Be Wild and Free

As I walk down memory lane this morning, in the quietness of my still-asleep home... the tears sneak up in the corner of my eyes as memories flood me from so many years ago.  Pictures have always been near and dear to my heart. Yes, sometimes a scent or a song or a noise triggers a memory from long ago. But nothing triggers my memory quite like a photo. A picture can take me right back to that day. I can feel it, I can smell it, I can hear it, I can sense the emotions all over again. Perhaps that's why I'm so adamant about taking all the pictures I possibly can.  Today it hits a little differently. Life is so good today. As I walk down memory lane this morning, reminiscing on all the years we had with Ben. Looking back at all the pictures of how its our three kids. But it hits differently this year as I hold my brand new, 8 and a half month old baby boy. A sweet little baby that never would have been had my life not taken that drastic turn 7 years ago today.  Some days I ...

I'm going to be a bit deep and raw here. I've been struggling. I'm in a season and I know it's just a season... but the enemy has a grip on me because I'm in a weak place in this season of life. I feel like a hamster stuck on its wheel. The exit seems obvious for those looking from the outside, but for the hamster, it's elusive.  I had my fifth baby almost six months ago. Before Badrick's birth, I was in a groove; a really solid routine. I had my morning routine of waking up around 5am to read a chapter in a personal growth book, read a chapter in my Bible, journal a bit, look at my day in my planner, go over the goals I've set for the month; all the things. Some mornings I would even do a workout either an hour of yoga, an hour of HIIT, or on mornings Norman was home, I'd even go for a six mile run.  My evening routine was just as peaceful and set me up for a great night of sleep to begin my next day all over again. I would get all the kiddos to bed...

It's early morning and I'm mulling over a Midwifery Unschool website. Ready to click the button and become a midwifery student.  "Not quite yet, my child. Not quite yet." I close down the browser. Slightly annoyed. Slightly relieved. Full of questions. Full of doubt. Full of anticipation. Full of excitement for all the burning passions within my soul.  God is giving me beautiful lessons in taking my time in creation. A lesson in patience as he (very) slowly hands me each piece of the puzzle and guides me in where it belongs. A lesson in waiting on Him to speak and tell me my next move. He has given me so many visions of what He has in store for me and the path in which He is calling me down. But the anticipation is something I'm being called to sit with. Each time I feel I've drained every nook and cranny within me on website design, but it's not finished yet, I'm reminded that He will build and create His plan for my life on His time and according to ...

Have you ever felt "blocked" from hearing God? Have you found yourself wondering if you're hearing from Him? Have you wondered if He's forgotten about you? Have you found yourself questioning previous answers from God because you're not sure if you're hearing Him lately? This post might be jumbled, so please forgive me. I have found myself in this weird creative energy flow this week and it's keeping me up at night... literally. I've poured myself a hot cup of Lavender Chamomile tea (my absolute FAV), I have some protein bars for sustenance, I'm cozied up in my bed with my Himalayan Salt Lamps as ambient lighting (get you some, here's what we bought... THIS  and four of THESE for around the house!), my "labor playlist" playing through my AirPods and a precious little babe sleeping right next to me. Anyways. After spending far too long looking for those links... Here I am. It's been five months since our fifth baby graced us Earth...

If you're looking for a really great campground with TONS of things for the kids to do and a great family, friendly atmosphere... The Angola-Hogsback Lake KOA has been top-notch!  We're avid KOA fans! We've traveled to many KOAs around Michigan and last October while looking for a campground with Halloween festivities that had an open site, we ran across the Angola-Hogsback Lake KOA.  A big chunk of this campground are seasonal! So lots of really cool sites to look at. In October we chose to be down on the waterfront of the lake! We had a dock right behind our rig and it was a GORGEOUS view of the lake, sunrises and sunsets!  However, with having four kids (and the fifth on the way) it was a really long walk to the lake, any of the parks and even farther to the pool area. So we made note of this for any future stay. The campground is VERY long!  We had a great weekend Trick-or-Treating, the Haunted Barn, Halloween Games, and your normal camping activities.  This...

Ah hey! I’m back! It’s been YEARS! But God has called me back to a few things in life that I thought were in the past.  This blog has been deserted for several years, but recently I have been craving a creative outlet with writing again… I stumbled upon my old blog (this one!) and the craving to revive it hit!  So much life has happened since my last blog post here. I moved over to my doula website and published a few blog posts there… but then had since laid down my doula work. I attended births from 2016-2017 and then one lone birth in 2019 as a traveling doula to Tennessee.  So let’s rewind here.  If you’re new here… I started this blog on December 9, 2013! Wow, it seems forever ago! It was a blog of just random musings of my life as a wife and momma of two. I shared daily life, breastfeeding advice, birth stories, my journey with ‘no poo,’ pregnancy updates with my third baby, … and then tragically I began sharing my life as a widow and solo mom of 3.  On Oc...