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hope

Miracle Happens ~ True Story of Faith, Hope, and Love in Infertility Treatment

by ChefPerry

  My wife and I had planned on being the typical American couple. We’d get married, work for a couple of years (to earn some stability and get to know one another) and then start our family. We had seen our friends follow this same agenda and it seemed simple enough.  We learned it was not always so simple…  Finally, after a decade of trying and reaching the ripe-old age of thirty-eight, we realized that having a baby just wasn’t going to happen the “old-fashioned way.”  So, we sought help.  Only to find that “help” to be very expensive.  The process of IVF (in-vitro fertilization) and subsequent pregnancy and birth would cost tens of thousands of dollars, which we didn’t have. But, we did have our house.  Years of scrimping, saving, used cars and brown-bag lunches had allowed us to pay off our school debts and save just enough for a down payment on a small three-bedroom, two-bath house on the outskirts of town.  Vickie and I both worked full time, living in tiny apartments in bad neighborhoods to…
Score: 1.3

Nontraditional Student in Japan

 
  Introduction  Have you ever felt that the world is outside of your grasp?  Things happen to everyone else, why would they happen to you?  That dream job you’ve always wanted, but resigned yourself to never being good enough for it?  This was what I felt even as I started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My life was surrounded my dead-end retail jobs and wasn’t going anywhere. After five years of this, however, I reevaluated my life.   Why did I believe that I couldn’t do more? It was time for a change. It was time for me to be more.    There was a huge gap in my life.   I spent all my life working one job after another, trying to make money, but never making anything. The jobs were boring, and I never wanted to be in any position long enough to move up and get experience at a different level.  After a divorce, I was lost. I was tired of my dead-end jobs, I wasn’t making enough money to live on my own, and leaning on other people was giving me more guilt than pleasure. How is a woman supposed to…
Score: 1.44

Thoughts On Grief

While sitting in my favorite spot by the water, the last beams of sunlight warming my skin, I read these words (written by Lisa Gungor in her book The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen) -    “But I’ve found my life is built on ordinary days of going in and coming out… This is where I’ve found grandness. This is where I’ve found what I believe about life and where I’ve found myself applauding others instead. It’s in long nights on a good porch, letting the silence sit next to you. It’s the hard things that hit or the people who teach, giving you eyes to see.”   I read these words and memories came flooding back, along with a few tears.   Suddenly, I am back in my grandparent’s kitchen drinking Irish breakfast tea and eating cinnamon rolls my aunt made. My aunt. Rhonda. Ten years later, I still feel the pain of loss gripping me as I think about her. I hold space for it a moment. Take a breath and let it go.        Who Am I    I often wonder who am I to talk to people about pain - something so personal…
Score: 1.06

Holding on to Hope: Ways to Cope in the Face of a Pandemic

“These are mad times we live in. Mad!”    These words, spoken by Professor Slughorn in The Half-Blood Prince, have been tumbling around in my head for weeks. In the film (and perhaps the book, I don’t recall), Slughorn relays this message to Dumbledore as the imminent threat of Lord Voldemort grows stronger. In this story, the imminent threat is COVID- 19, rather than an extremely powerful wizard.    I don’t know that there is a “chosen one” to defeat COVID-19 as Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, but I do find comfort in knowing some of the smartest folks in the world are working on a vaccine. In the meantime, the rest of us are scrambling to find relief from the madness and hope in the days to come.      This is why I am writing today. I want to share the ways I am finding peace and stillness. Most of all, I want you to know you are not alone.     Pandemic    I have been feeling more than a little overwhelmed in the past weeks as the reality of what is happening in the world has sunk in - and I know…
Score: 1.25

Quarantine Playlist – Songs to Listen to While Stuck at Home

by CFC123

Music, with all its transcendent power, can help us through some tough times. For some, music helps those who need to assuage their anxieties caused by depression. Other times, it can just be for a troublesome problem sweeping the nation.   Since we all are experiencing that similar problem right now, let’s dive into some good music to help alleviate everyone’s cooped-up feelings. Skip to the right mood for you, or ride the whole wave beginning to end (I promise it will leave you will a hopeful ending).   Now presenting, your new QUARANTINE PLAYLIST for 2020!   If you’re feeling "Cold and Isolated"       “Station to Station” – David Bowie      The first avant-rock foray for David Bowie pulls the listener into his uniquely devised world, at once inviting and alienating to outsiders. Atmospheric sound gives way to a grooving rock riff replete with major key melodies, contrasting beautifully with Bowie’s alluring harmonized vocals and mysterious lyrics.   Bowie knows better than almost any rock star how…
Score: 1.25