Tonight, I should have been busy wrapping presents for my soon-to-be one year old boy. Tonight, I should have tucked my boy safely in his cot, having rocked him softly to sleep, having caressed his sweet cheeks and having kissed his sleepy eyes. Tonight, I should have stayed up late making sure the birthday cake is decorated, the cards are bought and the party venue is ready for him. Tonight, I should have counted my blessings up to two. A girl…and a boy…A gentleman’s family…My dream come true. Tonight, I should have gone to bed with dreams and hopes for a little boy who will grow into a reliable, loving and gentle young man. Instead… Instead, my house is quiet but my heart is in turmoil. Instead of running after an active nearly-one year old, I stare into empty space, desperate for someone little to fill my arms. Instead of making future plans, I make survival plans. Instead of cake and joy and silliness there is pain and loneliness and anger. Many of you, kind …

Emma has always been a musical child, from when she was a tiny baby girl. We started very early (when she was about 5 months) to attend mums and tots and the local library’s rhythm and rhyme weekly activities. Music has remained a big part of her life, with her asking Santa this year for a guitar and planning on a violin for next year ;-), so I was overjoyed when we were offered the opportunity to review a number of DVDs and CDs from Kids’ Music Shop. I was a bit skeptical when they first arrived as the DVDs included nursery titles like “Twinkle, twinkle little star”, “The wheels on the bus” and “Never smile at a crocodile.” I thought Emma would be a bit too grown up for them but at a closer look, I realised I couldn’t have been more wrong! The DVDs are fun to watch, even for an older child, due to a few key factors: 1. Tony, the artist and singer who features in them is hilarious and looks …

So, it has happened again. People who have been perceived as the “enemy” of a certain religion and life philosophy have been mercilessly annihilated today in Paris. 12 of them in total. Journalists. Cartoonists. People good with their colouring pencils, for goodness’ sake! What made them so threatening? So menacing? So offensive? Was their crime of joking about “serious” things and making a ridiculous philosophy into the laughing stock of the elite of the Parisian society so grave that punishment could be DEATH only???? Have we evolved from nothing to nothing? Have we not learned our lessons from the Holocaust? From the crusades? From the recent beheadings in Syria? We all have opinions. Divergent opinions. We are entitled to have opinions. We are entitled to have different opinions. God have us all heads to use in order to form opinions. Personal opinions. BUT our opinions don’t represent who we are. They are the result of our life experiences. Our upbringing. Our culture. But they are not US. So when someone makes fun of our ideas, …