Focus on Fostering: Grandparent Parents

Today's post is directed at those who are foster parenting or adoptive parenting children the age of their grandchildren.  Parent down a skipped generation is full of challenges.  I know because I am doing it.  I often laugh when I see news stories about women in their 50s who are excited to be pregnant and extol the virtues of older parenting.  I agree that their are some plusses to parenting at an age when most are grandparenting. BUT, I sometimes want to phone those women and say w-a-i-t ! ! 
 Take a moment to imagine . . .

...why menopause is not intended to coexist with pre-teen or teen angst.

... why school open houses and parent conferences do not hold the same appeal in your 60s as in your 20s, 30s, or even 40s.

... what you will encounter when you try to make friends with the parents of the school friends of your child... parents who are 20-30 years younger than you, often with verrry different values than you.

Despite all of that and far more, I recognize that the decision to parent grandchildren is often a non-decision. It so often is a choice between two difficult options, each with predictable prices to be paid financially, emotionally, and practically.

My best advice?.... recognize and learn to accept that you cannot parent the same way you did or would have in your 20s and 30s.  You will be more tired.  Your body will be less flexible.  Your relationship with your children and other grandchildren will be affected. Your energy will have smaller reserves.  Your emotions may be less resilient.  Accept all this.  Plan for it.

Take naps when you can.
Don't beat yourself up emotionally for needing extra time or space to regroup.
Build in recovery time after energy-sapping plans.
Cut yourself some slack.... maybe even a lot of slack.

And.......Celebrate when the wisdom of your years/experience make something easier or smoother or more effective!

Image credit and thanks to:  ucanr.org, lagrg.org, centralcoastseniors.org

Parenting Tips: Today show --Lying to our Children!

Ok, I try not to get personal on my blog, and I know yesterday was soapbox day, but I feel compelled to beg parents everywhere to buck what Parenting magazine is calling the norm.... lying to our children.  I was truly upset yesterday to see this prominent magazine that many new parent look to for advice advocating the "necessity" of lying to our children for convenience!  [You can check out yesterday's  NBC Today show interview on the topic with Ann Curry online.]

I'm not talking about allowing young children the fantasy of a Santa Claus or a Tooth Fairy when they are the age that needs magical thinking.  They were talking about lying when it is [in her words] "more expedient."  The example she used was trying to get a toddler to leave the playground if you need to get to an appointment.  She said that in our "frenetic" over-scheduled lives it is simpler to tell the toddler the park is closing than to tell the truth.  If our lives are too busy to be honest with our children, we need to take another look at our priorities.

I admit, this is a hot button topic for me because raising honest children is the topic of the book I am currently finishing with my writing partner, A. Patricia Miller.  But parents CAN be honest with their children if they choose to and if they prepare.  Parents CAN teach their children how to be honest and still save face. "White" lies are still lies, regardless of fingers crossed, trying to be "kind," or any other excuse. If we want to raise honest children we must surround them with the environment of an honest home, teach them the skills of honesty, and give them the belief that you can be honest, even in an often dishonest world.

I would like to think that a backlash is in order.  I do not want to think that the "experts" and the "majority" condone lying.  I suspect that the TODAY show's usual parenting expert [Michele Borba] would have a fit over this! Please check out the interview and respond, to me, to parenting.com, or even to the Today show.

P.S. Sorry the post is late.... finally a snow storm [lst of the winter!] and had to shovel before I could get to my blog. Welcome winter  :-)

Image credit: aardvarkian.com, businessinsider.com

Back to School-Back to Blog

So, vacation ends at my house tomorrow.
School begins again.
Back to the routine of mornings, laundry, chores and challenges.
And so, too, does the familiar routine I have set for this blog.

     Sundays....Caring Heart meditations
     Mondays... School Bell  [hints and helps for the challenges of school, homework, and learning]
     Tuesdays....Focus on Fostering  [ideas for the special needs of children living in care]
     Wednesdays.... Soapbox  [ramblings, musings, and opinions of mine and others]
     Thursdays... Parenting Tips [ideas for helping all parents with typical situations]
     Friday... Anything Can Happen  [as it says... humor, the unusual, random, whatevers]
     Saturday... Quick Takes  [quotes, recipes, reward ideas, book recommendations, etc.]

Happy New Year!

If you are new to Upbeats and Downbeats... browse around.  Invite a friend.

If you have a topic or question or situation you would like to see a hint for... let me know!

If you preferred the style of Decembers single topic idea let me know.  Otherwise I will continue the 7 day rotation of the last year or so.


Well. I've limbered up my fingers.

I'm ready to go.

Let's get to the tasks of another year...
                    but together!

Image credits: manuelbarbado1.blogspot.com, wunderground.com, scrapbooklady.typepad.com

Soapbox: Being Thankful

Thanksgiving is just over a week away and I have to admit that for all more complaints and frustrations I have an abundance of things for which to be thankful.

I have never lived my life trying to achieve wealth or power [and its a good thing, because I don't have either!]. I spend far more time worrying about money than I would like. I spend far more time wishing for this or that than I want to admit.  No, I am not rich.  No, I am not ever comfortable. I have debt.  I struggle with bills. I have absolutely no savings, which at 63 is very scary. BUT, I have a home, I don't worry about putting food on my table or coats on the kids in winter.  I have computer and internet access. I have a basic level of living that thousands and thousands and thousands in this country do not have, nor will ever have.  So I DO have wealth. Without even looking at the cliche of starving child in country x or y I have wealth. In a country where so many homes are in foreclosure or long gone or never had, I have a home. It is large enough that we could fit more people in it if needed or wanted. Would I like a hot tub? Sure. But I certainly don't "need" one.  Same for most everything that I want. 

My birthday always comes right around Thanksgiving.  I feel awkward when people ask what I "want" for my birthday.  As a single person whose parents have died there is no longer anyone who can or should buy me a "big" present.  No "Every kiss begins with Kay" surprise, no new car with a bow outside to shock me. No cruise tickets or vacation packages. Birthdays are mostly cards and simple gifts whose most important message is that I am loved. And, truly, that is what I want most... to be near [in spirit if not in person] to those I love and who love me.  In that I am as rich as anyone on the Forbes 500!  


Image credit: teaandsnippets.com

Caring Heart: A daughter's Wedding Day

Today is my daughter, Alexis' wedding day.  I celebrate my daughter, her future husband, Ben, the couple they have begun to be, and the couple they will become.

I am away from my computer for these few days, focused on my family and happily forgetting my blog and everything else.

Flip through my old Caring Heart posts. Search by clicking on Caring Heart in the topic list. Say a prayer that my gremlins are behaving!  Re-read a favorite or explore some you never read.   See you on Tuesday!

Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover of "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker.   

Anything Can Happen: Complaints, Surgeries, and Improbabilities

I rarely write about my day to day goings on.  However every once in a while day to day life bumps into my blog. The last week or so has been a definitive anything can happen spell.

One of my cherubs has a rich history of what is called somatic complaints.  He is overly aware of everything in or on his body. He also has an anxiety disorder. Not a good combination. In other words he is constantly worrying about this of that twinge or pain or itch and convinced he needs to go to the doctors or the hospital to be checked.

Over the last I don't even know how long, he has sometimes worried that he was having a heart attack.... that he had chest pains.  He is 16. Most of his complaints are of no concern.  When he was insistent, he was checked out and the doctor reassured him that he was not in fact having a heart attack, that he must be experiencing muscle pulls, twinges, etc. typical of growing kids.

Long story short... a bit ago he had an "episode" that surpassed his usual routine and combined with his pallor and cold sweat got the attention of everyone.  Several doctor visits, one ultrasound, and many blood tests later, my 16 year old, male, skinny, non risk ethnicity child was in the hospital having his gall bladder removed which proved to be chock full of gall stones more than even the ultrasound showed.

Now if that isn't stretching the odds enough, once discharged from hospital and home recovering, he developed a rash which the doctors thought was chickenpox. [Which by the way he had already had, but his sister had twice!] Only one of mine could go into the hospital, lose a gall bladder, and gain chickenpox.  The post script is that the rash is not classified as "unknown origin" rather than chickenpox so he can start back to school next week.  But the moral of this story is.... 1- Anything can happen, including gall bladder attacks in a skinny young boy.  and  2- The minute you are sure of something, fate will delight in proving you wrong.

Note: Some of you regular followers may have noticed that there was no blog posted on Wednesday this week... one of I think only two days I have missed in the last year. Now you know why.  I ran out of blogs I had "banked" for a time crunch. 

Image credits: allergictoyou.wordpress.com

School Bell: September 11th School Slide Show

Pearl Harbor Day was indelibly etched in the minds and hearts of the country on Dec 7, 1941.  September 11, 2001 was also etched.

I was teaching 5th grade at the time. As part of our response my class started a project to send cards to the workers at Ground Zero.  In less than a week our  class and a few others had created over 300 individual cards and letters and I drove from Maine to NYC one weekend to deliver them. I took photos during the time in NY and made a power point slide show for my students and their parents. The focus is on the compassion and the response across the country and world to the events of 9/11.  There are no photographs of the World Trade Center buildings collapse. [There is one slide that shows pictures posted on an outdoor board of one of the fire trucks at Ground Zero and there is one slide of a dump truck carrying concrete fragments. ] I wanted the children to focus on the shared compassion and kindness and the sense of one-family that grew out of the tragedy.

Because of my class' desire to connect with the rescuers there are photos of them and description of how I met and talked with them.  My class went on to send packages and notes almost weekly to one particular firehouse and one particular police officer for the entire school year.

Brownies, salt water taffy, cookies, class-made sea glass ornaments from sea glass gathered off our beaches, photos, patches, flags, all kinds of things went back and forth in the boxes and letters between the firehouse, the police units, and my group of 5th graders in Maine. And the children got letters several times a month in return.  I am still in touch with two of the letter-writers ten years later! There was also a second visit to the firehouse by me in the spring, and a June 2002 trip to Maine by one of the firemen correspondents to meet the students that had become friends over that year. He has made return visits as well... including his honeymoon!  The students learned the power of even a ten year old to make a huge difference even in the middle of enormous events and learned the human side of both tragedy and compassion.

Click here to get to slide show. The slide show link will be on the right hand side of your screen when it opens just below the clickable Power Point download. I hope you will view it and enjoy this slightly different perspective of 9/11 on this 10th anniversary.

A GREAT online resource forparents and teachers of  kids grades 5-12 offers  "inspiring stories of individuals who were directly impacted by September 11, 2001 and who, in response, developed projects to help make this world a more peaceful, tolerant place."  They can be found at the World Trade Center Toolkit with videos and even lesson plans.

School Bell: Hurricane Day

Good morning---
No school today as we clean up after Hurricane Irene. No School Bell post right now either.  We are all fine and VERY grateful to be fine and to have escaped a direct hit.  But, there is a ton of cleanup to do both at my house and my dad's so I will not be doing my regular post this morning.  Maybe later today if I get things put back in time. Fortunately we have power so maybe this afternoon I can get back and blog.
Hope you are all safe and sound where you are.
Gail

Anything Can Happen: Shopping for Weddings

My youngest daughter is getting married this fall and so I have been doing some dress shopping for the event.  Actually the events because it is a weekend of activities that she and her fiance have planned.  Having shopped for the weddings of 5 daughters you would think I would be accustomed to it, but I still find it frustrating, depressing, and overwhelming.  This is well known by my family who have recently taken to escorting me on shopping trips to provide moral support [and fashion direction???].  They are actually very helpful and make the trips far more pleasant.

Anyway.... after seeing this on line I realize that it could be much much worse.

Consider this bride and groom.
Not only did they dress in Alice and Wonderland garb...

Their wedding party and many of the guests did as well....

Imagine trying to find a Queen of Hearts costume or Cheshire Cat costume in the size you want?

Or how about Shrek??

So, I guess I won't be complaining!!!!!

Image credits: metro.co.uk, bridezilla.blogspot.com

Focus on Fostering: Quick Note

Hi all-
I am late with this morning's post due to unpredictable stuff... those of you who are foster parents will relate. Anyway. I will get it posted later today... [Play Planner 4-squares]. See you then. Apologies to my faithful morning readers!
Gail

Mini-post

Hi there-
Bck from Mobile but off to get one munchkin from her camp 2 hours away.  Will try to post later today. Sorry. :-)

Soapbox: Buy Local

One of the big trends today is "Buy Local."  I have bought local for decades.  Only rarely a big box grocery store for me. I have always paid the extra for the local grocery store.  Yes there are fewer products, but I kind of like that. Yes, it costs a bit more, but I save on gas and time because it is so close by. I also tend to buy less because I am not "stocking up." But the best part was that the people knew me and knew my kids.

As the single parent of a large family I rarely could afford the luxury of grocery shopping alone. I  could bring my tribe there and they understood.  When I was had unexpected surgery they knew I was a single parent and offered to drop off groceries if I ever needed them and couldn't find someone to pick them up for me.  When I commented this year that the only thing I ever have to go to the big store for is to get Diet Coke with Lime [my drug of choice] they asked me how many I need a week and next thing I knew they had ordered it and stashed it aside for me.  Try that in a big box store. Two of my children even had their first work experience in the safe environment of that local, independent store.

So, with summer gardens working their magic you will hear a lot about buying local.  What they say is true.  You should buy local.  Buying local the food is fresher.  Buying local does support the local economy. Buying local does support family farms and independent stores.

But the biggest reason I buy local is the people.

Image credits:  creativegiant.co.uk, thegazette.com, oneclearpoint.wordpress.com, syracuse.com

Extra Post: Calling Alabama?

Hey, this is a quickie extra post today calling all Alabamans and NFPA members.  I am presenting three workshops at the upcoming [June 25-27] annual National Foster Parent Association conference in Mobile Alabama.  I am staying an extra day so that I can see a bit of Alabama, taxis permitting.   I suppose I could sun myself by the pool or write on  my upcoming chapters... but since I am not likely to travel from Maine to Alabama again I would like to see a bit of it.

 Has anyone reading this been to Mobile or know Mobile? If so I would welcome any suggestions on where to go or what to see. I have a couple of evenings on my own, plus one extra afternoon, evening, and morning.  I have looked online some, but don't know which things are really good, and which are just tourist-y Thanks!

Soapbox: Special Ed Diplomas

Arrrggghhhh!  I am going to try to be calm as I write this entry.  In my state, in my town, as in many states and towns, there is an increasing demand to hold children to high specific standards of accomplishment.  This is a good thing generally.  However it sometimes shows a lack of sense, not to mention empathy or kindness.  "Someone" decided that receiving a high school "Diploma" would require meeting specific state standards of minimum accomplishment.  Still sounds good right?

However, no one apparently thought it through in terms of those who are intellectually incapable of meeting those minimum standards regardless of effort, due to  congenital or developmental impairments.  In some committee room somewhere they decided that for those students who have tried their darnedest and worked their hardest but who still cannot achieve those minimum standards a different document will be issued.  In their infinite lack of psychology and motivation they decided to call this document a "Certificate of Attendance."  Their document certifies that the individual attended high school for four years and is finished because they put in their time, put their bodies in a chair for a series of sufficient days to earn this demeaning, demoralizing document.

I have seen kindergarten diploma certificates like the one above. I have seen elementary schools use documents, like the one at right, almost as elaborate as my college diploma. Why can't they label as a "Diploma" the certificate given these children, some of whom put in more daily effort than those receiving "real" diplomas? If they want to distinguish it from the college prep diplomas, then do so.  Make one a "Diploma with Distinction" or "Diploma with Honors" or something! New York State used regular diplomas and "Regents Diplomas" for those who qualified through rigorous standardized state tests called "regents" exams. That was more than 50 years ago!

After struggling to keep my kiddos in school until they could finish high school, I [and they] expected more than an acknowledgement of their attendance in class as recognition.  They are ostracized and isolated and demeaned enough without the administration adding insult to injury in this last parting shot.
Give them a "diploma"....          
Come up with a solution!

Anyone out there have similar problem or other solutions used in their states????

Image credits: ilene.typepad.com, rison-dallas.com,  artweb.org, vaiden.net

Quick Takes: Versatile Blogger Award

Yesterday a comment invited me to a blog to "collect" this surprise award.  What fun to be noticed from far away!
After reading the rules I happily accepted the award and this morning follow through with the rules the best that I can.

ver·sa·tile   adj.

1. Capable of doing many things competently.

2. Having varied uses or serving many functions:


The official "rules" of accepting this award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

Thank you Mary at Adoption & Foster Care . What a fun surprise!  I am truly delighted that my little daily blog is beginning to spread around.  I hope this surprise will bring a few new readers and visitors to explore.  Thank you again!!

2. Tell 7 things about yourself.

1. When I was younger [alright, much younger]  I worked part-time as a professional clown.

2. I live in Maine but am deathly allergic to lobster, clams, shrimp and all shellfish. [Dang!]

3. I am have 11 grandchildren already and I have two children who haven't started having kids yet.[Yikes!]

4. I once had a chance to leave college and work off-Broadway . I turned it down. [long story]

5. I have had to almost completely reinvent myself at least four specific times.

6. I was deeply involved in the POW-MIA bracelet movement during and after the Vietnam War.

7. I began and directed for over 25 years what many believe was the first sign language chorus of all hearing middle and high school students.

3. Pay it forward and award the Versatile Blogger to at least 5 recently discovered new bloggers.

These aren't all new bloggers, but they are the ones I return to time and time again for comfort and for inspiration.

So [ta da da Dat ta da] this round of awards  goes to  . . . 


Because she is always there with a photo to inspire, to calm, to focus, and thoughts to catch my breath......    Serendipitous     


Because I wish I lived close enough to see her work, to meet her in person, she always challenges me to be and do better........   kindness girl         


Because I love following one of the few people who makes my life look like a walk in the park, and who is also a single mom old enough to remember when the Beatles' hair cuts seemed too long......   Big Mama Hollers    

Because she makes me see things from a different perspective and even though she doesn't post as often, when she does it always challenges my thinking and informs me, plus I find hope for my kiddos in her success and optimism.....   Sunshine Girl on a Rainy Day

Because she has a mind-bogglingly endless assortment of fun things to make with and for kids, and even if some of them make me gain weight just reading them others are healthy and still enticing, this mom is the one my kids all wish they had!..... Making Memories    [Try her hot dog cookies!]

Because she is creative with fabric the way Making Memories is creative with food... I don't try all of her ideas, but I always can find an idea when I need one... and the patterns really work! She isn't actually a blog.... but I had to include her in case you haven't seen the site....   Tip Junkie

Congratulations!

Focus on Fostering: Connecticut Conference

Last  weekend I presented two workshops at the annual CAFAP conference. [Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents] in Mystic Ct.  The people were wonderful, the weather was beautiful but I was sicker than a dog! As a presenter you always want to do your best and be at your best. Instead I had coughing spasms over and over during for the fist half hour of the Friday workshop.  Then, with a fever raging I took some medicine that knocked me out... I slept through the dinner banquet, the evening and woke up 10 minutes AFTER my morning presentation was to begin.  Every presenters worst nightmare! I was down to the session in less than 15 minutes, but between arriving late, the fever and nausea I felt awful!  I have heard from several people that they loved the workshops and I hope so, but I feel so frustrated about it.  I drove home to Maine and spent Mother's Day and Monday trying to recover from whatever flu it was.

So... if any of you Connecticut folks are reading... Thank you, Thank you, Thank you....  for your understanding,  and your cough lozenges, and the iced-water glasses! Vanessa- you stayed calm and supportive, Jean- you were wonderful.  I have great respect for all the foster parents, adoptive parents, and agency staff that I met there.  I hope we get together again under healthier circumstances!  

So with two conferences to go this season, I am hoping I have used up all the disasters and bad luck and that all will be smooth.  Conferences are the lifeline that connects foster parents, giving them an energy boost of ideas, the chance to commiserate and connect, and a group of peers that understand their lives.  Like an oil change keeps a car motor running smoothly and more efficiently, the info and connections from conferences, workshops and seminars keep foster parents and adoptive parents working with their children more smoothly and more efficiently.  Happy engines, happy hearts, happy homes.

Anything Can Happen: Laryngitis. yippee!

Last week I woke up with absolutely NO voice... no warning other than a tickle at the back of my throat the night before.  I just opened my mouth to say "Good morning" to my cherubs and ... nothing.... not a whisper, not a croak..... nothing.  My overwhelming thought was "Thank GOODness!"  Why? Because it was last week, not this week.  Last Friday and Saturday I had basically no vocal obligations. This Friday and Saturday [today and tomorrow] I am presenting two Upbeat Parenting workshops at the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents, my first time at their conference. So today I celebrate that anything can happen, like losing your voice the morning of a conference presentation, and a big woo-hoo for timing that actually worked in my favor this time! My voice is back, the kleenex box and amoxicillin are added to my suitcase, and I am on my way!

Image credit: laryngitissymptoms.net

Quick Takes: Coming soon.... near you???

I have a couple of announcements to share. I will be presenting workshops at three upcoming conferences. In the hopes that maybe I will meet some blog-friends at one or more of the conferences I am listing them here.  If you live in the area of one of the conferences [especially if you are going to one of the conferences!] shoot me an email and maybe we can connect at the conference or while I am in the area.  I would LOVE to meet some of you!!

  
 May 6 - 7, 2011:
FOSTERING HOPE: Connecticut Foster and Adoptive Parents 16th Annual Conference, Groton, CT      FMI: www.cafap.com
  May 6th  2:00-3:30      
 "Hellos and Goodbyes:  Tips for Healthy Transitions"
   May 7th   9:00-10:45      
 "Calming the Hotspots: Tips and Tools for a Happier Home"

    
May 18-20, 2011: FOOTSTEPS TO THE FUTURE:  18th Annual
Daniel Kids Foster Parenting Conference, Daytona Beach Florida
FMI: www.danielkids.org

May 20:  10-11:30 am
"Hellos and Goodbyes:  Tips for Healthy Transitions"

 June 25-27, 2011: The National Foster Parents Association
               41st Annual National Education Conference
               Mobile, AL      FMI: www.nfpaonline.com
June 25: 11:00-12:30   "Hellos and Goodbyes:  Tips for Healthy Transitions"
               2:25 - 3:45 "Simple Strategies for Mini-Miracles"
June 26: 8:00 - 9:30  "Simple Strategies for Mini-Miracles"

Also at that conference, my colleague and co-author Pat Miller will be leading three workshops:
June 26:  1:30 - 3:00  Dishonesty: Lying  [Part 1]
               4:45 - 6:15  Dishonesty: Lying  [Part 2]
June 27   9:00 - 10:30  Dishonesty: Stealing

Image credits:  eastsidekickers.org, cafap.com, nfpaonline.com, danielkids.org

Soapbox: Comfort Food Revisited

Is the comfort that food provides something that is hard-wired into our brains from earliest times, when a full stomach meant survival? Ask anyone what their family's comfort food was and the only time they hesitate is if they're trying to decide which family comfort food was the most used. What did mom fix when it was exam week? the first night home from college? when it had been a really rough week?  They even have whole cookbooks dedicated to comfort food recipes!

I'm overweight.  I'm working on it and I'm making progress, but I'm overweight. I don't think it's a coincidence that weight issues are exceedingly common among foster parents, and also among foster children.  Whether overweight or underweight, eating too much or eating the wrong stuff. It is sooo hard to treat food as fuel, not as the enemy, not as the friend, not as the feared, not as the comfort.  Fuel, just that, nothing more. They say that the nicotine in smoking is addictive.  I don't smoke,  but I think for some of us, food is every bit as addictive, and every bit as hard a habit to control. After all.. You can't quit eating. And you have years and years of being "trained" that eating x or y will make you "feel better."

Even now, I feel that baking a batch of cookies or brownies is doing something nice for my kids. I make an amazing peanut butter/chocolate homemade fudge. People's eyes light up when I bring it to the church fair, or to a sick friend, or mail it to a child at college.  My kiddos literally jump for joy when they see me gathering the ingredients for fudge. I know when I make fudge they will be excited and happy.  I admit sitting down to a family board game or going for a walk together doesn't give me that same feeling. I don't think it gives them the same feeling either. Maybe it does.  I hope it does.  It would be nice to break the cycle of using food for comfort. 


Image credits: fatkidsuit.wordpress.com, squidoo.com

Focus on Fostering: Mama Mania

I'm part of Mama Mania!  Now, I know, those of you who know me are probably saying... "Hey, we've known that about you for years!" But now it is official.  oops.... I am getting ahead of myself.

To my delight, tiny step by slow teeny step a few people are finding my quiet little blog.  Recently the host of another blog http://jointhelarksnest.blogspot.com  asked if I was willing to be part of a regular panel of foster moms for her blog.  I enthusiastically said yes and jumped into the group. Mama Lark poses a question for us, we each answer from our own personal experience as foster parents and she shares our responses on her blog.  She introduced the members of the panel on March 21st , posted our first responses on March 28 [about what made us decide to foster]  and yesterday [April 11] the second post [about our experience with the initial licensing process]. Her plan is to do a Mama Mania blog every 2nd Monday.

So check out her blog on Mama Mania day to get a cross section of views, and also on any-ol' day to read Mama Lark's posts.  And while you are at it, how about inviting any of your blog friends to come bisit me??? I would love to have my numbers grow some more!  Happy April...now I'm back to working on my taxes. [aarrgggghhhh]

Image credit:  jointhelarksnest,blogspot.com