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Finding Beauty in the Unexpected - A Memoir
by Kelle Hampton
Love me. Love me. I'm not what you expected, but oh, please love me.
That was the most defining moment of my life. That was the beginning of my story.
When photographer Kelle Hampton learned she was pregnant with her second child, she and her husband, Brett, were ecstatic. Her pregnancy went smoothly and the ultrasounds showed a beautiful, healthy, high-kicking baby girl.
But when her new daughter was placed in her arms in the delivery room, Kelle knew instantly that something was wrong. Nella looked different than her two-year-old sister Lainey had at birth. As she watched friends and family celebrate with champagne toasts and endless photographs, a terrified Kelle was certain that Nella had Down syndrome - a fear her pediatrician soon confirmed. Yet gradually Kelle's fear and pain were vanquished by joy, as she embraced the realization that she had been chosen to experience an extraordinary and special gift.
Bloom is an inspiring and heartfelt memoir that celebrates the beauty found in the unexpected, the strength of a mother's love, and, ultimately, the amazing power of perspective. The author of the popular blog Enjoying the Small Things - named The Bump's Best Special Needs Blog and The Blog You've Learned the Most From in the 2010 BlogLuxe Awards.
"The author's descriptions of people and events are clear and easy to follow, but it's her beautiful photographs that bring them to life.... Sunny and inspiring." - Kirkus Reviews
"In her tender and genuinely beautiful memoir, Kelle Hampton encourages us to not simply accept the unexpected circumstances of our lives, but to embrace them like the things we wished for all along." - Matthew Logelin, New York Times bestselling author of Two Kisses for Maddy
"Bloom is one of the most emotionally stirring books I've ever read. Kelle Hampton writes with such breathtaking honesty that I actually felt as if I were in the room with her when she gave birth to Nella… and I cried along with her as her initial fears about baby Nella proved true. But mostly, I celebrated as Kelle fell madly in love with Nella and began to realize that being her mother is nothing short of her preordained purpose. This story is a reminder that perfect, when it comes to human beings, is such a relative (and irrelevant) term… and that a mother's love for her child is a powerful, eternal, unshakable force." - Ree Drummond, New York Times bestselling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks
"Kelle Hampton has a spectacular talent for happy, and captures it on every page in a way that grabs you, that says Hey, wake up - joy is a choice! She reminds us that life may not always look pretty or perfect, but it is always beautiful. Kelle also exquisitely expresses what it is to be a mother, to know that our hearts are big enough to embrace love, terror, joy, pain, exhilaration, sadness - all before our morning cup of coffee. She has indeed made of her life something 'wild and precious' and her book, like her two beautiful girls, is a bundle of joy. I finished it reluctantly and with a full heart." - Claire Fontaine, national bestselling author of Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back
This information about Bloom was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Writer and photographer Kelle Hampton chronicles the simple joys of motherhood and daily life on her popular blog, Enjoying the Small Things. She has been recognized as a Babble Top 50 Mom Blogger, and her blog was named The Best Special Needs Blog by The Bump and The Blog You've Learned the Most From in the 2010 BlogLuxe Awards. An advocate for individuals with Down syndrome, Kelle has been honored by both the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and the National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC), receiving the NDSC National Media Award in 2010. She has been interviewed on CNN as a Connector of the Day and on Rosie O'Donnell's radio program, Rosie Radio. Kelle lives in Naples, Florida, with her husband, Brett; their two daughters, Lainey and Nella; and her stepsons, Austyn and Brandyn. Visit her online at www.kellehampton.com.
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