Parenting

Just as I was getting a handle on my whole sleep deprivation thing, I seem to be right back to square one and find myself nodding off morning, noon, and night.

You see, I've solved my sleep apnea problem; but, what has left me desperate for a decent night's sleep these days is a battle with a serious case of jet lag and our beautiful daughter, Charlotte.

In the eight of our series, we present the secret thoughts of an adoptive mom of three kids. After a couple of months having the children home, our mom finally admits she's overwhelmed and needs help.

No, I am not writing this from the psych ward. However, there are times when that is a definite possibility. Although things have improved since April, there is still such a long way to go.

Like any newly married young couple, we (Nazima and Riyad) loved to dream about the next stages our life together. We enjoyed the strong

I’m a mom of four children, all adopted at different ages and stages. My first child was born in the US in 1997 and adopted as a newborn. In 2006  I adopted three more children from Liberia in West Africa. They were 2, 4, and 13 years old (though the 13 year old wouldn’t actually join our family until he was nearly 19).

In 2006, Liberia was a country in turmoil, it was just a few years after the civil war had ended, the infant and child mortality rates were incredibly high, and the adoptions were being processed relatively quickly.

In December 1999, a small, wide-eyed toddler from a refugee camp in Sierra Leone, huddled in the arms of a Canadian celebrity, wary of the cameras that carried his image around the world.

Ten thousand miles away, in Coquitlam, BC, Angela Faminoff saw that fundraising appeal on TV four times that evening. After sobbing her heart out, she said to her husband, "That is our child." For Angela and Russell, that moment was the beginning of the long process of finding Joseph and bringing him home.

The benefits of summer camp

• Children who join their family through adoption, especially older children or children with special needs, often feel different from their peers at school.

In the ninth of our series, we present the secret thoughts of an adoptive mom of three kids. This time, mom loses confidence that she can cope.

The past ten days have been an absolute nightmare. The foster parents came for a visit last weekend. We'd planned this a month ago, and we all through it would be good for Grant and Lynn to see Susan and Mike. We believed this would help cement the concept of foster parents always being part of their adoption story.

Joseph is now 11 years old. He was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa. In his first few years, he tragically lost his birth family and ended up in a refugee camp and then an orphanage. After a three-year search and a two-year adoption process, he came to Canada to join his new family in Coquitlam. It has been an incredible journey for this young boy.

Question: "We adopted our five-year-old daughter through a local adoption agency. We have never told her that she was adopted, and now we don't know how. Could you suggest how we could start the process?"

Yes, it can be difficult to know when to start the process of telling a child their adoption story. Following the guidance from the wonderful social worker that was involved in my son's adoption, we shared adoption storybooks and his personal adoption story with him form the time we began reading ot him.

In the tenth of our series, we present the secret thoughts of an adoptive mom of three kids. The behaviourist, Roz, who has come in to help the struggling family is teaching Mom how actions speak louder than words.

Roz has been observing the kids for a while now and although she still hasn't come up with a magical word to make it all better, I think we're making progress.