Mary Evelyn Greene, Senior Managing Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project, adopted two toddlers from Russia in 2004. Ever since, she has doggedly devoted herself to improving her alcohol-exposed son's condition, publishing articles in Adoptive Families Magazine and Adoption Today along the way. She is a contributing author to Easy to Love but Hard to Raise (2012), a collection of stories written for and by parents of special needs kids. She currently lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband and children. This is her first book.
"With When Rain Hurts, Mary Greene has captured what it means to
become a person of integrity. The author's untiring story of
commitment to her adopted, multiply disabled son Peter and his
highly sensitive, cognitive and biological systems teaches and
inspires. In most homes, where FAS, autism and other severe
biomedical disorders are not a fact of daily life, a child's
developmental milestones are celebrated as givens. Greene asks us
to look at things with a set of different measures altogether, to
rethink our cultural preconceptions of what constitutes achievement
or success. If I were asked to name my favorite overachievers, I'd
choose those who have gone above and beyond the call to map the
depth and possibility of our humanity. I'd name intrepid Greene and
her courageous son, Peter."
--Valerie Paradiz, PhD, author of Elijah's Cup and Director,
Autistic Global Initiative of the Autism Research Institute "'What
I wanted was a family, ' writes Mary Greene, 'not a booby-trapped
marathon that lacked a finish line.' In this intimate and
unflinching memoir, Greene describes the space between her dreams
of motherhood and the reality of life with an adopted child
suffering from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. When Rain Hurts is
emotionally complex, fascinating, gritty, exhausting, and teeming
with protective mother-energy and love. Three cheers for Mary
Greene's fighting spirit and the work she's doing to create and
protect her family while educating so many of us about the
complexities of international adoption and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum
Disorders."
--Sheri Reynolds, author of The Homespun Wisdom of Myrtle T. Cribb
"What will a mother do for her child? If your name is Mary Greene,
the answer is 'everything possible.' Greene's searing account of
learning to parent her prenatal alcohol-exposed, bipolar,
orphanage-veteran son is an unforgettable lesson in commitment,
fortitude, and unconditional love. This riveting and candid story
sheds a brutal light on the challenges faced by many
post-institutionalized children and their families, and assures
them, 'You are not alone. There is hope.'"
--Jessica O'Dwyer, author of Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir "Mary E.
Greene shares her family's journey through the world of Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome with a lucid candor free of self-pity (and a
healthy wit). To anyone either struggling to make sense of the
journey to adopt a child, or dealing with a skewed adoption system,
Greene's book will offer both camaraderie and sustenance.
--Edie Meidav, author of Lola, California
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