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Families featured post, a Families Media favorite.
MAGIC Foundation
The Magic Foundation is fantastic. This fantastic organization's motto is that Children have a short time to grow and a lifetime to live with the results! Together we are MAGIC! They focus on many disorders to help parents give information to families. The MAGIC Foundation is a charitable non-profit organization created to provide support services for the families of children afflicted with a wide variety of chronic and critical disorders, syndromes, and diseases that affect a child's growth. Those of us who started MAGIC all had children with Growth Hormone Deficiency. Three of us were from Illinois, one from California and the other from Oklahoma. We had our phones going full time, sharing details about our children's medical treatments. We were our self-made support group. Each of us studied, researched, and contacted everyone we could. Little did we realize that our daily calls were the beginning of what would become The MAGIC Foundation one year later. It was a foundation that would help many people around, including myself, after my son Joshua was born in early 2017.
By Samantha Evans4 years ago in Families
A Love For Stories
As this is my first story writing on Vocal i was lost for a while on what i should write or what would even be allowed. I have ever since i learnt to write a desire to show the world the wonderful stories/ideas that my imagination comes up with. After a number of years and subsequently leaving university i thought i would find all the old little stories i wrote when i was a child and into my teenage years and put them all together in a book. It turned out a bit more difficult than i had anticipated as certainly most of the older stories are barely legible and need to be re-written. With life getting in the way as usual most of this re-writing fell by the way-side. So i am hoping if this story of mine gets published and you are reading this now, i wish to create a series.
By Lushanya Matthews4 years ago in Families
Our Adventures at Wormsloe
The timing couldn’t have been worse. My wife had been planning for months to attend a women’s conference in October. What we didn’t realize was that was the same week our kids, Evie (11) and Gideon (8), would have a five-day weekend. What a great opportunity for a family to have learned how to plan a bit better. Yet, with many of the pandemic restrictions still in place, the prospects for a fun-activity packed weekend, seemed bleak.
By Mark Lewis4 years ago in Families
Story behind a perfect photo
There is something very common these days....looking at other people’s pics and feeling low about our own life. Even if it is for a few minutes this thought comes to mind...”wow look at those smiles, beautiful beach and gorgeous view, these people are so lucky”
By Sadia Khan4 years ago in Families
Una Mama Luchadora
As a child, I always found my mother to be extremely tough and impatient. I never quite understood how people could stress themselves so much, they begin to reach their breaking point. I have grown up hearing my mother crying in the bathroom shower from people who criticized and have taken advantage of her. Her story begins in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her mother was a strong and independent woman who had to take care of two children all by herself when her husband was murdered. She spent more hours working than with her own children. At one point, she knew she needed the help of her mother to take care of my mom and uncle. Latinos tend to favor a male son in comparison to a female. My mom was abused physically by her grandmother because she saw her granddaughter as an imbecile compared to her wonderful grandson. Fast forward to the point where my mom (Irma) turned 15 years old, whom immigrated to California with her aunt. Irma had to learn at a young age that she had to work for what she wanted, in order to be able to survive. She was able to do so as a nanny, house keeper, and an assistant. She later on married my dad, who took advantage of her, physically and emotionally. Although I was not born at this time, I’ve grown up hearing horrible stories about the brutal beatings my mom went through, all because she wanted to avoid her children being hurt at such a young age, just like she experienced growing up. For those asking themselves, why didn’t she just leave? I’ve asked her the same question for years, my father followed her wherever she went. He was great friends with the police in the area they lived in. Years of torments and being ridiculed all so she could say that her children had a father, unlike her. Throughout those years, my father never helped her get her papers, he knew that she would escape him, so instead he kept her as his own prisoner whom he enjoyed tormenting mentally. The story till this day is still unclear as to how she was able to separate from him but, she was lucky to work for a family who helped her get her papers, taught her English and how to be able to handle her money in order to buy herself a home. This is where I come to play in the story, she gave birth to me at the age of 40 years old. By this time, her main motive was to start anew and raise a child in the house she bought by herself. Surprise, surprise, she was able to do so, thanks to her bosses who taught her how to save her money responsibly. It’s been over 22 years, we still live in the same house she fought so hard to have. Since then, my mom became one of the first construction workers at her school, while being a caring nanny.
By Shakira Martinez4 years ago in Families
How Can I Get My Family to Support Me?
Hi! My name is Ruth. I am a single mother of one. I am currently pregnant with another baby girl on the way due by November 25th. Two years ago, I started a YouTube channel where I talk about becoming a mother, having a small child, and the problem I face as a new mother and a first time mother, as well as being a single mother.
By The Life Of Ruth5 years ago in Families
Improve the Health of Your Family and Children
In life, there is just about nothing more important than your health. Keeping your family in great health is something that you should be doing on a regular basis. However, it can be difficult to work on your family’s health when you are overwhelmed in your daily life. There are many things that you will want to learn about when it comes to improving the health of your family and children. Once you are able to start taking the steps in order to have a healthier family, you will notice a great change in everyones’ overall mood.
By Jade Pulman5 years ago in Families
The True Meaning of Family
The definition of the word family can mean many things. From shared bloodlines and ancestors to a household made up of parents and children, these definitions seem better suited to explain words like relative or cohabitation rather than what a family consists of. These textbook definitions may have the technical terminology right, but they lack the core meaning, which is stability, love, trust, and support.
By Jus L'amore5 years ago in Families
The Importance of Rites of Passage
Being involved and participating in a "rite of passage" can be a major life altering event. This is particularly true for teenagers. These rites of passage can be the holiday dance, graduation party, or the big one, going to the PROM. Far too many teens miss their rites of passage, because they simply don't have the money for the gown, or the tux, or the limo, or the dinner. Not being able to participate in these rites of passage can have a very negative impact on a child's self-esteem, self-worth, feeling of belonging, etc. It can also lead to intense frustration, isolation, and depression. In the worse scenarios, when a child is repeatedly told by words, actions, or the inability to attend a rite of passage that they are not good enough, they don't matter, they will never be accepted, and there is no hope of improvement, it can be the tipping point that moves them into crime, drug use, abusive relationships, or homelessness.
By Frank Zaccari5 years ago in Families
Changing Names? Here's Why I'm Doing it
My name is Brent Michael Benton, but not for long. I’m changing my name and here’s why. I was raised in sunny Durban, South Africa, by three strong women. My mother, my grandmother and my aunt. These three women moulded me into the man I am today. I was raised in a Catholic home. Thus my names were derived from that of my father and an icon from the Bible—Brent being my father’s second name and Michael after Saint Michael the Archangel, leader of the army of God, against evil forces. My father, was an absent father. I have no memory of him from my childhood, aside from a photo of me as a baby, perched precariously on his lap. As I got older, I knew of him and knew who he was, but never got to know him in the way a father knows his son. This, unbeknownst to me, was setting me on a very curious path in my self-discovery.
By Michael Delagua5 years ago in Families
Sisters, Misters, and Blisters
They dressed in black and had wimples that made even the shortest seem tall. The school looked as foreboding as its masters. I was only seven, but I felt an uncomfortable mixture of doom and hopelessness as I walked through the door. This was Catholic school. My parents got me in after first grade, and it was clear to me this wasn't Kansas anymore.
By Monica Bennett6 years ago in Families