The Problem with Big Business

I really want this blog to be informative, but entertaining. However, I've had issues with looking at the funny side of things lately. I seem to be stuck in this very non-humorous rut and am taking everything WAY too seriously. My feathers get ruffled easily and my husband asks me every day if I think I'm pregnant... which would be a serious achievement considering all the natural steps we've been taking to prevent pregnancy at this particular moment. So, this is what is eating me alive. Big Business. Now, I know that we live in a land full of opportunity and capitalism, which I think it perfectly fine. But what I find horrendous is that in this Land of the Free, we are also able to harm others in order to make money. I have lots of cases in point:

Makes Mom Happy told us all about the evils of Medela and how they egregiously violate the WHO's breastfeeding code. They happily pay the fines because they know they can make more money by making an open breastpump that cannot be used for more than one mother.

Lansinoh is owned by Pigeon, another violator who promotes their products as being equal or better than the breast. Apparently the nursing rate in China is drastically falling due to all of the advertising efforts of Pigeon.

MamaNotes just wrote about 10 recalls for baby items. I found the whole list and was astounded that there weren't just 10, there were hundreds of recalled baby products (and I was too furious to even look at the toy list.) The purpose of the recalls was anything from "excessive lead" to fall hazards, laceration hazards, strangling and choking hazards, and other horrendous outcomes.

And most recently I found out that something as innocuous and lovely as new carpet is full of toxic VOCs which can harm your body. They can emit toxic off-gasses for an average of ten years!

Then you have the whole H1N1 vaccination debate (or vaccinations, in general). Did you read where you could take your child to have the H1N1 vaccine tested on them and receive a $40 gift card in return? Are you kidding me?? Dr Momma at Peaceful Parenting listed the article on her website. So, you have to imagine that in order to receive this gift card, you have to waive all rights to a lawsuit in the event that the thermerisol or other ingredients in this vaccine harm or kill your kid. But it's $40, right?? By the way, did you know that there are still pending cases in court from the horrible side effects (paralysis and death among other things) from the H1N1 vaccine from the 1970s? Did you know that Novartis has already got a stockpile of funds designated for lawsuits stemming from anticipated deaths and other catastrophic reactions to their H1N1 vaccine? And did you know that the manufacturers of the H1N1 vaccine aren't even going to take it??!?! Why should we?

I watched a funny video posted by one of my former students, a chiropractic intern. It was amusing, but thoughtful as well. Why are all food products required to list their ingredients, but nothing else is? Would you buy that toy if it listed one of its ingredients as lead? Would you buy that flooring if you knew it had VOCs in it? No! And perhaps that is why they don't list them.

Warning- I am stepping onto my soapbox.

How have we gotten to a place in this country where money is more valuable than life? Research and development costs are cut in order to advertise items on TV, and then the consumers become the buyers and the researchers. We have to call the manufacturers to tell them that their "safe" products (from cribs, swings, high chairs, co sleepers, carseats) are not safe, and in fact have injured, maimed, or killed our kids. We suffer the ill effects of toxins in our home's paint and carpet. Quality control is being sacrificed by sending these products to a faraway land for production and then the manufacturers don't oversee it properly. And then WE purchase those items because they are cheaper. Well, of course they are cheaper! Those folks are being paid $2 per day and have no health insurance and no 401K, so of course the products are less expensive. Not only are we sacrificing our families, we are sacrificing the lives of others whom we have never even met! We are in a terrible state when there is an inverse relationship between income and morals. It sort of makes me insane. I'm trying to do my part by carrying products that are environmentally and socially responsible in my little store. And by boycotting large stores who only carry cheap items made in countries on the other side of the world. If I can purchase an item that is $50 more expensive, but support fair trade and ethically treats its employees, I will gladly eat beans and rice for a week. It's about priorities. As a nation, we need to get ours straight.

Okay. I'm done now.

Fun Fact Friday

This week's Fun Fact Friday is just a tidbit of information that you may or may not know:

A woman who breastfeeds her baby burns approximately 500 calories per day!!

Do you know what other things you can do to burn 500 calories?

• Jog at 5mph for one hour- sweating atrociously convinced death is just around the corner

• Do step aerobics for one hour- feeling mildly inadequate because grandma is whipping your butt

• Jump rope for 45 minutes- hahahahaahaahaaa!!!

• Run at 8mph for 35 minutes- are you joking? I can't even run 6mph. And I think that is considered a sprint...
  

• Spend 50 minutes on the elliptical trainer- as long as something good is on TV I guess it wouldn't be awful...

• An hour of vigorous rowing on a machine- if you are coordinated enough to work that particular monstrosity
  

• Spend an hour doing labor-intensive yard work- which could be enjoyable if you are able avoid the fire ant hills, West Nile Virus-carrying mosquitos, and killer ground bees

I don't know about you, but I greatly prefer to plant my rear end on the couch, stare at my sweet baby's face, and fill her belly a few times a day. Nary a sweat is broken and I am not sore in strange places the next day. In fact, these 500 calories are enough to convince me that I will suffer through all the random aches and pains of nursing a 9 month old and continue on until she's... well, at least 4. I can endure the strange looks and the snickers behind my back to avoid working out strenuously. YAY for nursing!!

And before anyone gets her panties in a wad, I do walk with my family most nights because I do understand the importance of regular physical exercise. I just think it is awesome to burn calories while loving on my Petunia... Happy Friday!!

A New Baby!!!

I normally write about something tasty and delicious on Thursdays but couldn't contain my excitement over the birth of a new baby... at the farm. That's right, my obsession has officially transcended human birth and is spilling over into the animal kingdom. My aunt has a delightful 14 acre spread in North Carolina (Blueberry Hill Farm) and one of her alpacas, a maiden named Run Around Sue, just birthed her very first baby a whopping 8 days past due (in the Bradley world that is right on time!)... a female cria named Merry Cathy- in sweet homage to my mother, whose birthday she now shares.

Unfortunately, Sue wasn't the most attentive mother and was wandering away from Baby Cathy, but we had hopes that she would get the hang of being a mom (we all know there is a learning curve, right??) and that the baby would continue to learn to nurse and get big and strong.

How consumed am I with natural birth and breastfeeding?? (And if I didn't know it before, I'm aware of it now). Well, when I heard that Sue was not letting the baby nurse, I unthinkingly offered to pump for the new cria, not realizing how strange it was to even contemplate giving a baby alpaca my human milk, much less actually offer. And honestly, who goes around gifting animals their pumped milk?!? Then I thought I could come up and somehow try to teach Sue how to nurse this baby (alpacas are not known for their intellectual aptitude- maybe I could "model" nursing for her, show her how it's done), and could possibly bring along my friend and LLL leader for an alpaca breastfeeding intervention. I asked my aunt if she thought Sue may be engorged, whether her nipples (I mean teats!) may be sore (I'd be happy to loan out my Lansinoh), and asked if she thought hand-expressing some milk may be beneficial... all while giving various other human mother/baby nursing tips.. Then I realized that holy moly, I have seriously gone off the deep end and should probably keep my mouth shut, and my Lansinoh and milk to myself...

You will all be happy to know that in the days following the birth the baby is nursing more frequently and is growing stronger without my assistance- or my milk. :o)

So without further admissions of insanity, here are some sweet pictures of that new baby!!

Baby Cathy- you see the top of her head and her left pink ear (that brown spot is a lovely fawn marking) and two front legs. How grateful I am that human babies are not born arms and head first!!

This is Sue and Baby Cathy just moments after birth. Amazing that she can already stand on those spindly legs!!

Here are Sue (mom), Silver (the silver one, ahem) and Beatta checking out "their" new baby. Interestingly, they are both probably pregnant and are the only other alpacas that came to check out the new addition.

Sue and Baby Cathy hanging out in the coolness of the barn.

When I begin teaching a new series of childbirth education classes, I always tell my students about Dr. Bradley's time on his farm growing up and how that shaped his understanding of normal birth. Until my aunt began her alpaca farm, I could never visualize exactly what he was talking about. But I have always of the persuasion that if animals (alpacas or otherwise) can give birth naturally, so can I! I believe that our bodies were created to give birth by a masterful and artistic God... seems like all too often we forget how marvelously we were made, sell ourselves short, and never realize what we are capable of.

Breastfeeding TWINS!!

My sweet friend has shared her breastfeeding premature twins story below. I hope you find it encouraging and amazing. It just goes to show that no matter what the circumstances, breastfeeding is always possible!

My Breastfeeding Story

I did not even know what breastfeeding was until I worked in a daycare in college. Of the 4 years that I worked there, I only remember 1 mom breastfeeding her baby. I remember how the older ladies working there would talk about how she was probably only doing it to lose her baby weight. Well, that sounded like a great deal to me. Why not?

Then, after I got married, my husband and I had friends with a new baby and the mother breastfed her. She made it seem wonderful and talked to me about the benefits to the baby. This is really what sold me on breastfeeding and I developed the attitude that if God was going to give me free food for my baby then I was going to use it!

It wasn’t until about a year later that my husband and I started trying to have a baby. When I was finally pregnant we were happy to find out that we were having twins. This news might have scared some people away from breastfeeding but it made me even more determined. I knew that we would not be able to afford formula for two and that my babies would probably be smaller and need the extra boost in their immune system.

I set out on a mission to find out all that I could about how to breastfeed twins. I knew a lady that worked in the same school district that has twin boys so I contacted her to find out if she had breastfed them. She was more than happy to provide me all the information that she could and also answer all of my questions. This was a great help to me and I decided that if she could do it, so could I.

Most of my family could not believe that I was going to try to breastfeed twins. Some wanted to know all of the details and some told me that it would never work. My mother didn’t breastfeed any of her children, but she was more than willing to learn from me and support me! I took the breastfeeding class at the hospital where I would be delivering and bought a few books to read. By the time my girls were born I was ready! This was a good thing since the lactation consultant at the hospital had retired and they hadn’t filled the position yet! My girls were born 6 ½ weeks early due to premature labor. They were whisked away to the NICU almost immediately. I had given strict notes that I was going to breastfeed them and not to give them anything. Not long after I was back in the recovery room, a nurse from the NICU came to visit me. She assured me that my babies were fine, but also told me that if I wanted them to come home anytime soon, I would need to give permission for them to have formula. At first I was a little worried about it but then I offered my permission.

When I arrived in my postpartum room, there was a breast pump waiting for me. Now, I had never used a breast pump before so I needed help. Each nurse that came in offered me different advice about when to use it and how to use it. I chose to pump every three hours because that is the feeding schedule that was being used in the NICU. The first few times that I pumped I didn’t get anything in the little vile that I was using. By the next evening though, I had about half a vile of colostrum. I got out of my bed and rushed it to the nurse’s station stating that they needed to get it down to my babies as soon as possible. The nurse that I spoke with laughed at me and told me that it was not enough to even do anything. I was extremely mad at her and told her not to worry about it but just to get it down to them. I knew that the NICU nurses would be thrilled with my little bit of liquid gold and that it was going to be great for my girls.

I continued to pump every three hours even after I left the hospital and would take my milk to the NICU. After my milk came in I was able to pump enough milk so that they were receiving only my milk and no formula by the third day that they were in there. Each time I went to visit them, the nurses would encourage me to try to nurse one of my girls. (One was on a feeding tube due to sucking problems) It was then that I learned that my nipples were inverted. This was another difficult task to overcome without a lactation consultant. Each nurse gave me different advice about what I could do but in the end I was able to use a nipple shield which worked great. We were able to bring one baby home after 5 days and the other after 8 days. The delay with one was that she was still having trouble sucking and gaining weight. We were supposed to bring her home on the 7^th day and when I called to make sure that this was still the plan, the dr. told me that she had lost an ounce overnight due to my milk not having enough calories so they had been giving her high calorie formula. This news crushed me. I had been up around the clock every three hours pumping milk for this baby and now they are saying it’s not good enough! Well, this could not be true. How could my milk not be as good as formula? I asked them again when I went in for a visit and what the dr. meant to say was that my baby was burning more calories trying to eat my milk than she was getting. We were told that we needed to give her the high calorie formula every other feeding until we saw the dr. again.

When my girls came home from the NICU, neither one of them would nurse. My husband and I would each get up for every feeding and give them a bottle of my milk (or the formula for the one) and then after we got them soundly back to sleep I would pump. This went on for two months and my husband was extremely supportive. During the day I would offer to nurse them each time just to see what would happen before the bottles. I was determined that these girls were going to nurse before my husband had to go back to work because I didn’t know how I would do two bottles at once. When the bigger baby was about six weeks old, she stopped taking a bottle. She would refuse it. My husband said, “I think she wants to nurse, she won’t take this bottle from me.” I put her to my breast and she went to town like she had been nursing all along. The smaller of the two girls started nursing about two weeks later! I had succeeded at getting them to stop taking bottles and only nurse!

I enjoyed nursing them at the same time because they would hold hands while they nursed. When they were 12 months old I decided that I needed to make them stop. I did this on a Sunday morning before church. When I dropped them off in the nursery I told their worker that I hadn’t nursed them that morning, this was the first time I had ever mentioned to her that I even breastfed them. She told me not to worry that she still nursed her 3 year old and if I needed someone to talk to she was available. This made me start thinking that maybe I wasn’t ready for them to stop nursing so I called the lactation consultant (my now best friend) and she also said that it didn’t sound like I was ready to quit and that there was no rule that said I had to. I decided to continue nursing them and they nursed until they were 15 months old. I am so glad that I nursed them and I plan to nurse their sister who will be born in November. I hope that this story can offer support to someone who also has a baby who won’t nurse right at birth. Don’t give up!

Breastfeeding Awareness Week- Petunia

I LOVE nursing my babies. There is nothing sweeter in my whole realm of understanding than being the sole provider of nourishment for my child. As we check her weight and see how tall she grows, I am proud to be responsible for that progress. But it isn't all roses all the time. My favorite nursing age has passed and now I have a bit of a rambunctious pre-toddler on my hands. She is much too busy checking out what Piggy is doing to pay attention to nursing, and therefore I get the raw end of the deal too often.

Petunia is a severe pincher, but she operates in stealth mode- gently rubbing the backs of my arms with her sweet fingers and going in for the kill after gaining my confidence. Her little pincher fingers are so strong that they bruise the backs of my arms making me look like a victim of domestic violence, causing me to defend my husband to all those who ask in horror what happened to them. It wouldn't be so bad, but that is the skin that is so soft and tender, shielded from the sun and elements as it snuggles closely to your body all day long. eeeek.And then Petunia is a jumper. She LOVES to be in her Jumperoo and I am convinced it is one of the best baby inventions on the planet. But it has convinced her little baby brain that jumping is her passion, and she chooses to jump at some inopportune times. A few days ago, she sat up in my lap, stood to her feet, grabbed tightly onto the straps of my tanktop, and began hopping up and down- all while latched on to me!!! It was quite a sight and I was laughing too hard to scold her, but thinking at the same time what this was doing to my poor breasts... let's just say, they aren't what they used to be... I don't have a picture of that, though. I'll leave it up to your imagination. :o)All in all, I anticipate nursing Petunia for a looooong time. Maybe until she's three. Maybe until she's five. But you won't know because I won't be broadcasting that information. It's just such a sweet time of loving and bonding and nourishment. Plus, I get to burn 500 calories each day just sitting there and holding my baby... a definite perk in my book. :)

Breastfeeding Awareness Week- Day 2- Challenges

I am a fan of breastfeeding and I am an avid supporter of women who choose to do so. While I understand that not all women will try or continue after trying, I am the go-to girl if you want that emotional support! I read somewhere that the primary reason that women stop breastfeeding is due to lack of support at home (any of you men reading, that means YOU). I have been amazingly blessed with a man who after reading and doing his own research, was going to move mountains to make sure that I nursed our children.

I had the privilege earlier this year to host a friend having nursing issues in my home, as Jennifer from the La Leche League came to figure out the problem(s). (Quick side note: Jennifer is not paid by LLL, and therefore had no obligation to sacrifice her lovely Sunday afternoon to come by. But she did. Because she LOVES to support nursing mamas. We are so thankful to this precious woman.) This sweet new mama had had a c-section after many hours of labor and reverse dilation and was simply having issues, but she was determined that she was going to nurse this baby. I had called her on the phone several times, each time ending in tears (from both of us) and went to drop off a meal to her house. After stepping into the living room and getting her usual bright and sunny "Hi, Mary!!" I felt free to ask how things were going. Her bottom lip trembled as she revealed a little baby at her breast and a feeding syringe draped over her shoulder gently placed into the baby's mouth. "She just...won't latch...on..." and a volley of tears ensued. I couldn't believe that within a week her entire tube of Lansinoh was gone- how much pain had she already experienced and worked through to nurse this baby?! I had brought her a book (The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding) but was immediately struck with my lack of working knowledge, feeling completely helpless to assist my struggling friend. She had called several resources and was always given some website or book... and I was doing the same. Sam needed someone to physically be there to see what was going on. I left extremely sad feeling useless and inadequate and as soon as I got in the car, melted down and called my husband asking for help. He recommended that we call Jennifer, and that is how both my friend and Jennifer meeting at my house (somewhere in the middle of their 45 mile separation) occurred.My friend Sam showed up and was renewed in her determination. The men left, taking Piggy, my elder daughter with them on a walk. And Sam carefully disrobed from the waist up and showed Jennifer what she was doing and how she had been doing it. The baby just didn't want to latch on to the nipple. Maybe she was too little, maybe she just didn't understand how. But Jennifer was oh so gentle in her assessment and encouragement and I just sat back and watched the interaction and exchange of ideas and information. Someone in the prior days had recommended a nipple shield for Sam and that was working better, though the baby initially refused to latch on to that either. Jennifer discussed weaning the baby off the syringe and helped to show Sam that her milk was plentiful and that the baby was getting it even if the syringe was empty, which was a huge relief. She told Sam to dribble a little milk on her nipple and asked her to encourage the baby to nurse straight from the breast each time, before she tried the syringe or shield. After several grueling weeks, the baby finally caught on. What has initially been a tremendous struggle has blossomed into a beautiful nursing relationship made even sweeter because of how hard it was worked for.

I don't get to hang out with Sam much, but I was so happy that she felt comfortable enough to come over that day. She is still nursing that sweet baby and after six months, has decided to introduce her first solids in a few days... so exciting!

I learned a lot from that day. Sam's husband was a bulwark. He knew how much she wanted to nurse this baby and he made it a point to diligently protect her from all the naysayers. I'm sure that he spent hundreds of hours praying over Sam and their baby, and never once did he even suggest that they just stop... he was present emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually... Plenty of folks would have had the chance to tell her it was okay to give up, but they never got that opportunity. And because of this man's tenacity and encouragement, Sam had all the support she needed to succeed in this endeavor. It was truly a beautiful testament to the strength and dedication of marriage.

Breastfeeding Awareness Week- Day 1

In honor of Breastfeeding Awareness Week, I want to share some of experiences with nursing two little ones over the last two years.

I always knew I wanted to breastfeed my babies. I was nursed, as were all of my sisters when breastfeeding wasn't the cool thing to do. In fact, there were very few women who were there to support my mom in her decision. But, she's a tough chick and did it anyway.

With Piggy, my first, I thought that the labor and birth were going to be the hard part. Everything I had read said that nursing should be painless and easy. Boy was I misinformed- labor and delivery (we had a home birth) were a cinch compared to breastfeeding. I guess I didn't realize that since my breasts had never been used that way before, it was going to hurt for a while even if she was nursing correctly, even though the books said otherwise. It took 5 weeks before I got the hang of nursing Piggy, and she received the moniker "Piggy" during that time because of her constant eating and rapid weight gain. In fact, she never lost weight during that first 24 hour period. I made a little mistake and woke her up her first night, latched her on to my breast and she didn't let go for over 7 hours! My nipples got extremely tender and Piggy ate every hour and a half to two hours and for over 45 minutes at a time, so I got all of an hour break for those first few weeks. It was torture for me. Right before she latched on each time I'd check her mouth one more time to make certain that she didn't have teeth, because I would have bet my left leg that she did. Then, I'd hold my breath and scrunch my eyes tightly shut as she latched on. It was agony for those first few seconds... and then the pain was gone. I remember thinking how nice it would be when it didn't hurt to nurse any more, and then being convinced that it was never going to get any better. But it did and by week 6 we were getting into the groove. I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent together each day as our nursing relationship bloomed, and I completely and utterly fell in love with my child. It was a beautiful experience.

When Piggy was 8 months old, we found out we were expecting a second time. I had no idea until I began having that tender, somewhat excruciating pain while nursing again. Then I had one day that I needed to eat a container of peanut butter, and then felt nauseated afterward. Of course, I chalked it up to the container of peanut butter, but common sense would have made me question my desire to consume that much peanut butter. The next day I took a pregnancy test and confirmed my suspicion. I immediately began taking precautions to keep my supply up because I had heard that pregnancy can sometimes dry up the milk completely. I ate lots of steel cut oats, lactation tea, and various other things, but by month 4 it was totally gone.

I was disappointed and felt tremendously guilty that I could no longer exclusively breastfeed my child. I cried at the thought of giving formula to my baby and cried at the shopping center as I picked out the can of soy. My starving baby- I only realized that I had a supply issue when Piggy went a full day without a wet diaper- greedily gobbled up an entire bottle full of that milk. It was only then that I was no longer upset. In fact, I was thankful that there was an option... I didn't have any lactating friends that I would feel comfortable asking for milk, so soy was the only other option. We had made it to 11 months exclusively breastfeeding.

I plan on making it much longer with Petunia. More on that tomorrow!

Breastfeeding Challenges

I am a fan of breastfeeding and I am an avid supporter of women who choose to do so. While I understand that not all women will try or continue after trying, I am the go-to girl if you want that emotional support! I read somewhere that the primary reason that women stop breastfeeding is due to lack of support at home (any of you men reading, that means YOU). I have been amazingly blessed with a man who after reading and doing his own research, was going to move mountains to make sure that I nursed our children.

I had the privilege earlier this year to host a friend having nursing issues in my home, as Jennifer from the La Leche League came to figure out the problem(s). (Quick side note: Jennifer is not paid by LLL, and therefore had no obligation to sacrifice her lovely Sunday afternoon to come by. But she did. Because she LOVES to support nursing mamas. We are so thankful to this precious woman.) This sweet new mama had had a c-section after many hours of labor and reverse dilation and was simply having issues, but she was determined that she was going to nurse this baby. I had called her on the phone several times, each time ending in tears (from both of us) and went to drop off a meal to her house. After stepping into the living room and getting her usual bright and sunny "Hi, Mary!!" I felt free to ask how things were going. Her bottom lip trembled as she revealed a little baby at her breast and a feeding syringe draped over her shoulder gently placed into the baby's mouth. "She just...won't latch...on..." and a volley of tears ensued. I couldn't believe that within a week her entire tube of Lansinoh was gone- how much pain had she already experienced and worked through to nurse this baby?! I had brought her a book (The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding) but was immediately struck with my lack of working knowledge, feeling completely helpless to assist my struggling friend. She had called several resources and was always given some website or book... and I was doing the same. Sam needed someone to physically be there to see what was going on. I left extremely sad feeling useless and inadequate and as soon as I got in the car, melted down and called my husband asking for help. He recommended that we call Jennifer, and that is how both my friend and Jennifer meeting at my house (somewhere in the middle of their 45 mile separation) occurred.My friend Sam showed up and was renewed in her determination. The men left, taking Piggy, my elder daughter with them on a walk. And Sam carefully disrobed from the waist up and showed Jennifer what she was doing and how she had been doing it. The baby just didn't want to latch on to the nipple. Maybe she was too little, maybe she just didn't understand how. But Jennifer was oh so gentle in her assessment and encouragement and I just sat back and watched the interaction and exchange of ideas and information. Someone in the prior days had recommended a nipple shield for Sam and that was working better, though the baby initially refused to latch on to that either. Jennifer discussed weaning the baby off the syringe and helped to show Sam that her milk was plentiful and that the baby was getting it even if the syringe was empty, which was a huge relief. She told Sam to dribble a little milk on her nipple and asked her to encourage the baby to nurse straight from the breast each time, before she tried the syringe or shield. After several grueling weeks, the baby finally caught on. What has initially been a tremendous struggle has blossomed into a beautiful nursing relationship made even sweeter because of how hard it was worked for.

I don't get to hang out with Sam much, but I was so happy that she felt comfortable enough to come over that day. She is still nursing that sweet baby and after six months, has decided to introduce her first solids in a few days... so exciting!

I learned a lot from that day. Sam's husband was a bulwark. He knew how much she wanted to nurse this baby and he made it a point to diligently protect her from all the naysayers. I'm sure that he spent hundreds of hours praying over Sam and their baby, and never once did he even suggest that they just stop... he was present emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually... Plenty of folks would have had the chance to tell her it was okay to give up, but they never got that opportunity. And because of this man's tenacity and encouragement, Sam had all the support she needed to succeed in this endeavor. It was truly a beautiful testament to the strength and dedication of marriage.