Before you read this, I want to gently share that this post contains content around pregnancy loss and stillbirth. This next piece was written by our niece Hailey, and I do not say this lightly, we are so incredibly proud of her. Proud of her strength, her honesty, and her willingness to put words to something so many carry silently. There are moments in life that change you forever. The kind you don’t move on from, but instead learn to carry. This is one of those stories. Sh

By Donna Simard Christina watched snowflakes drift softly from the sky, turning the world outside the hospital window into a quiet winter postcard. Normally, snowfall during the Christmas season filled her with joy, but this year, joy felt far away. Instead, she felt fear, uncertainty, and the hollow ache of not knowing what came next. She turned toward her eight-year-old daughter, Bella, lying in the hospital bed with IV lines and monitors gently beeping beside her. Bella wa

Some mornings catch you off guard in the best way. Today was one of those mornings. I walked into the living room, coffee in hand, and the glow of the Christmas tree hit me in that nostalgic way. The house was quiet, the kind of quiet I never appreciated when the kids were little because it barely existed back then. Now it shows up more often, and I find myself soaking it in a little longer. The tree looked beautiful, a mix of ornaments that had survived years of shifting han

This afternoon, with our pumpkin spice coffees in hand, we sat down to write this. Thanksgiving weekend always has a way of sneaking up and slowing us down all at once. The air feels different, the colors outside are unreal, and there is this quiet excitement that builds knowing what is ahead: a weekend full of food, family, laughter, and the kind of craziness that only a holiday can bring. We always find ourselves reflecting a little deeper this time of year. Maybe it is the

May 16th, HAE awareness day, it’s not just a date on the calendar, it’s a day that lives in my bones. HAE stands for Hereditary Angioedema, a rare genetic condition that causes painful, unpredictable swelling in various parts of the body, including the face, throat, and abdomen. It can be disfiguring, disabling, and in some cases, fatal. There is no cure. There are only treatments. According to HAE Canada: HAE (Hereditary Angioedema) affects about 1 in 50,000 people. It is a

In a family of twelve kids, by the time you get to number twelve, you’d think parenting would be muscle memory. At that point, what’s one more? You feed them, keep them alive, and let the older ones handle the rest, right? Except when Isaiah came along, our parents didn’t just hope for the best; they demanded it for him. They made it their life mission. Isaiah has Down Syndrome, but this wasn’t new territory for us. We have a first cousin with Down Syndrome, so the diagnosis

You’d think I’d be prepared. Gramma was 90. Ninety. She had lived a full, beautiful life, raised generations of stubborn, independent, loving people, and had been asking God to take her home for years. She was ready. She had told us, over and over, that she had made peace with leaving. And yet, when she finally passed, the grief hit in ways I didn’t expect. I miss her in the big, obvious ways….holidays, birthdays, the family gatherings where her presence was as familiar as th

It’s Valentine’s Day. The world is draped in pink and red, chocolates are flying off the shelves, and Instagram is flooded with #blessed couple photos. But can we pause for a second? Before we start feeling like we need to have a Nicholas Sparks-worthy romance or the perfect Valentine’s surprise, let’s talk about the most important relationship we’ll ever have: the one with ourselves. Because when we stop chasing some impossible version of “better,” when we stop picking ourse

Since it's February, the month of love, we’re celebrating by sharing timeless love stories. This is the second in our series, and it’s one especially close to our hearts—our parents’ love story, told from Mom’s perspective. 💕 How can this be? We’ve been married for almost 48 years! Yet it feels like just yesterday that our journey together began. Our love story started at a dance in May of 1976. He was twenty-one, and I was sixteen. I was shy, while he was outgoing and deter

Ah, February. The month of love. It’s supposed to be full of romance, right? The kind we see in movies, where everything is perfect and love feels effortless. You know, those grand gestures that make you feel like you’re on top of the world, like being swept off your feet with a surprise bouquet of roses or diamond earrings, no kids in sight. But let’s be real for a second: if your husband actually bought you those earrings, you'd probably spend the next few days alternating

Our Families & Parents (Plus an extra Sis, Niece & 2 Bros) You know that moment when you're helping your kid with math homework while simultaneously getting a call from your dad about how to update his phone? That's mid-life for you, stretched between generations, trying to remember if it's a fraction or a decimal while explaining that yes, Dad, you need to actually click "Install" for the update to work. We're both living this reality, just with different ringtones. Growing

This holiday season feels a little different for our family. It’s the first Christmas without our Grandma Ardena, our mom’s mom, who passed away this summer. She was the heart of so many of our family traditions—the warm light in every gathering, the quiet strength in every moment. While we miss her deeply, her presence is still felt in the love, faith, and traditions she passed down to us. Our mom Donna, a Christian author of some amazing children’s books and two heartfelt n

Growing up, Christmas was simple, yet magical. It wasn’t about extravagant decorations or last-minute gift-buying panic. It was about family, the birth of Christ, tradition, and creating memories that would last a lifetime. I remember the smell of homemade baking filling the house, the handful of modest gifts under the tree, and the excitement that built up in the weeks leading up to Christmas. One of my fondest memories is our grandparents coming over every year. Their visit

Hey there! We’re Stacy and Amanda—two sisters navigating the wild, wonderful, and hilariously messy world of motherhood. Between us, we’ve got six kids (ages 16, 14, 13, 11, 10, and 8), nearly 33 years of marriage, and enough chaotic stories to write a sitcom (or at least a solid comedy special). Growing up in a family of 12, chaos is practically part of our DNA. We learned early on how to survive noise, endless opinions, and a steady stream of mayhem. Turns out, that was jus