As often is the case in life sometimes the best laid plans have to be thrown out the window. Yesterday we were experiencing that very thing. When we first found out that Amanda was pregnant we decided that we wanted to have a home birth and hire doulas and midwives. We took classes, we studied anything that we did not already know about pregnancy, and we gathered all that we needed to have a successful home water birth.

The universe it seems has different plans. After 19 hours of labor it was decided that we need to go to the hospital. Not because the labor was hard but because the color of the fluid that showed up when Amandas water was broken at 5pm. It wasn’t really until after then water was broken that the labor was extremely hard and left Amanda in massive pain and Bryce in distress.

My mind took me back to my first hospital experience and made it very hard for me to focus on what was happening in that moment. Needless I to say I was terrified that I was going to lose another wife or child or both.

We had not been in the hospital for more than a few hours when we became aware that Amanda was in more pain than any human should have to endure and that our baby was not taking the stress well. We knew we needed to take further action and so much to our dismay it was decided that it was time to give Amanda an epidural and iv fluids. Unfortunate that was not enough that relieve the stress that Bryce was experience so it was quickly decided that the best course of action was to have a c-section.

The birth plan had become the exact opposite of what we had planned and it saddened us both as we had tried so hard to make everything perfect.

Bryce Liam MacRae born at 10:55pm on February 26th 2012, weighing in at 6 pounds 13 ounces, at a length of 20.27 inches and he was happy and healthy. Amanda was happy and healthy as well and so was I.

So for any of you out there worrying…even if you make the best plan, do everything in your power to make things go perfect, and hold all the positive energy you can muster, the universe may just have another plan and that’s ok because the end result could still be the same.

Have you ever had a situation in your life that was so traumatic, so horrible, and so life altering that you just couldn’t let it go? And in that situation did you look for people to blame? Or maybe you even blamed yourself.

I know I did. I struggled with it for many years and, sometimes even to this day, I wonder if I could have done something different.

My great trauma was losing my wife and baby girl in a very short 3 month period. My wife was lost to me due to pregnancy related illness which left me with a 2 month premature baby girl. My daughter died 3 months later due to SIDS. It was was the lowest time of my life and I wanted anyone and everyone to pay for what had happened.

It wasn’t until years later when I took at good hard look at my life and all that had happened in my life, and all the choices I had made in my life, and what had become of my life, that I was able to set aside the anger, the hurt, and even the blame, to come to a place of forgiveness. And there was a lot of forgiveness to do. I had to learn how to forgive my wife, my daughter, the doctors, my mother, my inlaws, and most importantly myself.

Learning how to forgive and then to actually forgive has indeed been one of my greatest triumphs in life.

So why do I bring up this topic? I bring it up because I know we all have forgiving to do and I know someone very special who is working very hard to help us all do that very thing.

My friend Shawne Duperon is creating a documentary called Project: Forgive.

If you already know Shawne, you’re aware that she’s a Six Time EMMY winner, has interviewed most US Presidents, and hundreds of celebrities, and travels the globe speaking on transformational media and how forgiveness is interwoven into our daily lives.

Project: Forgive is her life’s mission. I’m honored to be a part of it.

Forgiveness is one of the most significant conversations that causes healing, peace and ultimately love.

It is a hard lesson to learn – one I personally wish I had learned much earlier in life.

But it’s never too late to start!

And right NOW we need your help.

This is a massive project that can help tens, and hundreds of thousands of people immediately, and millions of people soon after.

I would love it if you joined me as part of this global conversation and movement

Please head to this site to check out the crowd funding campaign to get this movie funded.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/330494084/project-forgive

The video alone is worth a look, plus there’s a lot of fun rewards for everyone who pledges.
We also need your forgiveness stories to help us create this movie.

You, a movie star!

Think about all the people you could help with your story, or your contribution to help this documentary get off the ground.

How can you help?

A pledge of as little as $10 can help get this movie off the ground and get you an early release download of the movie.

Second, share your story!  Let me know if you have a story of forgiveness and we can talk to Shawne and her team about your participation.

For now though, please spread the word of this great cause, and after watching the video at the Kickstarter site, kick in a few dollars to help this cause.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/330494084/project-forgive

So you may have heard that there are many people out there making tons of money online. You have probably even found out that you can buy their amazing money making system and be making thousands of dollars in just a fews days. I am here to tell you that while it is possible to make lots of money online, it is never as simple as turning on some alleged money faucet. It requires a plan and a very concentrated effort.

Step 1: Who is your target audience and why are you targeting them. This is probably the most important step and so many people skip it or only loosely look at it. I am telling your right now, if you are targeting people because you have heard they are the easiest or fastest way to make money, the likelihood of you being successful is slim. You will achieve about the same amount as the average network marketer which is around $200.00 per year. It is imperative that any product or service you sell is something that you believe in and enjoy selling.

Step 2: What is your marketing strategy? I am not going to sit here and tell you that I am one of the top marketers, but as a web developer, I do know what works and what doesn’t. I can tell you with absolute certainty that any one effort by itself will not produce the results. It requires several areas of focus. What that means is to use every tool you have available to you. The benefit today is that many of the resources are free. If you haven’t done it already get yourself set up on facebook, linkedin, twitter, google+, and stumbleupon. Use them all on a regular basis not just to develop your own fan base but to become a fan of others. The more you cheer people on, the more they will cheer you on and it is always better to have other people singing your praises.

Step 3: Only spend money on tools that serve a purpose that you understand. This means that if someone tells you to pay large amounts of money on SEO, that you understand what seo means and how it truly works. Most people can get great results without ever spending a dime on seo. If someone tells you to spend money on adwords or facebook advertising or pay per click this or that, make sure you find out what the average result of those efforts is and whether or not that is going to suit your purpose. In many cases a 1% return is considered amazing. If your business has an average ticket price of a thousand dollars or more then a 1% return may be worth it. Only you can know that answer so make sure you ask the question and do a cost benefit analysis. The same goes for a website. If you are spending thousands of dollars on a website you better know why you are spending that much and when you might expect to see a return on your investment.

The secret to making money online is the same as the secret to making money offline. There is no secret and there is no three step system that will do it. It requires research, planning and a concentrated effort.