World Water Day is March 22 of each year as designated by the United Nations. Drawing attention to the conservation and development of water resources is the overall objective. Advocacy, publication, and organization of conferences with the year’s chosen theme is how they hope to increase public awareness. This year’s theme is “Sanitation.” The U.N. hopes to attract international attention to conservation and development of water resources through this yearly ritual.

The safe disposal of human waste and the ability to maintain hygienic conditions, through... more

A new study on the effects of sleep indicates that women fair worse from bad sleep then men do. According to researchers men’s health was relatively unaffected by sleep quality. However, women who didn’t get a good night sleep suffered physically and mentally. Physically, poor sleep affected women’s blood insulin levels and resulted in higher levels of markers of inflammation and of fibrinogen. Mentally, the study showed that women who didn’t get a good nights rest had more symptoms of depression, hostility, and anger.

What does a woman’s sleep quality have to... more

I was really excited to receive a new book in the mail about adoption issues. Adopted Teens Only A Survival Guide to Adolescence is 98 pages of clearly written, useful, and relevant information organized in a logical sequence. The book isn’t actually for adoptive parents although it can be eye opening for us to understand what our teens are thinking and going through emotionally. It is written for adolescence who were adopted and are trying to make sense of it all. The book was written by Danea Gorbett and published by iUniverse.... more

There has been discussion over on the Christian Adoption Blog about how much involvement a child should have in making restitution. The debate, I think, stems from whether or not you feel the child has control over the issue or not.

If a child vomits, as was the scenario one reader chose, generally speaking one would assume that is involuntary and thus a parent would operate under their usual modis operandus. If it is deliberate, to my way of thinking, the child must be involved in making restitution since... more

This book is over five hundred pages long, so I haven’t read all of it yet; but the book that I find myself consulting over and over again is the book Trauma Through A Child’s Eyes by Peter A. Levine and Maggie Kline.

The book is extremely thorough and clinical, yet highly readable and accessible. The book walks the reader through infancy through adolescence and is specific to issues of trauma.

There are four sections: Understanding Trauma (covering what trauma is, physiological response, signs of trauma, and types of trauma); General Guide For... more

I’m a knitter. I love to knit. I take my knitting with me everywhere, and it’s become my trademark. I belong to an online knitting community that happens to have message boards for everything under the sun, not just knitting. Recently, I found a wonderfully supportive group of women who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and who have welcomed me with open arms as I try to understand the challenges facing my daughter.

In talking to them over the last few days, I’ve realized how important it is to have a support system that “gets” you. I have... more

In my quest to obtain more information about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD), I’m hearing a lot of buzz about EMDR. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. From what I understand, it is an eight-stage information processing technique. It appears to be hailed as a particularly effective treatment option for sufferers of PTSD. I only saw a few sites that mentioned use in the treatment of PTSD in children. Therefore, it’s not something I can use to help me here and now with the issues my six-year-old is facing, but rather research for future reference,... more

For some time now, I’ve observed that right around the time my oldest goes through a growth spurt, we start to see really wonky behavior: crankiness, sleeping more, eating like there’s no tomorrow, and the like.

Though I saw, and still see, this with him, being that he was our only child, it didn’t occur to me to look for this same tie-in with our newest arrivals. But, boy, something is definitely in the air! My youngest has shown signs of regressing to certain behaviors we’ve not seen since shortly after his arrival here. He’s throwing mild tantrums, and being whiny, clingy and verbally very cranky.

My daughter, who lost another tooth today, has also displayed some undesirable... more

For so long, my daughter took on the personal responsibility of ensuring her younger brother was safe. She’s a total “protector” and has been in “full mama mode” for some time now.

For children who are used to “being in charge,” it’s hard to let go once they are in the safe confines of an adoptive family.

My daughter routinely goes beyond whatever instructions I give her. If I ask her to put her dishes in the sink and rinse them with water, she will wash them with lots and lots of dish soap. Not a huge deal, unless it makes a big mess that I then have... more

Because of my own ADD, organization is not my strong suit. Though I have yet to master organization, I’ve discovered some key pieces that certainly make life easier!

Master Calendar: My cell phone is actually one of those pocket PCs, so I have e-mail, MS Word and Excel, plus calendaring and contacts all in one place. The down side to this is that it is my brain, so if I misplace it, I’m done for. However, I sync it with my computer so that I have a back up. The nice thing is, I can print out labels from my address book for cards, etc., and don’t have... more