Today I read the book, “The Little Engine Could” to Kehlani through the Isolette (incubator). It is one of the sweetest books to read and very fitting in our situation. In the story, I couldn’t help but get inspired myself.

The Little Engine that could chose to take on the seemingly impossible task of climbing a mountain she’d never climbed before, carrying a burden she’d never carried before, and succeeding simply because she believed she could and nobody told her she couldn’t. They all told her she could. There are so many times in my life where I believed I could so something but someone else told me I couldn’t do it so I started to second-guess and doubt myself because of that negativity from the other person(s). In order to achieve what we want to achieve, we must find and surround ourselves with people who believe in us. Having a support group is incredibly important for success. Otherwise, if you succeed on your own and meet your goals, finding yourself at the top, you may find yourself there alone. What good is success if you can’t celebrate it with your family and friends?

Kehlani is one blessed child to be able to have so many people who love her. Kai, who hasn’t even met her yet, has such a strong love for her. I am so excited to see the friendship these two girls will hopefully have in their future. It’s even more fun and special since we didn’t know Kehlani’s gender until she was born. 

In the spirit of Father’s day, I’d also like to add that Kehlani and Kai are extremely blessed to have the father that they have. Marcus has sacrificed so much for our family. This year, he has even taken a strong liking to one of my favorite summer activities – fishing. We have been fishing more this summer than in the past 3 years put together. It’s become one of our favorite ways to spend time together as a family and prior to Kehlani’s birth, we were going about one day a week. Marcus also really likes to shoot sporting clays and we did that together the day before Kehlani was born at Pheasant Bonanza where my brother works. I’m so thankful for my babies to have a dad who enjoys the outdoors and is willing to take time to teach them how to enjoy them too. My parents are the biggest reason I love the outdoors too. Thanks, Dad & Marcus, for being such great Fathers and helping to shape my daughters and I into the women we are.