- Life challenges:
"Oh boy, this is where It felt messy and out of control. While I married young and had 2 children young, all before I was 25. It all ended pretty traumatically after 10 yrs, leaving me feeling sad, ugly and so confused. But I quickly picked up my head and became the most beautiful independent mom. Although I felt finding love again would be challenging, I eventually met my best friend and soul mate. And wow, it has had its challenges. Blending our families felt impossible most days. We dated over 5 yrs before we got married and then we said, “fuck it” and had the most beautiful, fairy tale wedding at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Our family and children were so happy for us, life felt like it couldn’t get any better. And then my world crashed once again. My son suddenly got extremely sick and debilitating. He went from being a 3-sport athlete to a Dr saying that he was in the early stages of schizophrenia. It was the scariest moment of my life. I’d rather die than almost losing my son. But as a mom, this diagnosis didn’t feel right. Kids don’t normally go from one extreme to the next almost overnight. And moms know their kids best, right? I went on a mission. I called and met with Dr’s and specialists as far as Boston until I heard 2 of them mention something similar - Lyme Disease. Lyme Disease? Like what? But this duplicate information couldn’t be a coincidence. They both highly recommended a Lyme Disease test. It sounded bizarre but what was there to lose? I will never forget the day the results came back. He tested positive for Lyme. An answer. With a treatment plan. We immediately saw a Lyme specialist who determined his scary symptoms were from late-stage Lyme, now infecting his brain. After almost 10 months of intense antibiotics, my boy was back and, on his way, back to health, and honestly, he’s even a better human than he was before. Despite this scary challenge, he continues to accomplish so much. On the tail end of his recovery, I was hit with another boulder, my young nephew needed a home. Talk about a challenge. An unfair one all around. It’s certainly not easy taking in someone else’s child but what were the other options? After about a year of hard work between the court system and being a parent to a child I barely knew, I officially became his legal guardian. I have since helped him overcome so much, leading him in a positive direction surrounded by a family filled with love. As you can imagine, I have struggled through many ups and downs, and these are just some of them. There are also so many in between, considering I share 5 kids total with my husband, from my 12-yr old nephew and our children now ages 18,19,20,21. Talk about crazy most days! But I couldn’t be prouder. My husband and I have built a loving home where all our kids know that they are 100% supported and loved."