My Truth

I’ve spent a lot of time in my life trying to live up to expectations, things I’ve been taught from childhood. I’ve grown into myself through pursuing my ambitions in education with a lot of support along the way from my family and inspired by my life experiences in parenting children with special needs. I couldn’t stop taking classes in degrees that would lead to answers of how to parent, teach, and advocate for children with special needs, I have experienced the loss of a child and have been challenged under the surface each and every day of my adult life since I was 22 years old to build a marriage and family that wasn’t typical according to my upbringing but so vital to my circumstances in the present and in my everyday filled with all the typical, life-breathing parts of life: a marriage, a growing family, children. We grew into a strong and loving family as parents who navigated love and commitment in ways most couples would never consider or accept. Yet, everything that everyone observed about us and anyone inspired by our family and relationships-our love for our family, children, and each other was all stronger for our reality. And for me, I didn’t navigate my life behind the scenes alone. My truth, my reality after growing up in a nuclear family like the Cleavers, turned upside down in some ways, while as parents and family, we grew with incredible strength and as people and in our perspectives, not by choice, but because it was our reality in the times in which we lived. Love and a dependence on not doctrine but a simple faith in God to just be there in the present was the basis of my everyday. That’s what I brought to the table of all I invested in my family and youth work. My truth is in the goodness of a simple faith in my God. Knowing His presence was and still is there underneath the surface and in my heart, which is what I shared in subtle ways, I hope, in how I have lived my life. It is what has always been so real to me. So, now you know why I needed Him so much.