At 3:45pm my phone rang. It was Adopted Son. “Mama! The judge said I HAVE to stay with you and go to school, or he’s sending me back to jail! Can I?” was his opening line. Relief doesn’t begin to describe how I felt just hearing his voice. I knew from Caller ID that he was at his mother’s place. I asked him when he got out. “I just...

Adopted Son achieved a small victory yesterday. He chose to keep his cool instead of giving in to the urge to beat the crap out of someone provoking him at school. Even after he got home, his contained rage was still palpable, so when I asked, “How was your day?” I was not surprised at the answer. I was surprised, however, when I asked what made him able...

Yes, I know I’m dating myself with that title, but I’ve been waiting 11 years for summer breezes (ok, spring breezes, because I’m not into 100 degree Oklahoma breezes, thank you very much) to make me feel fine in this house of mine, but this year, I will have them. I may even have to do a little Google-ing to see if jasmine will even grow in this...

This week has been a trip. And, as you might have noticed, I haven’t been ‘around’. Several ‘big’ things have happened this week, but the ‘biggest’ has been the addition of a kid to our household. To make a very long story relatively short, Second Son has a friend who over the last year has spent many a weekend at our house....

A special thank you to my friend, Tracy, for sending me this inspiring true story. Watch this video. So many of you are Johnnies for me and you don’t even know it. Thank you.

I’ve been watching Yes We Can over and over again, and today I found a website that gives me something concrete to do with all this inspiration to take action I’m feeling: WeAreWhatWeDo.org Their motto: Small actions x lots of people = BIG CHANGE. Check it...

Song & video, featuring a star cast, by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas. Inspired by Barack Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ speech in New Hampshire. Yes, We Can! It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom. Yes we...

When you believe that the best thing to do when life is throwing lemons at you is make lemonade, it’s amazing how thirsty people show up in your life. Yesterday was a tough day, and nothing about what made it tough has improved. But some amazing things have happened that I might not have noticed if I weren’t having such a tough day, and that is too...

I spent the day at my niece’s, as planned, cutting the last maple tree down, and cutting up everything we cut down yesterday. This is the ‘after’ shot: Tonight, I’m sore, particularly my arms, but happy we got that done! The willow stump will remain as is, get sealed, and we’ll see if it tries to grow back. Willows, apparently, are...

Today was my first day back in the classroom, and it was great. A far cry from the last day I spent in the classroom (Dec. 7th when the little buggers in the last class took my car keys and hid them from me so I had to spend 45 minutes looking for them before I could leave. Ugh!) Today, when I walked in, I was greeted with, “Hey! We missed you!” in every...