DBA

When “Thank You” Isn’t Enough

Posted on February 21, 2014 Written by Tonya

For over a year, I have been a proud member of an online blogging group and these women are amazing in so many ways.

Their words lift me up when I’m feeling low, they are wise and supportive, strong and hard working, funny and real! They are sensitive and sweet and sometimes a little crass, which I happen to love! I honestly don’t know where I would be without them.

This is a closed group and not to sound cliquey, but a very exclusive one. I was lucky to be asked to join.

The oddest (for lack of a better word) thing about this incredible group of fellow women, mothers and writers is that of the 29 members, I have only met seven in real life. Now, anyone that says that online friends aren’t real, hasn’t ever met women like these!

Throughout my struggles with secondary infertility, this group not only shared my words through their social media channels but shared their own personal stories of longing and then hoped and prayed right there with me that someday I would be able to get pregnant again and when I did, they shared my joy, worry and happy tears.

In the weeks leading up to Lola’s birth and even since, a package (or two) has arrived on my door step each day and each day I have been overwhelmed and deeply touched by the gifts of love we have received.

Packages have come from all over the world and here is just a small sampling of what has arrived:

Here’s what arrived yesterday:

Thank you, Kir!

If you don’t already know the following women, you should!

Alison of Writing, Wishing
Kiran of Masala Chica
Erin of The Road to My Writer Roots & The Gay Dad Project
Laura of Mommy Miracles
Tracy of Sellabit Mum
Natalie of Mommy of a Monster & Twins
Robin of Farewell Stranger
Jennifer of Jennifer P. Williams
Greta of Gfunkified
Brittany of That’s Vandy
Deborah of Ask Doctor G
Elaine of The Miss Elaine-ous Life
Sarah of Little White Whale
Arnebya of What Now and Why
Poppy of Facing 40
Kristin of Two Cannoli
Angie of Angie Kinghorn
Angela of Angela Amman
Jennie of A Lady in France
Galit of These Little Waves
Leigh Ann of Genie in a Blog
Keely of Lollygag Blog
Katie of Sluiter Nation
Anna of An Inch of Gray
Andrea of About 100%
Kim of Co-Pilot Mom
Kerstin of Auer Life
Kirsten (Kir) of The Kir Corner & KirstenAPiccini.com
Jessica of My Time As Mom

Thank you, ladies. Not just for the generous gifts to help my family welcome our sweet miracle, but for your friendship.

There Is Still So Much More To Share…

Posted on July 21, 2013 Written by Tonya

My infertility column on SheKnows has been canceled.

My last post ran on July 1.

I am very disappointed, but extremely grateful for the opportunity to discuss my battle with secondary infertility on such a large platform and on behalf of an amazing organization. SheKnows is one of Forbes Top 100 Websites for Women and one of the Top 10 Lifestyle Sites for Women.

I know for certain my column made a difference to a lot of people. I have had several privately reach out to me to thank me for my words and I am overjoyed that I could be there for them in some small way and that they know they are not alone! Just today I e-mailed with a woman who found out she miscarried after her recent IVF. It breaks my heart, no one should know this pain.

I have been most surprised by family and friends that have shared their struggle with me. I hate that infertility is still such a taboo topic. I would have liked to have known these couples, these women in my life were struggling earlier.

Writing the column was very therapeutic for me too. Writing in general is very therapeutic for me.

Originally intended to run for two months, my column ran for six. I am very proud of the 24 posts I wrote covering everything from the best books on infertility, using humor to get through dark times, how this disease puts your marriage to the test, the importance of infertility support groups and grieving a miscarriage. I put my heart and soul into every word I shared and was pleased to do it with honesty and integrity.

If you missed any of my posts, you can find them here on the SheKnows.com site or on my personal Secondary Infertility Pinterest board. There is still so much to share because this conversation must continue, so I am working on finding another home for my words, in addition to continuing my story here on Letters For Lucas.

I would to thank my editors at SheKnows and all of my supporters, in particular, my DBA friends and Nichole Beaudry, who pretty held my hand every step of the way. xo

Name That Kindergartner – Update

Posted on March 10, 2013 Written by Tonya

Update: The winner of the $300 Amazon gift card is Amy Pike. Second and third place go to Renee and Julie.

Here’s my then and now.

To see the answers for everyone else, look below.

I remember 5 things about kindergarten:

1. Riding the bus and one terrifying time I didn’t get off at my stop. A police escort may have been involved.

2. Stapling my finger with my teacher, Miss Mills’ red stapler.

3. Naps (glorious naps!) on army cots and the puddles of drool my classmates and I would leave behind.

4. Drawing a picture of my family of four, when there were only three of us. There was a parent/teacher conference and many discussion about lying and my desire to have a little sister.

5. The time I told the lunch monitors that I was allergic to bananas, they made me eat one anyway and I threw up all of her and myself. It also happened to be Picture Day.

I also remember tasting Elmer’s glue (c’mon, you know you did it too!), the smell of Crayola crayons and the squishy delight of finger paint. I loved kindergarten, but man, did I have a dreadful haircut!

A bunch of blogger friends and I have been reminiscing about kindergarten and put together something fun for our readers!

We present to you:

We hope you’ll play along! It’s very simple – just match the picture (with the assigned alphabet) to the blogger whose blog is listed below.

What’s in it for you? You could win an awesome $300 Amazon gift card!!* You can also get to know some of the bloggers listed here, if you don’t already. Plus, you get to have a laugh at our expenses. Don’t worry, we did. Now, go forth and play!

Enter your answers on this form.

The 23 participating bloggers, in alphabetical order:

Angela of Angela Amman

Angie of Angie Kinghorn

Deborah of Ask Doctor G

Robin of Farewell Stranger

Poppy of Funny or Snot

Leigh Ann of Genie in a Blog

Greta of Gfunkified

Jennifer of Jennifer P. Williams

Tonya of Letters for Lucas

Kiran of Masala Chica

Laura of Mommy Miracles

Natalie of Mommy of a Monster (and Twins)

Brittany of Mommy Words

Jessica of My Time as Mom

Kimberly of Reflections of Now

Tracy of Sellabit Mum

Elaine of The Miss Elaine-ous Life

Sarah of The Sunday Spill

Galit of These Little Waves

Kristin of Two Cannoli

Arnebya of What Now and Why

Kristin of What She Said

Alison of Writing, Wishing

*Terms and conditions apply:
You must be 18 years or older to enter. This contest is only open to residents of USA and Canada. This contest is open from March 11 – 15, 2013 (closes at 9:00 pm Eastern). Visit the link above, where you will be able to enter your guess for each blogger pictured. (All information will be kept private.) The person to correctly match all the faces with their blog will win a $300 Amazon gift card. The two other closest guesses will each win one $80 Amazon gift card. If more than one person correctly matches all the faces with their blogs, we will randomly pick a winner via random.org. If no one guesses all the faces correctly, the winner will be the person who made the most correct guesses. This is not a sponsored post. Prizes are paid for out of the participating bloggers’ own pockets. You CAN enter more than once! Winners will be announced week of March 18.

“Name That Kindergartner” was inspired by My Blessed Life‘s “Name That DIY Blogger” contest.

A huge thank you to Laura for designing our game pieces, Robin for making this post a lot easier to compile and Alison for being the awesomeness behind DBA!

When “Thank You” Isn’t Enough

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