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

I apologize if I sound like a pompous know-it-all at times. I don’t even know all that much, I just feel that I bring a great deal of experience to the party. Sharing these experiences, and how we overcame our difficulties, is the only way I know how to encourage others to keep on keeping on. I certainly understand your frustrations and despair.

Billy Ray Cyrus, getting kicked off Dancing With The Stars, stated, “What I lack... more

Teaching a child to talk can be fun. Here are some great suggestions on how to begin teaching your baby how to turn sound into words.

1.) Visual Identification: Show your child an object. Slowly make the sounds putting emphasis on the yowl sounds and in a pleasing voice say what the object is. You may have to do this several times before your baby even tries to repeat after you. But this is an awesome way to teach word association with objects.

Your local book store should have "1001 baby's first words" or different books to help you do visual... more

One of the best programs by far is the Federally Funded Program that crosses the states of America to help families and children in numerous ways.

This Mission Statement is: "The mission of EightCAP, Inc. is to advocate and promote the health, education, and welfare of the residents in the service area. To that end, the corporation will design, administer, and deliver programs that address the causes of poverty, alleviate its effects on our citizens, and teach self-sufficiency including the habilitation/rehabilitation, social development,... more

In Michigan, mid Michigan to be exact, there have been several cases of horrible child neglect where a child has in fact passed away in the process of FIA or adoptive care.

We have one case in our community where there have been numerous calls to FIA on a single family. Yet the children remain in the parents' care.

The social worker assigned to the case told the parents that "If one more call is received they will have to take the children." Why? according to the worker, it is so the children's mother has no grounds to sue them in court if her boyfriend harms the children in the future.

When I heard this statement and her reasoning for it, I was disgusted with the... more

One of the best places to get lost is in a good book. In the pages of a book you can sail the seas of Moby Dic or cast your nets and harvest fish. You can fly planes the Wright Brothers, or study the ancient art of Snake Handling.

You can dream of Jeanies who grant three wishes or scale the lines of a great poet. You can fall in love with characters and disappear into the life of their pages.

How do you get your child to find the interesting world of reading?

1.) Read to your child every night. Remember children's books are fun but books like... more

If your sweetheart filled your life with those rich, delicious chocolates and you want to know how to survive them. Here are a few clues:

1.) Share them with your family. Then you get a lot less calories. 2.) Use them as an incentive to work out. You can have one of them just before you work out every day. 3.) Freeze them and keep them as special treats, when good things happen in life. 4.) Give them away. 5.) Make your sweetie eat them with you so you share the extra pounds. 6.) Give one to every child you see, as long... more

Someone very wise once noted that we should build our house on a firm foundation. So that when the winds and weather come upon us our house will with stand and remain strong.

Houses built on sand will fall. Those built to close to the shore will be destroyed. If we watch the news we know this is true.

But in all reality we are speaking of building our house with wisdom and truth. On a foundation of good morals and a planned path way to guide us through life.

We all know that children need something to believe in. The past few years our... more

This wonderful little picture is found on a special web site that is all about making friends.

Making friends can be as easy as inviting someone else to join you when you are doing something fun. Like in this picture it is basketball.

On the web site they offer arts and crafts and some great ideas for kids to work together on. Just click here: http://www.makingfriends.com/ and you can enjoy the making friends.com web site yourself.

This would be a great place... more

Introducing our children to the world around us is one of the best ways a parent can help a new foster or adoptive child feel safe and familiar with where they are living now.

We personally decided to make it a family tour day. So put on your shoes, find a jacket and off we go:

1. We walked down the street and made everyone aware of the names of the streets around us.

2. We first showed the kids the Town Library. It is the first business you see on the way up town.

3. We stopped to observe the bike trail and walking path near the lake... more