All About Me!

My self improvement journey started early in 2008 when I watched "The Secret" movie. I can't recommend that movie highly enough; it just gives you a hope and excitement to take back your life and make it great!

So back to the beginning..........

At the end of my nurse training at age 23 I went off to the Peruvian mountains to help set up an orphanage for the many children orphaned by the terrorism. At that time I spoke only very basic Spanish and so my first task was to improve my language skills, but I soon found myself caring for two young street kids, on my own, 24/7. I found it very stressful, and didn't get enough support from the people who I'd gone out to work for.

I fell in love

Soon after arriving in Peru I'd met an attractive local, and fallen in love. I was warned by the Peruvian women not to trust the men there, but being young and naive I ignored them. I left the orphanage after the year that I had committed to help them, and returned briefly to the UK.

I Started Teaching Sunday School Teachers

When I returned to Lima, Peru's capital, I started working with a missionary organisation teaching Sunday School teachers all about preventative medicine. It was fascinating having the opportunity to travel to different parts of Peru, but also heart wrenching seeing the extreme poverty up close. At that time I got engaged to my Peruvian boyfriend, and 18 months later we got married.

My Marriage Was Unhappy

The marriage got off to a bad start when my new husband shouted at me in front of our guests for dancing with his cousin. The marriage carried on in that vein, me keeping my head down so as not to set him off, but terribly unhappy. The contraception failed after 6 months of marriage and a few months later I gave birth prematurely to my first son. This was a traumatic experience as I needed an emergency cesarean section because my waters had broken, but I wasn't having contractions, and the baby was breach. Anyway, Josh was born, 3lb 12oz and as skinny a little thing as you've ever seen, but I loved him dearly. It was scary though, as there were regular appointments at the hospital, but no support at home.

I Was Robbed....Twice!

Over the next 5 months I was robbed twice, once only yards from my front door carrying Josh, and I'd had enough; I didn't want to bring my baby up in that dirty, dangerous city. I managed to convince my husband to come to the UK to set up home.

Into Social Housing

Back in the UK, Norfolk and we stayed with my parents for 4 months until I got nursing work to support us, and we moved into social housing; it was a palace compared to how we'd lived in Peru! When Josh was 2 I thought that it would be good for him to have a sibling.

Things Got Worse

During the pregnancy my husband's treatment of me worsened dramatically and when he started on Josh I decided to leave. It was 4 weeks before I had a house allocated to me , and during that time Sam was born. I suffered a horrible depression, as I had married for life, and was terribly disappointed that my marriage had been so awful. I sat every evening scoffing crisps and chocolate biscuits and put on loads of weight. I really let myself go, and looked awful.

A Great New Life!

I gradually worked my way through it with the support of my family and 18 months later I met Barry and we fell for each other on the first date! We met through a dating agency by the way! My kids liked him too and we started to build a new family unit. We moved in together within 4 months, and got married 18 months after that. I got pregnant on my honeymoon and later Ethan was born.

Legal Nightmares!

My ex was not happy that I had made such a solid new life with another man; though he never said so, he showed it by his behaviour. I won't go into all the details, but I stopped him seeing Josh and Sam and applied to the family court for his contact to be stopped, or at least supervised. My ex then made a counter application for residency, and got it. I had to hand my children over to my abusive ex husband on August 1st 2005. I was absolutely beside myself with grief. I had a very young baby to care for, who actually saved my life; but for him I would undoubtedly have ended my life.

Horrible Depression

This time I needed medical help to deal with the depression, but after 18 months I was weaned off the medication. I was left though with a deep anger about the injustice that had been done to my children.

New Hope

That was where I was at when I watched "The Secret", and I just melted. I had felt so powerless to change my situation, and here I was being told I can take control. I got hold of some of the books on which the movie was based and read them, and doing this started to change my outlook, I now had hope. I set some goals, made a vision board and planned and thought deeply about my life as I want it to be.

This Stuff Is Great!

In lots of further reading I have learned that to get more out of life, I need to grow and develop as a person. I need to become more conscious of everything in my life, instead of going through my days on autopilot. I really need to become a positive force for good in my family and community. My first step is to get my head in a good space. I believe that's what we are all meant to do, in our own beautiful and individual way: contribute to the world. When we do this, out of love and a giving, sharing attitude, then we receive in return and in great abundance, because we're working with the universe and not against it.

Childcare Business

During all this I was running a small childcare business from my home, including studying for an Level 3 NVQ in Children's Care, Learning and Development and various other short courses and workshops related to childcare.

A Different Work at Home Business

I had always been into the internet and always looking for ways to make money online. Unfortunately there is a lot of "get rich quick" c##p out there, and I'm embarrassed to say I fell for some of it. I even managed to build up a substantial debt buying into one particular business opportunity :-o

Site Build It! Rocks!!

Then I found Site Build It! I had a bit of a hard time convincing my husband that I would do better this time, but thankfully he allowed me to invest in SBI! Man I have not looked back since! Take a look at this other mom's video testimonial:



Life Can Be Great!

The point of telling you my story is that I've been through a lot and come out the other side. I would love to share what I've learned (and am continuing to learn) with other mothers and support them in making of their lives whatever they want.Life is amazing! I keep on educating myself, improving myself and working towards my goals.You can do it too: be amazing!

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

Napoleon Hill

Author of the classic book: Think and Grow Rich