Hello there!

What can I say about me? I love quiet mornings, sunshine gleaming in through my windows, cozy smelling candles, daisies and sunflowers, crocheting, essential oils and natural health remedies, chickens, polished fingernails, hair jewelry, soft blankets, a good BBC documentary series, coffee dates w/friends, and spending time with my family!

I am mom to 5 amazing—nearly all grown!— kids, and Gigi to 3 (soon to be 4!) of the cutest little humans on the planet!

I’m a homebody, and an introvert, who is quite content with my own company (or a good biography, or devotional, or self-help book ), and I am obsessed with notebooks and gel pens. (Seriously, I probably need an intervention on the notebook obsession–ask my husband.) I’m homeschooling our last (10th grader!), but I guess that is no longer unusual in the midst of a lockdown.

I sell hair accessories with Lilla Rose, Inc., but the most obvious accessory you will see, on top of my head, is my reading glasses.  Even so, you might still find me wandering the house wondering where I put them last!

As crazy as this sounds now, there was a day when I thought I could understand why, and how, God would choose to use me.

I loved Him, and had surrendered my heart and life to Him, and I told Him I would follow Him anywhere.

I knew the scriptures, and could recall them to mind easily, and apply them to any problem or situation of life that you could present to me.

I was convinced that everything that happened in life happened for a reason (and I usually presumed that I had figured out the reason.)

I believed that God wanted me in a full-time ministry of some kind, and my heart was set on being married to a pastor or missionary.

I did end up marrying a pastor, and God called us to the mission field. We spent 20 years in Ireland, loving–and being loved–by the people there.

When we returned to the States in 2013, my world fell apart, and all of my foundations were shaken. I was devastated, and hurt, and felt forsaken and betrayed by God.

I got angry, and wandered in the wilderness for longer than I want to admit.

I turned my back on God, and His Word, and decided to give some trendy world philosophies a try. You know, “ask the Universe”, “the law of attraction”, “you are enough” type of philosophies. I was drowning, and sinking fast, but these “power of positivity” promises seemed encouraging, and I knew people they seemed to be working for. Maybe if I just chose the proper affirmations and said them more confidently, they would change things around for me?

Here’s the thing; Satan is a deceiver, and an angel of light. If he were all darkness and blatant lies, he would not be so dangerous. These worldly philosophies are so close to the scriptures I knew, but they subtly placed the power behind them in someone, or something other than God.

I gave the devil a foot-in-the-door when I chose to turn away from God in anger, instead of running to Him with my wounded heart and poisonous questions. And I chose to believe my emotions, instead of anchoring my faith on the firm foundation of God’s promises. Yes, the heartbreak was from circumstances outside of my control, but I still had a choice in how I would respond.

I chose poorly. Oh, how I would love to tell you a different story, but then, maybe you relate better to this one?