Double Portion Inspiration

I know this is shocking news especially since my oldest son is already 20 years old. If I had to do it all over again I would want a sweet newborn that would sleep through the night, not have allergies and not have to deal with asthma or multiple ear infections. CLEARLY - not possible!!  Babies are full of life and innocence. We don't get to choose their temperament. We are designed to parent and love our children NO matter what. As parents, we learn life lessons of being adaptable and vulnerable. Having a newborn in the house is humbling and complex. Everyday we learn about them and also about ourselves. Most likely this year we've wished for a more perfect world. A world that wouldn't have a global pandemic. A world with more employed workers. A world without poverty or social and political unrest. Unfortunately, that's NOT our reality now. How will we RESPOND when our situation isn't changing? Our RESPONSE is the one thing we can control. We can always choose h...

Kelly and I are different. She's Canadian and I'm American. We have worked together and we refuse to focus on our differences. Kelly is a #1 best selling international children's author. You can find her book on Amazon. I read her book OFTEN . I am honored to have her as our guest blogger today.  Kelly discusses strength she's discovered while raising a daughter with facial differences. You never know where inspiration will strike; for me, it was a train ride into the city of Toronto. I was sitting there drinking my morning tea when it came to me; all the situations that we've encountered had one thing in common. We taught her to introduce herself when someone was staring. When my daughter was born, we didn't know that she had Treacher-Collins Syndrome or had ever heard of it. The moment I met my little girl, it changed my life for the better. I took one look and said this little girl is going to change the world. I realized I wanted to be a part of changing it...

Humanity is experiencing a constant stream of loss during this pandemic. The toll on human life as well as the loss of control over our emotions during COVID19, is a reality.  There are many ways in which we could be grieving in 2020: Loss of normal routines Loss of feeling a hug Loss of being around others Loss of not being in the hospital with a sick family member Lost of not meeting a new grand baby Loss of not being able to travel internationally Loss of control Loss of a loved one Loss of employment Loss of attending a concert We can start to feel buried by all the loss and pain. As the days of the pandemic continue, we can feel blue vs feeling full of life. If we are honest, life can feel like too much effort to live.  WHO will rescue us from all this pain? WHO will rescue us from these losses? WHO can restore what has been taken away? Focusing only on the situations happening around us can give us a false sense of defeat. We are definitely navigating some troubled times...