As I pondered the struggles in my life, I realized I’ve had a pretty easy life compared to many, by God’s grace and a bit of work.

But ‘perseverance’ is a word that strikes a chord with me.

I taught art for 21 years and loved my students. But I had a yearning to accomplish what I preached. To make a living doing my art. I had always created art and gone to art shows, but it seemed like I never had enough time to do all the art I needed or wanted.  

Soon after I met my husband we had the conversation about kids. For me, children were non-negotiable. I had also always wanted to adopt and knew that the man I married had to be on the same page. Lucky for me, he has a big heart and felt the same way. After dating for 5 years we decided to tie the knot. A healthy marriage has been very important to us, so we wanted to take the first year without even trying to have children working out all the fun new marriage situations. A year later, our journey begins.

My story?

Well, I will start with saying that I am one of the estimated 3.1 million breast cancer survivors. I never thought that cancer would be a part of my story. It has been a part of my story for the last 9 years.

My cancer journey began in November of 2008. This was the first time I noticed I had a lump in my breast.

I want to share about how our infertility journey has impacted my faith, in hopes that it may encourage others who are struggling through the same battle. I can remember when I first became a Christian, all I ever wanted was for God to use me for His glory, but I never really knew how or what that would look like. I see how He built my faith and refined me in the trials that my husband and I faced through trying to conceive. I remember growing up in such an unstable and dysfunctional home and all I ever wanted was a family and kids of our own that I could shower with love! I wanted to break the cycle of abuse, dysfunction, and chaos.

Being joyful toward others and spreading joy is one of my favorite things. Recently, I had a personal struggle with my career path. After being rejected into multiple graduate programs I began to ask myself: Am I a failure? What am I going to do with my life? Where will I work? Were the past 4 years a waste of time?