I’ve stated here many times that our adoption story was utterly a “God thing.” It’s so clear how God was working in our lives: from the fact that the social worker, five states away, assigned to our kids’ case, went to college with my first cousin; to being able to find a 4-bedroom home in one of the most densely compacted areas of the country; to seeing pictures of the kids for the first time, and seeing how uncanny the resemblance was to my biological son, as well as my husband and I; to meeting total strangers on our airplane trip to meet them for the... more

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).

I can’t speak for all adoptive parents, however, I suspect I’m not the only one with biases. I love both of my adopted children tremendously, but I feel as though it seems like my biological child is my “favorite.”

Honestly, I think it’s more a case of Dorothy and the Scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz.” At the end of the movie, Dorothy says she’ll... more

Recently I wrote about future plans that my children dream about. But the future is built on a series of steps taken one at a time. For example, one doesn’t wake up a doctor. They decide in High School they would like to attend a college that feeds into a good medical school. They must maintain good grades. Perhaps obtain an undergraduate degree in Science or some other discipline that provides a foundation. Then there are years of medical school, residencies, and finally you obtain that designation... more

John the Baptizer once said: “He [Jesus] must increase, and I must decrease.”

John was a cousin to Jesus Christ (Luke chapter 1). He also paved the way for Christ’s ministry. He knew he was merely the “opening act” for Someone far greater than himself. Yet he had many doubts and sent his followers to ask Jesus if He was really the Messiah.

I’ve really been struck by a thought recently. In my mind, it’s sort of a modern-day parallel to this account in the Bible. When people first discover you are adopting, usually right off the bat you’ll hear, “So... more

For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

My kids love to talk about the future. When he was a little tyke, my oldest wanted to be a preacher/cowboy/doctor/train engineer/toy inventor. My youngest wants to be either a farmer or a policeman. My daughter wants to run a hospital for people and animals. And today she announced she will be not only the first woman president, but the first woman president “with brown skin!”

Sometimes,... more

If you live in the United States, then you know that the first Tuesday in November in a presidential election cycle is election day.

Though as a bi-racial woman, I can appreciate the “historic-ness” of a day like today, I am first and foremost a Christian. My children have overheard my husband and I discuss this election for many weeks now, if not months. I haven’t really talked to them much about why I support one candidate and not another, thinking that the issues were “too complex” and that I would tell them when they got older. My oldest asked me, “so how... more

I don't quite remember how or when it started, but my oldest began the tradition of “cuddle time” with me. Even at 10 years old, he still asks me – daily - if we can have cuddle time. As with just about everything else, his sibs have picked up on this and now they do it, too.

Since the loss of my mom, I've noticed the requests for cuddle time have gone through the roof. My oldest asks for cuddle time, as well as requesting me to “shut down the factory” at bedtime, in addition... more

Next month will mark the first major holiday without my mom. Though I am an only child, and most of Mom's siblings live thousands of miles away, our “small” dinner was a big “to-do.” Mom insisted on doing all the cooking herself, and she went all out.

Now, with her gone, there's a big void in traditions, and if you've read much of what I've written here, you'll know I'm pretty big on traditions.

On Monday, my mom's best friend came to visit. It was... more

"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

While I was reading my devotion today, I read the comments about the passage in the margin. I use the Women of Faith Study Bible and there are notes all through the bible about different passages, the women in some of the stories and about the books of the bible themselves.

Today’s devotion was on Psalm 55. David is lamenting being constantly attacked by enemies and is calling out to God for help. Here is a portion of what the notes in the margin say:

Much of the time, what we care about is not entirely within our control. We can’t dictate... more