Taking care of your body will make your wait a lot easier because you will shift your focus off of your emotions and onto your body for at least part of your day. Many people harm their bodies as a way of handling painful emotions, doing everything from overeating to binge drinking to failing to provide their bodies with enough rest and sleep. Caring for your body by doing positive things, such as getting enough sleep, exercising, and doing yoga, can do wonders to help lift your spirits while you wait for your... more

Learning how to “be” means learning how to rest. It involves slowing down your mind and staying in the present.

Analyze the focus of your thoughts for any given day. Most people’s thoughts are primarily focused on the future or on the past with little time spent on the present.

Thoughts About the Future

I need to do _____. I am worried about _____. I need to prepare for ______. I will be happy when ____ happens.

Thoughts About... more

As I stated in the previous blog, achieving balance in your life is the key to surviving the wait (and any other painful experience, for that matter). No matter how miserable you are while waiting, you can still achieve some level of contentment in your life. Only you have the power to make yourself miserable 100% of the time.

The following Top Ten List provides a list of actions that you can take to achieve more balance in your life. These are things that you can start doing TODAY to better your life.... more

In one word, I can sum up all that you need to know to make the wait survivable. That word is BALANCE. Balance is the secret to finding joy and peace even in the midst of difficult times.

Think about the most unhappy person in your life. (It might be you!) I guarantee you that the person you are envisioning does not lead a balanced life. Perhaps he works too much, or maybe he is unemployed. Perhaps she stays focused on a future event that will change her life for the better; perhaps she is pining for days gone by.... more

For the next series, we will discuss how to survive waiting for your child without losing your mind. For me, waiting to be matched was the single most difficult part of becoming a parent. When I was going through infertility treatments, there was always something that I needed to be doing. When I was applying to adopt and then going through the home study process, there was always something that I needed to be doing. By doing something, I felt like I was working toward becoming a mom. While I was waiting to be... more

Once the home study was approved and the life book was completed, there was nothing to do except wait…and wait…and wait. I am the type of person who needs to be “doing.” Doing NOTHING makes me absolutely CRAZED. I limited myself to checking in with the social worker on a monthly basis – I wanted to call her every other day. The updates were always the same – “We have a few placing mothers going through the program…It will happen when the time is right…” This wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that a placing mother had chosen... more

I recently started a new job. I like it so far, but it's certainly gotten my mind working in ways that it hasn't in a long time. For the past week I can't seem to sleep past 4 a.m., and there were two night that I lay awake from 1 'til 3.

I'm tired, but my brain is too busy to sleep!

If you are hoping to adopt and in the midst of deciding what to do, or if you've just started researching adoption, or if you're in the middle of an adoption, OR if you've just brought a child home, you may be suffering from sleep problems, too.

According to womenshealth.gov,... more

So you're hoping to adopt but you are stuck waiting - waiting to get the funds together, waiting on your reluctant spouse, waiting to hear about the job you interviewd for last week, waiting to hear from the 13 10 publishing companies you sent a story to 2 months ago (3 have already rejected it) - oh wait, this isn't YOU, this is ME.

But it could be you! Just fill in different circumstances and I'm sure you've been there. You're waiting to be a parent, maybe for the first time, maybe for the third, or maybe for the tenth, and you're down in... more

I have posted about this before, so I'll try not to repeat myself. So many of you are waiting...waiting for a referral, waiting to be chosen by a prospective birth mom, waiting for your dossier to be complete, or waiting for a court date. It's no fun to wait! I've been there!

As my mom used to tell me, a watched pot never boils...so you need to find something else to occupy your time. Here are some suggestions:

Take a class. Preferably in something you always wanted to learn about but never found the time to do. I would... more

Here is the first part of this post.

4. Go shopping. Even if you don't buy anything take a day or two to leisurely walk through the mall or your local downtown - looking around, thinking about what would look nice, and slowly and carefully try things on. This is another thing you will not be able to do for a long, long while. Children find shopping boring and they could care less about trying on clothes...so do it now, because your future will probably be reduced to running into Target, grabbing... more