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	<title>WIRL Project &#187; Sara Brennan</title>
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	<description>What It&#039;s Really Like.</description>
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		<title>What It&#8217;s Really Like &#8211; The Story Behind WIRL Project</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-its-really-like-the-story-behind-wirl-project/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-its-really-like-the-story-behind-wirl-project/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2015 07:30:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=7969</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had the privilege of being invited by T.v. Williams to be on his Famous Podcast a few weeks ago. I recently shared Part 1 of the show featuring a few stories about me and my personal life. Today I&#8217;m talking more about my professional life and how I was inspired to create the WIRL Project platform. In this particular portion of the show (Part 2) I am talking about: My son Mason (a quick blurb) My career as a teacher and how I always felt compelled to do something &#8220;more&#8221;.  How my Father pushed me to follow my heart, even in his last days How I ever got started blogging in the first place How T.v. called WIRL Project the next &#8220;Billion Dollar Company&#8221;! (Hint: He compared it to Instagram!)  Why I believe that people are all alike at our core How you can get involved and start sharing your stories on the WIRL Project platform &#160; As I said with Part 1, was very honest and real in this podcast and I&#8217;m looking forward to sharing the other parts with you in the future. I love the idea of podcasting because not everyone has time to sit down and read everyday, plus you get to actually see the show in action! I also love podcasts because they&#8217;re something you can play on your phone while you are driving or cleaning your kitchen or while you have a few minutes to sit on the couch and relax. The video link is below, let me know what you think! &#160; &#160; Thanks for watching and thank you T.v. for having me on the Famous Podcast! &#160; &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What It&#8217;s Really Like to Be Me &#8211; Part 1</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-its-really-like-to-be-me-part-1/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-its-really-like-to-be-me-part-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2015 16:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Tv Williams]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=7815</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had the privilege of being invited by T.v. Williams to be on his Famous Podcast a few weeks ago and it was a blast! It was my first podcast, so it was a new and very interesting experience for me and somehow T.v. lead me to talk about all kinds of things including my personal and professional life. I will be sharing bits and pieces of this podcast over the next few weeks and today I am sharing Part 1 which is about: What it was really like to live in one of the snowiest cities in America The CRAZY way I bought my house in Charlotte Australian slang and what it&#8217;s REALLY like to have a spouse with an accent Traveling on a plane for over 24 hours with a 7 month old My competitive nature and why my son is bound to also be competitive &#160; I was very honest and real in this podcast and can&#8217;t wait to share the whole thing with you. I love the idea of podcasting because not everyone has time to sit down and read an article, WIRL, or a post. However, a podcast is something you can play on your phone while you are driving or cleaning your kitchen or while you have a few minutes to sit on the couch and relax. Hopefully there will be more of these kinds of posts in my future! The video link is below, let me know what you think! &#160; Thanks for watching and thank you T.v. for having me on the Famous Podcast! &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>When My Pastor Said &#8220;Follow Jesus&#8221;, Did He Mean on Social Media?</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/when-my-pastor-said-follow-jesus-did-he-mean-on-social-media/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/when-my-pastor-said-follow-jesus-did-he-mean-on-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2015 19:56:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[David Chadwick]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=7340</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At church, my pastor, David Chadwick, was giving his awesome sermon and he was talking about &#8220;following Jesus&#8221;. Leave it to me, being so actively involved in the social media world, to think to myself, If Jesus were on social media or had a blog and he showed up in my newsfeed, what would that be like? I&#8217;m pretty sure this is not what David meant when he said &#8220;follow&#8221; Jesus, but it really got me thinking. I began to think about the people I &#8220;follow&#8221; on social media and what impact they might have on my daily life and I also thought of what I might look like to those who &#8220;follow&#8221; me; what image do I portray and does it align with the message I&#8217;m trying to send? I think defining yourself in the social media world can be quite difficult because you have such a limited amount of space, characters, pictures, etc. to represent YOU. You have to scrunch your entire message into one photo, a few hashtags, or a status update and there isn&#8217;t a whole lot of room to explain what you mean or talk about what you really think. And even if you did, would others accept you? We all have a voice (some voices are &#8220;louder&#8221; than others) and we all deserve a fair chance to be heard. It&#8217;s how you choose to use that voice that can really define your character. We all have a voice (some voices are &#8220;louder&#8221; than others) and we all deserve a fair chance to be heard. It&#8217;s how you choose to use that voice that can really define your character. So think about it. If you&#8217;re negative, constantly ranting, bitching, and complaining online, what do you think people think of you? You may be funny, but is your sarcasm aimed at someone else&#8217;s expense? I think you see where I&#8217;m going with this, right? Is that the image you want people to see? Are you negative because you&#8217;re behind a computer and don&#8217;t have to face the repercussions of being rude or disrespectful? Or do you put up a wall because you&#8217;re insecure or lonely and desperately want someone to pay attention to SOMETHING you thought or wrote, even if it&#8217;s negative? Or are you someone who is filled with positivity, strength, and happiness? Do people smile when they see what you&#8217;ve posted or shared online? Are you displaying how loving and caring you are towards your family and friends? Is the REAL you shining through your posts? When you start to think about how other people might perceive you (like it or not, people are judging you by what you do, say, AND post) it can be a little scary. But it can also be quite interesting because YOU ARE A BRAND and people are judging your personal brand based on what you&#8217;re showing them and telling them. I&#8217;ve always been very selective in who I follow or what I &#8220;like&#8221; on social media &#8211; if I don&#8217;t actually &#8220;like&#8221; it, I&#8217;m not going to pretend I do or &#8220;pity like&#8221; something &#8211; I hate that! I try to be as genuine as I can be, I want my &#8220;virtual&#8221; self to match my &#8220;authentic self&#8221; or &#8220;personal brand&#8221;. I don&#8217;t photoshop (I do occasionally use an Instagram filter), I don&#8217;t say things I don&#8217;t mean, I don&#8217;t post things that aren&#8217;t true, or have ulterior motives. I don&#8217;t tell my friends one thing and post something completely different because I have nothing to hide, and seriously, to those who do this, who are you trying to kid? Because of my selectivity, I follow many incredible, amazing people online and I actually get inspired and happy as I&#8217;m scrolling through photos on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook &#8211; I feel connected to these like-minded people and I love it. But, have you ever wanted to &#8220;unfollow&#8221; someone (and I actually do this quite often) because you&#8217;re sick of their annoying posts or messages? Yes! And sometimes I just laugh at the silly things they say about themselves, their hashtags, and their COUNTLESS selfies (and keep them in my feed strictly for entertainment purposes), but if I&#8217;m sick of their &#8220;brand&#8221; or I&#8217;m tired of them bringing me down &#8211; I get rid of them or click &#8220;unfollow&#8221; &#8211; I don&#8217;t need their crap in my universe! I try to be as genuine as I can be, I want my &#8220;virtual&#8221; self to match my &#8220;authentic self&#8221; or &#8220;personal brand&#8221;. I don&#8217;t photoshop (I do occasionally use an Instagram filter), I don&#8217;t say things I don&#8217;t mean, I don&#8217;t post things that aren&#8217;t true, or have ulterior motives. I don&#8217;t tell my friends one thing and post something completely different because I have nothing to hide, and seriously, to those who do this, who are you trying to kid? This brings me back to the &#8220;follow Jesus&#8221; idea. I was thinking about what Jesus (or whichever higher power you believe in) would post as a &#8220;status&#8221;, or even a WIRL, if He could and how positive and awesome His messages would probably be. It would be amazing to &#8220;follow&#8221; along as He touched lives and taught lessons in such a positive, loving, incredible way. Having His updates show up on my phone or computer would probably make me want to be a better person and it would help me to see his &#8220;good&#8221; more often than just on Sundays. Wow, just the thought seems cool, right? Then I thought, if I had the privilege to follow THE MAN himself, I&#8217;d want to keep my newsfeed clean, so not to &#8220;contaminate&#8221; or &#8220;dilute&#8221; His powerful messages, photos, and posts so they could have a greater, stronger impact on my life. So I would probably start to do some &#8220;weeding&#8221; of those who I follow  &#8211; I&#8217;d get rid of anyone who doesn&#8217;t share the same message (notice I said &#8220;message&#8221; and not &#8220;beliefs&#8221;) as me (or Him), almost like a &#8220;social media cleanse&#8221; if you will, to get rid of the bad and start anew. Now, imagine this. You&#8217;ve cleansed yourself of the heavy weight of those who bring you down, you&#8217;ve shed the burden of the negativity, rants, and hate that appears on your usual social media feed and you&#8217;re only surrounded by those who share the same love, support, and inspiration for life and helping others as you do &#8211; wouldn&#8217;t that be awesome? Surrounding yourself with positive energy could really change your life &#8211; &#8220;follow&#8221; the good energy, toss away the bad. I mean, I&#8217;ve always been taught to &#8220;follow God&#8221;, but until I thought of it this way, it never really &#8220;hit home&#8221; for me. Call me crazy, stupid, or wacko, but sometimes you just have those &#8220;Ah-ha&#8221; moments where everything just falls into place. This was one of those moments for me. I mean, my whole life I&#8217;ve been taught to &#8220;follow God&#8221;, but until I thought of it this way, it never really &#8220;hit home&#8221; for me. Call me crazy, stupid, or wacko, but sometimes you just have those &#8220;Ah-ha&#8221; moments where everything just falls into place. This was one of those moments for me. So, this isn&#8217;t really about religion here, but it can be if that&#8217;s how you want to interpret it. What I&#8217;m saying is that if we look at the 21st century version of &#8220;following Jesus&#8221; and what that might actually mean if it were possible, it might mean that you would have &#8220;insider access&#8221; into the life of an incredible role model. We all have people we admire and we &#8220;follow&#8221; them online to peek into their lives and stay in the know. What we see on social media affects us, that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s such a powerful tool these days &#8211; it can make us happy, sad, jealous, frustrated, and even angry. Doesn&#8217;t it make sense to only surround yourself with people who build you up? &#8220;A rising tide lifts all boats&#8221;, right? What I took away from those two words at church last week was probably quite different than the intended message, but maybe not. I&#8217;m going to start shedding the negativity in my life by ridding of those who put it smack in front of my face everyday and I&#8217;m going to start following more people who I look up to. Truthfully, I think we should all do this and it&#8217;s so easy to do if you&#8217;re willing to make the change. So, if I &#8220;unfollow&#8221;, &#8220;unfriend&#8221;, or &#8220;unlike&#8221; you or something of yours &#8211; now you know why. You can chose to get mad or maybe you can chose to think twice about the messages you&#8217;re sending on social media. I challenge you to take a look at the life you&#8217;re portraying and ask yourself if it&#8217;s authentic. If it&#8217;s not, you might have some explaining to do, but don&#8217;t worry, I know just the platform to get you started! &#160;]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wirlproject.com/when-my-pastor-said-follow-jesus-did-he-mean-on-social-media/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Why Millennials Have a Bad Reputation</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/why-millennials-have-a-bad-reputation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/why-millennials-have-a-bad-reputation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2015 08:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=7186</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Millennials seem to have a bad rap. Many, especially baby boomers, tend to say they walk this planet with a sense of gotta-have-it-now entitlement and a lack of work ethic. They&#8217;ve also been referred to as lazy, addicted to social media, and carefree. But is this really the case, and if so, is it their fault? In my opinion, millennials didn&#8217;t really have a choice. They were born into a &#8220;everyone gets a ribbon&#8221; world and they&#8217;ve always been taught that it&#8217;s okay to lose, as long as you tried your best. While trying your best is a childhood lesson that should be instilled on all the youth of America, I believe that taking away that burn from losing, or not coming first, did a disservice to these children (now young adults). Millennials were also brought up to believe they should &#8220;follow their passion&#8221; and that they could &#8220;be anything they wanted to be&#8221;, which again, is a great lesson to be taught under the right circumstances. But, telling children they can accomplish &#8220;whatever they put their mind to&#8221; isn&#8217;t great advice unless you&#8217;re willing to back that up by coaching them to see the value in hard work, putting them through the school of hard knocks, forcing them to earn what they want, and teaching them that sometimes you do fail. Are the parents of these millennials to blame? I don&#8217;t think so. It seemed to be a &#8220;thing&#8221; or a &#8220;trend&#8221; that parents were following lead by child psychologists, daytime TV, magazines, and talkshows such as &#8220;Oprah&#8221; and parents were just doing what they thought was best for their kids. Parents of millennials wanted to put their children in a protective &#8220;bubble&#8221;, never allowing anyone to hurt their feelings or make them feel &#8220;bad&#8221;. Of course we don&#8217;t ever want our kids to feel sad or bad, but sometimes there are life lessons that come from skinning your knee or being pushed down by a mean kid at school. With all that being said, I don&#8217;t think anyone &#8220;messed up&#8221;, however I think it put these young adults in a situation where they have a lot of catching up to do. It&#8217;s funny, because I&#8217;m sitting here writing this thinking, &#8220;&#8230;By definition, I AM a millennial&#8221;, but when I compare myself to other millennials, especially those much younger than me, I see many trends and personality traits that I somehow don&#8217;t have. I don&#8217;t think I personally am the &#8220;typical&#8221; millennial kid, but don&#8217;t take that as an arrogant thing to say. I have my own faults and things I wish I did differently growing up, but I just don&#8217;t see myself sharing many of the traits I&#8217;ll mention in this article. So do you want to know what I REALLY think of millennials, the traits they possess, and what I think they need to do to get &#8220;caught up&#8221;? Read on. Millennial Traits Explained:  1. Millennials Want Everything RIGHT NOW! Yes, they do, but they&#8217;ve grown up that way. This generation grew up with personal computers, Google, internet, and mobile phones. My goodness, they CAN get everything right now! This is great because they&#8217;ll never have to visit a library ever again, but it also means they have no idea how to use a glossary or table of contents of a book, the Dewey Decimal System at libraries, or how to appropriately craft a &#8220;works cited&#8221; page for their research papers. How do you explain to a millennial that Wikipedia is not legit? They don&#8217;t get it! Believe me, I saw this first hand as a middle school teacher. 2. Millennials Want a the Dream Job STRAIGHT Out of College. Their parents told them, if you go to college you can do anything you want. Yes, this is pretty true, but something crazy happened between the years that their parents went to college and these millennials did &#8230; everyone started going to college! Now a college degree is the norm and you need to have A LOT of extra stuff outside of just having that degree to look appealing to companies who are hiring. Gone are the days of breezing into your favorite school or job because you have a 4.0 GPA. Aside from excellent grades, extracurricular activities, volunteer hours, sports, band, musicals, languages spoken, and academic teams are becoming requirements to get into colleges and universities and more importantly, to get that &#8220;dream&#8221; job. While in college you must study hard, get good grades, continue with the liberal-arts lifestyle, and oh yeah, you need to find a way to get (say it with me) &#8220;work experience&#8221;! Yes, you must actually prove that you can get, hold, and keep a job before companies are willing to offer you one. How do you go about doing this? You work! You take time away from hanging out with your friends and you replace it with a crappy, pay-your-dues kind of job. It&#8217;s not always fun, but it gives you experience OUTSIDE of the classroom, which is invaluable in this day and age. The real world is REAL and it will come knocking, so as millennials (and parents of millennials), it is in our best interest to get our ass into a part-time job and get some experience! 3. Millennials Are After the &#8220;Experience&#8221; (and I don&#8217;t mean work experience). As I mentioned before, this generation was brought up where the losing team still gets a trophy and that it&#8217;s the &#8220;experience&#8221; that mattered most. This is not always the best approach. Kids need to learn that failure is a part of life and I believe the earlier we squash this, the better. When I look back at my own life, I think I&#8217;ve learned the most from the times I&#8217;ve failed and felt really terrible about it. I recently read a book written by an author whose father asked her on a regular basis, &#8220;What did you fail at today?&#8221;. It seems odd because we so often want to ask our kids, &#8220;What was fabulous, fluffy, and beautiful about your day?&#8221;, but when we challenge them to tell us about what they struggled with or failed at, it makes the conversations a little more meaningful and allows for more teachable moments. The real challenge here is not for the child, in my humble opinion, but it&#8217;s for the parent who needs to be ready to handle whatever the child is willing to throw at them and use it to demonstrate how the child can use this experience to handle other adversities in their future &#8211; a real parent is courageous and willing to do this, a scared, lazy, absent parent would shudder at the thought of this conversation. 4. Millennials Communicate With Their Elders in An &#8220;Open&#8221; Dialogue. I&#8217;m not really sure when this happened, but &#8220;respecting your elders&#8221; somehow became uncool during this millennial time. In fact, the &#8220;elders&#8221; (or parents) seem to want to be seen as &#8220;cool&#8221; and therefore started becoming more open to discuss all areas of life with their children, even areas that used to seem taboo. Our kids now know when we need a cup of coffee, are on our periods, had a bad day at work, or even want or NEED a glass of wine. Kids are drawing pictures of mommy holding a martini glass or drinking her &#8220;mommy juice&#8221; because they see it and talk about it first hand. Since when was it acceptable for our kids to know EVERYTHING about our lives? It&#8217;s not. I believe that this open dialogue is what is hard for the baby boomer generation wrap their head around. Gone are the days where we don&#8217;t sass back to our parents or curse at them, if you&#8217;ve ever seen any of the troubled kids on Dr. Phil, you know what I&#8217;m talking about. Blame it on social media, blame it on our children having access to our lives like never before, but do keep in mind, as you&#8217;re sharing something intimate or personal with your child, that it could be influencing their decision making and life choices as well. And finding humor in our bad parenting choices, is not always funny. 5. Millennials Feel Entitled. Reality shows like &#8220;My Super Sweet 16&#8243; or &#8220;Keeping Up with the Kardashians&#8221; may have helped millennials believe that they too deserve the trendiest clothes, the best makeup, the sexiest cars, and the wildest parties without ever &#8220;earning&#8221; them. I mean they deserve it right? Their parents work hard so they can have this nice stuff &#8230; yeah. Many millennials travel the world and &#8220;experience&#8221; life before they&#8217;ve even gone to college &#8211; how do they pay for it? Their parents! I get it, many parents of millennials grew up during tough times and they want to provide a better life for their own children; as a parent, I really do understand this. However, millennials these days tend to live rich lives on a very broke budget &#8211; they have the newest iPhones, clothes, gadgets, fake boobs, computers, Playstations, etc. but have never had a job! Ask them about their resume and they have NOTHING to show. Ask them about work ethic? They don&#8217;t get it! They know their parents work hard, but that&#8217;s about it, they haven&#8217;t experienced it for themselves. While parents are busting their ass to provide for their kids and trying to do the &#8220;right&#8221; thing, it&#8217;s actually backfiring them and teaching them the complete opposite lesson! And we sometimes wonder why our kids don&#8217;t &#8220;take care of their stuff&#8221;, well, if you aren&#8217;t personally invested in something, it doesn&#8217;t have as much meaning. Make THEM work for it and they&#8217;ll be singing a different tune. &#160; The points I make here are not to degrade millennials or parents of millennials, as I said before, I, myself, am one (by definition). After years of experience as a middle school teacher, personally knowing a lot of millennials, and becoming a parent myself, I&#8217;ve experienced many of these traits first hand. I can honestly say that millennials are really an awesome generation of people. They can grasp new ideas and concepts faster than any other age group (my toddler son can attest to this) and they can build and create new, great things more efficiently than any other demographic. They definitely have the world in their hands, but they also have a bad rap &#8211; but that doesn&#8217;t mean we can&#8217;t easily take some steps to rectify our reputation. I believe we, as millennials and parents of millennials, can readjust and quickly see some drastic improvements if we are willing to step up our game, take life into our own hands, and get a little fire under our ass to prove all the nay-sayers wrong. &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>I See My Father in My Son</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/i-see-my-father-in-my-son/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/i-see-my-father-in-my-son/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2015 09:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ALS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blue Eyes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Child]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Drool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Father]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Goodnight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lou Gehrig's Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scribble]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Son]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Talk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toddler]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=7102</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I see my father in my toddler son when he looks at me – they share those same gorgeous blue eyes that can cut glass or melt your heart. Their eyes are filled with love and challenge; the kind of love that only a parent and child can understand. The kind of love that can endure temper tantrums, heal boo-boos, and teach you significant life lessons. Their blue eyes change colors with their temperament and health, almost like a chameleon. When they’re not feeling well, their pale skin exemplifies the color into a rich, deep blue and when they’re feeling proud, they are just right mix of blue and whatever color confidence might be. Interestingly enough, they share the same I love you, but don’t like your right now look as well – I’ve seen it enough from my father in my teenage years to immediately recognize it in my own child, even though he’s still just a baby. I see my father in my son when he smiles – their eyes squint in the same kind of way. Their personalities are infectious, they’re both social beings, and thrive on attention. They even have a similar forced chuckle when they find something funny. The best thing about their smile is that it’s so genuine – you can actually feel the happiness beaming from their bodies like warm, bright, glowing rays from the sun, which his why people love to be around them. The best thing about their smile is that it’s so genuine – you can actually feel the happiness beaming from their bodies like warm, bright, glowing rays from the sun, which his why people love to be around them. I see my father in my son when he’s happily eating my father’s secret family recipe of homemade spaghetti that I’ve prepared for him for dinner; it’s one of his favorite meals. They both love it greatly and could devour large plates of it – more than any one man or boy should ever eat in one sitting! I thoroughly enjoy watching my son gobble down this meal, not because he’s adorable and completely covered in tomato sauce when he’s done, but because it almost feels like my father is sitting right there at the table too, enjoying this special meal with us. I see my father in my son when he gets frustrated or doesn’t get his way. They’re both wired with the same short fuse that can instantaneously take them from zero to one hundred. They’re passionate, driven, and intense. I see this mostly when my toddler son is trying to tell me what he wants, but can’t quite get the words out. When he is pointing and saying what he needs, as best as he can, but can’t quite articulate, just as my father did. Secretly, I enjoy being one of the only people who can actually understand the slurred, mumbled language they speak. Sometimes it makes me feel privileged or honored that I can help them in that way, however, I wish I never had to have this role with my father. They’re both wired with the same short fuse that can instantaneously take them from zero to one hundred. They’re passionate, driven, and intense. I see my father in my son when I’m wiping the drool from his chin. How I wish I didn’t have this memory. Although my son drools from teething, my father had a very different cause. His weakening throat muscles weren’t working well anymore, causing the saliva to build up in his mouth and sometimes fall out the sides. Oftentimes he would choke, so I would use a suction tube to stop the drainage and make him more comfortable. Just as I do with my son, I would wipe his chin and clean him up without hesitation, all the while, his blue eyes were silently saying thank you. I saw my father in my son when he was learning to walk. He would take a few steps, stumble, and then cling to something to help him stand. For my sweet toddler boy, this was an exciting milestone, however when my father experienced this same stumbling, it meant something very different and grim. See, my father had been suffering for 5 years. Suffering from a terrible disease that took everything from him, including his ability to talk and eat, walk or travel, socialize, function, and eventually breathe. As his body and muscles atrophied, we all prayed he would continue to be able to walk as it was about the only thing he had left going for him, but, towards the end, his disease began to rob him of this as well. For my sweet toddler boy, this was an exciting milestone, however when my father experienced this same stumbling, it meant something very different and grim. I see my father in my son when I hand him a pencil and ask him to draw for me. He clumsily holds it the same way my father did when he would try to write me notes to articulate his words during the last few days and months of his life. He would scribble a few things here and there, mostly happy faces and sad faces, or little hearts that meant I love you; they weren’t words, but it was enough – I knew exactly what he meant. Just as I now do with my son, I saved many of these scribblings, as it was one of our only ways of communicating to each other in this stage of his life; and on this paper, I hold special memories of my father. I see my father in my son as I put him to bed every evening and we go through our nightly bedtime routine. I am always brought back to that hot summer night in July, when for the first time, I went to bed without saying goodnight to my father. It wasn’t on purpose; I actually forgot. Typically, we would have sat together for a while, sometimes a long while, watching TV and I would rub his hands and feet, which were sore and achy from not functioning well anymore. Honestly, sometimes I would try to avoid this nightly routine because, although I loved this time together, he would keep me there for much longer than I ever intended to be, but I didn’t purposefully avoid him on this July 14 night. Somehow, before falling asleep, I realized we had not done our regular nightly TV bonding session and I felt bad. I even said to my husband, Ah, I forgot to say goodnight to my Dad!, but it was late, so my husband and I agreed that I could just wait until tomorrow, but tomorrow never came. I am always brought back to that hot summer night in July, when for the first time, I went to bed without saying goodnight to my father. On July 15, 2007, at about 5:00 a.m., my father, Dominic Andriacchi, died from cardiac arrest caused by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I never got to say goodbye or goodnight. I think of this everyday single day, especially when I am putting my son to bed. I think of my father every time I squeeze my son, give him that goodnight kiss, give him one more hug, and tell him I love him. I will never miss this opportunity again; my father taught me the importance of this. I never got to say goodbye or goodnight. I think of this everyday single day&#8230; I see my father in myself when my son wakes up from a bad dream and I comfort him. I assure him, just as my dad did with me in his darkest of days and scariest of times, that everything is going to be alright, even though I have no way of being certain of this. As my parent my father was strong, even when he was dying. As the child, I believed him when he said everything would be OK. I wish I could have done that in return for him; maybe I did? In hindsight, I wish I could have assured him that everything would be alright, especially that one last time – but I didn’t and I often have to ask myself, why? Was this always part of the plan? Would I have known I was going to be saying goodbye instead of goodnight that night? I’ll never know. I see my father in my son every day. His blue eyes are looking at me with love, thanks, and confidence. I know they are both proud of the job I’m doing as a daughter, wife, mother, and woman. But, if I’m being honest, I’m just doing the best I can; thankfully they both saw and see so much more in me. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to know my father, but my son never will – which is why I am so proud to see so much of my father in my son. &#160; &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
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		<title>Your First Poop as a Mommy &#8211; What It&#8217;s Really Like</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/your-first-poop-as-a-mommy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/your-first-poop-as-a-mommy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2015 08:30:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mom Poop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poop]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=3380</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, you read the title correctly…today I am talking about mom poop! As a new parent, you know what to look for in your infant’s poop (texture, color, when it should come, etc.), you may even cheer when they do their first one, but nobody EVER talks about what its like for the new mama to pass her first poop after birth! So, here is a short little post about what it’s like. Don’t worry, I don’t get into too much detail and this may be TMI (too much information) for some, but I just had to share…so read on, you know you want to. Alright, so you just shoved a 5-10 pound baby out your you-know-what, so why on Earth would you worry about your first poop? It’s nothing in comparison to the accomplishment you just achieved, right? Wrong! All I have to say is Oh. My. Good. God. – it’s super scary to “go” for the first time because that area of your body was just just so incredibly traumatized by the whole birth process, you dread the thought of more irritation, stretching, pushing, ripping, popping stitches, aggravating hemorrhoids, etc. … yeah, it’s scary! I cannot attest to what it’s like to “go” after a vaginal birth, but what I can say is that my first time going after a C-section was absolute horror! &#8230;it’s super scary to “go” for the first time because that area of your body was just just so incredibly traumatized by the whole birth process, you dread the thought of more irritation, stretching, pushing, ripping, popping stitches, aggravating hemorrhoids, etc. … yeah, it’s scary! I believe the trouble with pooping after a c-section comes primarily form all the of pain medication you must take to be able to breathe, walk, move – it really clogs you up! This, combined with the fact that your body was just sliced open and the mere thought of contracting those muscles could bring you to tears, makes new moms who had a c-section never want to go again! Unfortunately, nobody told me the importance of fiber during this insane time of my life and I really wish they had because Holy. Crap. (no pun intended) it was absolutely terrible! Here are a few of the words I would use to describe my first time “going” after birth: 1) Labor pains &#8211; I truly thought I was going into labor again – the worst abdominal cramping I’ve EVER had from a bowel movement! 2) Sweat &#8211; I was drenched by the time I was through. 3) Constipation - I did not go for about a week after I gave birth. 4) Tears &#8211; It hurt so badly I cried for the entire process. 5) Slow &#8211; From the time I sat down to the time I finished, I was in the bathroom for about an hour, which for dads is somehow considered normal &#8211; who knows what they&#8217;re doing in there for all that time? So, there you have it &#8211; What It&#8217;s Really Like to poop for the first time as a new mommy. If you’ve been there before and it was a struggle, you probably just laughed at every line of this post because you could SO relate. Or, maybe you are one of those “lucky ones” who had no issues with this at all, and if that’s the case, then I really dislike you (just kidding…sort of)! And, if you’ve yet to achieve this wonderful milestone after giving birth, please take my advice and pump the fiber and liquids!!! I’ve never wished diarrhea on anyone before, but hey, there’s a first time for everything, right? I hope you all know I mean that in the nicest way possible! This WIRL was originally published to WIRL Project on February 24, 2015. ]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Caitlyn Jenner: What You&#8217;re REALLY Thinking&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/caitlyn-jenner-what-youre-really-thinking/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/caitlyn-jenner-what-youre-really-thinking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2015 08:30:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Athlete]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caitlyn Jenner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Man]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Quotes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[support]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transgender]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vanity Fair]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What It's Really Like]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WIRL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Woman]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6751</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, I said it, Caitlyn Jenner. The former Bruce Jenner has finally physically transitioned and let &#8220;her&#8221; out of the closet making her debut on Vanity Fair magazine earlier this week. Good for him! or her? Right? Or not? Hmmm? Let&#8217;s be real&#8230;we ALL have something to say about this&#8230;EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US. Even if you say you &#8220;don&#8217;t care&#8221;, there must be a reason why you don&#8217;t care, because EVERYONE else seems to. So, let&#8217;s &#8220;talk&#8221;. I&#8217;ve complied a few Caitlyn Jenner quotes from around the web. Let&#8217;s have this conversation in true WIRL fashion and talk about what we&#8217;re REALLY thinking. You may agree with comment 1, but strongly disagree with comment 5&#8230;let us know how you feel! Remember, no hate language is allowed according to WIRL Code, but, open, honest, genuine thoughts and feelings are, so be thoughtful of your words and WIRL from the heart.  Here&#8217;s how this will work: Read the following 5 comments and watch the video clip that (light heartedly) sheds some light on this subject. Then, in the comment box below, tell us what you think. Pretend this platform is your best friend and say what you would say to that person. Got it? Okay, here we go! Quote 1: “I’m sorry, it’s hard to be ‘proud’ of someone who has had the financial means to achieve unrealistic goals for girls like us”. &#8211; Lilith Gütler (TheGuardian.com) Quote 2: “This is something that has been part of her life — the secret of her life — and now she’s free. God bless you, honey. God bless you.” - Whoopie Goldberg (TheWrap.com) Quote 3: &#8220;Caitlyn, when you were a man, we could talk about your athleticism, business acumen, but now you&#8217;re a woman, and your looks are really the only thing we care about.&#8221; &#8211; Jon Stewart (Mic.com) Quote 4: &#8220;Elective surgery isn&#8217;t courage or bravery&#8230;&#8221; - Kristin @KristinH1998 (Twitter.com) Quote 5: &#8220;I’m totally supportive of people staying true to themselves and finding true happiness in whatever way they can. There are just more things that we as a nation and as a planet should be talking about and working on.&#8221; - Connor Cruise (Hollywoodlife.com) Video Clip: Jon Stewart (Mic.com) The Daily Show Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,Daily Show Video Archive &#160; &#160; So, how do you feel? Which comment or segment of the video caught your attention? Let us know below! Be real and tell us how you REALLY feel&#8230; &#160; *Image source: Vanity Fair]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Preeclampsia: What It&#8217;s Really Like</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/preeclampsia-what-its-really-like/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/preeclampsia-what-its-really-like/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2015 22:40:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health/Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blood Pressure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[C-Section]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Delivery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Preeclampsia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pregnancy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Swelling]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6687</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Don’t you love when someone points out to a pregnant woman that she looks &#8220;terrible&#8221;? Who do they think they are telling you that you’re swollen, puffy, look tired, or even that you look “painful”. I think people who aren’t, especially those who have never been, pregnant say these things as if it&#8217;s somehow comforting for a second or third trimester pregnant lady to be reassured that yes, you actually are pregnant. Well, guess what people; it&#8217;s not comforting! In fact, it sucks and makes us feel like crap! &#160; I felt great during about 90 percent of my pregnancy, but I would actually get both sides of this spectrum. For a while, some people said to me that I looked too thin to be pregnant then others, who knew that I was just petite in nature, would say, wow you’re getting so big so fast! And I have to admit, I wanted to get the “belly”, I wanted to “show” and it wasn’t until about 6 months that I had a significant enough bump for strangers to notice and comment on. But I did notice that everyone loved to point out how “huge” I was getting once the real “growing” started. So when I approached the 9th month of my pregnancy, in the heat of a Carolina summer, I noticed that I actually was starting to really swell up. My feet and ankles would get very puffy, along with my hands and fingers. So I bought new shoes, asked my husband to rub my feet and kept on with life as usual. Then, people told me I looked like I was “in pain” and “puffy” and although it wasn’t the nicest comment I&#8217;d ever received, I summed this up to the heat, the baby, me not taking enough time to rest, but never Preeclampsia. The dreaded Preeclampsia – the jerk of pregnancy! It&#8217;s the little sneak that hijacks your body, inflates you with water weight, and constricts your blood vessels so much that your kidneys can malfunction and your blood pressure soars. It beats on your head like a drum while also making you feel like you’re being spun around on a merry-go-round too fast, when all you really want to do is get off. It’s not fun and loves to make it&#8217;s appearance when you’re least expecting it, 37 weeks to 48 hours post delivery. It&#8217;s the little sneak that hijacks your body, inflates you with water weight, and constricts your blood vessels so much that your kidneys can malfunction and your blood pressure soars. It beats on your head like a drum while also making you feel like you’re being spun around on a merry-go-round too fast, when all you really want to do is get off. Below, I tell the story of my joyride with Preeclampsia along with signs and symptoms that should raise a red flag. So, go ahead, read about my misery…you know you want to! I visited my OB for the typical routine checkups and towards the end, we noticed a trend…high blood pressure. Starting at about 33 weeks, they’d strap on that stupid cuff and it would read around 140/90. It wasn’t that bad (not good either), but normally my BP is very low, so that was pretty high for me. I’d also do the whole pee in a cup thing and my urine never showed signs that anything was wrong (no keytones or proteins). This continued on for weeks but with each visit, I was gaining about 5 pounds, swelling more, and my blood pressure was increasing. I knew there was something wrong; I didn’t feel like my glowing pregnant self anymore. So, what is Preeclampsia? It&#8217;s characterized by having high blood pressure and protein in the urine after 20 weeks of pregnancy (Preclampsia Foundation). Basically, it&#8217;s like a huge, grey storm cloud that suddenly forms over your head and rains on your beautiful pregnancy parade. It is sometimes referred to as Toxemia as well. It&#8217;s like a huge, grey storm cloud that suddenly forms over your head and rains on your beautiful pregnancy parade. &#160; I never, ever, had the protein in my urine, but by the time I was 38 weeks, I had full blown Preeclampsia and my doctors weren’t on top of it until it was almost too late. I found out that it&#8217;s a very progressive condition that is only cured by having the baby. So, to “cure” me, I was induced and eventually had an emergency C-section because my condition kept worsening. This was not what I wanted to do and I was quite frustrated that nobody caught this along the way, but I later learned that it’s typical to not have any signs or symptoms until about 37/38 weeks. Now, ladies, if you’re reading this and you’re pregnant; don’t freak! Preeclampsia only effects about 5-8% of all pregnancies and a little (sometimes even a lot) of swelling is expected with pregnancy. Below, I am going to go through the signs and symptoms to help to distinguish between whats “normal” and what should raise a red flag about this condition. Here are some signs and symptoms to watch for, along with my take on each symptom that I had: 1) The most obvious one – High Blood Pressure. When I’d visit my OB, they’d strap on that stupid cuff at the beginning of each visit. Starting at about 33 weeks, my blood pressure (BP) started to get really high. By the time I was 38 weeks my BP was 190/120 and I was admitted to the hospital. My advice would be to pay close attention to the number from week to week and if it increases a little, it should be alright, but if it ever reaches 140/90 then you should talk to your doctor about it, even if they brush it off. 140/90 is the threshold between normal and “high”, so if you are reaching these numbers tune into your body closely. Because the condition is quite rare, they sometimes assume the high BP is nothing to worry about unless it’s accompanied by protein in the urine. They also would have me lay on my left side to “bring it down”. This is a bad idea and provides a false sense of assurance. I was told that laying on your side helps the blood flow better temporarily and gives you an improved BP reading, but it does not mean the problem is fixed. 2) Protein in the Urine Preeclampsia temporarily changes the way the kidney filters out some proteins from your blood, therefore extra protein can show up in the urine; this is a sign that you may have Preeclampsia. I never had this show up in my urine, not even once, and I think that’s why nobody at my OB’s office took me too seriously. My warning is that you don’t need to have extra proteins show up in your urine to have Preeclampsia. If you are feeling other symptoms and also have high blood pressure, talk to your doctor and if they don’t take you seriously, get a second opinion. 3) Excess Swelling This is technically called Edema and it&#8217;s different than the typical pregnancy, swollen ankles type of thing. This is when your face, eyes, and hands feel so swollen that you might just explode. This is how I felt! And looking back, I did look terrible with a capital “t”, but because it was my first pregnancy, I thought this was just normal. By the time I was admitted to the hospital, I thought my feet were going to get stretch marks because they’d grown so large. The top of my foot almost came up over top of my sausage toes…it was weird, painful, and ugly! Absolutely no shoe fit me, not even slippers, and I had several chins at this point because my face had become so swollen (I’d post pictures, but nobody wants to see that!). If you start to feel like you’re swelling more rapidly than the pace you’d been keeping, talk to your doctor. 4) Headache and Dizziness No matter what kind of headache it is, dull, throbbing or stabbing, if it’s accompanied with high BP and any other symptom listed above, call your OB and schedule a visit right away. This is a sign that your BP is getting too high and your body is not handling it well. Try to rest and prop up your feet, but don’t ignore this symptom. Honestly, it was the only way I knew my blood pressure was high, beside taking an actual reading, because I could feel it in my head, like a pounding headache that would not go away accompanied by dizziness. 5) Rapid Weight Gain Up until about 34 weeks, I’d gained about 25 pounds from my pregnancy. I was doing really well, staying active and even doing some strength training. Then, at my 33 week visit, I had gained about 3 pounds, which wasn’t bad, but more than previous visits. Then I gained 5 at my next visit, then 5 again, and I ended up tacking on almost 25 extra pounds, in the last 5 weeks, due to this condition! 25 pounds in 5 weeks people! It was bad. So, again, if you experience this type of weight gain, it’s not normal. Your baby is not growing THAT much that you should pack on the pounds like this. For me, this was a huge sign of preeclampsia looking back. There are a few other signs and symptoms that you can encounter with this condition and you can read more about them here, but it&#8217;s really important to pay attention to what your body is telling you. I also want to put out there that Preeclampsia can actually have no symptoms, in some cases, because many of the signs resemble regular pregnancy progression type things. Just pay attention to what is normal for you along your entire pregnancy and if this “normal” ever changes, ask your doctor. And if they tell you you’re fine, but you don’t feel that in your gut (no pun intended), ask another doctor. This condition can be serious and lead to seizures or even death, so please just pay attention and watch for little signs. Who gets preeclampsia? Some people are more prone to getting this than others: this list includes, but its not limited to, women who are: Pregnant for the first time Over 40 years old Having multiples Already have a blood pressure condition Overweight The complete list can be found here, and if you fall into one of these categories (and just because its your first pregnancy does not mean you have to freak!), know the signs and pay attention for changes as you progress. &#160; I ended up having to be induced and put on anti-seizure medication because my blood pressure had reached the point where it was dangerous for me and the baby. My baby was fine during the entire course of this, he was happy and healthy with a very strong heartbeat and lots of movement, but it was me that was going downhill quickly. It was important to control the seizure component, because if I had a seizure, the baby could possibly suffer due to lack of oxygen. So, after 26 hours of labor and all was said and done, I had my baby boy and was on my way to being “cured” from this condition. It did take me a few extra days in the hospital and about 3 weeks to actually completely recover, as my blood pressure stayed high and I had headaches and felt dizzy for quite a while (plus the pain from my lovely c-section). I lost that extra 30 lbs I gained towards the end of my pregnancy in about 10 days after giving birth, it was mostly water weight anyway, but losing 30 pounds felt great nonetheless! I lost that extra 30 lbs I gained towards the end of my pregnancy in about 10 days after giving birth, it was mostly water weight anyway, but losing 30 pounds felt great nonetheless! Well, that’s it for you – my preeclampsia story. If you think you might have symptoms, definitely call your doctor or even send me an email and I’ll be glad to talk this over with you personally. I am not qualified to give medical advice, and this article is just for awareness purposes, but I will help anyone in any way that I can. I’ve been through it and it is not fun, but it’s important to know the signs and symptoms and how to handle something like this. Remember, preeclampsia is rare (only 5-8% of pregnancies), so don’t over analyze and pay attention to your symptoms. Most pregnant women will, thankfully, never have to go through this! &#160;]]></description>
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		<title>He Is Good</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/he-is-good/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/he-is-good/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2015 09:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love/Relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eddings Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grieve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[He Is Good]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sermon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tragedy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6666</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After the incredible response from our &#8220;Love, Loss and Forgiveness&#8221; WIRL yesterday, I thought it would be fitting to share the sermon given from Forest Hill Pastor, David Chadwick, on the day of the Eddings family tragedy. His words came straight from the heart and ring so true. When I attended the church service last Sunday, David reiterated many of the same powerful words and it was very powerful to me, so I thought I would share it with the WIRL Project audience as well. If this is not your cup of tea and you typically aren&#8217;t open to religious conversations or discussions, I get it; I am not usually one of those people either, but this time I would highly recommend you open your mind and heart and listen to (at least parts) of his sermon that I&#8217;ve provided below. There are some really great segments of the speech I would highly suggest listening to, so I&#8217;ve listed them below the video for you to skip to if you do not have time to listen to the whole 37 minute clip. I&#8217;m sure the Eddings family feel the support and prayers you are all sending up for them. Thank you for showing your support for this family on WIRL Project yesterday and today. xo *At the end of his sermon David lead a prayer for baby Reed, the 38 week newborn delivered via C-section on the day of the accident, who had not yet passed, so please understand why this is being talked about in this way. Unfortunately and very sadly, both boys were lost in this terrible accident. 1:15 &#8211; The Tragic Story 5:00 &#8211; Why? Why do bad things happen? 11:28 &#8211; Why? Why would a good God allow for 2 year old child to die in a hideous automobile accident? 13:00 &#8211; No parent should bury a child. 15:51 &#8211; No person living in the glory of Heaven would ever come back to the brokenness of this world. 17:30 &#8211; Grief is spelled L.O.S.S., the greater the loss the greater the grief &#8211; Grieve with hope. 20:00 &#8211; Our Response 21:40 &#8211; Be ready to meet your maker. 22:15 &#8211; Why? We all will meet our maker. 23:40 &#8211; Is this going to happen to me? Fight Fear. 24:15 &#8211; God is not the author of evil. I&#8217;d love to hear your thoughts on this sermon and if it was as powerful to you as it was to me. Share what you&#8217;re thinking in the comment box below.]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Love, Loss and Forgiveness</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/love-loss-and-forgiveness/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/love-loss-and-forgiveness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2015 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love/Relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eddings Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Hill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6649</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Love and loss, highs and lows, ups and downs. All of these are part of life, but its often hard to understand why. As I&#8217;ve mentioned in a few of my previous WIRLs, my family and I have recently joined our YMCA community and on Sundays, a church called Forest Hill houses some of their services in the facility. Last week I attended a group exercise class after the holiday weekend and at the end, the instructor mentioned a terrible tragedy that was rallying support from both the Y and the church community. The Ballantyne campus Pastor, Gentry Eddings, and his family had been involved in a terrible car accident on their way home from his sister&#8217;s wedding. His son, Dobbs, 2, was killed, and his 38 week pregnant wife, Hadley, was injured and forced to have an emergency C-section. The newborn, Reed, suffered from a brain bleed and eventually died shortly after his birth. I can&#8217;t even imagine how hard it must be for this family to breathe right now. I attended the church service at Forest Hill for the first time this past weekend and found myself very emotional and confused. I kept asking myself, Why? Why is such a faith-driven family being dealt these cards? Why should anyone have to go through this? And I kept wondering how I would feel if I were in their shoes and I think this is especially why I am so emotional about it. I also have an almost-2 year old son and I can&#8217;t imagine my life without him. Putting myself in their shoes made me hurt for them, respect them, and realize how strong they must be, especially because they&#8217;ve already publicly stated that they forgive the truck driver whose mistake took the life of both of their sons. I am not sure I would be able to be so strong. Putting myself in their shoes made me hurt for them, respect them, and realize how strong they must be, especially because they&#8217;ve already publicly stated that they forgive the truck driver whose mistake took the life of both of their sons. I am not sure I would be able to be so strong. I wanted to share this story on WIRL Project because I think it&#8217;s important to realize just how precious life really is. Our faith, whether it&#8217;s religious or not, is tested in times of hardship, not during the good times. Our true colors show when we&#8217;re tested in ways we&#8217;ve never been tested before. The Eddings family is showing us who they really are by being so forgiving and strong as they greave. Please keep the Eddings family in your thoughts and prayers. You never really know what loss feels like until you face it, but support from others is what usually keeps you going during these tough times. As you go about your day and life, keep this story in mind and know that life is precious; make sure the people who are important to you know how you feel. To read the full story and keep up with updates, visit the link listed below from the Charlotte Observer. *Image source: Charlotte Observer &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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