One of my teenage daughters, who’ll turn 17 this summer, is wanting to like a guy in her school. I’m not so sure that this is a good idea for many, many reasons. I discourage dating in teenagers, I prefer that they wait until their college years or over age 18, as the emotional maturity level in older adopted children is not what it should be.

Often appearing older than their years, living with them and seeing their emotional neediness is another story.

I prefer that my kids participate in church youth group events, sports, school functions and... more

I do go off, within these pages, about the difficulties I’ve encountered in the adoption of older children. Yet I have some very wonderful kids as well.

One is pictured here, acting silly in an older sister’s prom dress.

She’s my darling 12 year old sixth grader who just made the cheerleading squad for next year’s basketball team. Doesn’t interest me in the least, I’d even tried discouraging her a bit; “Don’t you want to stay on the rec soccer team? You are such an awesome player.”

But she was not to be deterred, she’s even... more

I don’t mean to minimize the existence of depression. I know it is real and that people battle this affliction constantly. I remember a local teacher having to go out on disability for depression related symptoms. I so can’t relate since I’m hyperactive, nosey and curious, and have way too many plans and ideas bouncing around in my mind.

The state of the environment does depress me to some degree, especially the ubiquitous aspect of plastic everywhere. EnviroWoman... more

I deeply believe that one day, when we die most likely, we’ll be called upon to give an accounting of our actions, words and deeds.

My big mouth will certainly take some explaining. I’m working on it.

I do feel it behooves me to teach this belief to my children. I feel that we aren’t on this planet for a very long time, even if we live to be 100 years old, that’s barely a blink in eternity.

We need to do something, to stand for something, and to help in some way.

I absolutely love reading and learning about others and their amazing... more

I have five kids in the 11-12 year old age group, all on the same soccer team.

Four boys and a girl, all right good athletes, faced a tough team late last week that could have eliminated them from the playoffs. I’d pumped them up, “Face down this team, play hard and make them afraid to go up against all y’all. Go for it, I know you can win this game.”

The youngest one, CW, here since birth, jumped in with all his might, leadership skills evident, ready... more

How can anyone live under the pressure of 39 children, 38 of them adopted as older children? Many of my children have difficult emotional issues, some are severely disturbed, and some appear quite normal to the outside world, saving their rages and breakdowns for us as it is safe and secure here to fall apart. People would point at them if they acted like that in public.

Every single day presents many challenges. Challenges that would bring a racing stallion to its knees, complications that befuddle us all, events that make me temporarily bonkers and... more

Reading Nancy’s post this morning, some thoughts came to my mind. I also receive a great deal of email from despairing adoptive parents who’ve given all they have to their children who then seemingly reject it all, sometimes hatefully so, trying to hurt the only people who ever cared about them.

My pastor talked about Jesus bumper stickers or crosses, doves and fish symbols on our cars, people who wear crosses so the world will know... more

At the moment I have four pregnant daughters plus a daughter-in-law who is now expecting her first child. When one has 39 children it’s a matter of simple math to easily determine there’ll be a passel of grandchildren.

I have the emotional and physical energy left in me to parent another sibling group, but I don’t have the desire to do so anymore, as I am now looking at the decidedly positive aspects of being involved with all of my grandchildren. Raising my children has sometimes resembled a war zone, 20 years in Iraq, and I’m still... more

“I’m grown, I don’t need you anymore,” were the words texted to me yesterday by a recently moved out 20 year old son of mine. “Leave me alone, I’m doing OK.”

Right.

I’m going to leave a kid of mine alone? After 17 grown kids bolting, I’m finally slowly learning what they really need.

“OK,” I’d texted back, “I’m not going to leave you alone. I know that you need reassurance.”

No reply. I got busy in the garden, tending to the other kids all afternoon, barely noticing around five that evening, that the one who’d... more

Theresa wrote about her difficult Mother’s Day experiences, reminding me that my second most dreaded holiday is approaching.

Christmas is usually the most difficult for us, besides the blatant commercialism and the unbelievable media derived expectations, we have the adopted children syndrome in which the kids go bonkers reliving past Christmases in their minds, usually not pleasant memories as their birth parents were drunk or doing drugs, neglecting and simply... more