“’If only we had a better house…’ It’s an awful way to live. If only we could all find happiness in what’s in front of us.”
‘If Only’ Steals Your Joy—Look For The Good Instead
‘At 15, I started numbing my grief with drugs and alcohol. Two years later, I was pregnant.’: Teen mom shares mental health, healing journey, ‘I did it against all odds’
“I apprehensively showed him the test, thinking surely he’d turn around and run the other way. Instead, he hugged me as my mascara ran down my face, telling me, ‘Everything will be okay.’ I knew he was going to change my life.”
‘I’ve lived a good life. You’ve given me everything.’ We didn’t see it coming.’: After losing husband to cancer, woman urges ‘pull your loved ones close’
“Please take the risk, eat the cake, do the thing. Please start the business, grow your family, follow your heart. We didn’t want it to come. But it still came. And then it came again. And it had no mercy.”
‘I want you to raise him and be his parents for the rest of his life.’ She gave us the biggest blessing of our lives.’: Couple adopt 3 miracle children after unexplained infertility diagnosis
“My husband took my hands and said, ‘Rachel, I think we need to wait. I feel like a child is going to be put into our lives when we aren’t expecting it.’ Two days later, the sweetest baby boy was wheeled into the room. As soon as I saw him, my heart knew….I would do anything for him.”
‘In this photo you see an aunt mid-laugh, posing with her niece on her 40th birthday. It was a good day, a really good day.’: Niece urges ‘recovery is possible’ after losing aunt to addiction
“What you don’t see is depression and addiction. You don’t see jail, and rehab, and a woman who would soon be found by a passerby trying to jump off a bridge. You don’t see a high school freshman being forced to grow up too fast, or an open casket.”
‘I need help. I can’t do this anymore.’ At 2 a.m., my pounding heart and sweaty body woke me from a 5-day drinking bender.’: Woman details emotional sobriety journey
“I was always the good student, then the good employee, but I became the good drinker.”
‘I finished your branch of the family tree.’ What can of worms have I opened? I was excited and nervous at the same time.’: Adoptee shares incredible reunion with birth parents, siblings
“I thought they were just two immature high school kids who got knocked up. The moment he reacted to the words, ‘I think you’re my birth father,’ I knew I was wrong.”
‘Mommy, you look pretty.’ I was taken aback. I had unwashed hair, spit-up stains on my shirt, tired eyes coffee couldn’t fix.’: Mom sets example for daughters to ‘feel comfortable in their own skin’
“I was about to say, ‘No, I don’t,’ out of habit, but stopped myself. The thought of my daughters one day shrinking themselves made me cringe.”
Jumping In Rain Puddles, Snuggling In Bed, Giggling And Growing—One Day, It Will All Come To An End
“I’m missing my children, while loving the teens who stand taller next to me. As I watch their independent world unfold before me, I will learn to cherish the moments, and with great pride whisper, ‘I am blessed.'”
‘You’re my hero.’ Sometimes answered prayers don’t always look the way we thought they would.’: Mom thanks Taekwondo instructors for ‘standing in the gap’ for son
“I never had positive male role models. Upon becoming a mother, my deepest wish was for my kids to have what I was missing. Good, strong men they could count on to care about them, invest in them, and help them become who they’re supposed to be. I never expected Master Cruz and Mr. Jose would stand in the gap.”