About Me
Hello friends! My name is Faith, and I’m a 27-year-old wife and momma to 3 babes, living in Lancaster Co, PA.
My husband Nathan and I met at Bible College and starting dating our Junior year. We were engaged by the following year, and married 2 months after graduation, with no real jobs, very little money, and a lot of love.
When I met Nathan, I thought he was the most obnoxiously awkward boy I had ever met. He purposefully acted awkward to make me feel uncomfortable.
One of the first times we hung out in a group, we were going to get ice cream, and he had called me a name, teasing me, and then insisted I was going to date him. Of course, I brashly responded that I would never under any circumstances date him. It’s funny how things change. It took a trip to the beach with a few friends, for me to see that there was more to this panda loving, guitar playing, goofball than met the eye. Nathan is the most giving, gracious, and gifted man I have ever met. He sacrifices for me daily and loves our family and me so fiercely.
While my journey to become a wife was reasonably straightforward, my journey into motherhood has been a far cry from comfortable.
Our firstborn Adelaide was born in 2016, 16 days late, and after 47 hours of induced labor. She is one of the most emotionally intuitive toddlers I’ve ever met, with a passion for loving others and exploring the world around her.
Our secondborn, Augustine, passed away at 33 weeks on July 9th, 2017, without any explanation. We were(and still are) devastated. He was a beautiful boy, and my arms ache for him daily. He has taught me so much about Jesus and compassion and grace. I am grateful for his life.
Our 3rd child, Shirley Rose, born a few days after Thanksgiving in 2018. Shirley is the sweetest and most joy-filled little girl you will ever meet. Despite her suffering, she always has a smile for anyone she meets.
Shirley had her first seizure at 10 weeks old, and after much testing, the doctors concluded everything was fine and chalked it up to RSV. After a month, I started noticing delays in her gross motor skills, but she didn’t have any more seizures. But by the time she reached 4 months, her seizures started up with a vengeance.
After multiple trips to multiple children’s hospitals in our area, with no answers, we pursued genetics. On July 3rd, we received our answer; SCN8A variant of unknown significance. This variant or genetic mutation causes incredibly hard to control seizures and global delays. Shirley may never walk or talk. Again our hearts were devastated.
I began learning more about how certain foods could pass through my milk and trigger more seizures, I set down a path to healing what I could through our diet. I already loved to cook and bake healthy things for my family. I was excited to try to help treat Shirley’s epilepsy while breastfeeding her by modifying my diet. I was already paleo, but I started cutting out even more potentially inflammatory foods, leaning in the AIP direction. I then started tracking macros and went keto, which, in my case, because I was breastfeeding, was moderately manageable.
I have a background as a classical pre-k teacher, summer camp program coordinator, and children’s ministry director. Needless to say, our decision to homeschool our children was an easy one. We love the classical model, but also appreciate aspects of the Montessori and Waldorf models of education. Somehow we are blending the 3 together, and while we don’t know what educating Shirley will look like exactly, Adelaide is already taking off.
We attend a PCA church, where my Nathan is currently “under care,” preparing to pursue the call to ministry. I believe in a sovereign God who makes no mistakes. A God who came and lived a perfect life died a death we deserve, and conquered death once and for all. He is my comfort and my rock. I would not have survived such tragedy and sorrow without his sustaining grace.
Here you will find a collection, a snapshot if you may, of motherhood. Motherhood is hard and painfully challenging. But I hope that you are encouraged to live faithfully in the hard moments of motherhood.
I know I am not alone in my suffering and sorrow.
1 in 4 women has a miscarriage. 1% of pregnancies end in stillbirth. 1 child in 33 is born with special needs.
But even aside from the grief in motherhood, every day, mundane tasks can be challenging. Toddler tantrums, potty training, helping little souls learn to manage their big emotions, it’s all a task not for the faint of heart. But may we be faithful stewards of these little souls entrusted to us, so that at the end of the journey, we may hear “well done, good and faithful servant.”