((HUGS)) you're right. There are days when it sucks so incredibly bad. There are days when you have to feel all the feelings and that is ROUGH!! But the good road is never easy and maybe that's why it's worth it. I'm still figuring it out for myself.
My recent post The journey…

As someone who has seriously discerned adoption but who could only afford to go through social services and then was turned down because we already have a biological child with disabilities, thank you for writing this.

I am a cradle Catholic who was raised to believe that the proper structure for all children to grow up in was within a family. Not an institution. That being said, I often was coming up against the pro-life mentality domestically that was not supporting birth mothers unless they consented to adoption. That called women who wanted to keep their babies "selfish" and "irresponsible" instead of attempting to support them. I've heard many first count stories of women going to crisis pregnancy centers (including one who was in a marriage with two other children and having financial difficulties) and the first thing they heard was "Have you considered adoption?" And were seared. It felt as painful to many of them as hearing, "Are you going to get an abortion for this pregnancy you so clearly irresponsibly are involved in?"

And if that happens here, just imagine what could happen in other parts of the world where life is valued even less.

I thank you for your honesty on what is a truly difficult subject. I often have wondered, if adoption domestically is so fraught with issues, why would international adoption be any less. You are shining light in all the right places

I am so thankful that you are getting better and are willing to share that. I am married to a recovering alcoholic who is the adult child of two recovering alcoholics and the younger brother of an active alcoholic. One day at a time. Sometimes one hour. Sometimes one minute. You are strong, you are enough. Love to you.

"Even though our kids have special needs they do need to know the power of words to hurt"
I couldn't have said it better myself...
My recent post What is Autism Mama?

They are always learning, even when we don't recognize it. My heart aches for you.

With Shelby I focus almost exclusively on the classification section. The whole "borderline/deficient" section is what jumps out to me. She is in the process of being re-evaluated right now so that PDD-NOS label can be removed. She needs to be identified as autistic not developmentally delayed. Other than that, I don't study her results so I can't give any advice as to how to interpret these scores. :(

I LOVE this post. I'm a cradle Catholic married to a non-Catholic, raising our kids Catholic. I especially liked the "keeping the two-year-olds quiet" part. For the first time, this last week, I went to Sunday mass without Daddy. Granted my parents, grandparents and my brother and his girlfriend were there but it's a little different without Daddy. We made it to the Sign of Peace when my four-year-old squeezed my hand and quietly whispered he needed to use the potty. My two-year-old took that as his cue to loudly announce to the entire parish that he wanted to go home. I took the four-year-old to the bathroom with two-year-old in tow. When I emerged with them, my brother's girl friend (who is also not Catholic) was waiting for me and took them out to the playground so I could go to communion. My kids are all very young, so no advice or suggestions, but wanted to say, you're doing a great job!

I am chuckling at Beatrix's hand because when my brother was a lot older than she is now and knew a lot better...he colored his hand and wrist blue with a Sharpie while he was "bored" one Saturday while my mom was out somewhere and my Dad was watching us. Now usually that meant I was reading a book and my brothers went outside to play but for whatever reason that day Matt had decided he was too bored to play outside. When my father discovered what he had done (my dad typically did yard work so he could keep an ear out for the boys), he commenced to scrubbing Matt's hand and wrist in the sink for an hour and a half even using bleach. It was still pretty blue for a while. Thanks for a great memory.

Just looking at that beautiful face brightens my day and makes my life happier! The world is a better place because Mekdes is in it! And thank you God for bringing her to your wonderful family.

My youngest brother was a carrier. No symptoms and he would swab positive. It ended with a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy (sp?). Poor kid got his surgery a week before Christmas...not his finest hour, I can assure you but it was better afterward with him not having strep every two weeks! Blessings, I hope you are better soon. My two-year-old and I have rotovirus right now and when Mama is sick it's tough!