Birmingham
I was born at St. Vincent’s Hospital in the summer of 1974, to parents who had also been born and raised in Birmingham. My entire childhood was spent living in the country on a small farm about 45 minutes outside of town. My mother was the teacher of a small private kindergarten, and one of the many perks for me was that she always allowed me to join her class on field trips all over the city. Since most of my days were spent running through pastures to my grandmother’s house and riding in the back of a pickup truck down two-lane roads, going “to town” was a treat for me. I vividly remember visiting Vulcan, Oak Mountain State Park, the Birmingham Zoo, local fire departments, and a science center called The Discovery Place.
After getting married, I moved out of the country and a little closer to the city. Still on the outskirts, I now have the best of both Birmingham worlds. After watching for years as our city looked somewhat neglected, it encourages me today to see the constant redemption and new growth of life, business, entertainment, and education that our beautiful city offers. I love to travel, but I’m always thankful to return home to the ‘Ham.
Moms
My husband and I always knew we wanted a lot of children. I’m pretty sure we thought five kids would be a lot and with that, we would have our big family. At 30 years old I delivered our boy/girl twins, putting us at five, and I thought surely our family was complete. Pretty quickly, I grew sad that my newborn days were over and we decided to have another, then another. Next, God, in his infinite goodness, laid on our hearts the desire to adopt. After mounds of paperwork, a ton of prayer, and three years of waiting, we finally brought home our beautiful daughter from Ethiopia. Our hearts switched a gear, and we developed a passion for parenting children from hard places. After some research, we discovered that the number of children in our own Birmingham backyards who needed a temporary and/or permanent family was astonishing. Many children have called our house “home,” some for a short term and others for years. We have adopted a son locally and currently have two bonus babies. In the middle of this foster season, I thought ringing in my 40th birthday would be best celebrated by giving birth one last time. In total, we now have 12 children. Whew! I’ve never been more tired, but I’ve also never been filled with more joy and gratefulness than I am today. Being a mom is hard. We are training tiny humans to become caring, kind, responsible, and successful adults. That’s a pretty tall order but the most rewarding opportunity that I’ve ever been given.
Blog
Community is one of my very favorite things. We need one another! I am honored and excited to be joining this community of moms in Birmingham. I look forward to learning from the other contributors and readers. Although I fail at this humbling role more than I succeed, I hope to be able to encourage other moms and share some wisdom on topics such as raising a large family, running an organized and semi-structured home, homeschooling, private schooling, and several stages of parenting, from babies to adult children. I also hope to share some details for anyone considering adoption or foster care in our area. Mostly, I hope to tell stories that will empower other moms to push through, pray hard, and enjoy every day with her children. Babies don’t keep and they are grown before we know it. Trust me, I’m there.
