December 8, 2010
December 8, 2010
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Top 10 Signs That My Child Really DOES Have Homework…

10. Backpack weighs as much as a Thanksgiving turkey. 9. Planner sereptitiously stuffed under the bed. 8. Eyes dart frantically toward computer when you threaten to confirm with the teacher. 7. Claim they can’t do reading, either, because THEY CAN’T FIND THEIR LIBRARY BOOK. (And apparently the fifty ga-jillion books on our library shelves won’t do.) 6. The Moral Focus essay (ironically, on integrity and perseverance) they did during recess. (Yeah, right.) 5. Suddenly can’t find their homework folder, either. 4. They start feeling their noses to see if they’re growing. 3. Suddenly they are SO TIRED and want to take a bath, then bed. […]
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August 21, 2010
August 21, 2010
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Eat, Pray, Love … why bother?

After reading Barbara Nicolossi’s scathing review of “Eat, Pray, Love,”  I confess I thought twice about saying anything more about it.  Her credentials are far superior to mine, and her POV is pretty much right in line with what the USCCB media office had to say on the subject regarding the film’s faulty reflection of authentic Catholic spirituality. And if I made it a practice to see only movies that reflected and affirmed my own POV, there would be little to recommend this one. Much of what both reviews had to say about the movie is true. [SPOILER ALERT].  Liz does walk away from her marriage and […]
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August 15, 2010
August 15, 2010
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The Mother Who Opens Her Arms: On the Feast of the Assumption

Recently I found this post over at Theresa Whitfield’s blog, listing an impressive number of individuals who share one thing in common . . . they were adopted.  Gerald Ford, Faith Hill, Cyrus the Great — all these individuals became who they were because someone cared enough to raise them. As I write this, the day is winding down. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Assumption — the day when the angels swept Our Lady from her earthly existence and carried her to heaven.  This is the destination of all believers, departing from this world so that we may join our “forever family.” When we […]
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July 23, 2010
July 23, 2010
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Weekend Ponderings: In the Still of the Night

Have you seen “Delovely” — the life of Cole Porter, as told through his music?  The first time I watched it, I was struck by Ashley Judd’s portrayal of the longsuffering Linda Porter, who endured the repeated humiliations of her husband’s repeated gay affairs and the additional burden of infertility for 34 years before succumbing to emphysema in 1954. Their marriage by all accounts was one of mutual convenience — she, to maintain social standing and a measure of self-protection from her first, abusive husband; he, to protect his professional and public image. Neither of them were free to abandon themselves to the kind of […]
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July 23, 2010
July 23, 2010
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Foster Families – How will your kids handle it?

The other day I received this comment from Jane, whose parents opened their home to foster children. She has recently started a blog about what it was like to grow up in a home with foster children. I have recently,(yesterday) started my blog about growing up a “natural” child in a family that took in foster children. As I became an older teenager, my mom had become a Foster Parent Trainer and would take me to the trainings so potential Foster Parents could ask me questions about how their children might feel throughout the experience. I know that was one of the most helpful times […]
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July 21, 2010
July 21, 2010
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A Time to Let Go …

Yesterday we spent the day with the boys of a good friend recovering from leukemia. Whenever our kids get together, the subject of their older brother always comes up. The violent fifteen-year-old has been holding the entire family hostage, with the assistance of DFS, which is refusing to place the boy in a therapeutic group home because of the expense. Both social workers and lawyers have advised my friends to arrange a “planned abandonment” at the agency, to disrupt the adoption. Unfortunately, the state is playing dirty pool, threatening to take all four boys and put them back in the system if the parents do […]
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June 28, 2010
June 28, 2010
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Picking Along Memory Lane

Understated strains of jazz emanated from the softly lit interior as Craig and I were shown to our booth at The Melting Pot in downtown Ann Arbor.  It was so romantic, it made me forget about the quarter-mile I’d just hiked to the restaurant.  In high heels. After two glasses of white wine. We had just come from an AnnArbor.com Top-of-the-Park contributor party, and so we had decided to savor a little more “together time” before heading home to relieve the baby sitter.  And since both of us had indulged at the party, we hoofed it to the restaurant. I sank into the cushioned booth, grateful to be […]
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May 30, 2010
May 30, 2010
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“A Time to Remember, A Time to Forget”

Five years today. That’s how long we’ve been a family. Time to mix up a batch of my pasta salad and hit the beach! (In our case, it will be Lake Michigan — we spent the weekend at Craig’s parents’ cabin in East Jordan.) Looking back over pictures from the first months together, I realize just how much the kids have grown. The “baby” has lost her chubby knees; our son bears only the slightest resemblance to the wild-eyed child who used to camp out under tables. They are taller, yes — but they are also more confident of their place in this world. The […]
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May 25, 2010
May 25, 2010
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“Handle with Care” — The Language of Loss and Family

This week I’m savoring Jodi Picoult’s latest novel about an autistic teenager, “House Rules.” I’m looking forward to reviewing that one in an upcoming post; in the meantime, I wanted to re-post my review of “Handle with Care,” which I recently ran on CatholicExchange, as my readers have had trouble accessing the link. (Warning: Review contains some spoilers.) In her most recent novel, Handle with Care, Jodi Picoult explores the intimate sufferings of family life, and brings into sharp focus the unique challenges of parenting a special-needs child. It also engages the reader with questions both timely and perennial: “Is all life worth living –and […]
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