Inspirational Parenting » Life Trials

To Summer at Eighteen

Steve Meineke — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:41:50 +0000

November 1994

Dear Summer,

Eighteen years ago I stood looking at you—fresh-born—through the big glass window in the hospital nursery, watching the nurses try to count your tiny toes. Minutes old, you were bright-red-screaming-at-the-top-of-your-lungs unbounded life, squirming and kicking in every direction—quite a challenge to those toe-counting nurses. How I wanted to reach through the window, to [...]

MOVE – Mobility Opportunities Via Education

Kim Leonetti — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:58:53 +0000

NICHOLAS CARTER LEONETTI was born on October 7, 1986 at 37 weeks by C-section. He weighed in at 8lb.13oz. and his apgar scores were 8 and 9.

At 2 months Nicholas needed hernia surgery and at 3 months he developed a pericardial effusion. It was tapped but reaccumulated immediately and at 4 months he had a [...]

Burying Children…

Tiffaney — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:30:28 +0000

The hardest thing I’ve been through as a parent is to have to bury two of my children… It taught me to cherish life and love every moment that I have with my family. It taught me not to take my kids for granted because they could be taken from me with no warning. Every [...]

If You’re Listening…

Jeff — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:51:52 +0000

If you’re listening, if you’re awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; it’s purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold ever more wonders. -Andrew Harvey

Peeking Through

JoyH — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:43:21 +0000

My grand plans dissolved this morning as my 2 year old Elijah looked up and asked “Put the radio on?” I chose a college station and was pleasantly surprised by some Christian hip-hop as Eli donned his sister’s purple headband (all the better for dancing, I suppose) and proceeded to bust a move for a [...]

Bring May Showers

JoyH — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:34:30 +0000

Dirty faced babies running outside in the sunshine, and all but one is mine. Oh, he’s mine on some level, same grin and orneriness, same hair… the grandbaby runs, transfixed on his Uncle Eli, all of 3 years old, copying every move, and Eli plays, alternately miffed at the intrusion of attention lost, and loving [...]

March Comes in like a Lion

JoyH — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:07:00 +0000

I started off my day feeling a bit sorry for myself. All of my little ones were down with colds and it had finally caught up to me. There was an impending snow storm to contend with, which translates in my home to Daddy leaving for days on end to plow the snow, and Mommy, [...]

An Adoptive Mom’s Journey to Motherhood: A Mothers Day Story

Heidi Naylor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:23:54 +0000

I used to hate Mother’s day. Not because I was not grateful for my Mother or for what my Grandmothers did for me. They were and are great women. I hated Mothers day because it was a day to remember and honor mothers. Something I longed so badly to be but was not. On Mother’s [...]

Parenting Lessons From A Suffering Child: Part 2

Jeff — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:03:25 +0000

I felt like we had become spiders living in a web of wires and tubes. They clung to her feet and chest. They protruded from her nose, back, arms, and other uncomfortable places. It was difficult to move her or to even change her diaper. It was nearly impossible to pick her up. She was [...]

Parenting Lessons from a Suffering Child: Part 1

Jeff — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:22:55 +0000

Parenting Lessons from a Suffering Child: Part 1.

The news isn’t good… not good at all. My precious, innocent, two-year-old daughter’s kidneys are failing. My baby lies in the hospital bed next to me; she is terrified and in so much pain that I have to lay in the hopistal bed with her or her heart rate sets off the [...]