Silver Linings & What’s Next

Earlier this month I ordered this picture (framed and matted) for the office in our new home, which Bob recently repainted a very nice color that found out about here. I took the photo in August 2008 when Bob and I were in Lake Tahoe for the marriage of two of our friends, one of whom we knew from our college days at the University of Illinois. Bob and I went for a hike the day after the wedding ceremony and reception near their home and saw many beautiful views like this.

In addition to being there to celebrate with our friends and experiencing all the wonderful things about Lake Tahoe, one of Bob and my favorite parts of the trip was reconnecting and spending time with another old friend, who we also knew from college. We are grateful that our friendship has grown since then and that our sons, who are close in age, enjoy hanging out together too.

Another thing about that trip is that I was never *supposed* to be able to go. If our second child Molly had been born healthy or as least lived until then, Bob and I had discussed that he would go to be there to celebrate with our friends and I would stay home with “the baby” since she would have been very young. At least that was “the plan.” Anyway, we count our friendship with our old friend, his wife (who we hit it off with right away when we met her in Tahoe) and their son to be among the many silver linings and blessings that might not otherwise be apart of our lives today, had Molly survived.

Bob in the process of painting our office.

This just one of many examples of blessings that I count and thank our baby girl for bringing to our family and me through her short life and death. Being a bereaved parent is not easy, but I find a lot of peace and comfort when I am able to recognize what I am grateful for in the midst our grief and loss.

There are two blessings in particular that I consider to be two of the greatest gifts that Molly gave me personally through our journey with her. The two go hand and hand in many ways. The first is how our experience with Molly has mused and moved me to write more here, as well as other places. I have grown to love writing and can not imagine my life anymore without writing being a significant part of it, both personally and professionally.

The second blessing that I believe Molly gave me has been the gift of becoming a “bereaved and blessed” healer. My mom shared the idea of “wounded healers” with me years ago and I have embraced the concept ever since. I do believe that those of us who have experienced great loss and challenges in our lives have both the opportunity and in many ways a responsibility to share what we have learned in effort to try to support and encourage others who have also been in our shoes and/or will follow in our footsteps.

Our newly painted and decorated office (where I do some of my writing)

That being said, it is with great joy that I share with you the news that recently I bought my own domain name/URL and am moving from Blogger to Self Hosted WordPress. Some of the incredible women that I have connected with through blogging over the years have been gently encouraging me to take this “next step” for awhile now and finally last month they made their case strongly enough that I decided to go for it! You know who you are and a huge thank you for nagging inspiring me to do this!

I took some time to imagine what I wanted my new space to look like and be about. Overall, it is not that different than this blog that I have been writing and maintaining for almost five years now. All of the content here at Four of a Kind (blog posts, pictures, pages and links) will be a part of my new site.

The main differences are: the name/URL (which I will share with you in a moment), the platform (Self Hosted WordPress), the theme framework I am using there (Thesis), the design (which I am proud to say I did all by myself, with some great advice from other bloggy friends and watching many online tutorials) and what all of those things together will allow me to do with my blog going forward.

I am ready to take my writing and ability to help others as a wounded healer to the next level and this seemed to be a logical way to do that.

I see my new website as a place for me to continue to write, share and connect with others who have experienced infertility (primary or secondary), loss (including pregnancy, neonatal or a loved one of any age) and/or other unexpected challenges associated with when our lives have not gone as we hoped, dreamed and planned they would.

I invite you to visit there now and join me there permanently one week from today when I take a “leap of faith” during this Leap Year, on Leap Day, Wednesday, February 29!

Between now and then I will be cross-posting, as I put the finishing touches on my new space (though it will always be a work in progress, as I am). In the meantime, please feel free to take a look around, check things out, subscribe to my new RSS feed/add it to your readers, sign up to receive updates via email when I share new blog entries (look for this option on the sidebar of my new blog), “like” my new Bereaved and Blessed Facebook page and let me know what you think.

I will also be transitioning around the internets in the coming days from my current FourofaKind2009 username, on things like Twitter and Pinterest, so don’t be surprised when all of a sudden you are pinning or tweeting with @BereavedBlessed, instead of @FourofaKind2009.

I am so very grateful to each and every one of you that has been a part of my journey here on what began as “Three of a Kind Working on a Full House…,” eventually added “our Queen of Hearts in Heaven” and then became “Four of a Kind.”

Your kind words, thoughts, prayers, support and encouragement over the past five years means so much to me.

♥ THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!! ♥

So now I introduce you to something I couldn’t be more excited about and hope you will continue to be a part of my journey at:

If you haven’t done so already, you can click directly on the above picture to visit my new blog!

One last thing, as I was preparing to write this blog entry, I happened to notice that it is my 500th post here in almost 5 years! How awesome and ironic is that?! Thank you for helping me to reach this milestone through your awesome support and encouragement over the years!

I hope to continue to *see* you here over the next week, my last at Four of a Kind, and then in the days, weeks and years to come at Bereaved and Blessed.