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!
Stay Out of My Uterus
Stay Out of My Uterus
When we decided to become foster parents a few years ago we never imagined that the first child placed with us would become available for adoption. We actually really hoped...
Why I Love a Simple Christmas
We never made an "official" decision that we would keep the holidays simple, it just sort of happened. Like most couples, early in our marriage our income and our time were both very limited. Even...
Thoughts on a Lifetime as the Chubby Girl
I was a pretty good kid and because of that there were very few hard and fast rules in my home growing up. One of the few rules I can remember hearing my mom...
An Adventure in Slow Cooking {Recipes Included!}
I've written here about mental health, racism and being mom to a special needs child so I figured it was time to lighten up a little and share some recipes with you. Sometimes after...
{Just Us} Parenting Away from Extended Family
When my husband and I left our hometown about 5 years ago to move to the Red Stick, we gleefully waved goodbye, looked at each other with naive excitement in our eyes, and boldly...