My boys

"My Son Watching you grow has been the delight of my life. I look at you and wonder what dreams you will dream, what mountains you will climb, what joys you will have. I know there will be tears and struggles as well, but my prayer is that you will grow into the man you are meant to be." 

Christian at the park March 2012

 Christian Daniel

                                   Christian has the best personality of any child you will ever meet. Everyone talks about how funny he is and brags about how smart he is. He's my big boy and I can't imagine how our lives without him in it.

Ian 2 weeks old

 Ian Joel

                Ian is the newest addition to our family,born not quite 3 weeks ago.  He's definitely keeping us on out toes so far. I can't wait to watch him grow, however, I hope he doesn't grow as quickly as Christian did!

Ian and Christian

What a good big brother!

Giving baby brother a kiss

At the hospital a day after Ian was born

My marriage

There is no such thing as a perfect marriage,but with God, there can be many perfect moments. Enjoy them...

The way into a girl's heart? Sharpen her colored pencils.

Joel and I met in art class my freshman year, his sophomore year, in high school. Neither of us had any clue what we were doing, but the class was a requirement to graduate so here we were! The teacher, Ms. Smith, had us randomly seated and I ended up beside this quiet guy I had never met before. I was very outgoing and loud. Joel was very quiet and shy. Hey, opposites attract right? Anyways, Joel and I didn't really speak much until one day I was coloring away and my colored pencil broke. Without saying a word, Joel got up and sharpened it for me. When he got back, I thanked him and went to compliment his artwork but couldn't even figure out what it was! He noticed me looking and then looked at mine and that's when we realized how horrible we were at what we were doing!  I can't remember what he said,exactly, but I remember he made me laugh. My grandmother, Gloria-or as I know her,"Gran Gran"-always told me if you ever find a guy that makes you laugh, hold on to him. Boy was she right! 5 years later, and 2 years of marriage (so far) and he still can make me laugh.

My journey towards Child Abuse Prevention

"Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life." -Confucius

           I have heard many different people say, "God led me to where I needed to be" or, "God just told me this was what I needed to do." What does that mean? Did God come to you in a dream? Are you hearing voices?! Tonight I realized what they meant all those times. God has lead me to Child Abuse Prevention. I admit, I'm in over my head here. I have no clue as to where to start, but I do know one thing.. I believe He will show me.
           I think it all began when a little girl I knew personally became a victim of child abuse. That poor,innocent little girl. How could anyone harm a child?  I then started looking up statistics and they are staggering!

• More than five children die every day as a result of child abuse.
• Approximately 80% of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4.
•  About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.
• A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. (about how long it took you to read the previous statistics) However, it is estimated that only 57% of child abuse gets reported. 
• 80% of adults that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.

I'm not sure why,exactly, but God has chosen me to be their voice. So many children suffer in silence and I feel as though it's up to me. I want to spend my entire life helping these children. It may take months, or maybe years but even if one child is saved, IT WILL BE WORTH IT.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Gandhi