It's happening! On Wednesday, I'll load up the car with the hundreds of boxes (ok, it only feels like hundreds) and head to Simpsonwood where over the next few hours people will arrive from all over the world.

I am VERY excited, nervous, overwhelmed, exhausted, thrilled, tired, apprehensive and overjoyed all at once! The details have been tedious, but the enthusiasm from all of the people who are coming is contagious!

I spent the better part of Saturday frantically working on my own workshop presentation, "Helping Traumatized Chidren Success in Public School." There is a deep irony to me giving his presentation, since we're currently doing battle with the public school system over services for LuLu. But hey, who better to tell the folks what NOT to do!

What I discovered, as other speakers have told me, is that there is no way I can cram everything I want to tell others in a 90-minute presentation. What this means is that we have some really weighty topics and some very knowledgeable speakers. Parenting children who have been abused, neglected, maltreated is complex. It's not something that can be explained in short sessions. But I have no doubt that our speakers will do it justice.

I want to hear them all! And eventually I will. Thanks to a generous mom who is giving of her time, talent and recording equipment, we are recording the sessions to sell CDs for those not able to attend. The order form is available on ADN's website.

So, I'm trying to write like crazy in the next couple of days...hoping to not leave this blog empty during my time away. But regardless, I know I'll have lots to tell you when I return.