“Raising children who spent their first years of holidays in chaos and insecurity can be challenging. We juggle the joy of now, with the reality of painful memories.”
‘My eyes welled up. 2018 has not been easy on this ever-changing family. 7 little people that hold the pieces of my heart were under one roof, and I felt whole.’
‘My dad was sick 2 years ago. Not like stomach flu sick. Not like pneumonia sick. Not like medicine-can-fix-it sick.’
“I don’t like how he hurt and how he suffered. I don’t like the pain his disease caused. But I do like what it taught me.”
‘I grew up in the 80’s. We invented the most radical lingo. Well, it’s a new era and a new set of teens. I took my daughter on a road trip and guess what? I barely understood a word she was saying.’
“Without us, today’s kids would never know the meaning of something good being called ‘bad.’ I remind myself of this while I’m carpooling teenagers who just don’t understand that, at one point, I was BODACIOUS.”
‘For us, he was only ever our son. Even though most folks find him adorable right now, they might feel differently when he dates their daughters.’: Mom adopts black child, hopes for more acceptance for his future
“A neighbor at a playgroup asked all the kids to go around the room and say what color they were. They all laughed when it was Eli’s turn. He said he was white, like everyone else did. They made sure he left knowing he wasn’t.”
‘A well-dressed man approached, I got in his car and he drove me to a wooded area. He kept me all night.’: Woman details her runaway journey with beautiful kindnesses along the way
“When I was 5 years old, one of my earliest memories is of my mother dropping me out of a two-story window which resulted in both of my arms being broken.”
I Am The Person Who Listens To You Cry As You Beg Your Loved One To Take Another Breath
“In order to understand who I am, you must first understand what I do.”
‘His dad said loudly, ‘Oh hush, you were worse. You know? You would scream so loud, run up and down the tables, throw things. Your mother and I stopped going out because of you.’
One of the kids stood up on the chair and said a big ‘hello!’ The guy immediately looked down, and wouldn’t look up. The kid was trying to get his attention and say hi, but the guy looked at his partner and rolled his eye
‘I drove home crying, feeling forgotten. That same night, I received a call. ‘We have a 4-day-old baby in the NICU who needs a family. We think it should be you.’: Mom shares journey with infertility, adoption, and foster care
“I got home and, on a whim, took a test. It was POSITIVE. Let me remind you, we NOW have a 3-year-old, 2-year-old, 9-month-old, and two foster daughters, ages 2 and 7. Okay, you are just messing with us, right?”
‘We are forgetting about our boys and that’s not OK.’
“Article after article is about raising daughters, not sons. And, when I do come across an essay on raising sons, it’s about how and why we need to raise our boys with particular values for the sake of the females and daughters of the world. This is something I’m not entirely on board with.”
‘My daughter looked up at me. ‘What’s that,’ she innocently asked. I wiped away tears. ‘I miss your brother and sister.’ She leaned her head against mine. ‘I miss them too,’ she whispered.’
“As I opened her closet door, something tumbled to the ground. I reached down and picked up the small storage container, knowing instantly what was inside. I took a deep breath as I rubbed my fingers across the sticker that said ‘hospital things.’”