“I could have fallen into a puddle on the floor, but that’s not what happened. In the midst of tragedy, these words kept pressing on my heart: ‘GOD ISN’T FINISHED.’”
‘We can’t see why you can’t have children.’ I felt like there was something wrong with me.’: Mom struggling with infertility shares emotional journey to adopt
‘I awoke to three strangers standing in our living room, grave concern on their faces. ‘Their mom hasn’t been here.’ I was driven away by police car, anxious and confused.’: Former foster youth urges ‘you aren’t your circumstances’
“We finally arrived at our destination. A modest green house with a chain link fence. Standing at the sidewalk was a petite elderly woman with a white t-shirt, floral skirt, and hair pulled in a high bun. She greeted me with a smile. ‘Hi Jamerika,’ she said, as if she knew me her whole life.”
‘The entire night he gleamed from ear to ear.’: Community rallies to include boy with autism, rare diseases in school marching band and make his dreams come true
“Disability does not define who a person is. It is simply a different way of learning. A different view of the world. And our entire community opened their arms and hearts to my special little boy.”
‘I did everything and anything to get her to love me, and nothing worked. I wrote out who I needed her to be. Who I had dreamt of her being. And then I grieved them.’: Daughter to toxic mother urges ‘you are worthy of healthy love’
“My mother had been rejecting me from conception. She had tried to miscarry me her whole pregnancy. She hated me so much that when I was born, she struggled to even touch me or hold me. I realized I would never win, I would never have ‘That Mom,’ and I would never have the relationship with her I’d wanted all of these years.”
‘Every time I gave birth, I awoke the dormant beasts inside me.’: Mom of 3 shares journey to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Lupus diagnoses
“I started wearing sunglasses indoors. My hair was falling out in chunks, my gums bleeding. Sounds hurt. The very smell of air made me sick. I was a shell of myself, withering away, barely hanging on. But then I thought of my little girl. She was so small, not even talking yet. How would she remember me? Who would teach her to do her hair? I had to stop planning my goodbyes, and start fighting.”
We Don’t Die When Grief Consumes Us (Even If We Think We Might)—We Live To Keep Our Loved Ones Hearts Alive, Forever
“He wasn’t supposed to die. He was so young. Smart. Full of life. He couldn’t leave us. I waited for his bike to come home, to hear its noise ringing in the street. But our home was silent. And inside me, it wasn’t.”
How To Handle The After-School Meltdown
“I did everything I could to prepare, but it just wasn’t enough.”
‘Our time was ending, but I wanted my daddy to walk me down the aisle.’: Daughter stages tearful ‘fake wedding’ for father dying of cancer
“We stood in a circle, praying for more time. ‘This is just a practice run for the real wedding,’ I said, but we both knew it wasn’t true. As we danced, I thanked God for the gray-headed, goofy, kindhearted father I got to love for 23 years. I wanted to stay in that moment forever. No sadness or fear in the way of how much we loved each other.”
After Adopting 4 Siblings, Woman Who Didn’t Think She Could Get Pregnant Births Miracle Quadruplets
“They now have nine kids under the age of 8!”
To The Parents Dropping Off Kids At College—They Come Back
“But not as you knew them. Not as you remember the 5-year-old smiling at you or the 10-year-old on a skateboard trying to learn to balance, or the 16-year-old ignoring you.”