She asked them to take... more

It was around 9 p.m. and we received a call from our Foster Care Worker. They had a little boy about 14 months old that they needed to place.

Of course we told them we could take him. We were told that he hated women and didn't get along well with his birth mom.

It didn't take long before we were off to a good start. I made diner and sat him up to the table and everyone else sat down to eat. A few seconds later our new little guy dropped a noodle off his plate on to the table. He began crying and saying over and over "I sowwy mommy." This just broke my heart. I knelt down beside him and smiled and kissed his cheek. I looked into his little tear filled eyes and said.... more

After being introduced to a classroom of emotionally impaired children, I enjoyed watching what brought them joy. As the teachers worked with them you could see who was trying to listen and who didn't care what she had to say.

We were there for the afternoon to sing for the children, so we walked around and helped hand out snacks and got to know the people there with us.

There was one young man who was about the size of a two year old. But he actually was 22. Every time my mom would walk by him he would try and pull up her dress. His mother worked there so she would bring him along to play with the children.

You could see his frustration of just being in the room... more

Well I thought I would follow up on how my middle daughter is doing.

We went to court with her for her first set of charges for being a minor and drinking alcohol. The Judge gave her in-home detention for 17 days, until her next set of charges could be dealt with. She even has a detention worker who makes all the rules on a daily basis as she checks in and stops by the house to see how April is doing.

It's been five days now and she is doing ok. So she is now allowed to have friends come over to visit.

We were happy about that. Now she is not bugging us to death. We can actually get some things done without baby sitting her.

We have talked a lot while... more

As summer comes. We will need to up date the family rules for check in times and any other important things that may help keep your family safe.

The sun will linger with us longer so our time for curfew may need to be adjusted. As school ends it is always good to have a daily routine set in place, something to keep kids of all ages busy.

Most of the older children often get into trouble and pick up bad habits like smoking if they have to much empty time on their hands.

Every city has some sort of program for kids during summer time. I know that the police even offer a mentor program for difficult children in some states.

It is always good to check into... more

You can be the best parent on earth and study all the books you can find and take all the classes available and still be faced with a runaway child.

A lot of misconceptions lead people to think that the home life of a child must be in disorder, if a child keeps running away. This is not always the case. Our home life is consistent. We have basic rules and guidelines, and most of the time it is a calm and loving environment to reside in.

However we have a bipolar daughter and she often disrupts and causes aggression in our home life. She has to constantly be reminded to use her inside voice when talking. She gets excited easily and yells her opinions at whomever she is speaking... more

When April went back to the facility. I wrote the Judge a letter begging him to let April come home . At this point we also found out that our medical insurance and the state medical insurance refused to pay for any and all medical treatments April had received while out of state, in custody. Now our family, who had the four children and one working parent, owed over 20,000 dollars in medical bills. Finally after 17 months of begging the court to let us have our daughter back, the facility administrator told the Judge that April was not capable of complying with the program there and she was bipolar. She needed a more medical alternative than a discipline corrective system.... more

Oh boy, every parent has to survive the terrible twos or threes as it was for me and my baby girl.

My daughter was a perfect baby. Never needed me to correct her much at all.If she saw something she liked I would help her hold it and I would explain that it was mommy's toy and not to play with it unless mommy was with her. I was amazed at how this worked.

It wasn't until she was three and beginning to be very verbal that we had our issues. Her three older siblings taught her some creative words. She would ball up her fist and glare at you and say "Wanna piece of me." Which, yes, when she first did it we all laughed hysterically and that didn't help the matter.

They... more