It was our childrens’ favorite moment of the church service.  The trays holding small cups of wine were being passed down the aisle.  With many little ones, this is a precarious moment each Sunday, but with lots of practice, we rarely spill a drop.  A prayer was offered and we lifted our cups...

I was told today, by a friend, that her two children are not thrilled to play with my son. Great…he’s “That” kid. You know, the one that all of the other kids don’t want to play with but all of the mothers say they have to in order to be nice? Random Mom: He’s different,...

I wrote an interesting letter yesterday.  An orphanage caring for  HIV+ children recently partnered with an adoption agency that was happy to work with them and eager to find families for these little ones.  But then something changed.  The orphanage director began to doubt the interest of the American...

Christmas is nearly here; for those of us with children from the “hard places” , the holidays are approached with a mix of hope and trepidation.  We know that Christmas may be a delightful day of  joy, or a terrible day of rages and stress.  The good news is that we can take steps to...

This is cross posted from last year’s post at Discussing Autism. Is your little one afraid to see Santa this year? Is he overstimulated by the mall and all the glittering lights, afraid of all the people, conscious of every detail around him, ready to flee at the slightest movement of someone...

Both of my daughters were on antiretroviral therapy when they arrived in the United States. Antiretroviral drugs, referred to as ARV’s, cannot cure HIV, but they slow the growth of the virus. In our house we call them our “powerful medicine.” These drugs are saving my daughters’ lives. My...

I remember writing this post (I did edit it a bit this time…) on October 23, 2008: So does anyone here know Annie – the musical – and that song with the line “Yesterday was plain awful” well that is going through my head now. Why you ask…well yesterday (October 21, 2008) was plain...

The tiny town of Santiago Sacatepequez in Guatemala is famous for its annual gigantic kites festival on el Dia de Todos los Santos, Day of the Dead or All Saints’ Day. The gigantic kites, barriletes gigantes, were originally flown as a way to remember and connect to ancestors. “Up to 40 feet...

The day of Ted Kennedy’s funeral, I, along with millions of viewers, watched as speaker after speaker honored the late senator with eloquent tributes.  But one simple phrase struck me more profoundly than any of the others.  New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, speaking of the way in which Kennedy chose...

The most surprising part so far about having our daughter home is my struggle with anger.  And standing in line behind anger in the department store of my mind is guilt.   I didn’t think anger was going to be one of the emotions I would experience after our daughter, Evangeline, was adopted from...