The Legacy of an Angel

I want to share a love story with you, not a love of story of adults but rather of a mother and her child.  In January of 2011 a dear friend of mine and her husband were anxiously awaiting the birth of their daughter who would be named Sofia, Sofie for a nickname.  In the early morning hours of January 26^th Sofie was born, and what was supposed to be the happiest moment of their lives quickly turned into the most frightful.  Sofie was born with a traumatic brain injury, and many measures were taken to save her life, but unfortunately on February 15^th 2011 Sofie gained her angel wings.  Soon after Sofie was born her mother Lori shared her life with many people through Facebook and quickly a community of people from all over the world came together praying, wishing, and hoping for the miracle that Lori, her husband Mike and Sofie needed.  Through her birth many people formed friendships, reconnected with old friends and joined together with the community of people who wanted nothing but a miracle for this family.

After Sofie’s death her parents created Team Sofie Chapter 2 as a way to keep Sofie legacy of love alive.  I have been a proud member of Team Sofie since it began, helping to share the life,love and story of not only this little girl but also of her amazing family.  This year to honor what should have been Sofie’s 3^rd birthday her parents have launched the "Find the Love" Project, the 21 day photo project will encourage all participants to take a moment each day focus and find the love that is all around.  Will you help spread Sofie’s message of love?

Weekly Roundup

I am going to try something new in an effort to try and get my brain in more of a writing, adult mode rather than a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Kipper mode.  I am going to do a post hopefully every week of the little things that have either made me smile, made my life easier or that I just plain enjoyed, now I realize I may not do it on a Friday but nobody said a weekly roundup has to be on Friday.... So here it goes, while this summer has been anything but tons of fun for my family some of the recent little things have included:

Warm Bread - Yes in the dead heat of August I love a nice chunk of warm bread.  The other day C and I stopped for lunch at Panera and with my salad I got a nice warm chunk of a baguette, didn't think until after I inhaled it to ask for butter!!!!! YUMMY

Paper plates and plastic utensils - Yes, I know these things aren't great for the environment but they are great for quick meals and snacks, especially when you do not have a dish washer.  So I will admit to using these things and plastic cups but I do my part to help Mother Earth in other ways.

The other day I asked C if he knew where my Montessori Albums (large binders each containing all the lessons taught in a 3-6 year old classroom, that contain my sweat and tears) the answer I got was obvious "downstairs in the basement" I was looking for a more specific answer but oh well.  Later that afternoon we trekked down to the basement looking for the elusive binders and surprisingly they were easy to find, but what else I found was certainly better than any Montessori album....I found a cover to a photo album.  For a second or two I thought to myself "what is that and why is it here", upon closer inspection I realized that it was a cover to a photo album that belonged to my grandmother and in it were samples of her handwriting, one from childhood and one from adulthood.  This particular grandmother (LJP) passed away when I was 7 years old, I have memories of her and pictures but she is someone who is still very much loved and missed. She has away of showing up just when I need her, weird as this may sound it is true, there has been the occasional dream, the feeling of her presence at specific times in my life, or finding her photo album cover.  Now would I have found this eventually, sure but I can't help to think I found it now for a reason. My daughter Z shares the same middle name as my grandmother, Laura.  In fact the name Laura goes back 4 generations so far as we can tell, Z of course being the most current.  The picture below is of a quote that is taped inside the photo album cover, and applies so perfectly to this situation, even from the afterlife I know that my grandmother loves me and me her.

So there they are some Little Things from this week that have helped me out in one way or another recently.  I am hoping that as the summer comes to an end there will be more opportunities to experience all the Little Things around us.....

The Little Things...Girlfriends

     I knew I wanted to write a post today but had a hard time thinking of my own little things that happened this week.  After a week filled with child meltdowns, early mornings and late nights it occurred to me that the thing I can always depend on is my girlfriends.....they are my little thing this week.  Since becoming a mom I have needed my girlfriends more and more, whether it be advice on what to feed my babies or a listening ear when I needed to vent.....my girlfriends have been there. 
     Recently the relationship with many of my girlfriends has changed for the better.  As I have gotten older I have realized that I need different girlfriends for different things, while I adore them all, they each bring something wonderful to my life. 
     There is the girlfriend who cried tears of joy with me upon learning I was finally pregnant with my son and then 2 years later who held my hand when I was surprised to learn of my pregnancy with my daughter and comforted me during the post partum depression that followed.  She is the one who I would call if I ever needed bail money and would never ask why.  She is invaluable to me and I Love her.....
     There is the girlfriend who has been my girlfriend since middle school, who always ends an e-mail or Facebook message with I Love You and does not care who sees it.  She is my friend that I can confide in whenever I am scared or worried about something and I Love her......
     There is my girlfriend who I had not spoken to since high school and now I can't imagine not speaking or texting with for a day.  She makes me laugh, reassures me when I am feeling like a horrible mother for not wanting to watch cartoons.  She has inspired me to be a better wife, person, mother and friend.  She listens to my cheesy "Guess what the children said or did today" stories and laughs with me.  She is a person that I can text or call at 10:00 at night upon realizing my daughter painted her room with Vaseline and searches for ways to remove it and for that I Love her.....
     There is my girlfriend who has shown a massive amount of people how to have strength when facing the most horrible of events.  Through her courage, strength and immeasurable love for her daughter she has helped us be strong while we were trying to help her in some small way.  Just by her allowing me to call her a friend truly humbles me, she has taught me that it really is the little things in life that mean the most, to cherish every minute with your children, and most importantly through allowing many of us to be a witness to her unwavering strength she has taught us how to be better mommy's and for that I Love her.....
     This is just a short description of some of my girlfriends, I have many more who are wonderful mommy's, wives, friends and confidants and yes I Love them all....
     I know only a couple of people read this and that is ok the most important thing is that this is heartfelt and pure and if anyone stumbles upon it they are fortunate to not only have great girlfriends but that they appreciate all the little things......