“I have to steel myself for this each and every time. It doesn’t necessarily get easier, but at least now I know from experience that a decent outcome is somewhere down the road.” Continuing from a previous post, I’m still on a roll.

What is also difficult for me, as the mama, is the finger pointing from society.

“If you’d raised them right then this wouldn’t be happening,” or “That’s what you get for adopting troubled kids,” when my children get... more

“We are just trying to survive until she's 18. What a way to parent!” I agree with her on the parenting part, it’s discouraging at times.

I’d read that line in a comment in Nancy’s blog and I immediately, and rather negatively for me, thought, “Like it changes at age 18?”

By November of this year I will have 18 of my children over the age of 18.

I’ll still have 21 kids under age 18, nearly a vacation for me when... more

I start each day with a large handful of carefully selected vitamins that I take after breakfast and I absolutely hate doing it. I hate swallowing pills; hate the slight smell and the time it takes. But so what? Life’s not about doing what one always wants to do; sometimes we have to do what is necessary.

My kids resist doing most things on a good day. I have to teach them about simple responsibilities, accountability and doing what needs to be done.

They hate homework, don’t want to work all day in school and then come home to more... more

Like every parent on this planet I am often tempted to allow my children to watch TV if only to give me a break for a minute. Then maybe I could get the dishes done, supper started or hang out another load of laundry. But even if I think I have these high minded chores to do, that’s still no excuse to use a plug-in drug.

I don’t watch much TV for 39 obvious reasons. When there is something that I want to see I TIVO it (DVR in our case) so I can watch it when convenient... more

I’m crazy about the Eastern Bluebird, still always delighted and surprised when it flits past me, its brilliant blue body is startling and amazing to me. I’ve put up a dozen or so birdhouses near my gardens and out in the fields, knowing that the birds like a long clear shot to their door, not wanting to dig through any brush or branches.

This was one of the biggest extinction reversals ever and its success heartens me. People jumped on the conservation bandwagon and saved these birds years ago, and subsequently I’m feeling optimistic that we can do the same for orphans,... more

I’m going to continue on my simplicity theories; I just don’t see any other way to manage a large family. We’re not a democracy but I’m also not a dictator. I set the rules, someone has to be in charge, and the ultimate responsibility is always mine.

I both demand and demonstrate structure, stability, routine and positive expectations. I expect the kids to attend church, to participate in family activities, to follow rules, to help me and all the other kids. I stay... more

I meet people who tell me they’d love to have a large family which reminds me of a George Eliott quote,

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

Our local high school principal told me today he’s the baby of 11 children, raised in rural Kentucky, taught right by his eight older sisters. This explanation goes a long way towards explaining just how and why he can still tell me that ornery old Big Joe, one of my older sons,... more

My adorable, untraumatized, grandson-son who has lived with me since birth crumpled up his face in despair at the grocery story when I wouldn’t shell out $8.oo for two Tonka toy trucks. “Are you nuts?” I’d shrilly asked? “Do you know how many of these you could get for $8.00 at a yard sale?”

Each Saturday I shop at yard sales with up to a dozen of my always excited children. Garage sale snobs, as if, we only go to the expensive neighborhoods, or at least we plan our route to hit the upscale areas first... more

Continued From Part One

It’s not like me to flatly explain a problem and expect a negative outcome. Usually I can spin it, relate the lessons learned by a child, and sunnily predict the star that he or she will soon become. But in this case, I’ve learned the lesson. There may be some kids that I can’t reach. If there is not an active conscience, what can I do? While she is under 18 I will continue to seek the help for her that she does not think she needs as she does not comprehend that stealing is wrong. There is no wrong in her world; it is all about what she... more

Nancy verbally struggled with a lack of integrity in many of the children we adopt and in the world as a whole in her post while Sandra pointed out a horrible story in India that is a microcosm of a much bigger problem. I’d also bemoaned my own small attempts to make the world a better place while I looked around me at all that was not being done.

As usual, when I’m working in my gardens, I get clarity, a peace of mind that often escapes me when I’m reading depressing newspapers on-line or dealing with my own children’s... more