Welcome

So glad you stopped in. Peopling is my favorite. Whether it's meeting with new acquaintances, hanging with my family, visiting with neighbors, chatting with old friends, or helping others, I find joy in connecting. I suppose that's why I always wanted to be the mother of a big brood. And I’m privileged to be.

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I'm the mama to 8 living children. In fact, I defined myself by that role- Mama -for nearly three decades as a stay-at-home, homeschooling mother. I traded my youthful aspirations to write, for sticky hugs and lessons taught (and learned) around the big dining room table I inherited from my maternal grandmother. I’m deeply grateful for that leg in my journey.

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For the better part of those decades, I invested my time, energy, and talents into raising and home educating my children, as well as operating our household of 10. I certainly honed my organizational skills and creativity. It was beautiful work, albeit hard work.

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In the latter years of that period, we bought a restaurant that was family-owned and operated. It was all hands-on-deck. Additionally, new opportunities presented for me, and I did part-time work as a freelance writer and a conference speaker for a large homeschool organization.

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A spark ignited in me, I felt a new sense of self, but my duties in the home took precedence. And behind-the-scenes struggles left me doubting my abilities and talents. I allowed the negative self-talk to win the argument, and I settled back into my one defining role, as my sole sense of identity. I was a mom, just a mom. I was 1 in our collective of 10.

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Then, life derailed, or perhaps I should say the tracks got switched. Overnight, everything changed. I became the sole breadwinner, a single parent. I had no choice but to jump into full-time work outside of the home, while simultaneously figuring out how to keep operating a household (though it was a small one by that point).

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Friends opened doors for me to reenter the workforce as an office administrator. I side-hustled whenever I could (Saturday morning house cleaning gigs, freelance writing). And then a trusted friend encouraged me to study for my real estate broker license. It’s amazing how much change one person can fit into a two year span!

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I had to rediscover who I was, as a woman. Like my mother, I needed to forge ahead in confidence (and faith).

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I had to be resilient for the sake of those who still relied on me. Some days (okay lots of days), I did it all through blinding tears. But I did it, whatever needed to be done.

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I had to pick myself up and rise to meet the challenges (oh, so many challenges!) It's no exaggeration to say, I got knocked down over and over and over again. Some days it felt like I'd never take a deep breath again. Yet, I just kept getting back up. 

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I had to move from 10 to 1, from a dependent member of a collective to an assured individual, who is both connected and self-determined. And I am grateful for this leg of the journey, too.

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So, stick with me and we’ll encourage and inspire one another, to keep moving forward, to keep growing, to keep resolving to leave this world a little better than we found it.