The 18 August 2009 is the day that life changed for Mike and I. It was the day that we saw our baby on the sonar screen for the first time, but instead of tears of joy, tears of indescribable sadness flowed as we saw our quiet, lifeless baby on the screen with no heartbeat. At home that evening Mike and I sat very quiet on the couch, staring at the tv feeling completely numb. [...]
Shaun and I had been married for a couple of months and decided to start trying for a family. Imagine our excitement as we found out I was pregnant. At about 8 weeks things didn't seem to be quite right so found a gynae and went for a check-up. I had terrible pain and was bleeding a little. After some scanning and much to our surprise the doc couldn't find any indication of a pregnancy [...]
My second daughter, Zoe, was stillborn at 37 weeks on 24th March 2007 in London, UK - we had no warning, one day she was well, with a strong heartbeat, head down, ready to come into the world, and two days later, she was dead. It turns out that Nicole has a blood condition that pre-disposes her toward clotting, and the best guess is that there must have been sudden clotting in the placenta/umbilical chord [...]
this series of blog posts has been on my heart and mind for well over a year and i am excited to finally be at the point of getting started on it. there are a number of incredibly important, life-transforming, heart-breaking life events that happen to huge numbers of people that no-one, or very few people, ever seem to talk publically about - and so for the most part there are hundreds or thousands of [...]
Val and i have started reading tim and kathy keller's book 'the meaning of marriage' and have found it to be the source of some great discussion and teaching into marriage - we don't agree with everything said but it has definitely given us a lot to work with and through and is a highly recommendable read. and then i stumbled on to this article by kathy keller titled - Don't Take It from Me: [...]
the story so far: the beautiful Val is in south africa for the wedding of her younger sister. i am not. tonite i cleaned house. earlier i was lying in the place of inspiration [the bath] and God spoke to me about a bunch of stuff i already knew [as you do] and about the serious need for me to, well, get serious, if i didn't want to get to the end of my time [...]
i shoveled snow this morning for the first time and it was quite enjoyable and i imagine i could never shovel snow again and be quite happy - it was a fleeting novelty for sure. altho i know that if it snows tomorrow i will have to shovel snow again. it will not be enuff that i shoveled it today. i cannot live off the memory of yesterday's shoveled snow. the same is true with [...]
Yes, I said 'Live' not 'life' cos 'Live' is a verb. and cos it's me. my friend and former wedding photographer Bex Meissner sent me this link to a great article on the top five regrets people have before they die and it is well worth reading the whole article, but just to whet your appetite the top five regrets people mentioned are: 1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true [...]
stumbled upon these video clips of spoken word from a guy called David Bowden which i thort were too powerful not to share... this is the first one... and this second one on scripture i think is even more powerful Take ten minutes and enjoy and be inspired and challenged.
DREAM, AND HELP OTHERS REACH THEIRS following on closely from helping others to laugh more and find their joy is to dream and be part of other people reaching theirs [especially those who maybe grew up thinking that they weren't even allowed to dream] - this makes me think immediately of people and things like brendan, val and many others and uThando leNkosi place of safety [http://www.uthandolenkosi.co.za] of my friend heather wonnacott and linawo children's [...]