Category Archives: Inspirational

‘Middle Mom’ fights for zero waiting foster kids

By Steve Brawner, © 2023 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Christie Erwin has hugged a lot of foster kids, but never while they were in the middle of being interviewed for a short film in hopes of being adopted.

That changed last year when a 15-year-old was asked on camera what was hoped for in a family, responded by saying, “I want to be able to hug somebody,” and then started crying.

Tatum had not been hugged in four years. Erwin, filmmaker Nathan Willis, and the photographer immediately stopped filming and fulfilled the wish, if only for that moment.

Erwin is the founder of Project Zero, which promotes adoptions of foster kids in Arkansas through events where kids mingle with prospective parents, and through those roughly four-minute films. You can watch them at theprojectzero.org. Continue reading ‘Middle Mom’ fights for zero waiting foster kids

Never ready to let Hope go

By Steve Brawner, © 2022 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

“Weddy, Daddy?”

That’s what a blue-eyed two-year-old girl was saying to me 18 years ago as we played in the floor together – “weddy” being her pronunciation of “ready.” Now, another blue-eyed two-year-old girl is saying the same thing.

The first is now a 20-year-old woman, and we have a second daughter who’s 17. Today’s two-year-old, Hope, was born Jan. 10, 2020, when her mother was 44 and her dad was a not-very-spry 50. 

Having a third daughter 15 years after the second has been an interesting experience. We are trying to enjoy it more while stressing less. We’d better, because that girl is into everything. I don’t know how the iPad is going to survive. 

As middle-aged parents of a young daughter, we are aware of the need to take care of ourselves. We want to be healthy and active as she grows up, starts her own adult life and eventually gives us grandchildren. Continue reading Never ready to let Hope go

A year of Hope

By Steve Brawner, © 2021 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It’s been a challenging 12 months for all of us. For the Brawner family, it’s also been full of Hope.

Hope Renee Brawner was born one year ago at 1:10 p.m. on 1-10-20. “Renee” is French for “reborn.”

Her “old man” really is an old man – middle-aged, actually. I was 50 when she was born. Her mom was 44, and her sisters were 18 and 15. Yes, we’ve been asked by strangers if she’s our grandchild. And no, Hope was not planned. She was an unexpected and precious gift from God.

Hope’s childhood will be different from her sisters’. Her parents are older, hopefully wiser and definitely less spry. Her remaining grandparents are older, too. Her maternal grandmother has passed away. Her sisters are her second and third mothers.

Her first year occurred when the world was at war with a virus. For the first time in many decades, infectious disease has been an ever-present threat. The pandemic has lasted long enough that it’s changed life in both small and profound ways – just as life was changing when our oldest daughter was born one week after the Sept. 11 attacks.

What will those changes look like? Will Hope grow up in a world where people shake hands, or will we be bumping fists? More importantly, how long will we look upon each other suspiciously as potential disease-carriers and as members of opposing tribes? Or when this is over, will we get back to business, as we did the last time a worldwide war was won?

Our first two children were passed around to family and friends as babies. Hope doesn’t get out much, and we keep her with us when she does. She’s very pleasant and happy, but she can be a little shy around other people, at least at first. Will she be part of a generation of shy COVID babies, and will it matter long term? Or will they be well-adjusted and more family-centered than previous generations?

Life is changing in other ways. If Hope were a person of color, she would be among the first set of girl babies who could see on screen a female vice president of the United States with a similar background and skin tone. That wouldn’t have happened when I was born 51 years ago.

Regardless of when a person comes into the world, life is full of unexpected gifts and hardships. On Dec. 6, 1941, people were meeting their future spouses, having babies, and finding their callings. And then the next day Pearl Harbor happened.

So what do we humans do with the fact that life is but a vapor? We’d better take joy in the moment. Embrace hope.

Hope, her mother and her sisters are inseparable, but I can also report that she’s a bit of a daddy’s girl. And because I’m a journalist, you know I’m unbiased and objective.

I was washing dishes the night of Jan. 1 when she crawled up behind me, pulled on my pants leg, and looked at me sweetly and expectantly. I acknowledged her and returned to the dishes. She pulled on my pants leg again. Her sister offered to take her. Hope wanted Daddy.

The dishes could wait. I scooped her up and carried her to the rocking chair next to the fireplace. She was a little fussy, but she calmed down with help from her sister, her favorite stuffed bear, a pillow and a pacifier. I sang to her, terribly off-key, but she didn’t seem to mind. In a few minutes, she’d fallen asleep in my arms.

That’s always been Mommy’s job, but that night it was mine. A new year had begun, and I’d been given the gift of embracing Hope.

Related: The story of Hope’s birth.

Pittman won by winning three games, and not more

By Steve Brawner
© 2021 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The Arkansas Razorbacks finished the season 3-7, but they were 10 points from being 6-4. For Coach Sam Pittman’s long-term job security, it was better that they were 3-7.

The Razorbacks had gone 2-10 the past two seasons, often looking embarrassingly overmatched. Former UA Athletic Director Frank Broyles’ worst nightmare had come true: Arkansas State probably was better.

The program reached such a low that Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek fired former coach Chad Morris with two games left in only his second season, triggering a $10 million buyout.

Pittman wasn’t the glamorous choice for a replacement, but he had two things going for him. Continue reading Pittman won by winning three games, and not more