playing catch with eggs

              Being pregnant and having a baby is so fun! Truly, to see your body adapt, expand, and create a baby is intriguing. Our bodies are amazing and while there are all sorts of stories, fears, questions, body types, desires, experiences, I would like to offer my positive experience to whoever feels they would benefit. I all-caps some of the paragraphs so you can skip ahead to certain parts you are more interested in as I did include almost every detail... ha. This depiction is for me and I want to remember all that I can of this dear occurrence. I was fortunate enough to not have any complications and all went extremely well and smooth. So while you may hear horror stories, I hope our story provides a source of excitement and hope of a positive pregnancy and birthing experience. I attribute much of the experience to a positive, healthy, educated mindset. I felt I achieved this before and during my pregnancy through listening to others, ...

          Life is beautiful with the daily grind that makes it worth living. It can be hard to notice changes, especially little ones, that shape our character. Out of many experiences we can be shaped by our choices. And, although it can be hard to decipher at times where our course took a change with all the miniscule decisions to be made each day, some events or decisions do stand out obviously in the change.   I have had one of those ‘bigger’ moments that shaped how I respond and approach several situations now. My mindset has been forever altered and my view of life is seen with different eyes due to a miscarriage.   I looked up the word and the dictionary provides the two following definitions: 1 – the expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently, especially spontaneously or as the result of accident; 2 – an unsuccessful outcome of something planned. The following story is an accumulation of journal entries and t...

                Everyone told me the first year of teaching would be difficult and I experienced many difficulties and many triumphs and delights as I taught and did my best to help 220+ eighth graders. I love them and would of course require work, thought, time, and participation in class. Writing paragraphs, analyzing sources, reading were little things we did daily in my classroom. While many students jumped right in, there were also a good handfull that would respond, 'ah, that is so hard though!' Initially, that response made me laugh and I would make little jokes back. Then, as I heard that response daily... multiple times a day, I realized how much they, me, we, use this excuse to avoid trying or giving effort and deprive ourselves of wonderful experiences in the process.                With many thoughts on this topic, I will share a series of my thoughts as I continue to learn how to overcome the ...

Why You Should Give Up Already             I want to expose a secret! Something true that can impact you and many you interact with. This secret has been floating around and we are often inspired when we see others believing and acting on it. An example is Florence Chadwick, an incredible swimmer who set records for swimming the English Channel 4 times and other ocean swims. In 1952, she attempted to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California Coast. As she began, she was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. After about 15 hours, a thick fog set in. Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it. She swam for another hour before giving up and asking to be pulled out, unable to see the coastline due to the fog. As she sat in the boat, she found out she had stopped swimming just o...