1.2 million children are trafficked for sex each year. That’s 3,040 children every single day— one child every 26 seconds. These children, most of whom are between the ages of 3 and 16, are often kept in locked rooms and forced to serve 10-15 adults per night. The vast majority are girls, and many of […]

Mother’s Day is just around the corner—the day we remember our moms, shower them with flowers, cards, gifts and hugs—and show them some well-deserved love. But on this day each year, there are many moms who are forgotten. These are the birth moms who have placed their children for adoption, but who are mothers nonetheless. […]

Courtney, her husband and two kids live on a farm in Minnesota, in a home that was originally her husband’s grandparents. She took over the EM Instagram account on April 24th for a fun farmhouse home tour. As they’ve renovated, building a second story and turning the house into a home that works for their […]

Curled up cozy in my bed, I’m lying awake staring at the ceiling and thinking about the stark contrast between tonight and this night one year ago. At exactly this moment one year ago, after an uneventful three weeks of “hospital observation,” I begrudgingly waddled over to Labor and Delivery for what I thought would […]

image credit: Nicole Elizabeth Photo Mamas, do you ever look at your sweet, wild, energetic son(s) and think, whoo boy. How am I to raise this little warrior? What am I going to teach him about his masculinity?  How can I foster his sense of discipline and self-mastery? How can I help him develop both […]

At 2:30 am, on a Friday night in June, I woke up from my sleep. My stomach was tight, and uncomfortable, and I felt nauseous. I was 21 years old, in an unplanned college pregnancy, and completely unsure of what to expect in childbirth. It was also still three weeks before my due date, so […]

My birth plan was simply to have a baby. I had been seeing a doctor at a local small town hospital whose philosophy of birthing was along the same lines as mine—that is, that women have been doing this for a long time. I could get an epidural if needed, and a C-section if needed, […]

TOUGH PREGNANCY I need to set the stage for Mimi’s labor and delivery.  This pregnancy was so tough for so many reasons!  Phil was deployed to Afghanistan for half the pregnancy and that left me caring for a 3 and 1 year old while experiencing my worst morning sickness in a pregnancy yet.  Those early […]

I know they call it labor for a reason. That was BY FAR the hardest thing my mind and body have ever been through. I had the smoothest pregnancy. I was 34 years young, had zero morning sickness, no food aversions, nothing. I worked out almost every day. I felt amazing! Check ups were smooth, […]

On the evening of February 28th, 2018, I began experiencing contractions with my fourth baby. I wasn’t due for ten days, and my previous baby had come on his due date after twenty-one hours of labor, so I didn’t think much of it. The contractions were inconsistent, but strong. They were so strong, in fact, […]