Hi! I was trying to find  a photo of just me and turns out I really don’t have a good one other than the one already used here for the blog. So I thought since this was a mom blog, ya’ll would enjoy what I found.  ☺️ I guess you get the picture (no pun intended). HA.

Before I was married and had my girls I was a fourth grade teacher. I haven’t gone back to teaching in the classroom but I have continued teaching Youth Writing Camps at Miami University with the Ohio Writing Project. I love writing with kids and it keeps me always improving as a writer as well. I also am on the leadership team for my MOPS  (moms) group. And I guess I should mention the last year I have used about every inch of my free time creating and writing this blog. ☺️

Well, I should mention to the moms reading this that if you haven’t noticed, we as a blog team have decided to change our kids’ names when we write about them. We are really big into cheering them on as little people and we don’t ever want to incriminate them in writing about potty accidents or the like. ?

I have four-year-old and almost two-year-old girls who definitely keep my husband and me hopping. They both have really strong personalities like their mom and dad so we have a pretty lively house. I plan to write more about this in the future but right after our first year of marriage, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and so these two rambunctious girls are a complete answer to prayer. I love being their mom but in all honesty the beginning of motherhood has been really challenging and isolating for me. So that is much of the reason for the origination of this blog. ❤️

It goes without saying that this blog is definitely a big mom win. As Kristen (our web designer) shared last week, juggling the roles of wife, mom, writer, blog creator and on and on hasn’t been without craziness and some dropped balls at times. Finding time to write with two littles has been a challenge and I have had to wake up early many mornings (which is not preferred for this night owl), work during nap time (while praying they would both sleep which didn’t always happen), and write in the evenings when the house was quiet (when my brain was basically mush). The fact that this blog is now live is a total testament to God because I look back and am amazed. I held onto the quote that led our team, “When God originates, He orchestrates,” on the days when I didn’t know how in the world we were going to pull this off as busy moms of littles. Again, all God and we are so grateful to use our gifts and let Him do the rest. I have learned so much through this process.

Hmm…this is a hard one. Probably one of the biggest things we are dealing with in our house is my four-year-old’s outfit drama. I feel like my biggest mom win right now is (mostly) letting it go and letting her express herself in her outfit choices. If I’m honest, I couldn’t wait to be a girl mom to dress them in adorable outfits and so it kills me when all of the cute dresses are hanging in her closet and she insists on wearing the same shirt she’s worn all week.? We are still finding a balance in when mom gets to pick out her outfit and when she does, but I will say I have loosened up a lot and not let it bother me and for me that’s a big mom win. ?

We are so incredibly excited that our blog is live. It is a dream born out of a desire to be vulnerable and transparent with moms so that they feel the permission to do the same. I know I have wondered in the past if I could be real about a certain aspect of my life or marriage or motherhood because I didn’t know if I was the only one. Our biggest desire for this blog is for moms to hear that they are not alone. I love that quote that the two most comforting words in the English language are “me too.” May that be how moms feel when they read our blog. ❤️