If you're inclined to pray for my dh and I this morning. We are at a very serious (hard to believe things could be worse hey?) crossroads. I'm unable to elaborate but appreciate prayers. Thanks.

Buffered Aspirin can be used.

Not too long but it is an all afternoon affair cooking the broth, seriously it is so delicious I could jump into the pot. And don't skip the fried shallots. My whole family loved that condiment. It makes a large amount. Two meals. I can't recommend it enough. It is now a staple soup recipe. (Oh and by the way, you can use beef bones to make beef broth if you don't want to do chicken. This according to my nephew's wife who is Chinese.)

Got to smitten kitchen site and search for her chicken pho recipe. It is to die for. I made the first time a couple weeks ago and it's simmering on my stove right now. It is the best chicken soup recipe! And the bonus is it makes your house smell wonderful. www.smittenkitchen.com

I am sorry you're so far away from your daughter. I would it hate it too being too far away to help. ((Hugs))

My name is Rose. It must be too plain because I'm often called Rosa, Rosemary, Rosemarie, Rosita, Rosary, Rosie posie, ....I usually don't care.

I thought you were going to say you were adopting another child! :)

It's true, we have not given up. While he won't accept our love directly now, it's become almost a full time job to advocate for services for him, from afar. And that's not easy. Every day I'm on the phone trying to find a place for him to land, and heal. It's harder now that he's not with family because before at least I had almost daily reports. But I do know where he is and he's safe and actually liking it. He won't be there long though. We are hoping we can find a treatment centre....I'm sure since he left his mental health has deteriorated. My boss told me I looked tired today. Hmm hmm....between this situation and my other special needs child and trying to give my dd the attention she deserves....and aging parents....wow, what doesn't kill you really does make you stronger. (While homeschooling :).)

No we haven't seen him. He has refused all contact from us. No phone, no texts, nothing. We sent birthday and Christmas gifts and got no response. We've come to accept this maybe how it'll be for a while. It's heartbreaking. Sometimes I grieve like its a death but then I hang on to hope that things could change in the future.

Moxie, that's an encouraging story. Yup...he got on plane July 4th. I guess not quite seven months.

Thanks everyone. My boy has reactive attachment disorder (RAD). What happened at my niece's is typical RAD behaviour. She has three young children so no way could he stay. They really tried hard with him. Right now he's in a youth shelter, in same community as my niece, (social services facility) while they figure out how to help us. My niece, nephew and sister (and families) live there and are staying in touch with him. He's been there ten days. It's just now how I imagined life would be.

Lots (not so good) has transpired with my ds who left July 4th to find his birthmother. He left there and went to live with my niece and her family. Well that ended....badly. We're trying to figure things out but he's not coming back home for now. We haven't seen him for 7 months. My eldest ds with a mild intellectual disability and hasn't really done much academic school for a couple of years, told me last night that he wants to work toward getting grade 12. Yay! But totally overwhelming given his serious learning disabilities. And I work full time. (Homeschool is the only option for him.). So I'm scrambling to put something together. (He's been working this year which has been a lifesaver for us...keeping him busy.) And my fibromyalgia is in severe overdrive. It's so discouraging. I have a business trip next week...I hope I improve before then.) Just feeling sorry for myself.

I like to be in style but I would freeze without something on my feet or legs for many months in our climate. I wear tights to work if I wear a skirt and I do wear nylons under pants in winter. And socks with jeans, etc.

Lynn, I've been in your spot with my son. Big hugs and prayers and feel free to pm me. It's a very scary place to be, as well as lonely.

My goal this year is to read through books I already own but haven't read. Week one is light reading: Sycamore Row by John Grisham

We have a new (bought in September) HE top loading washer. We love it! We noticed ours cleans wonderfully. Mind you it replaced a 20 year old maytag.

Appleton rum.

Thank you for sharing that lovely story. (We celebrate St Nicks day as well but not in such a creative way. I think we may have to start a new tradition.)

We celebrate St Nicks day, which is tomorrow. The kids put their boots out tonight and they are filled with treats. We don't do stockings at Christmas nor is Santa really a big deal. My dh and I are both of German heritage. (And our big celebration is Christmas Eve not day...although the party carries on :).

Well motherhood has been hugely challenging for me both when I stayed home full time and now when I work full time. All my kids are adopted, two out of three of my kids have FASD and other special needs. Maybe it's their special needs that make it hard.

Here in my neck of the woods, bagged milk was a brief period in my childhood, but it no longer is sold here. Plastic jugs or smaller cartons (and limited glass) are the vessels used for milk.

Praying.

I've had the flu twice in my life. By that I mean influenza. You know it's the flu when you're hit suddenly and hard...pretty much bed ridden. Hit with body aches, fever (usually higher than cold), fatigue, etc. I used to say "I have the flu" to describe a number of viruses. Now I know better. If you have the flu you're not doing anything for days, even weeks (two weeks for me both times).

http://www.hopeingod.org/resources/sermons/date/2013/2013-11 This is the church where John Piper preached for 35 years. Now Jason Meyer is the preacher. I really like him.

I should have mentioned my son found his birthmother on Facebook by finding two siblings first...they still had last name he was born with. Birth mom's name had changed.