by Kyla P'an (Portugal) | Jan 17, 2011 | China, Family, Family Travel, International, Kids, Motherhood, Multicultural, Travel, USA
In the fall of 2007, when our daughter was just 16 months old, my husband studied the fall semester of his two-year Masters of Business Administration program abroad in Beijing, China. He left in September, so he could settle in and get the majority of his fall semester completed. Then in November, my daughter and I planned to join him for the last two months.
As most mother’s know, traveling with kids can test your moral fiber.
So, imagine the daunting prospect of a solo, 14-hour, transpacific flight with a “lap infant” (meaning, in order to fly our daughter over for free, I had to risk traveling with her on my lap if the flight was full). My biggest tests were: my lap infant was actually an active and inquisitive toddler and the flight was full.
But desperate means call for desperate measures. (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 Jennifer Burden | Dec 23, 2010 | Family, Family Travel, Health, Holiday, Infertility, International, Kids, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Parenting, UK, USA
I appreciate Christmas this year, I REALLY do, even if it’s more of the secular parts. Decorating the house and gathering with friends and family — I really look forward to these. But, I couldn’t say the same for the past two Christmases, and there is more to why this year the holiday will be extra-special for me…
You see, the past two years at Christmas I was grieving, grieving the loss of numerous early pregnancies, and I was a little lost in the empty feeling inside of me. It was really difficult to avoid the topic of baby when you’re celebrating a holiday that revolves around, well…the birth of a baby. (more…)
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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by Shaula Bellour (Indonesia) | Dec 21, 2010 | East Timor, Family Travel, International, Kids, Motherhood, Parenting, Shaula Bellour, Travel
Nine months ago we uprooted our little family of four and moved halfway around the world, to the tropical half-island of Timor-Leste (East Timor). The physical process of relocating was a monumental feat (one that I don’t want to repeat anytime soon) and the tear-filled goodbyes were hard. Yet the idea of trading our comfortable Oregon life for a new home in one of the poorest countries in Asia seemed…well, normal.
I’d never been to Timor, or even SE Asia, for that matter. Most people I talked with had never heard of the country I was moving to and even I had to quickly educate myself. Though I’d spent many years living overseas as an adult, I’d never done it with kids. Let alone twin two-year olds. It was a daunting undertaking, but the timing felt right, and we were ready for a new adventure. (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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by Astrid Warren (Norway) | Dec 14, 2010 | Culture, Family, Family Travel, International, Motherhood, Multicultural, Norway, Parenting, Travel, UK
When I think about the perfect Xmas I think about waking up in the morning and seeing snow outside my window. (I guess I should mention that I am talking about a Norwegian Xmas, where we celebrate on Xmas Eve, not Xmas day.) As a child I enjoyed getting up really early in the morning and going into the living room to see the decorated Xmas tree with its light, and for the first time seeing all the presents underneath it.
Then, I’d spend the rest of the day looking at the presents, just looking. I never touched them or picked them up. I remember, especially, the afternoons when my mother was busy blow drying her hair, whilst I would watch the traditional Disney cartoons on telly. This was my perfect opportunity to look at all the presents. To this day, my parents do not believe me when I say I didn’t touch them, but honestly I didn’t! (more…)
Astrid is a Norwegian thirty something, married, working mum to a wee lad who is almost three and a baby born in 2012! She grew up in Norway, but moved to London, England after she met her husband. After living there during her twenties, she has since returned to Norway and settled down in her nation's capital of Oslo to raise her family.
She finds herself slowly turning into her own mother as her free time is spent reading, walking, knitting and meeting up with other mums for coffee. (Ok, she still secretly loves going to the pub, too!). However, there isn't much time for any of the above, as she now enjoys spending most of her time crawling around on the floor, while playing with her children! Check out her blog, Quintessentially Burrows. She's also on Twitter @MrsSWarren.
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by Kirsten Doyle (Canada) | Dec 6, 2010 | Being Thankful, Canada, Family, Health, International, Kids, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Multicultural, Parenting, South Africa, Travel
Six years ago today, my Dad lost a brief but excruciating battle with cancer. He had been diagnosed just three months previously, and he had gone through rounds of crippling chemotherapy, as well as a ten-hour long operation. Although Dad had been so desperately ill during the last weeks of his life, I had held onto the hope that he would survive and grow old with my Mom.
And so, when my Mom called from the other side of the world with the news that Dad was gone, I went into immediate denial. What do you mean, gone?
This is the man who raised me, played with me and read to me as a kid, gave me financial advice as an adult, watched an entire Olympics with me when we both had the flu, attended father-daughter dances with me and helped sell my Girl Scout cookies, and so much more. Gone? It just didn’t seem possible. (more…)
Kirsten Doyle was born in South Africa. After completing university, she drifted for a while and finally washed up in Canada in 2000. She is Mom to two boys who have reached the stage of eating everything in sight (but still remaining skinny).
Kirsten was a computer programmer for a while before migrating into I.T. project management. Eventually she tossed in the corporate life entirely in order to be a self-employed writer and editor. She is now living her best life writing about mental health and addictions, and posting videos to two YouTube channels.
When Kirsten is not wrestling with her kids or writing up a storm, she can be seen on Toronto's streets putting many miles onto her running shoes. Every year, she runs a half-marathon to benefit children with autism, inspired by her older son who lives life on the autism spectrum.
Final piece of information: Kirsten is lucky enough to be married to the funniest guy in the world.
Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Be sure to check out her YouTube channels at My Gen X Life and Word Salad With Coffee!
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by World Moms Blog | Nov 12, 2010 | Culture, Family, Family Travel, Friday Question, International, Motherhood, Travel
It’s Friday again, and that means “Friday Question” day at World Moms Blog! This is where we get to know more about our mom writers and in the comments, get to know more about our readers. Let’s discuss!
Today’s Friday Question is a continuation from last week, “What was the best vacation experience you had with your kids?”. Our enthusiastic World Moms Blog writers had too much to say, so we’ve had to split it up into two posts! Read on for Part II:
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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.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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In the fall of 2007, when our daughter was just 16 months old, my husband studied the fall semester of his two-year Masters of Business Administration program abroad in Beijing, China. He left in September, so he could settle in and get the majority of his fall semester completed. Then in November, my daughter and I planned to join him for the last two months.
