I don’t talk much about the individual members of my family on this blog.  If you don’t know us already then it’s about time I introduce you to them.  I’m a little partial but I think you’ll like them!

First of all there is this great guy that I’m married to.  His name is Anthony. We’ve been married for nearly 17 years.  We met when I was 15 and he was 22, became good friends when I was 17 and started dating 2 days after I turned 18.  We got married when I was 19.  He’s pretty amazing in my book.  He’s a super smart inventor, he’s fun and funny, he’s very geeky in a good way and he loves me a lot.  I know this because he treats me amazingly well!

Next is my sweet, beautiful 15 year old Kayla.  She is shy and silly and quite artistic.  She has been melting hearts with her art work since she was about 3 and is on a path toward becoming a digital artist.  She is quite the big sister to all of her younger siblings and is so very helpful to me.

My twins are next in line.  They are  14. I never, ever even entertained the idea of having twins.  So, you can imagine my surprise at a 12 week ultrasound when the doctor asked if we saw what she saw and confirmed that our eyes were not playing tricks.  Twins! Oh my! And Kayla was just 15 months old when they were born… Quite and adventurous start for this new 21, almost 22, year old mother.

Emily is the oldest twin {by all of 5 minutes}.  She is my social butterfly who knows everyone at school and church.  She has a beautiful singing voice and hopes to use it to bless others one day.  I enjoy Emily’s company.  She will often seek me out to chat and asks lots of questions.  Emily loves all things fashion and has a great eye for photography too. She takes lots of pictures for me and has even been known to be my headshot photographer at times.

Mariah is so different from her twin Emily.  They look almost nothing alike.  Mariah is the quick witted comedian of our family.  She often has us all laughing at something she says on the fly.  This girl has a heart for justice and loves God with all of her heart.  I’m convinced that He has big plans for her in her passion for the underdog, the underprivileged and the hurting.  Mariah has been lighting up a room with her smile since she was just a few months old.

 

The next member of our family is our precious son Nathan who is waiting for us in heaven.  He was born when I was just 25 weeks pregnant and lived just 6 short hours.  His short little life impacted us in a HUGE way as a family.  God was near to our broken hearts and has since healed them.  I miss Nathan so much but I am so blessed that he graced our lives for the time I was pregnant with him and the short hours of his life on earth.

After we lost Nathan God graced us with our dear Olivia who is an amazing blessing.  She is my 1o year old who is super social, super smart and dreams of being the president one day. Did I mention ambitious?  I love this little girl who is not so little anymore.  While she’s working her way up to president she loves to bake and the idea of owning a restaurant one day is a subject we often chat about.

If you do the math you know that up to this point we had 4 girls and 1 little boy in heaven.  Oh how my heart longed for another son even though I was done having babies {seriously, I was done}.  I couldn’t figure out why I still had such a desire for a son.  And then there was (little) Anthony. This little guy has been such a joy.  From the time he was born I delighted in his boyness.  He would climb all over me from the age of 6 months, he was always playfully head butting me and the kid fell out of his crib at age 2 and broke his wrist. Yep, all boy.  For all of the girlness in our home he makes up for any lack of boyness.

Anthony is a tenderhearted and determined 8 year old.  He is quiet but loud. It would take too long for me to explain that so hopefully you understand. For all the comments he gets about being the only boy with 5 sisters he can hold his own and being in a house full of girls doesn’t seem to phase him one bit.  I love his thick {boy} fingers and how much he loves to snuggle. And wouldn’t you know that my boy is the only one of my kids that had ringlets?!

Of course we were done having kids before Anthony but then he came along and after him we were seriously done…Until after he turned 2 and God started working on both of our hearts individually about having another baby.  Finally we shared our heart stirrings with each other and after a few months we began to believe that God had another child for us.  Then came Julie.

Julie is 5 now and I have often said that she is the child God gave me to humble me.  I thought I had the parenting thing down until I had her. She was the sweetest baby turned into the most fiery, challenging 1 year old. I love her spunk and I’m convinced she really does have royal blood expressed in her.  I often find myself so grateful that God put Julie on our hearts when we thought we were done having kids.  She delights my heart in so many ways. She’s the princess who is always wearing a dress and loves to dig in the dirt and find bugs.

So there you have it.  My beautiful, amazing, fun, quirky family.  They are my inspiration for writing here.  They believe in me and allow me the time to express myself and pour out into others.  I’m so grateful for them! Thank you for letting me share them with you.

I’d love to hear about your family today! What is your gang like and what do you love most about them?

*Most of the photos in this post were taken by my amazingly talented sister: Rachel Grace Photography. The drawing of our Nathan is by Portraits by Dana who creates beautiful memorial drawings for families that have lost a baby.