Darling Girl, I walked into your room the other night, well after you had gone to sleep. I could hear your quiet breathing and the whole room smelled like you. There’s something about the way my babies smell that makes me feel peaceful and comforted and deeply at home, and when it dawned on me …Read More

Chapter 4:  Connecting Principles To recap, I am reviewing a lengthy DVD series on your behalf and giving you the “Cliff Notes” version (part 1 here, part 2 here).  Because when you are parenting a child from tough places and in tough places, ain’t nobody got time to do a literature review and hunt down …Read More

 5 year old Emerson was just listed with Madison Adoption Associates via an orphanage partnership. Emerson is diagnosed with osteochondrodysplasia (dwarfism). And if you think his file photos are precious, just wait until you see his videos (1, 2, 3, 4, Password: Adoptmaa)!   At 5 years old, after a period of acupuncture and moxibustion, Emerson …Read More

Each month in 2015, we will spotlight a special need as well as an important adoption topic. Last month, we shared posts from moms in the trenches of post-adoption depression, as well as moms of children who are HIV+ and HepB+. In February, we will share about heart defects as well as another heart issue, …Read More

It’s been almost two years since we brought home our youngest child, and I feel my heart longing to grow again. The thought of six children would make some readers wide-eyed — yet I know in my heart we are called to grow again. I’m learning to be still in this “in between” place and …Read More

I clung to the steering wheel as if it was a floatation device and I was drowning. It seemed fitting. I felt like I was drowning. There I sat in the parking lot of the grocery store. Mothers with babies on their hips casually walking past my parked car to go pick up milk and …Read More

Earlier this month, Erin shared her experience with post-adoption depression. Today, as January and our spotlight on PADS come to a close, Erin is back with a follow-up post she so generously offered to share. I remember the first day when I woke up not in a complete fog from PADS. It was like I …Read More

Excitement, curiosity and fear of the unknown filled the eight year old boy’s mind as he entered the cold, stale room. His eyes landed on some smiling faces that looked vaguely familiar. Yes, these were the same faces that had smiled at him from the pages of the photo album he carried in his backpack, …Read More

2014 was quite a year for No Hands But Ours. The Mentoring Mom program launched in June to an amazing response from over 100 mamas. The No Hands But Ours site was masterfully overhauled by Northstar Marketing over the course of a year, and the beautiful, super-functional site went live in September. Each of the Special Needs …Read More

When I was fourteen I taught Sunday School for a year. One of the kids in my class of four year olds had a short left arm. The first day of class I found myself thinking “that poor little guy was born with only one arm.” It took next to no time at all for …Read More