Over the next few days we’ll experience a substantial amount of gift giving and receiving as we gather with family and friends to celebrate Christmas. But let’s be honest, while there will be a few “home run” gifts, there’s likely to be a few returns, a few toys lost or broken within days, and a few gifts received that leave you wondering “what in the world????”.

Attachment is possibly the single most important concept for parents in the foster/adoptive community. And for obvious reasons. Even an infant experiences an extreme interruption in attachment when removed from a biological parent.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has been used for decades in the treatment of various traumas including post traumatic stress disorder.

Every child in the foster/adoptive world has spent time in the hands of the courts. And while the spectrum of circumstances that resulted in their case is a wide, there is a level of trauma associated with each one.

I wasn’t sure what I would have in common with Olympic gold medal champion Laura Wilkinson, besides the fact that she too, is an adoptive mother. She is a three time Olympian diver. She won the gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, making her the first American women to do so since 1964.

For Radney Foster and Kyle Hutton it’s definitely music. Songwriting to be more precise. The exercise of telling stories, weaving words and melodies into an emotion evoking listening experience.

Car sickness, nausea from a food smell, increased anxiety due to loud noises. These are common sensory experiences. And while we all deal with sensory issues from time to time, they can be prevalent in the lives of kids from hard places.

There’s no doubt that many memories are made in the kitchen and around the table. Did you ever stop and ask yourself “why”? The answer lies in something that we could all use more of and that’s CONNECTION. Think about it.

Today we celebrate the number fifty. And, boy, has it been a wild ride getting here! In two totally different ways.

Adoption is a beautiful experience. The acceptance of one human being into the lives of others for shared relationship, safety and love is remarkable. The story is so beautiful in fact, that it almost makes the darker, heavier side of the adoption journey invisible to all but those who experience it first hand.