HOPE 4 THE WOUNDED, LLC

I've had the honor of doing several conference sessions and professional development trainings based on information in our newest book (Supporting the Wounded Educator: A Trauma-Sensitive Approach to Self-Care).  I absolutely love doing these sessions, and even more, I love getting feedback and follow-up questions.  All but one of my sessions over the past several months has been virtual, so I sincerely mean this.  When you have the opportunity to work with folks in person you typically get some immediate feedback, but in the virtual world, you just end the meeting.  Done.  No more conversation.  Some people may be good with that, but we struggle with the let down.  We are so emotionally invested in what we do that it almost feels like we got ripped off from debriefing or something!

Anyway, I had the pleasure of receiving an email from a participant in one of my recent sessions asking me for a link to a video I shared.  She proceeded to ask me...

A couple weekends ago, I had the chance to hop on a flight last-minute to celebrate our first granddaughter's first birthday.  The weather in Ohio was crummy, so a quick escape to Florida sounded fabulous, even more so to see the sunshine that is our sweet Noah-girl.

I remember thinking in the midst of the mental to-do list, "I need to start working on the flowerbeds, but it can wait until I get back because it's so cold."  Upon returning to Ohio, I was dismayed because not only was it cold, IT WAS SNOWING ON APRIL 21st!!!  I was even more dismayed because the dang weeds taking up residence in the flowerbeds didn't get the memo that they shouldn't be growing flourishing in cold weather.  And after a few warmer days, they looked like they were on steroids.  How bad could it be, you ask?

Oh friends, this is just the beginning.  I added two more full bags after I took this picture and each bag weighed 30-40 lbs.  And I'm not done yet.  All...