Chinese New Year (aka Lunar New Year) takes place this year on February 16, 2018, the year of the dog. Like most of you, our family is most accustomed to ringing in the new year on January 1, but the …
The planners amongst us have started to think about filing taxes and are asking questions about the Adoption Tax Credit for 2017. The information in this blog is for your 2017 taxes, which are filed b…
When you first start thinking about adoption, most people face a mixture of emotions–excitement, confusion, and fear. And one of the most fearful parts of adoption is the adoption home study. One of…
“The most wonderful time of the year” is here, whether we are ready for it or not. For many of our kids from hard places, all that wonderful-ness can also represent big changes in routines, in fam…
Every year right about this time, children everywhere are going back to school. The lines at Walmart are long and shopping carts are full of brand new box of crayons and brightly colored spiral bound…
Over the last 15 years, I have learned (usually the hard way) that parenting tweens and teens requires a particular set of skills and perspective that don’t just naturally develop in pace with my ki…
Top 5 Books You Must Read When Adopting from International Adoption or Foster Care 1. The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family by Dr. Karyn Purvis The hands-down winner in o…
Talking with tweens and teens about adoption is especially challenging because often they want to be in charge of the discussion…as they should be. But as parents we need to keep talking. Here are s…
Adopting a child is one of the most exciting, scary, exhilarating, and nerve wracking times in your life. This true for all types of adoption, but especially true when you adopt a child or children pa…
Most agencies I have talked with discourage families from bringing older children on the adoption trip, but I don’t think it’s so cut and dry. Whether to take an older child with you depends on th…
Summer vacation is right around the corner for most of us. Plans for family vacations, lounging pool side, and hitting the amusement parks are fun to anticipate together as a family, but the change fr…
Parenthood is stressful. We love the little darlings, but they can put a major strain on the marriage. This is especially true if our child has special challenges from being exposed to alcohol or dru…
