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	<title>WIRL Project &#187; Children</title>
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	<link>http://www.wirlproject.com</link>
	<description>What It&#039;s Really Like.</description>
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		<title>Let Kids Be Kids!!!</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/let-kids-be-kids/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/let-kids-be-kids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2015 09:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ashley]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love/Relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Style/Beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bruise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bullying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dirt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dirty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[explore]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[get dirty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Girls]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[let kids be kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Little Girl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Playing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Playing Outside]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sweat]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6256</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you can, think back to your younger years, maybe when you were grade school age, or even younger if you can. What were you like? Did you have fears and worries and doubts or anxiety?? Kids can be cruel. Let&#8217;s face it, adults can be cruel too. The world isn&#8217;t by any means a perfect place, it&#8217;s far from it. But as a parent, you want to try to instill good morals and selflessness and sensitivity. You want your child to be kind to others, to not make fun of another kid because of their clothes, toys, or choices even. Often times we hear about kids getting bullied in school or kids committing suicide because they had no friends, nobody who understood them or cared enough to try to get to know them. It&#8217;s sad! I have an almost 3 year old daughter and she loves princesses, but she also loves getting dirty, and sweaty and running around covered in filth and food. She almost always has stains on her clothes because she likes to get into things, she likes to &#8216;help&#8217; her daddy fix things (which usually ends up with her covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises). And you know what?! I&#8217;m fine with that. I&#8217;m okay with the way she is. She&#8217;s happy, outgoing, lovable, kind-hearted, sweet, selfless, hysterical, and most of all&#8230;she&#8217;s my daughter. &#8230;she likes to &#8216;help&#8217; her daddy fix things (which usually ends up with her covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises). And you know what?! I&#8217;m fine with that. I&#8217;m okay with the way she is. Normally when we take her places, within 5 minutes she is covered in sweat, her face is beat red, and her clothes are barely hanging onto her body. She&#8217;s amazing and adventurous! I love the life in her eyes and the gentleness of her soul. To me, she&#8217;s perfect. But there are still those people that make comments. I have had people refer to her as a &#8216;hobo&#8217; because of how she&#8217;s dressed. They&#8217;ve said she looks like she belongs &#8216;in a trailer park&#8217; because she was outside, in just a diaper, and someone told her she was a &#8216;hot mess&#8217; because she was sweaty and wearing raggedy, dirty play clothes from Wal-Mart that were covered in food of some sort! In what world do people think it&#8217;s alright to speak to a not even 3 year old like that, let alone a little girl?! Self esteem can be broken so easily. It really angers me and even breaks my heart to know that one day I&#8217;m going to have to answer some pretty tough questions from her and I pray to God that I can be strong enough to be honest with her and at the same time sensitive to the subject at hand. I pray that we will raise her right and she will be strong enough on her own to stand on her own two feet and know that people sometimes say hurtful things that aren&#8217;t true. They&#8217;ve said she looks like she belongs &#8216;in a trailer park&#8217; because she was outside, in just a diaper, and someone told her she was a &#8216;hot mess&#8217; because she was sweaty and wearing raggedy, dirty play clothes from Wal-Mart&#8230; I, of course, do not know what the future holds, but I pray for the future of ALL of our children. That they be kind and wise in their words and actions and that their parents teach them the difference between right and wrong. And parents, even though a child may not fit into your perfect mold that you have set, please also be kind with your words and actions and consider that child&#8217;s feelings before saying such hurtful things. Just let kids be kids!! It&#8217;s okay!!]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Thoughts on &#8220;The Scissors&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/thoughts-on-the-scissors/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/thoughts-on-the-scissors/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2015 17:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Alessandra Macaluso]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health/Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love/Relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Complete]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Complete Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crazy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Girl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mistake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Multiples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pregnant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scissors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Second Child]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snip]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Surgery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vasectomy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=7567</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It wasn&#8217;t until I was in my twenties, that I learned I was a mistake. I was sitting at my parent&#8217;s dinner table. We were just chit-chatting about life, school, and other, you know, normal, non-life-altering conversations that could make you re-think your entire being, when it casually came out. &#8220;A mistake?&#8221; I said. My dad looked at me like I had ten heads. Then, in his thick Italian accent, and very matter-of-factly, he said: &#8220;Well, we had-a four boys. Then, we finally had your sister &#8211; our girl!&#8221; He paused, put his hand on mine, looked right into my eyes and said: &#8220;Why de fack would we want another one?!&#8221; I stared at him blankly, wide-eyed and slow-blinking. My mother piped up, in her strong New York accent: &#8220;But we&#8217;re so glad you&#8217;re HEA!&#8221; Umm, what &#8220;de fack&#8221; just happened?! Anyway, I&#8217;m thinking of this a lot today because I am 18 weeks pregnant, and yesterday was the day we found out what&#8217;s cooking. Turns out, it&#8217;s a BOY!! One of the first things people have said to us over the last 24 hours after hearing the news is &#8220;Yay, now Greg can go get snipped!!!&#8221; I think this is funny, and totally get why people say that &#8211; it makes sense that someone would want a boy and a girl. Maybe we never looked at it like that because I am the youngest of six children; 4 boys, then my sister, then me. My husband is one of four children; an older brother, a twin brother, and a younger sister. So I guess our parents kind of took the concept of a &#8220;complete&#8221; family and ran with it. And this extends beyond our parents; one aunt and uncle had six kids, and another had four. There were so many first cousins running around on any given family party that I don&#8217;t even know how anyone kept track. Our families didn&#8217;t have babies, they had litters. In our case, our choice to have another baby was not a mistake; we knew we were ready to grow our family. Truth be told, Greg actually wanted another girl, and we both really were convinced that a girl it would be. It&#8217;s not that he has anything against boys, it&#8217;s just that he is a little worried about what kind of boy he would produce. Him and his brothers were off the walls growing up, so he is a bit terrified. But it doesn&#8217;t matter &#8211; we&#8217;re having a boy! A little boy!! So yes, one and one. For now. Because we never even talked about, you know, the snipping. I mean, what if we&#8217;re not done yet? What if, after another year or two, I&#8217;m not ready to hang up the &#8216;CLOSED&#8217; sign? What if our upbringings get the best of us and one day, after I finally begin to feel like myself again, and the two miraculously are sleeping and eating and on manageable schedules, I drink too much cheap wine, go bat-shit crazy and decide I still want to birth a litter under the stairs? THESE ARE THE THINGS I JUST DON&#8217;T KNOW YET. I have no idea if that will be the case, or if it would even be possible. Maybe two is our magic number. I do know that, after having Penelope, as much as I love her, there were moments where I couldn&#8217;t even imagine entertaining the idea of having a second child in the first place because WHAT WAS I TAKING CRAZY PILLS?! I thought of women who had multiples and was in awe. I still am. Because babies are a lot of work. I mean, I knew it, but you don&#8217;t reeeeeeally know the ins and outs, the messy, tired, repetitive, taxing parts of it until your little one is here. Of course, you made the decision to have a child. Of course, you are going to do your best to take care of this tiny human with a fierce kind of love and determination you never had before, the kind that trumps getting poop on your finger, spit-up in your hair, and makes you constantly second-guess if you are even doing this right, for crying out loud. My mother had all six children within eight years. That&#8217;s not a typo. Let&#8217;s just say it &#8211; she is a special kind of crazy. I often ask her, &#8220;What were you thinking?&#8221; and each time, she shrugs her shoulders and her response is always the same: &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t!&#8221; When I ask her how the heck she handled all of us, she just says that she still has no idea, and that you just do it, you don&#8217;t have time to think about it. My aunt Angela had an entirely different response than the norm when I shared the news. Instead of reaching for the scissors, she said: &#8220;Yay! Then next time, whatever it is will be a sibling of the same for him or her!&#8221; Wait &#8211; what? Next time?! &#8220;We&#8217;ll see how two goes first,&#8221; I said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know how you guys did it!&#8221; But she gave me the best response. She said: &#8220;All I can say is, if you like it, it works, no matter how many there are. Don&#8217;t think of it as work, it was a lot fun. Nothing is like a house full of little kiddies. I would have had two more.&#8221; At this point, I&#8217;m just thankful for happy and healthy. I feel so content with Penelope, and all I can think about is watching this tough little cookie give her little brother a run for his money. This, to me, right now, feels complete, but we will see what the future holds. My point in this little rant in which we run to put the scissors away, is this: a &#8220;complete&#8221; family is exactly what that is &#8211; to you. Maybe it&#8217;s a boy and a girl. Maybe it&#8217;s two little girls, or two little boys. Maybe it&#8217;s one child. Maybe it&#8217;s ten. Maybe it&#8217;s none. Maybe it&#8217;s you and your husband, maybe it&#8217;s you, your wife, and two dogs; maybe it&#8217;s you and your non-wedded partner for life; maybe it&#8217;s the two of you, your pet iguana named Fred, and a boat. Maybe it&#8217;s simply, beautifully, YOU, living your life to its fullest and doing just fine, thankyouverymuch. &#8220;I would have had two more. Don&#8217;t think of it as work, it was a lot of fun.&#8221; I&#8217;m raising my non-alcoholic beverage to you, putting the scissors in the drawer, and saying that, no matter what your situation, let&#8217;s make it fun. &#160; This post was originally published by Alessandra Macaluso on Punkwife.com. ]]></description>
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		</item>
		<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>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dream job]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entitled]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entitlement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Millennials]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Need]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Open Dialogue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Want]]></category>

		<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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		<item>
		<title>What &#8220;Working Out&#8221; Means To Me&#8230;.</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-working-out-means-to-me-2/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-working-out-means-to-me-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2015 01:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heather]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health/Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Gym]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Workout]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6330</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I choose to stay active and eat healthy because that is what makes me feel good. It is NOT easy. It is very hard to get into this lifestyle, but trust me&#8230;.once you are in it, you won&#8217;t look back. Now, I haven&#8217;t ALWAYS been active and a healthy eater. I have 3 kids, so you can imagine how many times I had to restart my &#8220;Healthy Lifestyle&#8221;. Everyone is different, so what works for my body, may not work for yours. But, for my body, jogging helps me A LOT!! Like I said, I have 3 kids. If I don&#8217;t jog in the morning (and it HAS to be in the morning &#8211; it helps me start my day off right), then I am not normal. haha&#8230; Weird, I know. Just missing a day of jogging turns me into another person. I put on my choice of music, which is dance, techno, hip hop &#8212; yea, I am one of those people you see jogging, with the music blasting in their earbuds. Hey! It works for ME. I have to feel energized and that type of music just gets me going! Working out, gives me energy to chase around my 10 month old and wrestle with my 3 year old and run my 9 year old to swim practice and girl scouts. Now, I am not one of those marathon joggers. I jog slow and stop a lot. I also belong to the UFC Gym and do kickboxing and strength training. I think I like that a lot because it makes me feel like I belong to a team. Everyone encourages you and makes you feel good. They don&#8217;t try and be perfect or sugar coat crap. They are all there for one reason&#8230;to work out! You just go in, get your shit done, chit chat for a bit, and leave. Boom. Done. If I feel like people watching, I will go to the gym and do some cardio while watching other people that are supposed to be working out, chatting, or flirting with people. It is actually quite entertaining! You should try it some time! So, I work out for me! I don&#8217;t do it to impress anyone (other than my hubby) but ME!! It makes ME feel good, gives ME energy, and keeps ME in a good mood &#8212; and a little wine keeps me in an even better mood!   &#160;]]></description>
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		<title>Fergie &amp; the Fire (2014)</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/fergie-the-fire-2014/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/fergie-the-fire-2014/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 May 2015 09:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kate Robinson]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health/Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fergie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Help]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high as a kate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[highasakate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kater79]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shoulder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stranger]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6154</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today started like any other day. I took the kids to school, came home, and had my first workout in almost 3 months. After my trainer left, I sat down and 90 seconds later, my phone rang. “Hi, Kate – this is Kellan’s teacher.” “Uh-oh…. what did he do THIS time…?” “The school has been evacuated, and all the children are being held at (blank). Please come get him as soon as you can.” “What about my daughter?” “I don’t know.” That was my first and last communication with the school for hours. I immediately hopped into my car, and started the 15 minute drive to get BOTH of my younger children. My oldest goes to a difference school, one which was not evacuated, so that gave me a little bit of comfort as I drove down the main road. I tried listening to music, but all I could think about was seeing the kids. I was so focused on the road ahead, that when I finally reached a stoplight and had a minute to look around me, I realized that everyone inside their cars and out had their smart phones pointed at the hills in the distance. I looked in the same direction, and that’s when I saw the enormous plume of smoke rapidly filling the skies. It moved fast and with purpose, and I feared what lay ahead. As my car traveled farther north, I started to notice all the surrounding cars being re-routed, and when I looked at the intersection 3 stoplights from the kids’ school, it was completely blocked off by police cars and fire trucks. Being horrible at navigating pretty much anything, I turned with all the other cars, and then turned on my GPS to find another route. But it made no difference; regardless of where I turned, I ended up being turned around by police cars &#38; sirens. Alas, I ended up back on the main road, upon which I had just attempted to circumvent, and decided just to pull over and gather my thoughts. As soon as I did, 5 men rushed to my car shouting, “Lady! Watch out! Embers are hitting the power lines directly above your car!” Could this day get any better? I moved my car forward, out of danger from the lines, and then started madly texting all the moms and teachers from school whom I could think of. The first part of the text was to tell them to get their children, and the second part asked if anyone could take mine, as well. Then, I waited. I waited for what seemed like an eternity, but turned out to be the longest hour of my life. Not to mention, I suffer from anxiety, so how I was able to stay calm through this is beyond me. And then, as I sat there, constantly reassuring myself that the kids were fine, I looked out my window and saw a woman standing alone, sobbing. There were several people out of their cars, but she was alone. I got out of my car and walked right up to her, and without saying a word, I wrapped my arm around her and let her cry on my shoulder. When she finally stopped, she explained that she was watching the fires surrounding the apartment complex where she lived, and she was devastated because she&#8217;d been evacuated so quickly, she had no family around and she had not had time to grab one single item. Absolutely nothing. She felt helpless and alone, and I wished I knew how to help her. As we stood there, both waiting for very different things, it occurred to me that this perfect stranger – a woman I had never met, and would probably never see again, was helping me in ways that she probably never expected. And I would like to think that I did the same for her. And then, after several minutes, I received a text from a friend of mine that another mom had grabbed the kids and they were safe at the mom’s house and eating turkey melts. I couldn’t have been happier or more relieved. But as I got back into my car, I stopped, rolled down the window and asked the woman if she would like my number, in case she needed somewhere to go. I explained to her that, even though we were strangers, that didn’t change the fact that we are both people, and it’s important to help each other. She gladly took my number, and I hoped I would hear from her again. &#8230;in times of need, we can and should do what we can to help each other. I drove to the nearest gas station, and as I waited for the parents, also known as my heroes, to bring the kids to me, it occurred to me that in times of need, we can and should do what we can to help each other. Even a small gesture can go a long way when someone feels helpless and alone. When my kids finally came, I hugged them long and hard, and then went straight home. And an hour later, my phone beeped. It was Fergie – the lady by the side of the road. She had been able to go back to her apartment long enough to grab a few things, and her children were safely on their way to a friend’s house. She ended the text with a smiley face, and for a moment, it made all the chaos and sadness of the previous few hours seem like a distant memory.]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>An Open Letter From A Homeschooling Mother</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/an-open-letter-from-a-homeschooling-mother/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/an-open-letter-from-a-homeschooling-mother/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2015 09:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Misty Hovis]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homeschooling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[proud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[student]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[teacher]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=5994</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t have a degree in teaching, but I’m a teacher. If you would have asked me back in high school what I would be doing in 10 years I would have said being the CEO of my own business and enjoying my life to the fullest. I NEVER would have said homeschooling my 5 children, let alone saying I would have 5 children in the first place. Honestly the thought of homeschooling seemed weird and just silly back then. My whole misconception of homeschooling was children that are unsocial, uneducated, mistreated, and sheltered from the world around them… to name a few. I believe a lot of people who are against homeschooling have these SAME misconceptions. It wasn’t until our first child was about 2 years old that the thought of homeschooling came up. I didn’t want to do it, and was completely looking forward to “my free time” when he and any other children we had would be sent off to public school. Little did I know that homeschooling was the plan that God had in mind for us. Everywhere we turned homeschooling was brought up, I couldn’t get away from the idea and for some reason it seemed so interesting to me. My husband and I decided to pray about it and we did for 2 whole years! I did a ton of research and even went over the pros and cons many times. Finally the decision had been made, we were going to homeschool. Telling our family and friends wasn’t as easy as you would think, some were very supportive and others thought we were NUTS! One of my favorite comments from a family member who we were showing our classroom to was, “Oh, this will make a nice playroom at least.” At first I took that very personal and was pretty upset about it. Then I thought about it for awhile and realized… YES, it will make a nice playroom. Learning will be fun, enjoyable, and creative! A lot of people don’t realize that a child at a young age learns the MOST through play. Here are some interesting facts to keep in mind as well: When a child reads information they will only retain about 10% of it, 90% of it is lost. If they are presented the information orally they will retain 20% of it, 80% of it is lost. If a child sees what they are learning about they will retain 30% of it, 70% of it is lost. When a child sees and hears he/she will remember 50% of the material. When a child is asked to talk about a subject or read out loud they will retain 70% of the lesson. If a child is on the other hand actively involved in a project and doing hands on activities, they will retain 90% of it. Just my personal opinion, but it seems to me that it is much easier for a mother of 5 children to do more hands on activities and educate her children in a more effective way than a teacher in a classroom of 20-30+ children. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate public school teachers very much and think they have a super hard and important job. However, the way the system is set up does not allow a teacher to educate public schooled children very effectively. The system is more worried about crossing their T&#8217;s and dotting their I&#8217;s than allowing a teacher to use her God given talents to teach the children in her class. Test scores have proven this time and time again. Once we had made our decision, we had to deal with many questions including those worried about our children’s social skills and sheltering them from the outside world. We in no way intended to shelter our children and anyone that has ever spoken to one of our children can attest to the fact that they are far from being unsocial! (LOL) We are involved in many activities outside the home, take part in different groups, have participated in Co-Ops and sporting teams. Another question that has been brought up is “Why not leave it up to the professionals, you don’t even have a teaching degree?” Who is to say I’m NOT a professional… just because I didn’t spend thousands of dollars in college fees, years of my life in a classroom to get a piece of paper that says I have a certain degree shouldn’t deem me unworthy of teaching my children. I am a strong believer that actions speak louder than words. My children and their academic scores have proven that I must be doing something right. For example, when I first thought of homeschooling, I was beyond worried about teaching my children to read. It has never been a strong area for me. However, I learned right alongside my oldest, poured knowledge into him and I was so excited last year when he got his standardized test scores back for 2nd grade. He tested higher in reading than 98% of his peers and was reading at an 8th grade reading level! There are so many benefits to homeschooling. I get the chance to see my children learning new things first hand, I don’t have to just hear about it. We can learn together… take field trips and do hands on activities that are fun and exciting. I have the opportunity to see what areas my children are struggling in and what areas they are excelling in as well. This gives us a chance to help them one-on-one to improve on certain skills and give them room to grow and advance in areas of interest. For example, my oldest son, Logan, LOVES birds! He honestly could tell you the name and important facts about pretty much any bird you show him. He amazes me with the knowledge and interest he has in this area. I am able to provide resources and encourage his love for birds and this gets him excited about reading and learning even more. There also are so many wonderful materials, curriculums and resources offered to homeschooling families. Trust me I have done plenty of research to find what works well for us. I remember our first year homeschooling, I had someone ask me “Did you ever take calculus in school, if you didn’t how are you going to teach your child something you never learned?” My response was this… First off my son is in Pre-K and just learning his numbers, I think we will be ok. When he is older and will be taking more advanced classes, if I can’t help him we have some amazing friends that would be willing to help in this journey with us. Plus there are so many programs out there that we would be able to learn together. As far as teaching different grades at the same time, there is this awesome thing called unit studies! A great example I always like to share is this: let’s say we are learning about the eye. We would learn together all of the material about the eye up to a 3rd grade level (my oldest), maybe even higher if he is interested in knowing more now. Then our work would be as followed, 3rd grader might write a report about the eye, 1st grader might write a paragraph about the eye, Kindergartener might label the parts of an eye with a word bank and a Pre-K might color a picture of an eye. There also are many curriculums that allow for some independent learning for older grades which allows more time to focus on the basic skills needed in the younger grades, such as Phonics. I will be the first to say homeschooling is NOT for everyone though. There is a lot of work, planning, time, and energy involved in it. As well as, a true commitment you have to make to be a homeschooling family. It’s not always easy, but for us, it is worth it. There is no right or wrong… each person / family is entitled to their own thoughts, feelings, and opinions about public school vs. homeschooling. However these feelings should never judge the choice of another family if they feel called to do something different than yours. Again, 10 years ago I would have said I would be a CEO of my own business and living my life to the fullest. I am thankful to say, I am a CEO of my own business, by being an Independent Director with Thirty-One Gifts, and completely love every aspect of my life… funny enough, I even love being a homeschooling mother of 5! Sincerely, Proud Homeschooling Mother, Misty Hovis &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Creating Memories Together</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/creating-memories-together/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/creating-memories-together/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2015 22:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lori  Ann Davis]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love/Relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[happiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mothers day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=5886</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Best Thing About MEMORIES …..is making them. “We don’t remember days, we remember moments.” Cesare Pavese I was driving in the car the other day with my two young daughters in the back seat. They were listening to the radio and singing along to one of the songs. All of a sudden my youngest stops and says, “I need to make memories so later in life I can remember how good my life was.”  I instantly realized how profound this statement was. I knew this would be a blog topic! How often do we get caught up in life and just function on autopilot?  Do you spend most of your time thinking about what has to be done and maybe even feeling overwhelmed by all your responsibilities? I know I do sometimes. It really does require making a conscious choice to really live life and not just get swept up in life. With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I am reminded once again of how important small things are in our lives. These small things create moments that we remember forever. Our lives are made up of a series of memories. You create those memories each and every day. What memories will you choose to create?  What kind of life will you have to remember?  Can you take some time out each day to create those memories?  It doesn’t have to take much time. I still remember reading to my oldest daughter every night before she went to sleep. She is now grown but still remembers those times and the books we read together. Now we sneak in moments of watching TV in my bed at night whenever we can.  It reminds us of those times when she was young and those good memories.  I am carrying on this same tradition with my younger girls. Ending our day with some quality time together is important to us.  What things can you do today and each day to create happy memories? My grandmother had a notebook and she would write down things that made her smile or cute things I did or said as a child.  This was her book of happy memories with me. She gave me this book when I was grown and I still have it. I can go back and read about all the wonderful times I had with a great lady. She is no longer with us in person, but her book of memories is. I wrote a blog recently called, What Our Children Really Need. One of the needs is quality time with us. This creates memories for us and our children but it also instills in them a sense of security and a knowing that they are important. They remember this for a lifetime, not just a moment. Creating special moments with our children is very important but so is creating special moments with our partner, our friends, and ourselves. We neglect that last one sometimes. Remember that in order to be able to give to others, you need to take care of yourself. What we focus on in life is what creates our experiences and the life we lead. I teach clients how to change their thoughts and beliefs so they can change their lives. My suggestion to you is to start making memories today that will help you remember what a great life you had. This is how you create a great life today! Lori Ann Davis, MA, CRS &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>W.I.R.L. To Come From An Abusive Childhood&#8230; Growing as an Adult</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/w-i-r-l-to-come-from-an-abusive-childhood-growing-as-an-adult/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/w-i-r-l-to-come-from-an-abusive-childhood-growing-as-an-adult/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2015 09:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nicole Coulter]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love/Relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[depression]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Physical Abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WIRL]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=5748</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hi all! I&#8217;m Nicole. I&#8217;ve contemplated for days and weeks just how I would write my story. I&#8217;ve felt guilty and convinced myself how wrong it could be telling the world about the ugly life I lived. It wasn&#8217;t until today, that I realized my story may help someone, including myself, as I begin my long journey of letting go. I hope you can too. I wasn&#8217;t even sure how I would begin, so I&#8217;ll start with a simple hello and I hope you appreciate how hard this is for me and try to understand what it&#8217;s really like &#8230; I grew up in a small loving town, but nobody knew just how ugly my life really was. Everyone from Corry, Pennsylvania is nice and caring&#8230; everyone but my family. A family that is filled with greed..gossip..drama and anger. Note how I mention my family, not me, and by family I mean my parents. I come from a family that consists of my two brothers and a step sister, my father and a step mother who I now refuse to associate with the word Mother. I don&#8217;t know much about my real mother as nobody has ever taken the time to tell me anything positive about her. I have heard stories of her being a drug addict and many other things that may or may not be true. One thing I am certain of is that she abandoned me and my siblings. I also learned in my later teens she has a major problem with Heroine. The stories I heard never amounted to much as my parents lied and betrayed a lot, and of course they were addicted to drama and telling untruthful stories to those who would listen. I don&#8217;t have many happy memories but a few. To be honest I would say I have a single, solitary happy memory, but not two. The memories I hold within my heart are ugly and sad. When I was young I remember my dad bringing this women home, he told my brothers and I he was getting married. The moment I met her I knew, even then, something was terribly wrong and at a very young age I learned what that &#8220;something&#8221; was. I remember instantly how scared I was of her. She looked scary to me. There was a time I convinced myself that she was the spawn of Satan. I have no idea what the devil looked like, but I was convinced it was her. My father worked a lot and we were left home with her. She forced us to call her mom. I was young and I wanted that. I recall being scared to death of her voice, even when she would yell dinner time!  I knew if I didn&#8217;t come fast enough I wouldn&#8217;t be allowed to eat and if I came too fast, I was running in the house and that was forbidden. Her voice was never soft or gentle and there wasn&#8217;t a time I remember not trembling inside when she would speak. She enjoyed yelling a lot. Words that a child should never hear. And yelling turned in to pulling&#8230;pulling turned in to smacking&#8230; kicking and so on. I was a very emotional child and cried when someone looked at me, I was in fear constantly. If we didn&#8217;t put our shoes away in our room, if we were too loud, didn&#8217;t brush our teeth&#8230;our step mother would show us. Often times that was throwing a shoe at us, or making us eat soap. The list goes on. My life was comparable to what I imagine hell is like. Over the years I started forgetting a lot of my life, I had to hide it, even now I have to skip to certain parts&#8230; AS A TEEN: The majority of my memories begin here. In 5th grade I recall starting my period and her making me wear my bloody underwear to school instead of using pads or tampons, because she was angry I didn&#8217;t tell her. It was the nurse at the school who gave me a box of pads. I went straight home and hid them under my bed hoping she wouldn&#8217;t find them. She would also force me to wear really big clothes because she said I was too fat for anything else. I managed somehow to still make some friends. I guess it was my personality definitely not my style, as my step mother would make sure I had none. She would cut my hair in a mullet&#8230; give me steps on the side, it was terribly embarrassing and I would constantly try to hide it. I would have to put my hair up on the bus into a pony tail hoping someone wouldn&#8217;t notice and start laughing at me. One day I forgot to take it down and she cut my hair off, the way she would my brothers. She put a bowl on my head and that&#8217;s all I had. For my brothers and I everyday was hell for us. I tried my hardest to avoid causing problems, but it seemed to follow me. I was tortured and beaten for silly things. I lost a shirt to an outfit she liked and it was picture day, so obviously I went to school with a red swollen face. Nobody ever asked or noticed. I often wonder why? This wasn&#8217;t the only day I went to school with something out of sorts and still nobody ever asked. I was raised to believe I was nothing, she stole that from me. The things I heard no child should ever hear, and I heard it daily. There was never anyone to help ease my fears. I felt like I was too young to reach for God. I talked a lot to myself and still prayed, but never really knew who I was speaking to. For some reason my family always wanted people to believe we were rich. It was her mostly, she needed to feel important. She always would always drive the flashiest cars, but nobody know the payments were never made. There was never any food in our house, at least not for us. I recall hiding raw spaghetti noodles in my closet and I would eat them when the hunger became too much. While we were starving I would later to find the stash of chips and cookies, etc. in her closet. We never dared to get caught in the cupboards or refrigerator. One time I did and the result was me standing in the corner until I was too weak to hold myself up, all the while being beating with a belt. It wasn&#8217;t until she bought a pet store that I believed this was all over. She had to let the people of Corry know she had money. Again this was not the case. I was happy and anxious because I knew she wouldn&#8217;t be home much. I was wrong. It was still just as bad, the only difference was now people believed she was some wonderful great woman. We felt we didn&#8217;t stand a chance for someone to help now. I can remember many times helping at the store, I had a fish tank hose whipped to my head and back for not knowing how to start it. The beatings never ended but it&#8217;s the words I remember and feel most. Even now. My family was even rewarded with foster children. Now she had her pick of the kids to choose from to harass. We were all eventually treated like slaves, constantly cleaning and cooking. As the number of children added up, it was easier to feel safe. We would talk about the physical abuse and confide in each other about the messy house that would result in no food. They knew they were there for money, and nobody ever came. I waited and waited and nobody came to save me. A few times people would come for inspections and end up telling my parents what the kids were saying about them. It got so bad that two of the children tried to commit suicide just so they could escape. Still nothing still was ever done. I could go on and continue to explain the abuse, the name calling, the yelling screaming. The fake personas they displayed in public, the fake life I was forced to play out. I was beaten &#8230;mentally and physically my whole life and forced to put on a smile. Those who know me that are reading this are probably in disbelief. But I realize now my skin feels warm to the touch, my eyes filled with tears. I need to get to why I really came here to tell my story: I moved out of my family&#8217;s house when I was 17. I actually finally worked up enough courage to run away. During this time I was working at Dairy Queen. One night I came home to dishes and filth all over the kitchen. I mentioned to my father that I had just worked a long shift and thought it was unfair that I was being made to wash dishes for 11 people when I wasn&#8217;t home to make any mess. I had my ear drum busted that night&#8230; he said I disrespected him. I think that was the final straw. I waited for them to leave and I packed my room up in trash bags, taking only the things I really needed, and I just left. I called my boyfriend (now husband) and told him I was leaving. He knew exactly what I had been going through and witnessed far too much of the aftermath of my home life. His dad told him to have me come to his house. Over the next few days my father in law gained temp. custody of me. I continued going to school and didn&#8217;t hear from my parents for 2 years until I graduated. My husband is the only man I have ever grown to trust in my life. My life now as a mom and a wife: I&#8217;m thirty now and have been with my husband for 16 wonderful years. I believe God rewarded my troubled life by providing me with Shane. I accept that I still have issues, I struggle constantly with lots of things. With love, self esteem and trust. I often get so defensive during a simple joke, or conversation that it causes stress in my marriage and every day life. I struggle with friendships and I struggle with being a mom. I don&#8217;t know how to not fear my children knowing how much I love them. I feel in constant pressure to be their friend. I often get sad if I feel my husband is too hard on them. I struggle daily with self image and self worth. My husband tells me daily how beautiful I am, how much he loves me&#8230; after 16 years, I still do not believe him. I cause fights and fits that I shouldn&#8217;t. I have anger and OCD issues. I don&#8217;t like to be alone. EVER! I even have a hard time trusting God to be in total control of me. The abuse is constantly in my mind and I protect myself every single day, more then I really need to. I always feel like someone is out to get me. Always. I now see the bad in everything instead of looking for the good. Finally the change I must make to live a happy humble blessed life. I understand it is a long process that counseling and medication alone won&#8217;t help me. Only I can truly help myself. 2015 requires me to work at letting go. Today I have zero contact with my Parents. I blame my father too as he failed God&#8217;s mission, he didn&#8217;t protect his children. Some things I am committed to doing in order to improve my life include: &#8211; Remind myself daily I am beautifully beautiful. I am me. I&#8217;m funny. Smart and can convince a worm it&#8217;s handsome! &#8211; Today matters. Yesterday is gone. &#8211; Divorce all the negative in my life. This includes everyone that brings me down. &#8211; Remember God loves me and that&#8217;s enough. &#8211; My family today was a gift and I&#8217;m here as a purpose and it&#8217;s my calling. &#8211; Never say things you don&#8217;t mean. Because words hurt very very much. &#8211; Be all I can be every single day. Be kind to everyone AND always make people smile. &#8211; And finally LET GO OF MY PAST, BECAUSE MY FUTURE IS NOW MY CHOICE. Nobody ever knew or saw what was happening to me. Pay close attention to each and every single person in your life. Someone may be crying out for you to notice. I love you&#8217;s should be sincere and used as often as possible. Hug your children daily and remind them they are special. Pay attention to them and never over use affection because it&#8217;s what fuels our children to adulthood. I have two beautiful children and an amazing caring hardworking husband that will always put me before his own needs. I have a wonderful life. Letting go of my history is God&#8217;s will. He would never have given me my husband and children if he didn&#8217;t think I could help them and thrive.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Two&#8217;s Company, Three&#8217;s a Crowd? Or, Maybe NOT.</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/twos-a-company-threes-a-crowd-or-maybe-not/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/twos-a-company-threes-a-crowd-or-maybe-not/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2015 18:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heather]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3 Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3 kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Multiple Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My story]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Three's a Crowd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Two's Company]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=5693</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; So, while I was at a mommy meetup group today with my kids, one of the moms said she heard that having 3 kids is easier than having just 2. I almost spit my water out, after hearing this nonsense! I told her that was a lie. I have 3 and can tell you it isn&#8217;t easier. You are outnumbered! That means, one of you has 2 and the other has 1! Maybe when they get older, it gets easier? But I can tell you, it isn&#8217;t easier right now, while they are young. It is also a lot more expensive! You have to think about 3x&#8217;s that college tuition (I am hoping my kids all get scholarships! I can have hope, right??). Let&#8217;s rewind back to when my husband and I only had the 2 kids&#8230; I never imagined myself even having 3 kids. Never really gave it much thought. I just figured we would deal with the 2 we did have and get through that &#8212; until I got a little older and the thought was in the back of my head. I have to admit, I thought about having regrets as I got older. But, then I talked myself out of it and thought there was NO way I could have 3! It just wasn&#8217;t what I wanted. Then, BOOM! SURPRISE!! That little white stick read positive! To be honest, I was a little sad, scared, anxious, did I say scared?!! 3 kids. Wow. There were days when I broke down and cried from being so tired and thought, &#8220;How in the world can I handle one more kid?? I can&#8217;t even deal with these two right now!&#8221; I even began questioning my parenting skills and started to think maybe I wasn&#8217;t cut out to be a mom of more than 1 kid! (Keep in mind, all these thoughts were while I was pregnant&#8230;we all know how that goes). I was just scared period. Scared of the &#8220;unknown&#8221; lol. I was about to enter into the craziness. Or, as a good friend told me, &#8220;Shit just got real.&#8221; Now, my 3rd child is 9 months old and I couldn&#8217;t imagine my life any other way, nor would I have it any other way! Just when I thought my heart couldn&#8217;t hold anymore love, it does! My 3rd child has changed me for the best. Actually, ALL my children have, but my 3rd has made me really change my view on things. I don&#8217;t care so much about the little things, I am not afraid to speak up or say how I feel, I don&#8217;t spend time on the nonsense anymore, and I can honestly say, because of all this craziness in our house, I manage my time so much better than ever before. Maybe everyone, with 3 kids doesn&#8217;t feel this way, and that is ok. They don&#8217;t have to. That is them, this is me, this is MY story.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Aging Parents</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/aging-parents/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/aging-parents/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2015 18:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Diane Andriacchi]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging Parents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elderly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elderly Parents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Quality of Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=4586</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m feeling a sense of sadness when I look around to watch some of my friends caring for their ageing parents. We all say, at one time or another, that we hope to live to be 100, but do we really mean that and do we really know what it might entail?? Many elderly are fortunate to be able to stay in fairly good health and live in their own homes independently, but some are far less fortunate and end up needing help and a place to be cared for. This means being prepared both monetarily and emotionally. I guess what I have learned from observing my many friends going through this is to be prepared for long term care and pray that God willing that they won&#8217;t need to use it! We all need to value our parents as they age, for the love and wisdom they share, and be there for them when they need us.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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