"I write, therefore I am."

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” – Willa Cather Love is such an incredible force, one which drives us to do unthinkable things – even at the cost of life itself – for those we care about. I would trade love for nothing in this world, especially when it comes to my family. I’m sure I’m not alone in my sympathies. In 1998, I extended my love to a new member of my family, a sister adopted from a lonely orphanage in faraway Russia. She was just four when we welcomed her into our home. What happened in those four short years will always be a mystery, but the impact they had on her life will not. Unable to do anything to stop her, my family and I watched helplessly as my sister’s past swallowed her in the present. Her pain seemed unmanageable, her behavior got progressively worse and nothing seemed to help. At the beginning of this year my parents made the terribly difficult decision to enroll her in a long-term residential treatment center - for her own protection. ...