I hope this picture can be viewed simply for what it is, not as offensive, but as a clear example of life with traumatized children. The other words that were written are worse.

I’d received an email yesterday from a lady I know, a mother of a large family; she’d faced a terrible ordeal years ago, threatened by the child protection system that should have been helping her. Her family overcame the obstacles and has continued on successfully.

Usually we don’t have any clue as to what we’re capable... more

It’d be nice if I could brag that I started each day with physical exercise but I’d be lying. I get physical exercise all day chasing after 39 kids and 14 grandchildren, cooking around here is aerobic.

I do seek out mental pump-it-ups each morning. I receive John Maxwell’s emails on leadership regularly and I soak them up eagerly.

I’m asked if I ever get discouraged since I seem to put on such a happy face. Sometimes I think the world is determined to slap that silly smile off my face... more

If anyone ever asked me what I believed the most important thing needed in the adoption of older children, I wouldn’t even hesitate to spout off one word.

Attitude.

Attitude is everything.

It’s crushingly hard to maintain a positive attitude at times when one wants to rail at God for even thinking anyone could handle such oppositional, challenging children. But then I always step back with an admonition for myself, “Cindy, what are you thinking? You think God made a mistake?”

And I get back on that horse and... more

Being almost 53 years old, still a country woman, my roosters, two of them, wake me up each morning bright and early. 4:55 a.m. my eyes flew open and thoughts of the day rushed through my brain, pumping me up and propelling me out of bed. The other 25 kids still are snoring, two attic fans whirling and bringing in the night air redolent of honeysuckle and gardenias, both blooming right now. I inhaled deeply, gratified to be a gardener.

People don’t much have attic fans anymore, preferring the rarified air of air conditioners. I can’t tolerate the closed... more

Private foster care providers have refused to take in at least 372 abused or neglected children so far this year, forcing most to sleep in Texas Child Protective Services offices for a night or more. Of that number, 20 kids spent 39 nights in CPS offices.

No wonder my family grew so large. I've read this article several times this morning.

I'm struggling with both cynicism and disbelief at the moment, outraged... more

I spend more and more time each day contemplating problems that seem to have no answers.

“Each month, about 20 percent of the children sleeping in CPS offices were newly discharged from psychiatric hospitals.”

This statement is from an article today in the San Antonio newspaper that bemoans the fact that over 300 foster children are sleeping in the offices due to no bed space within the foster care system. Caregivers refuse... more

I have a son who came to me five years ago along with his three brothers and a sister. This one son, then 8 years old, was considered a Level of Care 3 kid. His psychiatrist recommended that he be split from the sibling group, and not adopted. I disagreed since I don’t participate in splitting up sibling groups. Was I right or wrong?

It would have been easier without him, that’s for certain, but maybe not, as the remaining children may have acted out in an intensely negative manner in response. They are a very difficult group of children on... more

While still piggybacking on Nancy’s post, I have more to say on the subject. I wrote the first one, went outside to weed the raspberries and to think while moderating activities for two dozen children who each give me about four minutes of help in the garden per week.

Sabrina boiled two tea kettles of hot water to pour on the fire ant hills, organic and cheap. I hope PETA isn’t outraged over our cruelty to these ants that leave... more

I thought about Nancy’s post all morning as she described her purpose in parenting.

“I am very driven and very goal oriented. I want to see what I consider to be measurements of success. While I can intellectually wrap my brain around the concept that success might simply be that I kept my child safe for 18 years that is not what I had in mind as my definition of parenting success.”

I can hardly echo more than a big,... more

I am fixing to bellyache about a problem that I truly have no solutions for. Colloquialisms ending with a preposition, sometimes I lose my ability to speak grammatically, so incensed am I by the state of the world. One of the first sites I check each day is this listing of adoption and foster care news.

I have been blessed, or cursed possibly, with a sense of unease in regards to the welfare of children; a feeling that causes me to continuously ponder, obsess and try to learn more about the plight of children.... more