Mandy
Mandy was born and raised in Shreveport and married her best friend, Dustin, in 2008. When they moved to Baton Rouge in 2010 for graduate school, they had no idea how much this city would change their lives. After meeting some incredibly inspiring people, they decided to become foster parents in 2011 and adopted their bundle of energy, Joseph, in 2014. Mandy works part time as the Safe Families for Children Coordinator, a program that aims to support and stabilize families who are experiencing a crisis. She spends the rest of her time managing Joseph's therapies for autism and living out the gift and honor of being a mom. When she has a few minutes of spare time, Mandy loves to bake, draw, hit the pavement for a run, or even better- NAP!
Transracial Adoption in the Deep South
If stories of adoption and fostering in Baton Rouge are of interest, there are several great pieces on the website including stories of adoption (here and here), advice on what not to ask an...
Owning my Motherhood Truth
Motherhood is a beast. I'm giving a big side-eye to the mom who always looks perfectly put together and only talks about how fulfilling and perfect motherhood is ... I suspect you are not even...
How Marrying Young Prepared Me for Parenthood
The average age of first marriage in the United States these days is 28, which is totally insane to me since that is the age I am right now and I've already been married for eight...
For the Mom in a Tough Season
Motherhood is hard enough without life throwing you a curve ball. When something unexpected happens, it can be hard to see past the chaos and you may lay your head down at night feeling defeated and discouraged...
Fear in Parenting
One of the toughest aspects of parenting for me is making decisions. All day every day there are decisions to be made. A million decisions. Thankfully, a lot of them are easy to make....