“You’re going to be too much for some people. Too loud. Too opinionated. Those people will never get you. Find the ones who do… and love them hard! You never know who may be looking to you for a little bit of joy.”
‘You will be excluded. Friends will come and go. No matter how good you are, people are going to talk about you. Don’t take it personal, those people will never get you.’: Woman urges ‘don’t let anyone dull your shine’
20 Must Do’s Before You Say ‘I Do’
“Have you talked about your dying wishes? What if one of you becomes paralyzed? Are you taking in parents during old age? Speak on ALL of it.”
‘Can you take in a 9-month-old baby?’ A single twenty-something, I said yes to ‘a few weeks.’ I was prepared for temporary.’: Single woman becomes foster, adoptive mom to siblings
“I was supposed to be the short-term shelter in the storm. I had no intentions of permanency. Dead-set on only taking one kiddo at a time, I got a second call. ‘Can you take in his newborn baby brother? He was born premature.’ Suddenly, all my ‘rules’ went out the window.”
‘You never buy me anything. You’re always like this,’ my daughter said. It was hard to hear, even harder to fight the overwhelming guilt.’: How To Raise Grateful Kids Instead Of Entitled Ones
“My mind raced. ‘Am I not doing enough for her? Am I limiting her desires too much?’ Her words made me realize something: I needed to put more effort into teaching my daughters about gratitude.”
‘I was only 16. I brought my stuffed Eeyore for comfort, a child giving birth to another child. I wanted different for her.’: Mom shares open adoption story, ‘Our families are bound together’
“I saw how her life would look: a single mom constantly working, wishing to provide nicer things, and a little girl wondering why her father didn’t want to be around. Then, the veil lifted. Both myself and the birth parents could complete her life’s ‘puzzle.’”
‘You’re purposely starving your unborn child by not eating.’ My husband wasn’t allowed in the room for ultrasounds.’: Mom births baby with Down syndrome after hospital malpractice, ‘He is more loved because, not despite, his diagnosis’
“The pediatrician was super blunt. ‘No, you are mistaken. You’ve confused us with a different baby.’ Nobody noticed it on the million ultrasounds throughout the pregnancy. I watched my husband and 1-day-old baby taken away from me in an ambulance and all I could do was stare.”
‘Your to-do list will keep growing. The emails will continue to flood in. The texts will sit unanswered.’: Mom urges ‘everything else can wait, you only get one chance to raise your kids’
“But your children, they grow right before your eyes. Their tiny voices change overnight. Their giggles and tears start and end with you…until they don’t. Everything else can wait. Parenting is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
‘I will never stop kissing your boo-boos. I will never stop wiping your tears and admiring you as you sleep. You will forever be my little boy.’: Mom urges ‘soak up these moments, you are their world right now’
“Even when you stop asking for kisses and cuddles. Even when you don’t want to hold my hand anymore. Even when you don’t want me to sing you to sleep anymore. You will always be my little boy. This bond between mother and son, it’s something special.”
‘We’re working like our kids aren’t there, parenting like we don’t work. I knew giving birth was hard, but this is so much harder.’: Mom says ‘we make the impossible happen’
“I am not a working mom or a stay-at-home mom. I am both. Somehow, someway, us moms always make the impossible happen.”
‘He was arching his back and screaming for air. Literally, panting. We were stuck. All we could do was pray and pack.’: Family returns from Guatemala after almost losing son
“I wanted to scream, ‘This baby strapped to my chest almost died last night. Our world is falling apart.’ Our dreams were shattered. We found ourselves back in our hometown looking for purpose.”
