"Peanut Butter Kisses & Mud Pie Hugs" is the title of a humorous, Christian book about parenting by Becky Freeman.

The book takes some of the stressful moments of parenting and pokes fun at them. It covers all stages of parenting from initially finding out about the baby, to the teenage years when you might want to just throttle your child.

You will be able to relate to chapters on things like shopping with children, reasonable adults becoming babbling idiots when they see a baby, lessons learned from kids, playing in the days before... more

I am finishing a series of books written by artist Thomas Kinkade, along with author Katherine Spencer. The books are set in a fictional town on the New England coast called Cape Light.

I’m not giving away any big secrets on the books, because the “secret” comes out very early in the first book, but adoption is a main theme in the series. A woman placed her child for adoption when she was a young woman after the death of her husband a few weeks before the baby is born. The child learns the identity of her mother and comes to Cape Light to find her.

These... more

A new Christian movie is playing in the theatres this week called “Prince Caspian.” “Prince Caspian” is one of an immensely popular series of books written by C.S. Lewis in the 1950s. The first book in the series is the “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” That book was made into a movie that was released in December of 2005. The popularity of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” at the box office and the Oscars prompted the creation of the movie sequel “Prince Caspian.” The movie is rated PG for epic battle action and violence. It is 140 minutes long... more

Do your teenagers have a Christian radio station that they will actually listen to even when they are alone? Would they turn it on and listen to it if you didn’t make them. Would they switch to a different station if you left to go shopping? I guess if a radio station wanted to get teenagers to listen to their station they would probably have to play popular rock and rap songs, wouldn’t they. They might also need to offer concerts, contests, and prizes that would appeal to teenagers. I hadn’t thought about it much until last week when our Christian radio station... more

The movie “Get Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” will be opening on April 18, 2008 at theatres. Should you take your adopted children to see the movie? It is receiving a lot of publicity in Christian circles. Christians everywhere are being asked to go out and support the opening weekend of the movie by watching it themselves and taking friends. The official website even has several contests to encourage people to take friends to see the movie. We signed up for a contest that sends... more

As I mentioned yesterday, I read this book again as an adoptive parent of traumatized children looking for insight. I’d like to share an excerpt with you that reminded me of the emptiness that some of my adopted children experience. My children who were traumatized before their adoptions into our family. Believing that there is a higher authority can help our traumatized adopted children begin to heal. It is funny how a story can have a different meaning to us depending where we are in life at the time we hear or read the story. In chapter four, the shepherd is... more

Nancy Clark, MFT, has written a series of books in fairy tale form for children who have experience trauma, grief, and loss.

So far in the series are: A Tale of Anger and Fear; A Tale of Loss and Impossible Dreams; and A Tale of Lies and Love.

Each of the books comes with a parent guide written by Dr. B. Bryan Post. From all I have been able to gather, the books are being used with children as young as nine. My background may not be in therapy, but it is in child development, and I think the books are far too dark.

Yes, terrible and unspeakable things happen to children. Yes, not every parent who... more

I’ve been devouring books by Deborah D. Gray. I bought her Attaching in Adoption awhile back, based on the phenomenal reviews I got online and from people I knew. Because I had so many other books that were recommended to me, in addition to all the pre-adoption preparation I was going though at the time, I set the book aside.

This week, I came across Ms. Gray’s latest book, Nurturing Adoptions, and I snapped it up. Hubby and I feel at such a loss as to how to handle the profound issues our daughter has, and this book seemed to have answers. It does... more

The time between the moment you decide to adopt and finally holding the child(ren) of your dreams spans eons. How can you survive the wait?

Pray: Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Pray for everyone involved with your adoption.

Memorialize the wait time: Blog, journal, scrapbook, but somehow create a way to document your journey.

Read: Currently on my bedside shelf you will find: Raising Adopted Children, Post-Adoption... more

What are your motives for adopting? In the last post, I shared excerpts from Kristin Swick Wong’s book, Carried Safely Home, in which she worked through whether she was adopting for altruistic or selfish reasons. She writes:

We adopted children because God commands that we care for the poor. And we adopted children because these two boys were grafted into our hearts, because we loved them and had to pursue them, because our family would not be complete without... more