Treasure Maps

Also known as a Vision Board.

Treasure Maps are essentially a vision board put together in conjunction with the Aries new moon which is the beginning of a new astrological year. It's what you want to envision for yourself over the next year.

I like doing these because it gives me time to reflect on our life and what is going on as well as what we want to accomplish over the next year...

Things we want to come to fruition,

Positive words to reflect on during bad days,

Affirmations to encourage positive living.

A treasure map can be whatever you want it to be.

It's all about the process of reflection and aspirations.

Ask and you shall receive.

We cut pictures, words etc. out of old magazines and find pictures online to print.

Images that catch your eye and phrases that touch your soul.

Tripp really had fun this morning cutting and pasting, too.

 Tripp's treasure map

I love that he felt the need to "go big".

I also love that he cut out a huge pic of an old school 35 mm Nikon and put it on there as his representation of me. He put the dinner rolls on there for Will.

Mine. 

The left side is focusing on Will and his next move...hopefully a job as a landscape architect soon after graduation (in 3 weeks!!!).

The center is more affirming...the rocks represent balance.

I also want to focus more on my marriage since this is the first year in 4 years that I'm not pregnant or taking care of an infant and Will is graduating, we'll have more time for our own relationship. I miss my hubby!
and Lakshmi.
Can't go wrong with Lakshmi!

I also NEED time for myself. The top right is manifesting that in ways that center me to be a better woman, wife and mother.

Well, not the brooms.

The brooms serve double duty.

1. I want my house to stay more organized and clean.

2. I want to be okay with the fact that my house is not always going to be organized and clean. I have 2 boys under 4 and need to get real.

The bottom left is more focus on life and what I want out of it.

Abundance, Beauty in the Everyday, To be Patient and to be Present

The bottom right is focus on my boys and nurturing their souls and minds.

What do you want for your family and your self this year?

I'm a big believer in the power of positive thinking and manifesting your own destiny.

Only you are in control of the way you live. It's up to you to make the best of it and to find satisfaction in your daily life. If your not, it is then up to you to change it.

Because if you don't change your life for the better, who will??

Sit down.

Think about it.

Write it out or make a Vision Board.

Hold your thoughts accountable and make your life what you want it to be.

Happy Mapping!

Day(s) at the Capitol

The past several weeks, the boys and I have made several trips down to our State Capitol in an effort to get our Midwifery Safety Bill passed. 

The update is coming, but long-story short, the bill is dead for this session, but we'll return next year with a new bill.

Anyways, if you've never been to the Capitol or have never been a part of the Legislative Process, I urge you to just go. 

Go and watch what takes place in our government. 

It's really quite fascinating and I dare say, I was addicted to the environment.

It was invigorating.

No one was there other than paid lobbyists and to be the only ones actively involved in OUR democratic process was quite rewarding despite the outcome.

I had quite the "zen" moment one day. 

I was on the 3rd floor and it was lunch time. 

During lunch, you can hear crickets in the Capitol. 

It's very quiet for the most part.

Charlie wanted to nurse, so he and I sat down on a bench in the center of this beautiful building.

So, I'm looking around at this intricately carved marble and all these beautiful details surrounded by walls that have housed our state government for over 100 years. 

Think of what has gone on here in this past century?!

And here I am, nursing my baby, working with other women to make a mostly male legislative body listen to us (instead of the medical lobbyists) and do the right thing.

I had an overwhelming sense of power.

Kind of that sense of femininity that overtook me after giving birth to my children,naturally,  in my home. 

And the same one as I breastfed them and watched them grow and thrive on my milk.

 I knew my outlook on things would be forever changed by this experience.

Now, I had been involved in the process. 

I can't go back to the way it was before...that's not the way our country was meant to be run.

 We shouldn't sit idly by while others decide our fate.

Remember that we have a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

 If we don't participate in our government, then we have NO say!
We will slowly give up on right after another and sadly, we already have let this happen.

So, get out there!

Pay attention!
If you can't go, then spend some time watching the live webcast.

Just be informed.
Be involved.
Otherwise, I don't want to hear you whining and complaining about what is going on in our state or in our country!

Oh, wait! I know you wanted to see cute pics of my kiddos at the Capitol...
Don't worry.
I won't disappoint!

 Tripp was evidently worn out from all his advocacy work and decided to rest with another one of our supporter's kiddos on the lawn in front of the Capitol.

 My cutie patootie

 Mississippi Friends of Midwives representing

Tripp and Henry enjoyed feeding each other pretzel chips during the entire press conference.

 Good looking bunch :)

We hit up LeFleur's Bluff State Park for a lunch break.
Charlie didn't hesitate to climb up a new set of slides.

 I wonder what Hen is telling him?

Stinker.
Flat out, Stinker!

“Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people."- Thomas Jefferson

Flying High

Today my heart is heavy.

It's heavy for...
my boys who will never get to wrestle with their uncle,

my husband who has lost his brother,

mother-in-law who lost her youngest son,

step-father-in-law who lost his only child,

Will's Gramma and Colby's other grandparents who lost her grandchild,
cousins, aunts and uncles who too lost a part of themselves,

his friends that learned one of life's hardest realities at too young of an age

My heart is heavy
because the reality is that death is a part of life.
The rest of us that are left here living,
have to do just so.
We have to live a new reality.
We always carry that little bit of Colby with us.
Colby was FULL of life.
Always.
Living in the moment
and living it to the fullest.

We have to find the positive things in the cards we are dealt.
Or otherwise, you're just miserable.
It's hard when something so devastating like this has happened.
It feels like Colby was ripped out of our lives without so much as a goodbye.
Sometimes, I have to stop myself from thinking about the what-might-have-been,
And instead, relish in all the time that we DID get to spend with Colby.
It's hard.
There are so many reminders of him just in our daily life.
Instead of being sad, we try to think of a good memory.
Luckily, with Colby there's plenty of those to draw from...
He was so full of life and always put a smile on your face.

Two years have passed and it seems like an eternity
while seemingly, just like it was yesterday.
I wipe away tears just writing this,
and hope like with all things, that time will heal these wounds.
But for today, my heart is heavy.

Fly High Colby!
We Love you and Miss you!
Gone too soon...

July 22, 1991-February 1, 2009

Midwifery on My Mind

Lately, I've been working to get a bill passed through the Mississippi State Legislature that would allow for licensed Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) to serve women in our state. 

Most of you know that my 2 children were born at home with CPMs.

We made this decision after MUCH research..

We read and read and read.

We met with OBs and Women's Hospitals across the entire region.

It wasn't until we met our midwives that we KNEW this is who our care provider would be.

There are many, many reasons I chose to give birth at home with a midwife.
Safety was obviously the biggest factor.
Research shows that for normal, healthy women with normal, healthy pregnancies that midwife-attended homebirth is just as safe if not SAFER than a hospital birth.
Globally, midwives care for the vast majority of women.
Only high-risk women are cared for by obstetricians.
And to be clear, I'm very grateful to live in a period in history when the option of a hospital, an OB and all the technology that is available for better outcomes for a high-risk pregnancy.
But also, this technology should only be used sparingly in such cases as a high risk pregnancy.
It should NOT be the norm.

I digress.
This is my soap box.
 But, the point is midwives are highly-specialized care providers in natural, normal child birth and pregnancy.
The level of care I received was superb.

So, this leads to my passion for midwifery and protecting women's right to have that option if they so choose.
Last year, a bill made it through the House of Representatives in Mississippi that would have made any midwife that was not a Certified Nurse Midwife illegal. Thus, home birth would have been illegal as CNM may only practice in a hospital under a physician in Mississippi (and most other places as well).
In response, we formed the Mississippi Friends of Midwives and the Mississippi Midwives Alliance formed as well. I am currently a board member of the MFOM which is the consumer representative for midwifery in Mississippi. We also decided that based on the national trend of midwifery regulation, that we should be proactive and draft our own bill.

Long story, short, HB207 was born.
 Fellow board member, Bianca Wooden put it so well in her description, that I'm going to quote her recent blog post.
This is the essence of our bill and of our motivation.

• Women give birth at home and hire direct entry midwives, the women of MS deserve a system that will allow them to verify the competency of a midwife and file a grievance against incompetent midwives.

• MS needs direct entry midwives , but we need to define what a direct entry midwife is exactly, and it makes sense to use the NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) recommended CPM (Certified Professional Midwife). We didn’t want this law to eliminate the midwives currently practicing, but we do want to move forward to improving our standards.

• Currently practicing midwives are vulnerable to prosecution under our current legal situation. In other states similar to our, midwives have been arrested and jailed.

• By having a law that defines a direct entry midwife, our state will be more protected against opposing forces introducing a law to restrict births to hospital only.


The thing is that it doesn't matter why *I* chose a homebirth with a midwife.

What matters is that the option was available to me.

By Supporting Midwifery in Mississippi, that option to make an educated decision and choose my own health care provider is preserved. No one should tell you how, where and with whom you should give birth. House Bill 207 needs to be passed so that women have confidence in the safety and qualifications of their care provider just as in any other branch of the health care field.

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Reflections on 2010

This past year held a lot of big changes for the Sanders family.

We added our latest, cute member who in turn, made Tripp a big brother as well as making Will and I really wonder just what we ever did without kids.

We moved to Starkvegas.

And surprisingly, love it.

With a move comes a lot of new things in itself...

New job, new house, new friends

All of which have suited us very well!

We've put another year of schooling under our belt...

AND now that 2011 is upon us, Will is getting ready to complete his FINAL semester at Mississippi State!!

Wow! I can't believe it's here. 

The end is in sight.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Will going back to school has been a huge lifestyle change and sacrifice on everyone's part.

We are lucky that we have a great family on both sides supporting us as well.

We live frugally in every essence of the word.

Our time is stretched so very thin to get work done, schoolwork, house work, family time, etc. 

We run off very little sleep and a lot of stress.

There are times I feel like a single parent when Will only has a few minutes between staying up all night to finish a project and then going straight to work from school.

I know he hates to miss out on time spent with these precious kids.

But,

 we're almost done! 

We're almost there.

2010 was a great year and was certainly better than 2009-what a roller coaster year THAT one was although it ended well!

I ready to take on whatever 2011 has in store for us.

It WILL be great.

Because life will throw you some curve balls.
That is guaranteed.

But, its up to you to hit those curve balls out of the park! 

And that my friends, is what I intend to do!

Happy New Year Folks!
I hope it's a blessed one.