Table of Contents
1 Becoming a Family
1 Our Sunrise Julie Speece 1
2 Sleepless Nights Melissa Face 4
3 Outside My Reach Krisan Murphy 7
4 Baby Steps Rob L. Berry 10
5 Our Sunshine Drema Sizemore Drudge 13
6 Breathing Easy Tina Wagner Mattern 16
7 Reunion Andrea Peebles 20
8 My New Family Karen Lynn Filek 23
2 All in a Day's Work
9 Juggler Extraordinaire Lynne Leite 29
10 I Don't Have to Be Super Momma Heather Davis 32
11 Mama, Will You Dry My Hair? Deanna Ingalls 36
12 Tales from the Road Suzan L. Jackson 39
13 Priceless Art D.B. Zane 43
14 Monkey Soap Shannon McCarty 46
15 In Pursuit of Sleep Mimi Greenwood Knight 49
16 No "Me" in Mommy Melissa Face 53
17 Mom's Night Out Mimi Greenwood Knight 56
3 Is There a Manual for This?
18 Guilt, Glory, and Google Christy Heitger-Ewing 63
19 The Talk Christa Gala 66
20 A Gun in Every Gourd Suzan L. Jackson 68
21 A Christmas Eve Snack for Santa Susan Barclay 71
22 Popular Marcelle Soviero 74
23 About Face Barbara Hussey 77
24 The Comparison Monster Melanie N. Brasher 80
25 Running Home Kim Ozment-Gold 83
26 The Butterfly Stu Blandford 86
27 Do Angels Wear Glasses? Lynn Dove 89
4 Parenting Faux Pas
28 Kindergarten Expose Mimi Greenwood Knight 95
29 Bad Hair Day Heather Davis 97
30 Chasing Perfection Samantha Ducloux Waltz 100
31 Tact and Diplomacy Ron Kaiser 104
32 The Art of Parenting Jane M. Choate 106
33 With a Song and a Prayer Jennifer Quasha 108
34 The Interview D'ette Corona 111
35 Men in Training Barbara LoMonaco 113
5 Stop and Smell the Roses
36 Mud Puddles Denise Seagren-Peterson 119
37 Priorities Perry P. Perkins 121
38 Metamorphosis by Mud Erin Mantz 123
39 Today Ginger Truitt 126
40 Am I Beautiful? David Fillingim 128
41 Perspective Rosemary Smiarowski 130
42 The Fabric of My Memories Dean K Miller 132
43 Off the Beaten Path Mimi Greenwood Knight 135
6 Learning from Each Other
44 De-faced Erika Hoffman 141
45 First Flight Michele Boom 145
46 Different Paths Deborah Shouse 149
47 The Soldier and His Daughter Craig Idlebrook 152
48 My Son Made Me Tweet Theresa Hupp 155
49 Baggage Control Lynne Leite 159
50 Frozen Moment Laura Guman Fabiani 163
51 Reel Joy Jack Blandford 166
52 Putting Down Roots Jaye Lewis 169
53 Getting the Sad Out Joelle Jarvis 171
7 Treasured Moments
54 First Date Julie Stephenson 177
55 Ten Precious Minutes David R. Warren 181
56 Midnight Madness Lori Slaton 184
57 Got the T-shirt Cathi LaMarche 187
58 The Special Plate Christine M. Smith 192
59 Mommy, Can You Come Up? Diane Helbig 195
60 The Meet Tiffany Doerr Guerzon 198
61 A Reminder of Love Tanya Shearer 202
8 From the Mouths of Babes
62 Solo Flight Rachel Allison 207
63 Parenting on Four Wheels Beth M. Wood 211
64 A Little Hand Up Cynthia Hamond 215
65 Listen to the Children Christina J. Hunt 217
66 Big Sister Ritu Shannon 218
67 Body Language Amy Newmark 220
68 Taking His Vitals Carol McAdoo Rehme 222
69 Teething Pains Helen R. Zanone 224
70 Phone Messages Tracy Minor 226
9 What Goes Around Comes Around
71 The Hot Seat Janeen Lewis 231
72 Hopelessly Hip Mom Judy O'Kelley 235
73 Polka Dots and Stripes Carol Emmons Hartsoe 239
74 The Good Parts Victoria Fedden 241
75 Outnumbered Barbara LoMonaco 243
76 Who's Teaching Whom? Donna Finlay Savage 246
77 A Painful Journey Anna Koopman 249
78 The Buffy Tree Sue Summer 253
10 Love Conquers All
79 Worth the Wait Barbara Ann Burris 259
80 Our Summer of Discontent Timothy Martin 263
81 Bliss Happens Jeff Davidson 266
82 Do-Over M. Cristina Ruiz 271
83 A Shelter in the Storm Donna R. Paulson 275
84 DNA Stands for "Does Not Apply" Diane Stark 278
85 You Gotta Be Cool in Middle School Susan M. Heim 283
86 Just a Word Elisabeth Bailey 285
87 Two Makes a Family Ginny Dubose 288
11 Saying Thank You
88 Making Friends with My Kitchen Dana Hinders 293
89 The Day You Were Born Brenda Watterson 295
90 A Bad Hop Jonathan D. Katz 298
91 Lucky Pen Kimber Krochmal 302
92 Somos Una Familia Susan Kimmel Wright 304
93 Listen and Learn Jeneil Palmer Russell 308
94 Home Safe William Garvey 311
12 Giving Them Wings to Fly
95 Wonderful Noise Shawn Marie Mann 317
96 More to Life than Basketball Susan R. Ray 321
97 Going Gluten-Free Karen C Talcott 325
98 On Her Own Terms Jeff Davidson 328
99 Skid Marks and Screeching Rubber Tsgoyna Tanzman 331
100 Swing with Me Amy Giles 336
101 Something Bigger Natalie June Reilly 339
Meet Our Contributors 345
Meet Our Authors 361
Thank You 363
About Chicken Soup for the Soul 364
