This blog originally was started as a way for us to share updates and prayer requests as we dealt with the health issues of our second daughter Emma. After her death, it became a place for me to share my grief and healing. It was a place where I tried to share the reality of deep grief and inexplicable joy. The two for me often go hand in hand. Thus, my title: “And then there was joy.”

Our life has grown and changed a lot in the 10 years since the blog started. We have 4 living children that fill our house and lives with noise and love. We’ve gone through transitions in jobs, location (including moving across the ocean and back) and faith. Lately I find little time to actually add posts, but I always have great intentions. My posts are varied, sometimes about parenting, sometimes about crafting, sometimes about personal growth, but always about life. This is a glimpse of my life. Not all of it, never all of it. But a glimpse. And I hope you find joy as I share just this little bit of my life with you.