Hi. My name is Rachel.
I started this blog in 2012 when I was pregnant with my first baby. Having been a preschool teacher and nanny who was headed into motherhood, I thought about all of the children I had influence over, and was reminded of the poem “The Hand the Rocks the Cradle,” realizing that I had a unique story to tell in that I have “rocked” so many cradles. Since then, I have had 7 biological children and fostered 8.
As for me now? I am married to a handsome man named The Milkman. We had our firstborn, The Captain, then Mamitas, our angel baby, Ezra in 2014, Peach, Gordito, Bear, and lastly Jojo. We have fostered since 2016, and have been blessed to have our lives touched by 8 beautiful souls.
My life goal was to become a mother and home maker and now that I am here, I’m not sure what’s next. My life revolves around breast milk, educating my children, cooking, cleaning obsessively, reading piles of books, carrying my planner with me wherever I go, and stealing kisses from Milkman. Follow me here as I document my thoughts, adventures, mishaps, and lightly organized chaos.
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sherocksthecradle.com 
Hey Mrs. Poopy-Picker-Upper,
Your today’s entry brought tears to my eyes. So many motherless babies out there who need us stay-at-homers to pray for them. Will do. Love you!
The father of Milkman here. When I was young, I had to learn to defend myself against the bullies that thought Milkman Sr. was a pushover. Being a gentleman means being good and being tough. Love, ronaldDad
Hi Rachel, I’m so appreciative of your article on fostering to adopt! I don’t know where you are located but here in Canada, I have grave concerns that foster parents are being advised to skip the adoption route (wait lists are too long) and to foster instead because they’ll be able to adopt out of the foster care system. Agency policies and legal precedents support foster parents who stake a claim over a child, to prevail. This is especially the case when it comes to Indigenous kids. I wrote an article about it called “The Indigenous Child Removal System in Canada”. The lack of uptake on the issue had me wondering if I was just imagining things. Thanks for this. Raven
I’m in the US, but I would love to read your article!
I have been a foster parent for 44 years. I have been a foster/adoptive trainer for 34 years. I just read your article about fostering to adopt. It is excellent! It expresses exactly what we relate to the families we train. May I have your permission to share it with those pre-service classes? I train for Family Forward, formerly Children’s Home Society of Missouri. The families are licensed by the Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division.
Thank you in advance and keep up the wonderful work!
Thank you for reading Geri! You may absolutely share my article, as long as its with proper credit with me as the author.
Thank you for being honest with the parents you train!!!
Hi Rachel, I love your article “There is no such thing as foster to adopt”. Thank you so much for your insight! I am the director of a statewide resource/primary parent association in Ohio (Ohio Family Care Association). I mentioned your article and shared the link in our newsletter. Several folks asked if they could share it in their newsletter. I figured it was okay (with proper credits) but I wanted to make sure since some of the request are from public child welfare agencies. – Wendi
Please forgive me for not replying sooner! You absolutely are free to share where ever you please!