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Getting My Mind Right: The Skinny On How I’m Doing

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I am now officially on weight maintenance and trying to find an eating plan that will work. My weight is staying level, but I am really sort of dieting and sort of eating carefully. I am having funny, but exciting, things happening. The other day, I had my hand on one side of the middle of my abdomen and I noticed something protruding. I found Nancy and said, “Something right here is sticking out”. She asked me if I had one on the other side and, when I did, pointed out that I was feeling my rib cage. This morning … Continue reading →

The “Baby Moses Law”

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There are a number of newborn or very young babies abandoned every year. Too often, they are left somewhere that they cannot survive for a long enough time to be found. In 1999, the Texas legislature passed a “Baby Moses Law”. This law set up a procedure by which a parent could abandon a baby safely and without further responsibility or criminal liability. Many states have since passed similar laws. The nickname “Baby Moses” comes from the biblical account of how the mother of Moses abandoned him in a place where he would be rescued and nursed to health. She … Continue reading →

Foster Parents Will Have Emergencies

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Yesterday, I was in the car at a crowded intersection and an emergency vehicle had to go through in a very big hurry. I was glad that they were not coming for me. It made me think about the times that I have been in an emergency situation. I was involved in an accident on my motorcycle when I was in law school. I also needed emergency help more times than I like to admit when we received four badly traumatized little boys into our home. We had a close friend living nearby who had shown us over the years … Continue reading →

The Violence to Young Children Continues

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It’s getting so bad that I do not want to read the latest news. A mother left her two year old girl and an almost one year old boy with her boyfriend. He had agreed to bring them to meet her in the store parking lot where she was employed when she got off work. When they picked her up, the mother apparently realized that the little girl was seriously injured. They took her to a local hospital. The hospital immediately “life flighted” her to a trauma center where she died that evening. The cause of death was a brain … Continue reading →

Getting my Mind Right: What Now?

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I am officially in diet limbo. I have been wondering if I have lost enough weight and whether I should stop dieting and start the weight maintenance phase. The first few days of that did not go well. I gained six pounds immediately, so I have dieted it off and am back at 192. I got out the book that contains my written goals; they were not exactly as I remembered them. The goals were to weigh less than 220 by the middle of October, 2006. I actually weighed 202. Here is the goal that I forgot about; to have … Continue reading →

Proposed Foster Care Reform in Texas

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A Texas legislator, who authored the bills passed two years ago to reform the foster care system in the state, says that not enough progress has been made. Those bills authorized increased spending to hire more investigators for child abuse cases. She has now introduced additional legislation to extend foster care rules and regulations. Last year, almost 35,000 children went through the state’s foster care organization and there are 20,000 or so children in the system at any given time. Her bills would improve the care that these children receive. Her legislation, if passed, would mandate that more inspections be … Continue reading →

Funny, and Frustrating, Boy Stories

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Our five adopted boys are growing up in the country. We have several decent creeks and a lot of trees on the property. We have to carefully word everything that we tell them that they can do. Recently, they had permission to go down by the creek which they interpreted as, “Even though it is a cold day, get wet up to your shoulders and be sure to get a lot of mud on your clothes and shoes.” It was not the first time that we have had to completely undress them in the garage and carry them to the … Continue reading →

Just Like Dad

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Matthew Walter, our oldest adopted child, is the only one who remembers anything about his life before he was part of our family. He is very inquisitive about my family, particularly my father. The other boys rarely, if ever, show such an interest. I look for opportunities with him to interject something about my father as we go through the day. For instance, this morning I took Matthew to have his eyes examined by an optometrist. When I could see that the doctor was making a good impression on him, I told him that my father and my grandfather (maternal) … Continue reading →

My Passion Has Changed

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Since my wife and I adopted five boys, the things that I have a passion for have changed significantly. My passions before were for the things that most people are passionate about. I have discovered that doing the task that I have chosen consumes my sentiments, emotions, and excitement. For the last fifty years, I have been very passionate about sports. I would plan all of my activities around the “big game”. My allegiance to the sports teams of my alma mater has consumed much of my time and emotions. This year, I did not know which teams were in … Continue reading →

Work of the Devil: Cocaine

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In my last blog, I wondered whether drugs have some of the blame for the increase in child abuse cases in our country. There have recently been a number of incidents in elementary schools where children have brought cocaine to the classroom. A few days ago, an eight year old boy in Houston brought three packets of cocaine to school. Apparently, several of his classmates told a teacher and the Houston police were called in. The boy told authorities that he did not know what the substance was, other than that it was valuable. He had taken it from one … Continue reading →