“My 11-year-old self ran to my bedroom, fighting back tears. I didn’t know when I would see them again or even where they were. My husband blurted out, ‘We should look into that.’ ‘Into being foster parents?’ They were only 5 and 3 years old. They would be so scared. I wanted to be the nice foster mom.”
‘I blurted out on the phone, ‘My little sister and brother have been taken to a foster home.’ My 11-year-old self ran to my bedroom, fighting back tears.’: Foster family realizes ‘we didn’t need all the answers’
‘In the silence of the morning, before anyone else is awake, it’s just me and you.’: Mom says ‘I’ll cherish this gift of knowing you, before the world knows how special you are, too’
“These little kicks. Every turn of your body, every poke of your finger…they are sacred. I’ll cherish these moments. Because God gave Mamas a special gift. A gift of knowing our babies long before anyone else.”
‘Someone WILL get COVID-19 in your school.’ My heart ached as they put their masks on. It isn’t supposed to be this way.’: Preschool teacher shares experience during pandemic
“It’s not supposed to be this way. I started teaching 15 years ago. Never did I think I’d be navigating teaching during a pandemic. Children who have been home for months are now going to be in my classroom. I honestly can’t believe it’s come to this.”
‘I’ve made the decision to send my kids to school, and I am filled with so many mixed emotions.’: Mom says ‘there is no right or wrong answer’ amid school reopenings
“‘Well, schools wouldn’t be opening if they didn’t think they could keep the kids safe, right?’ But then I see these counties in Georgia with hundreds of cases after schools opened. I think about my 72-year-old mother currently living with me and wonder if I’m making the right decision.”
‘Where is his wife? Why is he watching the baby? What’s she doing?’ My favorite part of this story is the way Steven told it to me.’: Mom grateful for husband’s help during child birth recovery
“I felt completely overwhelmed and exhausted. Enter Steven.”
‘Don’t compare apples to oranges.’: Woman responds to Cannon Hinnant’s death, ‘This is about right versus wrong’
“Two innocent children died by the reckless use of a firearm, but there was a difference.”
‘I notice the careful details in dorm rooms. The way you hold your not-so-little person a little too tightly. I am in awe of your ability to let go.’: Mom pens letter to the ‘brave mamas and daddies’ amid school reopenings
“You’re pushing your baby bird from the nest amidst a pandemic. You’re swallowing the fears setting sail in your mothering heart. Dropping your person off at college must feel like a bittersweet victory.”
‘Hold me a little tighter Momma, life is moving by so fast.’: Mom pens touching letter from perspective of child, ‘Holding you all these years has meant more than you’ll ever know’
“I’m not ready for you to go.”
‘I’m struggling to answer questions from my children about school and sports. I’m struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel.’: Mom reminds us ‘we don’t have to walk this path alone’
“I’m struggling to make choices that seem unpredictable and scary. I’m struggling with the ‘what if’s’ and the unknowns surrounding the future.”
‘It’s funny, I see you becoming a mother to a baby, but not a newborn. He’ll have big, round, blue eyes.’: Single mom details attachment and adoption process from foster care
“I nearly fell right out of my seat when I saw my very first picture of Axel. A cherub, round face of a gorgeous 6-month-old, with the biggest blue eyes, stared right into my soul from the computer screen in that social worker’s office. I was floating on cloud 9, but she reminded me there are always risks involved with adopting from foster care.”