because we knew you

this was the week, the finale of the oprah winfrey show.  i can honestly say that i remember the oprah show back in the day.  i remember the various hairstyles, the opening theme songs, the sets, and many of the memorable episodes.  then i went through an anti-oprah phase, for a reason i'm unsure of.  but when season 25 kicked off, the final season, i knew that it was bound to be a season worth watching.  we set up the dvr to record the oprah show each morning at 9am (one of the perks of being in chicago...we get to watch it first!).  and as the number of episodes were counted down, we waited in anticipation of the two-episode surprise show that was taped at the united center.  though there were many touching moments, none struck me as much as the one celebrating and honoring oprah's dedication to education.

two longtime friends of oprah's, gayle king and maria shriver, came onto stage and talked about the good that oprah has done, but none were as important to her as education.  oprah has helped create better libraries for public schools, started a girl's school in south africa, and on and on.  and one of the greatest gifts that oprah has provided was the ability for individuals to go to college.  in 1990, oprah provided full-ride scholarships to striving students who were struggling to attend moreshouse college. what started with providing scholarships to 100 men turned into 415 recipients of the oprah winfrey scholarship.

to honor her dedication and the change she brought to these men, kristen chenoweth performed the song "for good" from the musical wicked.  and during her performance, the men of morehouse college, the recipients of the scholarship flooded the stage.



i couldn't help myself from crying.

while finding this video, i learned that in honor of oprah's dedication to education, the men who received the scholarship from oprah provided $300,000 of their own money to educate other deserving moreshouse men. 

it gets better

i seriously tear up every time i see this commercial.



it truly does get better.  visit this site to hear how it gets better.

picture challenge: day 16

a picture of someone that inspires you. 

my sister, gretchen.  she inspires me in more ways than she'll ever know! 

you are beautiful

this morning i was scrolling through facebook and noticed a blog post that one of my facebook friends had shared.  it caught my attention and i went to the blog and began to read.  after reading the initial post, i started reading other posts from her blog that she started only a short month ago.  she is the mother of a beautiful (and i do mean beautiful!) 5 year old little girl with down syndrome.  kayla is truly her mother and father's little princess.  i encourage you to take a look at amy's blog over at "particularly perfect".

coincidentally, a received an email from my friend teresa only a couple hours later with a link to a blog she wanted to share with me.  she pointed out one post in particular that truly brought me to tears.  kelle's blog, "enjoying the small things" centers around her family (and her photography hobby), especially her two daughters.  a year ago she gave birth to her second daughter who was born with down syndrome.  kelle wrote about that birth a week after giving birth to nella.  you can read it here.  i think many parents of children with down syndrome can relate to her initial feelings.  she does a great job of honestly and openly sharing her feelings and how her acceptance and love quickly grew for her newest child.

reading both of these blogs today, i felt that i had to share the stories of these two mothers and their beautiful daughters.  

photo found here. 

emotions

so g has talked about his emotional roller coaster since he's started taking chantix. luckily, i haven't really noticed too many changes in my emotions. that is until today.

enjoying a nice, quiet morning, i decided to catch up on some missed tv. one of those was 'ugly betty'. it's a favorite of mine and i'm completely devastated that it all ends next week in the series finale. the past few episodes have been amazing, but none were as emotional as the one i watched this morning. if you don't watch it, you may not quite understand. i found myself tearing up at one point, then turning into full-on waterworks.

(here's an emotional song that played during the episode. i knew that i recognized the singer - a favorite of mine, schyler fisk! ...and if you watch the link, ignore the squirrel!)

to continue on with the emotional morning, i flipped over to oprah (not sure why, because i'm not a fan). friday's are live from chicago. today she had on the buried life, a group of four guys completing things they want to do before they die. they came upon one girl who works at ben & jerrys. she's afraid of heights. they took her to the sears tower onto the ledge on the skydeck. then they talked about how they played basketball with president obama. i don't know why, but the inspiration struck me and my eyes became watery again.

maybe i'm just having a sappy morning....