Yesterday I, unfortunately had to go to traffic court. That's right, the beautiful, wonderful, and perfect Julie, was not so perfect last week and was nabbed for speeding. Being the sensitive soul that I am, being pulled over for not paying attention to how fast I was going was absolutely devastating for me, and the poor officer had to pause several times in his explanation of what papers he needed from me, and where I needed to appear (there are no mail in tickets in our town, you must appear in court, yikes even more scary) because I was sobbing so hard that he knew I could not hear him. I tend to take my mistakes very hard, and this was my first ticket as an adult; all I could see was... more

Have I ever shared with you how incredibly smart my adopted stepson is? I am sure that I have mentioned it a time or two on here (after all when your child is classified as a genius, it is news that you are going to want to share now and again!) He tests off the charts when it comes to just about everything. He honestly is smarter than many adults that I know, and has been that way, when it comes to book smarts, since I have had the pleasure of knowing him. His father too is highly intelligent, as well as his little brother, and I am no dummy myself, so lucky for both boys we have both nature, and nurture on our side... more

Okay, so those of you who have been following along know already that my adopted stepson has grown in leaps and bounds in all areas of life over the past two years. It has been amazing and wonderful not only to watch the change occur, but to know that I had a hand in helping it to occur as well. However this evening I was not patting myself on the back over a job well done, but thinking to myself in dread, instead, wondering what kind of monster I have created.

Mr. Antisocial wants to go to the Homecoming Dance. He wants to go to a dance. Those who have not had the pleasure of knowing this intelligent young man may be left sitting at their desks, scratching their heads,... more

Speaking ill of birth/first parents is a controversial topic in the adoption world, as Faith pointed out this morning in a wonderful post. Being one who was raised to be quiet if you can't muster up something nice to say, speaking ill of someone, especially when they are not around to defend themselves is admittedly hard for me. I did not care for my son's biological mother, I did not agree with her choices, I did not agree with most of her actions, nor did I agree with the manner that she treated my adopted stepson, yet I was terrified that if I were to say something... more

I honestly don't know, I stopped counting after 35. Hoarding food, mainly snacks, has been an issue with my adopted stepson for just about as long as I have known him. In all honesty, it has most likely gone on for the entire time that I have known him, it just took me a little while to catch on to how quickly certain items from the pantry were disappearing.

My adopted stepson's early childhood was not an easy one. Being raised by his paternal grandmother while his father was overseas in the military, and his mother was off doing her own thing, was a large enough hurdle for him to have to get over, but add to that, the fact that he was also growing up in... more

The kids have been in school for three days now, and for three days I have been absolutely lost. I have roamed around the house rather aimlessly trying to figure out how to structure both my time and my day, without having any kids around. The house is quiet, terribly, horrifically, quiet. Every attempt at leaving the house has left me feeling as though I have forgotten something, simply because I am not used to leaving the house all by lonesome.

The children on the upside, are adjusting quite well to school. My adopted stepson has had no complaints thus far, and the little guy is enjoying school for the most part, but is still having a little bit of a hard time being gone from... more

My adopted stepson had a wonderful first day of tenth grade yesterday! He was frustrated by the fact that in each and every class they went over the rules of the school, which means they were drilled into his head seven times yesterday, but other than that, his day went well. So far he has a good feeling about all of his teachers, and is coming to terms with the fact that his least favorite subject, English, is his first period of the day. We have told him that at least he can get it out of the way early on in the day, and not have to stress about it all day long, and that seems to have helped him to get over the initial pang of dread that he was feeling towards having English first thing... more

When stepparents do not already have biological children of their own, they are thrust into parenting without the adjustment period of early childhood to get used to all of the really weird things that kids do on a daily basis. Biological parents have the added bonus of growing with the child from day one, getting used to the child, to the stupid (and I mean that lovingly) things that kids do, simply because they are kids, and becoming immune to the little daily annoyances that children cause, because they are still learning all of the rules of life.

Stepparents become... more

Traumatized children exhibit many less than desirable behaviors, as they try to process their emotions surrounding the events that have happened in their life in which they had no control over. While these behaviors may put some parents off from adopting and making their stepchild officially their legal child through a stepparent adoption, if it is looked at in a different light, traumatized children can expand your knowledge in so many aspects of life that it is simply amazing.

Patching drywall. Now how many parents out there had absolutely no idea how to... more

Low self-esteem is a common trait among children who have suffered trauma during their childhood. Children tend to blame themselves for the things in life that are out of their control; such as a parent choosing to give up his or her parental rights, and allow a stepparent adoption, or having a parent choose drugs, alcohol, or an unstable lifestyle over parenting their child. Children do not know the powers of drug addiction, or the daily struggles of adult life, they only know that they have been abandoned and feel that had they been a better child in one way or another, their absent parent would... more