by Lauren @Hike.Blog.Love. (USA) | Nov 30, 2012 | Adoption, Babies, Being Thankful, Death and Dying, Health, Human Rights, International, Poverty, Social Good, Special Needs, Tragedy, United Nations, USA, World Events, World Voice, Younger Children
December 1st is World AIDS Day. As a tribute, our World Voice writer, Lauren, submitted this post.
They cry and yearn to be held, but there are not enough arms to hold them. Many of them have watched their parents die. Some have parents who are too sick to care for them. But all of them want the same thing—to be loved and to know that they matter.
They are just like you and me, but they are the tiniest victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Some, like their parents, are HIV positive. Others are considered lucky and have escaped infection. All are residing in an orphanage with a future that is uncertain.
How do I know what an AIDS orphan wants and needs? Because on a hot August Day in 2008, I stood inside an orphanage that houses orphans affected by HIV/AIDS and I held my son for the first time. So it should come as no surprise that tomorrow, on World AID Day, I will join millions of people around the globe to unite in the fight against AIDS.
World AIDS Day aims to educate, inform and empower people to join the effort to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic.According to UNAIDS, more than 34 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS and a staggering 3.3 million of them are under the age of 15. The HIV/AIDS epidemic claims the lives of 1.7 people each year. With 2.5 million new infections occurring annually, the epidemic is far from over.
But there is hope. (more…)
Lauren is a lover of nature, an avid hiker and mama to two boys adopted from across the globe—one who happens to have autism. She is passionate about special needs adoption and the great outdoors.
You can find Lauren blogging about all of her adventures at "http://hikebloglove.com", Hike Blog Love. where she hopes to inspire others to get outdoors and explore. She fiercely believes that adventure is for all.
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by Ewa Samples | Nov 26, 2012 | Being Thankful, Inspirational, Motherhood, Polish Mom Photographer, SAHM, Uncategorized, Working Mother, World Motherhood
As many of you know, my passion for taking pictures is tremendous. For the last year there wasn’t a day in which I didn’t take at least one picture. I decided to put my passion to work by opening a photography business. I haven’t been this excited in many, many months!
The idea of me getting out there, doing something I love, pursuing my dreams and fulfilling myself is very appealing. I have known for a long time now that being a stay-at-home-mom was not going to fulfill me and working full-time, outside the house is even less appealing.
While trying to determine what line of work I should go into, it became obvious the photography business is a perfect match for me. At the same time, I feel, doing something more with my photography skills is the best way of saying “Thank You” to all those people who inspired me, helped me, pushed me, and motivated me for the last few years.
During the last year I have learned a lot, I have mostly learned what I don’t know about photography and my skills, and there’s still a lot to learn and master, but I have also learned something else; “Nothing changes, if nothing changes”.
My first attempt to open a photography business failed. Probably because I was not prepared, but also because I was a first time mother with PPD, and with nothing else than a one lens camera. I had done a few free sessions for my portfolio and with each one I realized more, and more how unprofessional the pictures are and how awkward I feel doing those sessions. I came to the conclusion that this path is forever closed to me, and that I will never become a professional photographer. For the next two years I was OK with being just a clicking mom, but secretly I was dreaming that maybe one day… , some day… (more…)
Ewa was born, and raised in Poland. She graduated University with a master's degree in Mass-Media Education. This daring mom hitchhiked from Berlin, Germany through Switzerland and France to Barcelona, Spain and back again!
She left Poland to become an Au Pair in California and looked after twins of gay parents for almost 2 years. There, she met her future husband through Couch Surfing, an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals.
Today she enjoys her life one picture at a time. She runs a photography business in sunny California and document her daughters life one picture at a time.
You can find this artistic mom on her blog, Ewa Samples Photography, on Twitter @EwaSamples or on Facebook!
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by Meredith (USA) | Nov 8, 2012 | Africa, Being Thankful, Child Care, Childhood, Eye on Culture, Family, Motherhood, Nigeria, World Motherhood
Asking for help has always been a problem for me. Even when I knew I didn’t really know how to do something, I never wanted people to think I didn’t know something. I know I am not perfect but to let others see it was one of my worst fears.
Before I moved to Nigeria, I tried to be one of those super moms. My children were 3 and 15 months, and I felt like I could do it all: grocery shopping, house cleaning, taking care of our dogs, cooking, play time, mother, sister, wife, friend. And, I could do all of those things, but I was exhausted all the time. At the end of each day, I could barely read one page of a great book because my eyes just would not stay open no matter how much I willed them to do so!
When my husband told me about the possibility of moving to Nigeria, a flood of anxiety and fear swept over me: What would the medical care be like over there? What was the time difference? Would it be safe? Where would my son go to school? Would we die of malaria? It never occurred to me that there would be such a pleasant surprise in store for me amid all the negativity and fears I had of going there.
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Meredith finds it difficult to tell anyone where she is from exactly! She grew up in several states, but mainly Illinois. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana which is also where she met her husband. She taught kindergarten for seven years before she adopted her son from Guatemala and then gave birth to her daughter two years leter. She moved to Lagos, Nigeria with her husband and two children in July 2009 for her husband's work. She and her family moved back to the U.S.this summer(August 2012) and are adjusting to life back in the U.S. You can read more about her life in Lagos and her adjustment to being back on her blog: We Found Happiness.
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by Maggie Ellison | Nov 5, 2012 | Being Thankful, Home, Inspirational, Motherhood, Natural Disaster, Safety, Tragedy, Uncategorized, USA, Weather, World Events, World Motherhood, Younger Children
A week ago, Hurricane Sandy made landfall very close to our home in New Jersey.
We live in a waterfront neighborhood, where some people live bay-front and the rest of us live on lagoons. Even though a mandatory evacuation was issued, we wondered whether we really needed to evacuate, since we live on one of the furthest lagoons from the bay and because we knew how many feet above mean high tide we are. But, with young children, we chose not to take any chances and heeded the warning. We spent the hurricane at a cousin’s house, leaving our home on Sunday. The storm was at its worst on Monday and by Tuesday afternoon we were able to return home.
From my cousin’s home, we watched strong gusts of wind come and take down trees and saw some flooding but that was nothing compared to what we would see when we went home.
We were very lucky. We could see the water line in our yard. If the water had come up another 1.5 feet, we would have had flooding inside our house. We lost part of our dock, stairs and walkway, all of which were still under water when we first got home. We had some branches come down and a shutter fly off the house.
We have now spent a few days working in and out of the house and are just about back to normal. We lost electricity but it was restored four days later. Now we have a freezer and fridge to clean out. We saved what we could, but couldn’t save it all.
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Maggie is so grateful to be raising her 2 children with her husband in the low country of South Carolina. Life at the beach is what she’s always known, although living in SC is new to this NJ native! The beauty of the live oaks and the palmettos takes her breath away on a daily basis and being able to go to the beach all year is a dream for her. Art and music have also always been a part of Maggie’s life, and she is happy that her family has the same love and appreciation for it that she does.
Maggie and her family are also very active. Her husband coaches both kids in soccer, and they like to spend their time outdoors kayaking, biking, swimming, camping, etc. They try to seize every moment they can together, and they feel that it’s not just the family time that is important. They want their kids to know a life of activity and respect for the outdoors, expose them to new things and teach them about the world! Maggie and her family are no strangers to overcoming life's challenges. They've had to uproot their family several times when jobs have been lost in the economic crisis.
They also lovingly face the challenges of having a child diagnosed with special needs. Through all this, Maggie has learned to celebrate the good times and never take them for granted. Her family is everything to her, and she is incredibly grateful for every day she has with them and for every moment she has shared with them. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t tell them she loves them and how lucky she is to be her kids’ mommy. How sweet!
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by Kristen | Oct 22, 2012 | Being Thankful, Competition, Friendship, Motherhood, Parenting, World Motherhood, Younger Children
As I stood in the kindergarten pick up line, I told another mom I was about to start the potty-training process with my littlest guy. I told her it had been a while since I had done it and would love any advice. I’ve used the excuse of putting it of because of our recent move [from Switzerland back to the US] for too long and it was time for both my son and me to face the beast.
She mentioned that her son had potty-trained himself. Um, that’s amazing. All I could think about was the pile of “accident undies” on my laundry room floor and my son’s attempts to empty the potty on his own (and the multiple, potential spills on the floor that would come with it). Happy for her, sure! But wishing it could be that easy for us too.
Funny enough, just days before my friend and I had been talking about the process of kids learning to ride bikes. She noticed that our oldest son was riding without training wheels. Her son was struggling to give up training wheels. I told her that my husband had been building up to teaching our oldest but that 5 minutes after removing the training wheels he was off on his own. No help needed. We could take no credit! We barely got a picture of the accomplishment because he was off!
Isn’t motherhood like that though? Some things come so easily to one child or mother and to others it is so painfully hard.
Breastfeeding, potty-training, giving birth, discipline, homework, feeding, you name it and it’s likely for some those things have come easy with minimal heartache and for others, they have struggled so much with few positive results. (more…)
Kristen is a stay-at-home to two little boys, Jackson (4 yrs) and Owen (nearly 2 yrs). She was born in New York, but eventually made her way down to Texas. She and her husband, Seth, met in Dallas and were married in December 2005. Nine months into their marriage Seth received a call that he had landed his dream job, one catch, it involved world wide assignment. The adventure took them from Texas to Washington, D.C., on to Bogotá, Colombia and then back to Washington, D.C before bringing them to Bern, Switzerland! Kristen and her family have currently lived in Bern for more than 1 year, where her husband works for the US Department of State. Four moves and 2 children in nearly 6 years of marriage have made for quite the adventure in motherhood! Kristen finds motherhood to be one of the most humbling and character building things she has ever experienced. The responsibility of raising boys with integrity and respect at times feels daunting, but she couldn’t imagine doing anything else!
Kristen is a Speech Language Pathologist but has taken time away from working to focus on her family. Although she enjoys the travel and adventure involved in her husband’s career, she often finds herself feeling far from home and working to make the most of time abroad!
On her blog, Seasons Worth Savoring, Kristen writes about daily life with two little boys, including her experiences as she navigates a foreign culture and walks by faith. In her free time, or rather in her busy time with two boys attached to her legs, Kristen enjoys cooking, photography, antique and thrift store shopping, working on crafts, and blogging.
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by Shaula Bellour (Indonesia) | Oct 4, 2012 | Being Thankful, Childhood, Culture, Eye on Culture, Family, Indonesia, Living Abroad, Motherhood, Moving, Relocating, Shaula Bellour, Traditions, Twins, World Motherhood, Younger Children
Our twins turn 5 years old today. It feels like a big milestone – one step closer to being full-fledged big kids, yet still with a foot in the little kid world.
I often find myself marveling at their suddenly long legs, new vocabulary and thoughtful commentary on the world around them. It’s bittersweet of course, but mostly it’s a delight to watch them grow more and more into themselves every day. It’s definitely something worth celebrating.
This year our kids were a lot more aware of the whole birthday thing and have been getting excited for their big day. We’ve already been to three whole-class birthday parties this month. Now it’s our turn…
Our last two birthday parties were low-key DIY affairs, held at our house in Dili, East Timor. With no party stores to speak of, I spent weeks sourcing supplies – procuring goody bag contents, decoration-making materials, cake ingredients, and creative birthday presents from every corner of the city.
I became a pro at finding hidden treasures in unexpected (and often dusty) places – from back corner display cases to tin-roofed roadside stalls. I stayed up late with my glue gun and got up early to bake. Armed with a great no-melt frosting recipe (essential in the tropics), I was ready to go. (more…)
Shaula Bellour grew up in Redmond, Washington. She now lives in Jakarta, Indonesia with her British husband and 9-year old boy/girl twins. She has degrees in International Relations and Gender and Development and works as a consultant for the UN and non-governmental organizations.
Shaula has lived and worked in the US, France, England, Kenya, Eritrea, Kosovo, Lebanon and Timor-Leste. She began writing for World Moms Network in 2010. She plans to eventually find her way back to the Pacific Northwest one day, but until then she’s enjoying living in the big wide world with her family.
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