A storm is coming. I can see the silhouette of the clouds in the night sky in front of a distant flash of lightning. There is a faint rumble, too. A storm is coming, and my kids are asleep....
Recently, a local news station produced a story with the following headline: "Both the Missouri and Kansas foster care systems are overwhelmed right now."
I didn't watch the segment or read the story, shared numerous times on social media by...
After an emotionally exhausting adoption process, our newborn daughter was finally in our arms. I desperately wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but our finances at the time did not allow for that. After a 12-week maternity leave and...
We have made two trips to family court in the last four years, and not for what most people would assume. We weren’t getting a divorce, we weren’t fighting for custody over our children, and we weren’t there regarding...
On Tuesday nights you can find me in front of the television watching the new hit show on NBC, This Is Us. An emotional family drama, This Is Us has been the perfect solution for my post-Parenthood withdrawals. Relatable characters,...
There are certain kinds of loss that only a parent’s heart can know. As a mother, I have experienced firsthand the excruciating pain of miscarriage – when that which was only barely seen and never felt was lost without...
My husband and I had been trying to conceive for about a year and a half. Eventually we decided to seek medical advice, which is how we found ourselves sitting across from a reproductive endocrinologist in August of 2011.
We...
Javan and Tiras,
I love you, and I’m sorry.
Foster care, like parenting or driving a car, is one of those experiences that can’t really be understood until you’re doing it. Months of classes, home visits, and conversations with other foster...
One of my best recent memories is of my daughter looking at her hair in the mirror, shaking her head, and saying “I love it, I love it” over and over.
It was memorable not because it had taken hours...
A couple of days after hanging up the one and only behavior chart in our house, my son told me, "No sticker for you! Try again tomorrow."
He was right; I hadn’t earned my sticker for the day.
See, the behavior chart...
This post could also be titled: The tips of your fingers WILL grow back!
A few months ago, I was preparing to throw my son his first birthday party. He was turning five and it was the first birthday we...
Inside this family of four’s living room, a collection of decorative letters spans the length of the fireplace mantle. Trying to understand their meaning can be perplexing at first:
“JKAOBERINI …?”
But if you’re in their home very long, you’ll realize...
On January 12, 2010, many of us watched in horror the devastation that had shaken the country of Haiti as they experienced an earthquake that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people. As a young family, my...
One of my most vivid parenting memories happened a short six months ago.
Our youngest, who was 10 months old at the time, was on the verge of taking his first steps. He would bounce up and down, standing holding...
In the last four years, I feel like I have had to totally reevaluate everything I used to believe about race relations and my own place in our world as a White woman. Now that I am a White...
Your Guide To KC
10 Taco Spots to Try in Kansas City
From traditional taquerias serving authentic Mexican flavors to trendy eateries with innovative spins on classic recipes, Kansas City has something to satisfy every taco...
