Hi There. I’m so glad you’re here.

Some random facts about me before we get in to all the normal “about me” stuff. 😉

I love to read just about everything but fantasy. My mind just can’t wrap itself around the details and why do we need to create new words?!

So I’ve never read LOTR. I know.

My favorite books are The Road by McCarthy and East of Eden by Steinbeck.

I border on health freak/afraid of all the bad food to wanting a Carls Jr burger. And a coke.

I live in Oregon but don’t hate the rain. I love it. It probably makes me depressed, but I don’t mind cause I love it. 😉

I’ve backpacked the AT for 5 weeks and covered 230 miles when I was 19, so ever since my husband and I have been backpackers and fill our summer with as many trips as possible.

Now on to my actual story.

When I was 18, I took a photography a non credit class at a local community college where we just learned the fun side of shooting film, developing it, and working in the dark room. I couldn’t believe how much I loved it.

I began shooting landscapes and learning composition more and more and I found dark rooms that I could rent.

My husband Paul and I met in HS when we were 16 and 17 and began dating. We dated for 4 years and got married at 20 and 21. He is my perfect match for me. Helping me chill out when I need to and me helping him not chill out. 😉

We were married for a year in a half when we unexpectedly got pregnant with identical twin boys. They were diagnoses at 18 weeks utero with a rare genetic disease called ARPKD. (polycystic Kidney Disease in utero) Both parents have to be carriers of this disease and its a 1 in 100,000 chance that two people with the same mutated gene will have a baby.

We were given no hope from our doctors.

We held on to all hope. Prayed. Asked for prayer. Prayed more.

They were delivered at 32 weeks and were named Joshua Paul and Kaleb Stephen.

My husband’s name is Paul Stephen and my Dad’s name is Stephen.I’m very close to my Dad.

Joshua Paul passed that night and Kaleb Stephen passed the following afternoon.

The years following we had 3 healthy kids. Isabella Hope is now almost 19 and a Freshman in university, Gracelyn Michelle is 17 and a Junior and plans to go in to a science research field, Lincoln is 14 and the extrovert of extroverts. In a family of introverts. 😉

We have been blessed.

But as you can imagine this has changed how I see everything. Absolutely everything.

It’s as though I can see all the beauty and hard and sorrow and joy mixed together and I believe we all have that in our lives. Our stories are all different, but we have shared experiences of just how life can have this paradox.

And this is the story I want to tell for my families.

The honest pure, raw and true story of goodness and joy. The blessings throughout.

Even after we had our healthy kids, I worried every second of the day for them. I worried when I took them to the doctor that they would find something.

I wish someone could have said “but look what you have here!” So I could have lived in that tension just a little easier.

I knew I was blessed, but sometimes my life’s experiences overshadowed my ability to fully embrace it all.

You may not have a story of loss or grief. But you have your own motherhood story of sleepless nights, colic babies, seasons of sick kids, hard days in school, endless sports.

And it’s hard to see how beautiful this season is.

I get it. I want to show you what is there and hard to see in the midst of all the demands we have, the seasons we walk through just as humans, and the hard.

The way your child looks up at you while you make dinner.

Their eagerness to tell you a story or show you a drawing.

How your teen puts their arm around you as they walk by, but it’s easy to miss because we’re so busy.

Tucking the kids to bed when you’re exhausted but they snuggle so close to you wanting one last connection with you.

It’s all of these stories blended in to our human experience. All of it is part of us and who we are.

The story of your family.