I was the kid that couldn’t wait to start babysitting. I couldn’t wait to work at camp as a counselor. When I finally was old enough to do both of those things, I threw myself into them with my whole being. I was the babysitter in the neighborhood who brought the backpack full of fun activities; I was the camp counselor that the kids wanted to be with. I loved being with kids, and I knew that I would be the coolest mom to a big family one day.
My husband Stefan and I met at Bible college where we were both studying to be pastors. Like typical Bible college kids, we got married young in 2008, and nine months after we got married, we were pregnant with our oldest daughter, Capri. We were young, in love, and poor. I graduated eight months pregnant, and Stefan still had a semester left of classes. Capri was born in 2010. We lived on campus, and our baby was loved by all our friends and classmates.
I quickly became a mommy blogger, met all my mom friends on Twitter as was the custom of the day, and enjoyed my life of doing product reviews and raising my crunchy baby. Back then it was odd to be a hippie mom. We co-slept, breastfed, baby wore in woven wraps and soft structured carries, did Baby Led Weaning, and used cloth diapers. We were definitely the odd ones out in our little town. But in my online world of fellow crunchy mamas, I fit right in.
After my husband finished his classes and graduated, we waited to get our first job in a church. In the meantime, he did what any amazing husband and father does, and found whatever job he could to support us. He worked at McDonald’s, and thankfully our rent was cheap in our old apartment.
When our daughter was just over a year, we decided we wanted to start trying for a second baby. To be honest, we thought it would take time to get pregnant, and much to our surprise, we got pregnant right away. When our second daughter, Payson, was born in 2012, we were just getting ready to move to a new province to start a new job in a tiny country church. From the start, Payson screamed and cried all day, every day, and slept at night only if lying on top of me nursing.
During this time, we were also dealing with scary medical concerns with Capri. Her joints were inflamed, and after many doctors’ visits, she was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Suddenly, we were in a tiny town, isolated, with a toddler navigating a new diagnosis and a baby who never stopped crying. Stefan and I would take turns driving to the coffee shop just to get a moment of peace.
When Payson was less than a year old, I discovered I was pregnant again. Lyra was born one hour and 57 minutes after contractions started, with the cord around her neck, and everything turned out okay. We ended 2013 as a family of five.
Life continued in a similar whirlwind. We moved churches, dealt with visa limitations, and welcomed our fourth daughter, Zalah, in 2015. Soon after, we began the adoption process we had always planned for and were eventually matched with 12-year-old twin boys in 2020. After delays caused by the pandemic, Greg and Cody officially joined our family in 2021, completing our household of eight.
Our house is loud, chaotic, and full of love. Some of our children have medical challenges, and I balance work as a pastor and disaster relief worker. We live intentionally budgeting, shopping used, and embracing hand-me-downs. Despite the chaos, we hope our home is always safe and welcoming, a place where love is bigger than disorder.
I keep my sanity with coffee, books, hot baths, and faith in Jesus. I pray that our kids remember love and joy more than the chaos. This is my exhausting circus, and these are my wild monkeys.
