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a little back story.

It might be good to give some history before I dive in. Context can always help us understand and know others more fully, and our stories are part of that context.

Briefly:

- Canadian baby, born as the youngest of four to my Egyptian father and Canadian mother.

- A move to the big, bad USA as a young child changed the course of that cultural trajectory.

- Private, Christian education from pre-k to graduation, created a world of safety, care, and slightly sheltered for my young personhood. Protected me from much of the gross world, for which I am grateful. Still processing through the fearfulness and judgment I can have toward "others" as a result. Mostly great memories, including finishing up my high school years as the only female in a class of eight students. FUN.

- A brief stint at community college, then finished my bachelors degree at Bible school, with a degree in counseling. These years were hugely transformational, taking me out of my "big fish in a tiny pond" to a place where I had to blatantly look at who I was, and work through what I saw - all with a new, deeper understanding of sin and grace. These years were HARD. But I came out with a new-found relationship with God, a deeper understanding of how he sees me and others, long-term friendships, and a love for residence life.

- Post-graduation I found myself taking a job farther away than I could ever have imagined. I climbed on a plane in the midwest, and found myself in the middle of nowhere Alaska. Never having been to Alaska, flown alone (ask me about how I fainted multiple times on the flight over Canada), or ANY idea of what I was getting myself into, I jumped into working at a public boarding school in a village  of 300 people, where you can only get to by plane or boat.

- This work in the dorms of the school opened my eyes and my heart to a culture I had no knowledge of. I fell in love with these Alaskan Native high schoolers and even the pace of the small village. A small Bible church and the families involved, invested in my life and my growth in a way that has forever changed me.

- In this village, I also found my love. My husband. And what a crazy piece of that whole adventure.

- In my years in this village, I had some of my hardest years, but also formed the relationships that have been the most life-giving, the ones that will

- I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. No more gluten for me. (Insert many literal tears).

- I learned what capacity I had to hurt others, and their capacity for forgiveness.

- I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. Many pooped-my-pants stories ahead.

- I got married, starting the relationship that exposes you to your own sin on a new level, and reveals the intense depth of forgiveness and grace that can exist in a marriage focused on loving as Christ loves us.

- God called us to full-time ministry with Alaskan young adults: a move from security to utter FAITH.

- I was pregnant with our first child soon after committing to a move of full-time ministry.

- We moved out of the village back to the city, preparing for our ministry with support-raising (WHAT a lesson in faith).

- We lost our daughter Avery Michelle unexpectedly after a normal pregnancy when I was 29 weeks pregnant, still-born from a placental abruption.

- We found a new level of a capacity of how much you can love a person, and the irrational depth of pain that is involved when you lose them.

- I was told I have a genetic mutation called Factor V Leiden after the fact. This likely caused a blood clot that triggered the placental abruption, ending Avery's life.

- We jumped into house ministry, residence life, alongside Alaskan young adults living in the city.

- We are finding a new normal that involves being parents without a living child, Christians intent on believing in the goodness of our good God even when we cannot see it, and people that glorify God in the joys and the sorrows.

And here you will find us.

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