Love Wins!

Author of 5 books, podcaster, parent trainer, husband and father.

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My two younger daughters have a problem. They fight with each other.... a lot! Okay, constantly. At least it seems that way at times. Honestly speaking, there's sibling rivalry and then there's my two girls. They have single-handedly redefined the phrase!

There have been days, recently in fact, when my wife and I have been so unbelievably frustrated with the constant bickering and arguing, that we end up sending them to their rooms.

It’s frustrating.
It’s exhausting.
It seems like it’s never-ending.
It feels hopeless.
And sometimes, it’s just plain sad that they can’t figure out how to get along!

But then, like a ray of sunshine through gray clouds, there are times when they choose to love each other. That happened last night…

We were upstairs tucking our little boys into bed when we heard loud crying coming from downstairs. Allow me to re-phrase that- we were upstairs tucking the boys into bed when we heard loud wailing coming from downstairs!

I rushed downstairs to find my 11-year old daughter, Carmen, lying on her bedroom floor, clutching her right leg, reeling in pain. On her big toe was a medium-sized gash. My 10-year old daughter, Jaala, was standing over her asking the same questions I had begun to ask- “What happened?” and “How can I help?”

Carmen likes to do cartwheels, when it’s bedtime, instead of going to bed. She’s been warned, but she continues to do this. This time, however, she cartwheeled too close to the end of her bed. And the bed won. Big time! How ironic.

As any good dad would do, I stuffed the irritation of her disobedience down and adopted compassion into my demeanor. I scooped her up in my arms and carried her to the kitchen. And that’s when my heart was moved.

Speaking gently and with care, Jaala tended to the wound on Carmen’s big toe. She carefully opened a tiny first-aid kit she had made in Girl Scouts and began to peel open bandaids. When Carmen winced in pain from the hydrogen peroxide, Jaala was right next to her speaking calmly and gently- “It’s okay Carmen, we’re going to take care of this! The pain won’t last long, I promise.”

I’m getting misty-eyed just typing it!

As they trotted off to bed (well, limped, in Carmen’s case!), I stood and recounted to my wife what had just happened. I really had to fight back tears as I explained. 🙂

Heres’ what I was reminded of- love wins! No matter how bad the fighting gets between my two girls, love wins. Love conquers everything. At the end of the longest day, through the darkest night, love wins. And when I see my children love each other, there is no greater joy! It cancels out any irritation I may have over the seemingly endless fighting!

Have you seen your children love each other recently? How did it make you feel as a parent?

 

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Mike and Kristin Berry are the Co-Founders of The Honestly Adoption Company and have been parents for nearly two decades. They are the authors of six books, and the host of The Honestly Adoption Podcast.

Sarah Gray

Sarah Gray is the executive assistant to Mike and Kristin Berry. And she is the best in the land. In addition to providing a warm and friendly response to the many emails our company receives on a weekly basis, she also manages Mike and Kristin’s speaking and meeting schedules, and makes sure that team events go off without a hitch.

Nicole Goerges

Nicole Goerges is a Content Contributor & Special Consultant for The Honestly Adoption Company. She works with Mike and Kristin as a recurring co-host for the Honestly Adoption Podcast, and co-host of Kitchen Table Talks, exclusive video content for Oasis Community, along with Kristin. She is a fellow adoptive mom, and former foster parent.

Matt McCarrick

Matt McCarrick is the Content Production Specialist for The Honestly Adoption Company. If you’ve loved listening to our podcast, or enjoyed any of the videos trainings we’ve published, you have Matt to thank. He oversees all of our content production, from video edits, to making sure the tags are correct on YouTube, to uploading new videos to Oasis, to hitting publish on a podcast episode, he’s a content wonder!

Karen Anderson

Karen Anderson is the Community Engagement Specialist for The Honestly Adoption Company. She spends the bulk of her time interacting with, and helping, people through our various social media channels, as well as providing support for Oasis Community members through chat support or Zoom calls. In the same spirit as Beaver, Karen is also passionate about connecting with parents and making them feel loved and supported. Karen is also an FASD trainer and travels often, equipping and encouraging parents.

Beaver Trumble

Beaver Trumble is the Customer Care Specialist for The Honestly Adoption Company. Chances are, if you have been in need of technical support, or forgotten your password to one of our courses, you have interacted with Beaver. He is an absolute pro at customer care. In fact, he single-handedly revolutionized our customer care department last year. Beaver is passionate about connecting with parents and making them feel loved and encouraged.

Kristin Berry

Kristin Berry is the co-founder of, and Chief Content Specialist for, The Honestly Adoption Company. She spends most of her time researching and connecting with guests for our podcast, as well as direction, designing and publishing a lot of the content for our social media channels, blog and podcast. She loves to connect with fellow parents around the world, and share the message of hope with them.

Mike Berry

Mike Berry is the co-founder of, and Chief Marketing Specialist for, The Honestly Adoption Company. He spends the bulk of his time and energy designing and building many of the resources you see within our company, as well as social media and email campaigns. His goal is to use media as a means to encourage and equip parents around the world. He is also the co-host of The Honestly Adoption Podcast.