I rushed through the house, fixing dinner and straightening the house. The babysitter would arrive any minute, so my husband and I could attend a school fundraiser. As I swiped the bathroom mirror with a cloth, I caught my wedding…

The word “salvage” is not a pretty one. It always involves someone making the best of an undeniably bad situation. We salvage valuables after a fire, flood, or natural disaster. The Lost and Found Family reminds us that sometimes human lives…

Call me Booster Mom. My official title remains to be seen – President, Vice President, Chief Bottle Washer and Cookie Dough Pusher. It all boils down to the same thing: For the next school year, a sizeable chunk of Day-Timer…

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…

Sometimes when I speak or write about adoption, people approach me and ask me what to do when one half of a couple (usually but not always the husband) isn’t open to raising an adopted or foster child. Usually I…

One day listening to a Jeff Foxworthy “You Might Be a Redneck If…” routine, it occurred to me that — just as rednecks can blissfully scratch through life without recognizing their “red-neckiness,” so many potentially wonderful foster parents could be…

One of the most challenging aspects of parenting, I’ve found, is striking a balance, being “in the world, but not of it.” Certainly we want to protect our children from evil, at least until they are old enough to recognize…

I recently learned that one friend of mine is getting divorced after ten years of marriage and another dear friend is hanging onto her second marriage by a slim thread. Both of these women are loving, nurturing individuals and wonderful…

Now that the election is over, one of the most chilling prospects of the future administration is the president-elect’s determination to sign the “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA). The implications of this — both financial and moral — are staggering,…

Watching Shadowlands with my husband one evening, I was struck by a line in the marriage vows of C.S. Lewis and American poet Joy Davidman: “With my body, I thee worship.” It was the declaration of a man and woman,…