Hello! Here’s the “dirt” on me!
My Story
I’m a small-town girl who grew up with a crop farm as my backdrop to life smack dap in the center of Washington state. I worked the land with my dad, and yes, have driven and operated all the big equipment you can imagine! I’ve had my hands in the dirt, sweat on my brow, and windows rolled down with my baseball cap on. It’s been my love and life since I was a little girl, following my big strong daddy around. It’s been the place God speaks to me and renews me; the place He grows my spirit, heart, and mind alongside the very plants that we tend to in an intimate representation of His work.
I met my husband Alex there in my little hometown in the year 2013. He came into our life unexpectedly and by the hand of God. I say “our” life, because at that time, I was raising my beautiful two-and-a-half-year-old daughter as a single mother. Yep, I was all on my own, working three jobs and living under the umbrella of God’s grace (that part of my life never changes!). I had been married for a very short time before Alex, to a man I knew most of my life, yet didn’t truly know until the close proximity of existing together under marriage brought forth the truth. The truth: that situation was painful and harming, and I walked away from the dark I had created, with a tiny baby girl growing in my belly and an unknown future.
Graciously, God did not leave me there, He saw me, He redeemed me, and birthed a new heritage from the ashes. I now stand with a beautiful family of five! We’ve been blessed with two incredible, and active, little boys to add to our redemptive story. But oh no! We’re not done yet! Alex and I have had a passion placed on our hearts since each of us was young, that passion-adoption. Even our children say, “Mom, it feels like someone is missing in our family”. I say, “Yep, someone is, and they are out there waiting for us to find them and bring them home!”. We know it in our guts our family is meant for more, and know it’s only a matter of time until God says move and we welcome another (or two!) into this blend of souls we call family.
The Big Shift
Recently, by divine and crazy occurrence, myself, Alex, and our three children moved away from all we’ve ever had and known, to pursue a stirring we felt deep within us for something new…something of God. We didn’t move too far, about an hour and a half away, but our visual world is very different now. We live alongside a deep blue lake surrounded by towering hills and mountains. I have to admit, it’s taken some getting used to for me when all I’ve ever known is flat farmland where I can see for miles and miles-which I see as BEAUTIFUL! The sunsets are something to revere and marvel at in my little hometown, and they will always be my favorite!
When we decided to move, we didn’t have a solid plan either. Que the crazy part! We knew the area we were going to, as Alex had been accepted into a new county with his career, but we didn’t exactly know what town we would settle into right away. So, what did we do? We went ahead and sold our house anyway. Faith goes marching! It took a summer season to find our place, while we lived in my big sister’s extra house she kindly let us use. We eventually settled on what town we thought fit us, or should I say God highlighted, and surprise it is another small town! We moved there, but still didn’t have a home to call our own, so settled into a little rental…and we’re still here, waiting on God to give the go-ahead to start building on a beautiful piece of property we bought up in the hills. Through it all, God has definitely been teaching us patience, reliance, and faith! Faith to move out to His prompting even when it takes away all security this world says we should strive for, even when it seems scary. But can I tell you, it’s been the most fun adventure! I’m surprised at what God can do when I just say yes, even a hesitant yes, to His prompting and leading.
Who We Are
My family and I have been the pretty typical, dare I say thriving, American family. Alex has a good job (did I mention I’m the wife of a law enforcement officer…I have to watch out so I don’t get pulled over by my own husband! And yes, he jokes he’s going to someday!). I’ve been the woman who tries to find her perfect place between work and family; I’ve worked on the farm, taught dance classes, ran children’s ministry, worked at a coffee shop…you know the drill moms! But I find my place is always back here in our home, it’s what I love and where God calls me. Our kids are blossoming into their own: sports and dinner and homework and markers and crumbs and everything else kid-related grace our lives daily! We’ve filled our time, and emptied our pockets, with animals, so many animals. There’s been dogs, cats, chickens, pheasants (yes pheasants), pigs, cows, a pony, horses, fish, and even hamsters (don’t ask me if I liked those!).
In all of this life-unfolding, in the midst of the everyday goodness, we also brought along the harder stuff of life. We’ve walked through dark experiences with my ex and countless court battles for my daughter, warring for her protection and future, and haven’t yet reached the end. We have experienced financial struggles, relational rifts, the effect of imperfect pasts, repercussions of sin, worry, discomfort, and tears upon tears collected in God’s bottle.
Where I’m Going
One thing I’m learning, and my soul beckons to remind me is, this is beauty. This is the flowering of life. Life and ashes coexist in a most miraculous story, a most meaningful story, a most God-breathed/God redeemed beautiful story. That none of my earthly roots, my pursuits, my past or present, define who I am, they are my story. These parts of me exist to draw me to something deeper…deep calls to deep. The depth of my story calls to the depth of my God-it is here I find what defines me. It is here I find who I am.
It is here I submit and commit whatever God places on my heart to be known. If you’re willing, share life with me from the words on these pages. Share God with me. God has called me, cultivated in me a passion and desire, to share Him through the lens of my life. To share Him through the ways He calls to me. To make Him known. I don’t claim to have it all figured out, to know it all. I’m learning every day I don’t want to, because the second I do, is the day I don’t need God, the day I stop listening, the day I stop writing. Right now, I’m just a girl who seeks to know God through the eyes of my life, through where I came from and what I’ve walked, through my very beginning out of the dust. I’m just a girl who seeks to grow and grow beautifully, under the care of my creator and cultivator.
This is the very reason my blog is titled Dirt and Wildflower:
Nature speaks. Dirt preciously holds the beginning of life. Dirt endlessly bears and gives all life-essential water to drink up and sustain. Dirt protectively contains the necessary nutrients to release and renew. A beautiful earthly representation of the same care of our God toward us. Then, out of this dust, beauty grows and blossoms. Why wildflowers? Simple; with God, we grow wild and free. Displaying an array of true color and majesty. Thriving where He plants us. Strong and Resilient. Beauty that neither desires, nor needs, manipulation or cultivation of human hand or thought. Raw and authentic grace. Nature speaks to how we grow, if we only listen. Nature speaks to who we are and WHO’s we are, if we only listen. Nature speaks of God; we speak of God. Let’s speak Him beautifully!
My Soul Beliefs:
- The Trinity- Father, Son, Holy Spirit: God as head. Jesus as Savior. Holy Spirit as Counselor
- God my Heavenly Father: Lord over all the earth, creator of all things, caretaker, provider, perfect in all ways
- Jesus my Salvation: fully God/fully man, humble and blameless walk on earth, atoning death, resurrection, and the coming again to receive the saints
- Holy Spirit my friend: God’s presence dwelling in believers as a gift, the giver of knowledge and wisdom and good fruits, comforter, sanctifier
- The Cross: Humanity’s only saving grace, God’s wrath driven into that tree and laid dead, the cleansing of all sin, the ultimate and final sacrifice, the soul’s restoration to our God and eternity in heaven
- The Bible: God’s spoken word, holy and anointed, given to lead, guide, and strengthen believers
- Salvation: belief in the gracious work of the cross alone, a personally attached relationship with Christ, the surrender of authority and life to the One who created us
- New Heaven and New Earth: glorious life in perfect union with Our Father, His Son, His Spirit, and all heroes of the faith. All sadness, sin, pain, strife, anger, death, sickness, anxiety, evil-obliterated. All joy, peace, gladness, goodness, love, worship, communion, and praise, poured out in eternal abundance!
- Creation: the earth and all its inhabitants are created in God’s image and for His glory, all are worthy and loved, and all exist to commune with Him, worship Him, and make Him known
*This statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of my beliefs.
*The bible holds final truth, say, and authority over all in my life.