She makes some great points here!!! We should all take some cues from this post.
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The Greatness of Gratitude
Category Archives: Happiness
Proud Mommy Moment
Third grade student of the month!!
I Photoshopped My Ideal Face…
This is a beautiful post! I hope all of you out there can really hear this message.. You are all beautiful in you own way! ❤
I Photoshopped My “Ideal Face” And It Made Me Feel Like Shit.
The longer I stared at the doctored photo, the more I longed for it.
https://static.medium.com/embed.js<a class="m-story" data-collapsed="true" href="https://medium.com/the-coffeelicious/i-photoshopped-my-ideal-face-and-it-made-me-feel-like-shit-a5d61c1ce05f">I Photoshopped My “Ideal Face” And It Made Me Feel Like Shit.</a>” target=”_blank”>I Photoshopped My Ideal Face
Turn your Complaints into Smiles!
I love this!! We should all strive to be more like this!!
Welcome To The World, Karley Marie!
My baby brother is 9 years younger than me, we were always very close and I love him very much. He and his beautiful wife have an amazing 7 year old who is my princess. 17 days ago, they brought another little princess into this world. This was to be a wonderful day that so many of us looked forward to, Karley Marie was born, beautiful and loved!
(ignore the date, my camera is set wrong)
Soon after she was born, she started turning blue. The doctors said she had some fluid on her lungs due to being born via c-section and she would be just fine.
The next thing we knew, they were gearing up to fly her to Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky. They had done a chest x-ray and found out that she actually had been born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). This is a very dangerous condition in which there is a hole in the diaphragm, allowing intestines and sometimes other abdominal organs to herniate into the chest cavity. This can take up room meant for the lungs and cause them to not develop properly, sometimes not at all. We were told she only had a 50/50 chance of survival. Of course, I start researching this and found out that some babies with very little functioning lung tissue survive, while others with no lung damage at all do not and there’s no real way of knowing which babies will pull through and which will not. It was a feeling that I, as wordy as I am, can’t find the words to describe.
Karley underwent surgery at just 2 days old. The doctor’s said it could take up to 4 hours to perform, they were done in 45 minutes! We were told that this had to have happened very late in the pregnancy, there was very little damage to her lung and only needed stitches to repair the hole in her diaphragm, instead of a mesh that is sometimes used. She is a fighter! She recovered and healed very quickly. As of now, the doctor’s don’t expect any long-term issues associated with this. What a little miracle! I say she just needed to make a grand entrance, a little diva just like her big sister!
Karley is home with her family now and doing great! She was in Kosair for 13 days, it could have been much worse and I’m so thankful things have turned out the way they have!
While she was in the hospital, my brother and his wife stayed in the Ronald McDonald house. I don’t know if any of you have ever needed this, or has known anyone who has, but this is a wonderful charity and I am now a big supporter! The doctor’s and nurse’s that took care of Karley, along with the wonderful people at the Ronald McDonald house are true blessings to so many scared families. I feel like I owe them all a huge amount that I could never repay! Thanks to them, God, and a very determined and tough little girl, I now have the pleasure of enjoying my nieces for a very long time!
If you would like to learn more about the hospital or the Ronald McDonald House Charities, please check out the links below. They are truly wonderful!
Stop Thinking There’s Something Wrong with You
Some very beautiful words.. I wish kids could see this about themselves instead of growing up with ill-conceived notions about who they are, then maybe all of the bullying would stop!
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Stop Thinking There’s Something Wrong with You.
via Stop Thinking There’s Something Wrong with You.
Day Two: A Room with a View
I’m trying my hand at this Writing 101 thing. I missed out on Day 1, so I’ll do that privately, but here’s my attempt at day two. Today’s Prompt: If you could zoom through space in the speed of light, what place would you go to right now?
Wishful Imaginings
I’m sitting in my office, staring blankly at my computer screen. My children are on spring break, but instead of taking them somewhere fun, my husband and I have to work. My days away from them are filled with texts with my older child and thoughts about how they are doing. Are they having a good time? Are they being good. Do they need me? I find myself concentrating on them strongly, picturing the scene of what they must be up to at this particular time.
Suddenly, I’m there, in the house watching, invisibly at first, their every move. It’s as if in a dream, like a fly on the way. Suddenly they look up and not even trying to hide the excitement on their faces, they yell “hi Mom!” My mind starts spinning, how did I get here? Did I just completely forget the rest of my day at work? I look at the clock and realize that something very strange is going on, for I should be at work for another three hours! The realization of what has just happened starts to sink in and I can’t decide if it’s real or if I’ve nodded off at my desk, but I honestly don’t care! All that matters to me is that it’s spring break and somehow I’ve been given a chance to make at least this day the very best possible. I begin to wonder if I can do it again, and can I take people with me? Again, my mind and heart start racing with the possibilities of the day.
Quickly I embraced my babies in a warm, but firm, hug. As I stand there with all the love a mother could ask for wrapped around me, I begin to picture my husband and how much better his day could be spent instead of the hard labor he’s surely enduring at this moment. What could we all be doing? How can we make the best of this new power, or dream if it is that?
We’ve been wanting to take the boys to Florida to see the ocean. I remember my husband and I taking a weekend bike ride a couple of years ago. That trip meant so much, it was exactly what we needed in that season of our marriage, and we’ve wanted to return so that our children could experience it as well. I just start focusing on that beautiful beach, empty except for just a few little families like ours scattered around. I concentrate so hard on this image in my head that I actually start to feel the moist heat surrounding me and realize that I must be about to suffocate the kids by now. I slowly open my eyes to let them go and gasp.
What I see before me is a sight more beautiful than my mind had remembered. I am now looking at my loving husband and our two beautiful boys, but in the background is the bluest beach I had ever seen. I hear the waves gently crashing the shore and smell the salty, crisp air. We’re all dressed for the beach and no one seems to question why or how we got there, except for me. That all disappears as my kids go running for the water.
I decide to take a moment to sit on the warm sand and just take it all in. The sky is perfectly clear, with just a couple of those fluffy, cotton ball type clouds dispersed here and there. The sun is shining directly over-head, and as I look out to the water I can’t believe how breathtaking it all is. The water is a deep turquoise blue, with just the perfect amount of white showing as the waves cap. To the left, there is a boardwalk teaming with life. There are people walking up and down, some just standing at the railing looking out into the vast sea in front of them and some taking pictures of the amazing scenes playing out before them.
As I look again for my family, I can see other families dotted along the coastline. There are other children and just at the water’s edge I see my boys, playing with some other kids, building sandcastles and burying each other in the sand. The looks on all of their faces can only be described as pure joy. Suddenly, I notice a shadow moving over me, I look up and see my adoring husband as he offers me his hand and asks me to go for a swim.
The water is so warm and inviting, there are these tiny little fish that I see darting in and out of the sand beneath the crystal clear water. I see stingrays swimming under the boardwalk, I even see a “Dory” fish. As he wraps his now drenched and salty arms around me, all I can think is that I can’t imagine being happier than I am right at this moment.
All too soon, the sun starts it’s descent in the sky and we head away from the beach to see what there is to do. It’s getting darker now and we see this huge ferris wheel lighting up the sky, it’s so large and imposing but at the same time casts such a warm glow about the area. I see people all over and at first think it’s some type of fair set up right here at the beach, but then I realize that it’s actually just the cool summer night life of this small, but wonderful, beach town. As the four of us are stopped at the top of the ferris wheel, looking out over the alive settings below us, I stop to thank God for this day. This has been the best day for us as a family in so long and I never want it to end.
The next thing I know, I’m back at my desk, slightly chilly from the air conditioning. As my senses catch up with me and the stark whiteness of the florescent lighting invade my sight, I realize that I had indeed nodded off. Unfortunately, there are no amazing teleporting powers flowing through me; I can’t just whisk my family off to exotic lands and have amazing adventures with them on a whim…
Or can I???
3 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was Single
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I remember the hardest day of the week for me when I was single was Sunday. Specifically Sunday right after church.
Many of my other single friends would have plans with their families that day, but not me. My family lived 9 hours away.
So, I’d walk through the parking lot watching young moms ooh and ahh over Sunday school artwork and I’d think, “Their lives seem so blissfully full.”
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3 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was Single.
Am I A Good Mom?? (A Question I think Every Mom Asks Herself)
My youngest son is what I call rambunctious.. I knew from the moment I brought him home that he would not be the quiet, easy going little boy his brother is. He is sometimes so Type-A that it is really hard to be around him, yet at other times, he’s as sweet and loving as I could ever hope for. I call him Type-A, but I really don’t know what “type” he is. He is very loud, even in general speaking, and he can be quite ornery.. he is quite often the center of attention and seems to ALWAYS need to be. He is also one of the most passionate, sweet, caring and loving little boys I know. He can be very shy, to the point of hiding behind me (and he now stands up to about my mid chest).. he loves to be the center of attention, but only when he initiates it, he can walk into a room full of people he sees every day, but if they all take notice at once, he’s immediately shy.. It is a sincere shy too, he gets embarrassed and has his feelings hurt fairly easily..
I’m rambling, but my point is, I have two very different personalities in my boys and sometimes I feel like there’s more than one with my youngest (not seriously). If you’re still with me, I’m actually getting to my point now..
Monday night was one of his particularly rambunctious nights.. We were constantly having to get on to him to finish his dinner (he’s a very picky eater and tends to do anything but eat at dinner time). I got to the point where I told him that if I had to get on to him one more time, he would not watch TV that night. Of course, he didn’t get to watch, and he had many more than one more infarction. As he realized he would not be allowed his TV, he says to me “well, that just makes me want to be bad tomorrow too”. UGH!! I told him to go right ahead, but Rudolph would be on tomorrow and if he was bad, he would miss that.
Fast forward a bit and we’ve finished reading and I’m putting him to bed, he asks, “do I still get to watch Rudolph tomorrow?” I told him if he could be good then we would watch it together. Then, as I’m turning out his light and walking out of his room I hear, “will you help me be good, Mommy?” Instant melt! That boy can send me into so many different directions! I don’t know if it translates well in this post, but that was such a sweet, innocent little question that basically brought me to my knees.
It’s had me questioning my skills as a mom. Do I really spend enough time with them? Do I show them daily how to become good, loving adults? Am I shaping them into the men that I know they can someday be? I can only hope and pray that I am. It may seem silly to all of you that one little question like that can bring about all these worries and fears, but in this life, we have so much going on in a single day that it’s hard to stop and just “be” with the people we love. I am trying to make a conscious effort from now on to spend at least some quality time with my boys every day. Even if it is just to read before bed. I get home so late, my husband usually already has supper ready and I feel like I’m running on fumes so they tend to get very little time with mommy, at least it feels that way to me. What’s more important than being with your children, loving them and enforcing in them that they are amazing, beautiful, and so worthy of love? I am hoping to remind myself of all of this the next time they are getting on my nerves.. the next time Zach is being soo annoying, or Kylar is giving his 13 yr old attitude, and I hope an pray that I don’t fail too many times.
Sitting here typing, I can feel the love and comfort from last night, being snuggled up watching Rudolph together. Pretty soon they won’t care anything about cuddling with mom so I intend to enjoy every second.
So, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to go home and hopefully do something constructive with my babies…
One Word
Very well and simply put!
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The Voices In My Head 