Happy Thanksgiving to all the other Trauma Mamas out there. I hesitate to refer to us with that label, but it states a fact, and firmly believing that labeling items appropriately is the best way to create a plan of action, I stand by that. Repeated exposure to adverse childhood experiences has created trauma in … Continue reading Flipping the Holiday Lid
Category: Parenting
Time is Truly the Best Gift.
How I Got My Name: Trauma Friendly Schools
Been thinking a lot about what a trauma friendly school and community looks like. Our communities are changing one child and family at a time, impacted by heroin abuse, violence or abandonment. I don’t fault the people who don’t know or haven’t yet felt it in their orbit, but I believe we have a job … Continue reading How I Got My Name: Trauma Friendly Schools
Two Small Souls
One year ago today, two small, hurting, wandering souls found their way into our living room. To our neighbors, it may seem like this was the day our family grew, and that we had suddenly received that placement call that newly licensed foster parents wait to receive. But that is not the case. More than … Continue reading Two Small Souls
Urban Jungle
This PSA is just for the sake of an update. There are 11. They. Are. Adorable.
Pleather Boots
It’s hard to sleep with hand-me-down toddler size 6 pleather cowboy boots on, but when your twenty-seven pound toddler insists on wearing them with his pajamas, there’s no taking them off. We are continually aware of how big of a deal it is to “own” something when you never have. Our five year old says … Continue reading Pleather Boots
Hardness isn’t the standard by which we judge the rightness of our path.
Married to an adoptee, adoption has always been on the table. One sunny warm afternoon on a business trip to San Diego many years ago, we took a day visit to Tijuana. I was holding my bright blonde three year-old’s hand, and carrying my four month-old in a baby carrier safely against my chest. I … Continue reading Hardness isn’t the standard by which we judge the rightness of our path.
Are my birth parents aliens or dinosaurs?
Happy birthday to the smartest, sweetest, most humorous nine-year old I know! To the boy who said to Dan and I last year, “Please! I want to adopt a brother so he can have a family like me”. To the one who once asked me if his birth parents were aliens or dinosaurs (because he … Continue reading Are my birth parents aliens or dinosaurs?
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Happy Birthday, Jesus - we baked our @riverscrossing birthday cake which our three year old was given as a take home from Sunday school. We told the humble, timeless story of our Savior’s birth to our five kids again, clanking around the ceramic figures in the nativity display on the ottoman, with the air conditioning … Continue reading Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Proud of Mom
Did one thing I thought I’d never do again today….again…went to kindergarten to celebrate Christmas with my sweet new five year old. Tears come when I think about how proud he was of his mom today in front of his friends, and how he kissed me on the cheek three different times. It’s amazing the … Continue reading Proud of Mom