Adoption Under One Roof

It never ceases to amaze me how much paperwork a special needs child accumulates. I am having my special needs child evaluated for another Individualized Education Plan (IEP). We went through the screening process (again) as well as the interventions. Now, I have a meeting with the IEP team and need to provide them with copies of his paperwork.

I always snicker when a special education professional asks me if I have copies of his prior testing. What I have is AN ENTIRE DRAWER of paperwork. Forget having one file folder – I have a DRAWER filled with files from all of his prior evaluations as well as copies of his report cards, former IEPs, and a miscellaneous file for all of the paperwork that doesn’t fit in the other categories.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers, regardless of the type of mother you are: biological, adoptive, birth, foster, or any other version of mother. We all have one thing in common -- our love for our children!

I am also sending lots of positive energy to those of you who are in pain today. Some of you have lost your mother, as my husband did a few years ago. Others ache from empty arms, whether they are waiting to be filled or remain empty after an adoption plan. Regardless of why today is painful, I am thinking of you today.

I always experience a mix of both, with many sad memories but also happy ones on Mother's Day. I am choosing to focus on appreciating being my kid's mom today. My thoughts are with all of you who have any connection to motherhood in whatever fashion.

According to webmd.com, video games can be helpful for children with dyslexia. Specifically, the study showed improvement when the children played action games.

My child with dyslexia is more into Wizard 101 and MindCraft, both of which seem to help him with his dyslexia simply by getting him to read. Because reading is so laborious, my child with dyslexia resists any attempts to get him to read. He will grudgingly complete his homework, but good luck getting him to read a book or magazine on his own time. However, my child with dyslexia will willingly read the messages that his friends send him across the screen as he is playing Wizard 101 or MindCraft.

I am traveling tomorrow and wanted to get a quick blog posted before leaving town. I was feeling too lazy to write anything new, so I thought I would do a search on YouTube for an interesting video about adoption and stumbled upon this gem. The Knipe Family adopted their daughter from China and felt led by God (they are Christians) do to more for the children left behind, so they founded A Mother's Love: Sending God's Love to China's Orphans. I was touched by their story and hope that you will be as well.

My mother passed away almost three years ago at the age of 88, but there is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t think of her and ache for one of her hugs. So when my seven year old daughter turned to me yesterday and said in a matter of fact tone: “You will be dead when I’m a teenager,” I was quite horrified at the thought of leaving a teenage girl motherless. I responded to her comment confidently with: “No I won’t. I’m going to live much longer than that.” To that she replied: “That’s right, you are going to be alive until I’m a grandmother.” That sounded better, although the likelihood of me being alive when she is a grandmother is zero to none.

My daughter’s obsession with death and dying is a direct result of her seeing my mother wither away over a long period and then participating in the funeral. There was no open casket, but since that experience Ella has been rather fixated on death. One of her favorite games with one of her friends is pretending that their mothers are dead. That being said, she doesn't voice a fear of death itself, just this ongoing fascination.