adoption stories

Adopting: Real Life Stories

From the Cover of ADOPTING: real life stories by Ann Morris: “Who makes adoption a success? We do: the kids and parents in the new family as we change shape to accommodate each other. With more than 7...

4 Absolutely Great

Our Foster Care Journey Part 3: Meeting Our Boys

In my last blog… In my last blog, I shared the story of our first foster placement in November of 2008. By the beginning of December, we were completely in love with our foster children, but we ...

3 Mantras to Empower a Child

As a parent, we are always drawing upon our past when we’re raising our children in our care. I was raised in my biological family with two loving parents. In many respects my parents were like ...

Chapter 1 – New House, New Rules – Kid Discussion

“‘WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU,’ thundered his uncle spraying spit over the table, ‘ABOUT SAYING THE ‘M’ WORD IN OUR HOUSE?'” – Chapter 1, Harry Potter And The ...

Chapter 13 – The Importance of Encouragement and Praise – Kid Discussion

It is chapter 13 and we are back at another Quidditch match. Did you notice a big difference between this Quidditch match and the last one that we read about? Did you notice a big difference in Harry&...

Chapter 9 – Parent Discussion – Families stick together

For chapter 9 of The Sorcerer’s Stone we’re going to piggy back off the Kids’ Discussion since a lot of their ideas are applicable to family and parents. Our kids discussed a lot abo...

Chapter 8 – Parent Discussion – A talk about behaviors

Chapter 8 is the introduction of two polar opposites in Harry Potter’s life – Professor Snape and Hagrid. The differences in moods are so obvious in the chapter that even the youngest of m...

Chapter 8 – Kid Discussion – You Have To Learn To Trust

This is the part of school that most kids hate – having to go to lessons. Harry Potter is discovering that Hogwarts is going to be as much work as it is fun. During his first week he meets a new...

Chapter 7 – Kid Discussion – The First Night is the Scariest.

Well we have finally made it inside Hogwarts and are ready to see what house Harry is sorted into. If you are like our family, we knew that Harry would not be sorted into Slytherin the whole time. We ...