EVERY MOMent COUNTS!
by Shelly Bergeron As a parent of an older adoptee, we’re asked many questions. My husband and I became parents for a second time 2.5 years ago to a 14-year-old boy from China who grew up in an institution. We’re often asked “What’s it like to adopt a teenager?“ Well, first of all … it’s [...]
In my 23 years as a mom there have been many homecomings as I brought my six children home for the first times. When Cory was born, I was a 17-year-old single mom, and we returned to my parents’ house. With Leslie and Nathan, John and I lived in low-income housing while he was in [...]
by Shelly Bergeron As an adoptive parent of an older child, sometimes we have grand expectations and think they just need someone to love them, and everything will turn out right. Well, maybe in Annie, but not in the real world of adopting an older child. What do you do when your son looks at [...]
by Jon A. Bergeron, Jr., Ph.D. Most of us adoptive and foster parents are becoming more aware and informed about attachment and the impact this has on the developing child. This knowledge is crucial in understanding how our kids are wired if they have come from a past that includes trauma or neglect (even pre-natally).
The Friday night after Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the whole year. It is the holiday officially entitled, “The Night We Put Up the Christmas Tree.” My parents drive nearly 500 miles to see us. They say it is for Thanksgiving, but secretly we all know it is really to celebrate “The [...]
Two years ago today we officially became a family. What a whirlwind it was becoming parents a second time! To us parents, that meant something … family. It meant a new son, one we don’t know well yet, but now the eldest child in our family. It meant that we would love him, care for him, [...]
We all have them–in marriage, in our jobs, in our families, and with adoption. We try to not have high expectations (at least I do), but, they’re still there. We expect that we will love our adopted children and they’ll love us. We expect them to fit into our family and become one of us, we [...]
Last night my two-year-old, Alyssa, drew a picture of a house, and it made me think about how different this house—our house—would be without this girl. Without her giggles, without Barney the dinosaur, without playing jumping frog, without trips to the zoo. Zoo trips are one of my favorite outings because of the joy in [...]
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post is a little different. We’re pleased to bring you Jon A. Bergeron, Jr., Ph.D. who is the Director of Family Care at Hope For Orphans. As my first post on MomLife Today, I figured I should probably explain myself a little bit so that everyone can hopefully relax the eyebrows that were [...]
We knew baby Riley would probably be reunited with his birth family, but that did not stop us from falling in love with him. We loved that little boy with our hearts, souls, and minds. He became a part of our family. He came to us under-fed and with physical wounds–a hurting baby. Several months later, [...]
