#Miller6Pack

I have always been fascinated by names. I can remember as a child, poring over my mom's baby name book from the '50s. I loved learning the meanings of names. (For example, I knew at that young age, that if a name has a negative meaning, no matter how pretty the name itself was, I would not use it for my child.) I also loved to learn the country of origin of all these names! It was FASCINATING to me. My sisters and I had imaginary broods of children with exotic names from all over the world. **Side note: I never set out to be the mom who names her kids with names that all began with the same letter. In fact, in my opinionated naive youth, I thought it was ridiculous for parents to do that. Haha! Joke's on me! We named "Gracie" because I loved the name. I already had "Gemma" on board, not even thinking about the "G" connection. Then we started calling them the "Gs." So, when G3 (and now G4) came along, we had no choice BUT to fi

Many of us use the phrase #thestruggleisreal for humorous anecdotes or in an ironic manner for inconsequential events in our lives. I've said it many times myself. But for many kids who've been adopted, the struggle IS real. What struggle? you might ask. The struggle to find their "new" identity. The struggle to learn and use a new language. The struggle to find and understand their place and role in the family. The struggle to forge bonds/relationships with siblings. The struggle to learn to tell mom and dad what they need, think, fear, and worry about. The struggle to express love. It is a real and hard thing. Gia has been with us for over a year now. Many of you who know us and/or see us on a regular basis might think that Gia has attached with us; she's speaking English tremendously well; she seems to be happy. And those are all true. Overall, she has adjusted beautifully. She had--and still has, once in a while--bouts of grief that

I proudly work in public education. I love what I do, and I work with some of the most passionate, caring, selfless, hard working people on the planet. I'm proud of my school district, and I am honored to work alongside the people that all contribute to educating our young people, despite increasingly stressful and difficult working conditions. Our daughters have all had wonderful, talented, and passionate teachers. Mrs. Roach, Mrs. Wick, Mrs. Kilbourne, Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Still, just to name a few. We are so grateful to have these dedicated educators in our district. But there is one teacher I'd like to shine a spotlight on, if I could. Gia just completed her first year in an American school while figuring out her first year in the United States after spending 8 years of her life in an orphanage in Shijiazhuang, China. Gia was so brave as she joined our family a year ago, but we knew there would be many challenges when we got back to the USA. Gone were the familiar smells,