If you have ever visited my blog before, you know I am an adoptive and foster mother to 8 children. What you might not realize is that I am also a social worker and conduct home studies for fellow parents out there looking to adopt. The other day I was finishing off a home study visit with a family when they stopped and asked, "Are we normal?" The question ... Read More
The Liebster Award
The Liebster Award Wow!! I am so shocked that I have been nominated not once, but twice this week for the Liebster Award, a week after being nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award!! It is such an encouraging award to receive when starting out a new blog! I was given this lovely honor this week by Laura over at One Beautiful Mind and Stephanie over at Stephanie ... Read More
Top 10 Sensory Toys You Need for ADHD and FASD!
Having children with ADHD, FASD, or multiple other frontal lobe disorders often requires a bit of extra assistance. Over the years I have discovered several items that have helped calm my children, get out extra energy, help them focus and ease their anxiety. These are my top sensory and calming picks to help you with your child! This page contains affiliate links meaning I ... Read More
How I Got Almost 6000 Views In My First 2 Weeks of Blogging
When writers begin blogging they usually have the same goal in mind: for people to read their blog. Many are driven by different reasons, but often they aim to provide valuable information or resources to others, a way to journal their life, and a creative outlet for writing. Beyond this, many have now turned to blogging to make money from home. In order to make ... Read More
Crucial Next Steps to Making Money With Your Blog
If you've read my post Step-by-Step Guide to Starting Your Own Money Making Blog and have officially started your blog, then congratulations!! There is A LOT of work that goes into setting up a blog, and you deserve a great job! This page contains affiliate links meaning I earn a commission if you use those links. I only recommend products I use and trust. Last I ... Read More
How Cats Help with ADHD and FASD
I want to start out this post by saying it is from a completely unbiased viewpoint. That I am in no way trying to promote the love of cats over dogs. I do not love cats more than dogs...I do not secretly watch cat videos in my spare time, and I have no sentimental feelings towards cats. Ok....well...maybe I love cats. So I guess it is only fair to say I have heard of similar ... Read More
Why I Gave ADHD Medication a Chance
Daniel and I began our adoption journey early with our hearts open to a child with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder). Our first child through adoption didn't get a diagnosis, but by the time our second and third sibling set were toddlers, it was very evident we were dealing with FASD. Being new to the parenting world of FASD, it took us a while to realize what was ... Read More
The Blogger Recognition Award
I would like to thank Jaclyn from Mama Thrift for nominating me for the Blogger Recognition award. It is so exciting to be nominated after being in the blogging world for such a short time! A Brief Story on How My Lovely Crazy Life Started Blogging I originally began blogging years ago through good old blogger.com. It was mostly just tales of my life and my personal thoughts, ... Read More
Concurrent Adoption
Daniel and I had been adoptive and foster parents for roughly 3 years before we decided to expand our family once again. Mathieu was 3, Robby was 2 and Alaina had just turned 1 years old. We didn't have any other foster placements at the time so we figured it was a good time to begin. We pondered between a regular Ministry adoption, like the one we did with Mathieu, or a ... Read More
Achieving Your Dreams As a Mom
Several years ago I wrote the following except in an old blog: Recently I was watching the movie Conviction, detailing the real life story of Betty Anne Waters. Waters, who had a brother wrongfully convicted of murder, spent 18 years putting herself through law school in order to prove her brother’s innocence. She was a waitress, had 2 children, and had limited time and ... Read More
Step-by-Step Guide to Starting Your Own Money Making Blog
You've finally done it. You've decided to start a blog. Congratulations! It's a huge decision to decide to start blogging, and if you're like me, you soon discovered just how much it takes to start a blog. There are countless blogs out there all explaining different steps to having a blog, but this post will give a detailed step-by-step guide on what to do so you ... Read More
Foster-to-Adopt – Part 2
A few days after our son Robby turned CCO in June, we got a phone call that his birth mother was pregnant again and due in January. Due to her unique circumstances the baby would be apprehended at birth and we were asked if we wanted to take the new baby. We of course said yes and went on with our lives while we waited. (I later discovered I had a fluky blue camera...hence the ... Read More
9 Must Read Books for the Adoption Process
If you have begun your adoption journey already, then I am sure you have come to realize what a daunting and overwhelming experience it truly is. I am a firm believer in doing your research and reading up on various topics as you enter new phases of life. These books are some of my personal favorites which I truly believe will be a great resource for you in your adoption ... Read More
A Day In the Life of FASD
One of the top questions I get from people considering adoption or foster care, is whether or not they think they can manage a child with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder). ... Read More
Foster-to-Adopt – Part 1
Enter Robby. We had been fostering for a little over 3 months when we got the call for our very first newborn. We had never parented a newborn before, and despite already parenting Mathieu and a few other children through fostering, I was nervous! ... Read More
Big Family Renovations – Part 3
Last post I was sharing the similarities between our renovation and what happened in The Money Pit. We had finally come to the end of the boring (when I say boring I really mean traumatic, expensive, horrible, yet not decorative) stage. ... Read More
Becoming a Foster Parent
Daniel and I had just adopted our first son, Mathieu, in June of 2005. We were loving being parents and were soaking up every moment with our precious new blessing. During that process, however, we had met a wonderful foster parent who had been caring for Mathieu. Listening to her journey and finding out about fostering, Daniel and I immediately knew we wanted to become ... Read More
When Teenager’s Adopt – Part 2
In my previous post, When Teenager's Adopt - Part 1, we had just walked into our last home study visit. Our social worker had on a very concerned look and I was worried we had done something wrong. Instead she proceed to tell us she had a proposal for us. Jaw drop. For those of you who don't know much about the adoption process, a proposal is when social workers propose a ... Read More
When Teenager’s Adopt – Part 1
Last post I introduced you to A Teenager's Wedding; a look at our wedding day at the ripe age of 18 and 19 years old. For this post, I actually squeezed myself out of the teenager category (fewf), but my husband sure didn't (I still had my strange collection of stuffed pigs on top of my kitchen cabinets, so I suppose my exit from childhood isn't 100% conclusive)! Our first ... Read More
A Teenager’s Wedding
If you read my very first entry, How It All Began, you likely know the crazy start Daniel and I had to our relationship. It is no surprise then, to find out that our wedding day followed suit perfectly. Our wedding day, as mentioned in my previous post, was January 2nd. Daniel was 18 years old and I was 19 years old. It was a cold snowy Thursday, yet we were both so excited! ... Read More