Horror Story or Success Story?

Kari and I headed to the Y this morning where she obliterated me in the Biggest Loser contest this week. It was so bad I'm not even going to post it. Well, at least next week if I really kick it in gear, I'll have a lot to lose and can beat her then..

I blame my amazing husband for this week's weight gain. If you would have seen or tasted the to die for carrot cake he made me for my birthday, after having taken me out to lunch and preparing my favorite supper, you would understand why I didn't lose, but gained weight this week. And, by the way, all of my kids, for the first time, tried to make it a nice day for me in their own way. Tony really struggles with holidays, as our family, due to some older siblings, has had many bad ones, but even by the end of the day he had pulled it together. He has done quite a bit of maturing the past month or two and it's nice to see.

I was blessed with gifts that included chocolate truffles (see why I can't beat Kari), a Barnes and Noble gift certificate. roses and a beautiful card, and a fish. Yes, a Beta Fish named Carl. I'm fairly sure I will end up killing him, but the kids are convinced that I need someone to talk to during the day when they are all at school.

I must confess that I am really enjoying my teenagers for the most part. I assumed that I would not enjoy parenting teenagers, but it is SO fun ... and having a bunch of them at once is a lot more fun than you might think. Most of them are starting to get my sense of humor and we can laugh and joke a lot every day. I love telling them how beautiful or handsome they are and watching the boys, especially, blush. Sadie, of course, having an amazing self image, just says "I know" but the other boys get a bit embarrassed when I go on and on about their good looks.

As I drop off the kids for school every morning I always say the same things, "Bye, have a great day, I love you, make good choices, don't miss me too much. And now I end with -- and you high schoolers remember, every day counts."

For years I've been preparing them that their grades count forever starting in 9th grade, so I want them to remember.

It's the dailiy stuff that makes this fun. The stuff I often fail to blog.

Reading Cindy's blog as she quotes Amy I'm not sure what to think of it all. I hear what Amy is saying, but I would suggest some modifications. I'm going to have to think about.

I also think that my story is different in that while we were investigated by Child Protection, we did not have all of our children removed. And when we felt like we were in serious physical danger, our son was arrested and did not return home for years. So even though we went through some hard times, we have faced nothing like CIndy, Amy or Paula experienced. Maybe if I had been through what they have I would have a different opinion.

I do know this: There are not enough services provided for adoptive families and the fact that the system blames the parents is inexcusable. This is something that we have got to figure out how to stop if we expect more families to adopt from the system.

And remember this: For every horror story, there is at least one success story. And if when we adopt, we don't know which it will be, don't we owe it to the kids to give them that shot? IFwe can get the resources we need, doesn't each kid deserve the chance to become a success story?