theladyesquirefl

fed is best: why I’m glad that I gave up on breastfeeding

For those of you just joining the blog, let me catch you up. My husband and I just had our first biological child about 8 weeks ago. Our son was conceived via IVF due to a very rare genetic condition. Our IVF cycle only produced 2 embryos, one is which was deemed non-viable and isContinue reading “fed is best: why I’m glad that I gave up on breastfeeding”

40 hours of labor

A little over 2 weeks ago, we met our baby boy earth side. My birth experience was beautiful. For those of you that don’t know, I had an accidental high risk pregnancy. What do I mean by that? Well, at 10 weeks pregnant, we did the NIPT genetic testing and everything came back normal. Well,Continue reading “40 hours of labor”

Holiday Gift Guide for that Special Someone Going Through Fertility Treatments

I am enamored with the art of gift giving. It brings me a special thrill to carefully curate gifts for my friends and family. Last holiday season, I was at the cusp of starting the medications for my egg stimulation. When people asked me, “what do you want for Christmas.” All I wanted to doContinue reading “Holiday Gift Guide for that Special Someone Going Through Fertility Treatments”

You’re on your own, kid. Sorta.

This last year has been defined by two themes: isolation and community. How the heck those two themes go together? I don’t know, but let me try to explain. I learned in the hardest way imaginable this year that I have been a burden to my friends. I don’t say that lightly to to illicitContinue reading “You’re on your own, kid. Sorta.”

Blindsided: This Attorney Foster Mom’s Take on the Oher-Tuohy Controversy

The role of foster families is not to provide an alternative means of living for the children that they home, rather, our role is to stand in the gap. What do I mean by that? It’s simple: we are their surrogate family. We are not “instead of” the family that they came from, but rather we are simply there to provide these children with a sense of normalcy while their first family takes the time that they need to work through whatever situation led to the removal.

Lost in church green rooms.

I am no stranger to the American Christian evangelical counter culture. In fact, I think that I should get extra points for having grown up in the Assemblies of God my entire life. Heck, I even attended Southeastern University, a notoriously Christian Assemblies of God university in the middle-of-nowhere Lakeland, Florida. I have always struggledContinue reading “Lost in church green rooms.”

A reintroduction.

Hello blog! It’s been a while. I am not quite sure where or when I abandoned you. I guess I could go back and re-read through my old posts and figure that out, but I won’t. So you may be wondering what I’ve been up to and why I feel the need to reintroduce myselfContinue reading “A reintroduction.”

The Gift of Presence

This morning’s devotional led me to the story of the prodigal son. To be honest, I’ve never related to this story. I was as far from a prodigal as one could be (as my Cuban brethren would say, “yo era nina de casa”). Today I realize how much I relate to the older son whoContinue reading “The Gift of Presence”

Integrity over everything

A year ago today, the rug was pulled out from under me and I walked through the most difficult 48 hours of my life. Despite walking in direct obedience, I was betrayed by a trusted person, who quite literally stole what was rightfully mine. The pain of that act of betrayal stung worse from theContinue reading “Integrity over everything”

A Primer on the Art of Legal Writing

If you distill the entire legal profession into one basic concept, the practice of law can be characterized as a group of skilled communicators. I love words. I always have. I love arranging words in a precise way to communicate with precision. As an attorney, I don’t believe in using two words when one willContinue reading “A Primer on the Art of Legal Writing”