Switchbacks up the mountain can mean so many things. I think life in general is a continue road we travel up and down mountain. Sometimes the mountain is more of an easy hill that we climb and where life seems to move forward at a nice pace. But then there are those times where the road going up the mountain is so narrow and steep we feel we might fall off the edge plummeting to the ground below. I know that first year after Mari died my life felt more like the later. It felt like at any time … [Read more...]
Special Unforgettable Moments
I think we all have those special unforgettable moments in our life. Some heartwarming that just make you smile while others are gut-wrenching heartache. We never know when those moments will happen but when they do you know it. For me one of those moments was the day I found out I was pregnant with Mari. Keith and I have infertility issues. After having many test done and procedures performed we were told that the only way we would be able to have children biologically is to have IVF … [Read more...]
“Oh that won’t happen to me”
I think there is an old saying that when something happens to others we always say something like, “I’m so sorry it happened to them but thank goodness it didn't happen to me. We’re human and selfish by nature. I think it is natural that we think this way because no one in their right mind would actually say, “Oh I wish it had been me,” when something terrible happens. I know every one of those parents from yesterday who were able to bring their little ones home were so thankful their kids … [Read more...]
All in a picture
What do you see when you see this little girl? You might first notice her vibrant blue eyes that remind you of the Caribbean. Or maybe it’s her mischievous smile. Or maybe the fact that she looks like a perfect healthy typically little girl. You can’t see that she has autism or the fact that in just three weeks she will have died from contract E. coli and what it did to her little body. I look at this picture and see the vibrance she always had. She was such a happy little girl. Always … [Read more...]
Sitting here thinking
I sit here staring at my precious baby girl’s slide show on this very site. There are so many of her from all different ages. From when she had longer hair to when we finally cut it short so she’d quite using her hair as a chewing device. The little smile that stares back at you cuts right into my soul. It is something I miss all the time. I haven’t just looked at the pictures in a while and tonight I posted something on the site and then sat there staring at the slide show remember all the … [Read more...]
Reflecting on Mari’s posts…
It’s amazing to me sometimes how I can go days, weeks and sometimes even months without posting anything on Mari’s site and then I will go several days in a row where I have lots to say. For me Mari’s website isn’t about having a specific number of posts or trying to attract hundreds of people. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have hundreds of people visiting her website to learn more about her and where I am with my grief journey as all of this helps her memory continue to live on. But … [Read more...]
Unexpected turns in the road…
Life has a funny way of dictating the path it wants to take you on whether you want to go that way or not. I guess you could say I’ve had my fair share of bumps, bruise, and downright avalanches in my lifetime. You never really know which way your life will go. You just have to follow the road before you and when a fork comes your way, choose the path and take it forward without looking back as there isn’t a way to change anything anyway. Tonight I sat here play on Facebook a couple of … [Read more...]
A slight change to my fundraising
As everyone knows I have been trying to raise funds to not only start the Mariana Tunstall Scholarship Foundation but as of yet I do not have the money to be able to do everything that is needed (like starting a 501c3). I had converted my PayPal account to a nonprofit status even though I did not have everything set up yet. Well, this was a huge mistake as they ended up limiting my account. So I could not long accept money for the foundation as I technically do not have it set up the way it … [Read more...]
A book worth mentioning
I feel blessed the I am a member of the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) group. It has been through this group that I have received the obvious, lots of help improving my writing. But more than that I have start to form some of the most wonderful friendship. The road that it took me to get to this group has been an interesting one but God knew in his timing when the right time would be. On my www.kristenatunstall.com website, I have started to new weekly columns. One is where I … [Read more...]
Starting to work on Mari’s book again
I think many of you know I had put off writing Mari's book for a little while but I may not have gone into why I did so. Through different writing forums I became apart of I found out the book I had completed would be a great one for family and friends as long as that is where it ended. But if I wanted it to be read by more than just people I knew then it needed to be done in a completely different way. One thing I kept being told is I needed to add fiction elements to her book. At first … [Read more...]
