Our Story
The Beginning
I always wanted to be married and have some kids, but I just didn't think that would happen for me. Then, at 30 I married my dream guy, a ruggedly handsome, strong, tough, Jesus loving, football coach almost 30 years ago. Respected, loved, and influential to so many young men on the field, but off the field, my competitive husband is a patient, tender, kind, and loving man. God added to perfect little girls to our mix to complete my dream family.
Our motto is: "Work hard, play hard." We believed in playing outside, getting dirty, taking care of animals, doing lots of chores, big parties, lots of family, and respecting all people. Think "Little House on the Prairie" 2000 edition.
Growing Up
Our goal: rear God-fearing, adventuresome, courageous, dependable, respectable, and strong young women.
We were successful!
After high school, Hayden decided college wasn’t for her and traveled to Germany to be an Au Pair for a year. The thought of Hayden not attending college terrified me, after all, that’s what good, successful Americans do – send their kids to college. Here’s where the part about adventuresome, strong and courageous young women come in. Hayden was all of these things, and the stories Hade would tell of her adventures in Europe were enough to send me into cardiac arrest.
Chandler displayed her heroic perseverance in other ways, like attending college classes, and playing varsity volleyball at a school where she knew no one. We survived the teen years with some bumps and bruises and a lot of learning. Today Chandler is a wife, has a degree in business management and is an entrepreneur. Double bonus - She is now my business parterner and my next-door neighbor. Her courage continues to astound me.
Cancer Journey
The day our world was turned upside down.
After graduation, the girls traveled much of Europe together. They returned to the states with a new appreciation for their friendship and their future. Longing to know more about God, they set off to attend Moody Bible Institute in Spokane, Washington where they worked and attended college.
Life was good, and I was thrilled for all the future held for our little family of four. I was dreaming of all the possibilities for the girls, like marriages, careers and the cherry on top – lots of little grandkids. Then the bump. Just a tiny bump on Hayden's cheek. A pimple or perhaps a small cyst, but it's nothing. It's never anything right? Wrong. It turned out to be an incredibly rare, very aggressive, and often fatal form of skin cancer. What? Why God? Why now that life looked like the picture I was hoping for? Well, this is where the story gets good and the part where Hayden shines the light of Christ, like a beacon in the night.
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