by Karyn Wills | Apr 7, 2011 | Humanity, International, Natural Disaster, New Zealand
At 4.35am, on the 4th September 2010, the city of Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale.
It’s epicentre was close to the township of Darfield, 40 km (25 miles) west of Christchurch. There was widespread damage and power outages, two people were seriously injured and one person died from a heart-attack during the quake.
Originally I wrote here: anyone who lives along the Pacific Ring of Fire might have thought, “that could have been us.” 90% of all the world’s earthquakes and 80% of all major earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, which extends from New Zealand through Indonesia and the Phillipines, through Japan along the Aleutian Islands and along the west coast of the Americas.
Then, on the 11th of March just off the coast of Japan a huge (8.9 )earthquake hit. The tsunami it triggered killed at least ten thousand people, and injured many more. It caused massive damage to the northeastern coast of the country. Perhaps more than anyone else in the world, people in Christchurch understood and empathised. (more…)
Karyn is a teacher, writer and solo mother to three sons. She lives in the sunny wine region of Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand in the city of Napier.
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by Kyla P'an (Portugal) | Apr 6, 2011 | Education, Family, Family Travel, Husband, Kids, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Multicultural, Parenting, Travel, USA
Shortly before I met my husband, I spent three years living abroad. Two of them in one place and the final in transit back from Kumamoto, Japan to the east coast of the United States, the slowest way possible.
Three months after I met my husband, he invited me to join him for a destination wedding in Brazil. Four months later, he lost his job and decided he wanted to see more of the world too. He spent the next six months traveling around China and SE Asia and for five, blissful weeks during the holidays I joined him in Thailand and Laos.
In our four years together pre-kids, we traveled to nine different countries. Our attraction to one-another had a lot to do with our mutual desire to live abroad someday and raise our future kids that way too .
So it comes as somewhat of a surprise to me that here I sit, ten years later, just 11 miles from where we first met.
(more…)
Kyla was born in suburban Philadelphia but spent most of her time growing up in New England. She took her first big, solo-trip at age 14, when she traveled to visit a friend on a small Greek island. Since then, travels have included: three months on the European rails, three years studying and working in Japan, and nine months taking the slow route back from Japan to the US when she was done. In addition to her work as Managing Editor of World Moms Network, Kyla is a freelance writer, copy editor, recovering triathlete and occasional blogger. Until recently, she and her husband resided outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where they were raising two spunky kids, two frisky cats, a snail, a fish and a snake. They now live outside of Lisbon, Portugal with two spunky teens and three frisky cats. You can read more about Kyla’s outlook on the world and parenting on her personal blogs, Growing Muses And Muses Where We Go
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by DC Blogmama (USA) | Apr 5, 2011 | Birthing, Family, Health, Humor, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Parenting, USA
Where else would I start? I’m talking about the beginning of motherhood – the day my daughter was born is the date I’m going to use for myself. Certainly, many people would say a woman becomes a mother from the moment she conceives for the very first time, and I’m not going to refute or debate that.
I definitely bonded with my baby while she was in my belly, but in the interest of keeping things simple, I began this thing called motherhood on June 7, 2009, just about 22-months ago.
Our daughter arrived on her due date – right on time. I was working from home that week on account of it being hot and humid and not being able to rely on the good graces or [un]common courtesy of Metro riders in Washington, DC to give up their seat to a VERY pregnant lady. In addition to the hazards of commuting, the hazards of sitting at my desk had just gotten to be too much and so it made sense to really take it easy at Week 40. (more…)
by Fiona Biedermann (Australia) | Apr 4, 2011 | Family, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Oceania
Do you remember how you felt on your first day of school or when you started a new job? When you didn’t know anyone, when there were new things to learn, and you were still finding your way around a new place?
You were probably uncomfortable because you weren’t totally sure of people’s expectations, and maybe you were hoping like crazy that people would like you and make you feel welcome.
As mothers we’ve all experienced one of these scary moments, both through our own experiences, as well as, those of us who have watched our children go through the first day jitters as well.
Combined with all of that was the hope that you (or they) wouldn’t mess up, and also that they would be able to take on the new challenges and combat the fear that accompanies them.
That’s pretty much how I feel today, my first post for World Moms Blog. My first challenge was discovering that I would have to post in WordPress, where the blog is hosted, as I’m a Blogger girl at heart. So, this raised the ol’ stress levels slightly. Learning new things is always an uncomfortable feeling, especially when you’re set in the way you do things. (more…)
Fiona at Inspiration to Dream is a married mother of three amazing and talented MM’s (mere males, as she lovingly calls them) aged 13, 16 and 22, and she became a nana in 2011!
She believes she’s more daunted by becoming a nana than she was about becoming a mother! This Aussie mother figures she will also be a relatively young nana and she’s not sure that she’s really ready for it yet, but then she asks, are we ever really ready for it? Motherhood or Nanahood. (Not really sure that’s a word, but she says it works for her.)
Fiona likes to think of herself as honest and forthright and is generally not afraid to speak her mind, which she says sometimes gets her into trouble, but hey, it makes life interesting. She’s hoping to share with you her trials of being a working mother to three adventurous boys, the wife of a Mr Fix-it who is definitely a man’s man and not one of the ‘sensitive new age guy’ generation, as well as, providing her thoughts and views on making her way in the world.
Since discovering that she’s the first blogger joining the team from Australia, she also plans to provide a little insight into the ‘Aussie’ life, as well. Additionally, Fiona can be found on her personal blog at Inspiration to Dream.
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by World Moms Blog | Apr 3, 2011 | Motherhood, New Zealand, Oceania, USA, World Moms Blog Itinerary
Meet us in Australia for the first time on Monday! Our new writer, Inspiration to Dream, is an Aussie mum of 3 grown boys. She also has over 52,000 words written already of her first book! This week she talks candidly about writing for World Moms Blog for the first time and taking on new challenges and facing fears in life!
From Australia, board a flight on Tuesday to the capital of the USA, Washington, D.C., where we will hear from yet another new writer, DC Blogmama! DC Blogmama is a lawyer and mom to a little girl. She was raised in the Pakistani/Urdu culture and is a Shi’a Muslim. We look forward to reading her first post!
Wednesday, we head north to Massachusetts to hear from Kyla P’an, our mom who has had quite a spectacular journey traveling the globe with her husband in the past. Her life has changed after having two kids, and she admits, “I’m a stay-at-home-mom who has trouble staying at home.” in this week’s post!
Thursday, we board another international flight, this time to New Zealand, where we check in with Karyn Van Der Zwet! Karyn takes time out to reflect on the earthquake that hit New Zealand over one month ago and focuses on how disaster survivors re-emerge stronger.
And Friday, Eva Fannon in Seattle reports on this week’s Friday Question! We encourage our readers to join the discussion by answering the question in the comments section. Come join in on the fun!
Today, April 4th, kicks off a special week for one of our writers, Amy Hillis in Ohio, USA. She and Kirsten Jessiman of Canada have organized a blood drive in memory of Amy’s late son, Captain Snuggles. For more information about the blood drive and how you can join them, go to the Captain Snuggles Blood Drive page on Facebook. And, help spread the word!
We look forward to having you travel with us this week!
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World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
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At 4.35am, on the 4th September 2010, the city of Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale.
