Last month was our 10-year wedding anniversary. Woohoo! Most of our "how to be awesome at marriage" advice is about preparation and conversations to have before getting married. One thing we do work on though is emotional upkeep, something that's important in any marriage but especially when there's pre-marriage trauma and the kind of stress that … Continue reading How to be “Good at Therapy”
We moved out of our last home almost a year ago. I've been thinking about these old front steps a lot lately, the memories of the kids standing here waiting for Daniel to pull into the driveway after work, the social worker parking on the road and walking up to the door with our first … Continue reading On Building Joy
(This experience was shared with the permission of our son's biological mother)Daniel and I decided because our bonus kiddo (foster son) likely didn't have much time left in the NICU that he would stay home with Aurelia and I would be at the NICU. So each morning I went to the NICU, got updated on … Continue reading Meeting Our Foster Son’s Mom
(PTSD: Pt. 2, Getting Help)I'm so thankful I got help. SO thankful. I'm thankful that in spite of all my fears I reached out and took the help that was there. Just admitting I needed the help I didn't want was incredibly difficult. Moving toward understanding how badly I needed that help has been sobering. … Continue reading PTSD: Pt. 3, Triggers
(PTSD: Pt. 1, Falling back and finding answers) About a month before hitting my "rock bottom" I had talked to our family practice doctor during an appointment for Aurelia. "How do I tell the difference between grief and depression?" I had asked her. She rattled off all the components of full-blown depression and it didn't … Continue reading PTSD: Pt. 2, Getting Help
Jess Building Joy 