About

I started my intentional search for beauty and God’s goodness on August 12, 2008, the day my husband, RD, had a serious accident that left him permanently paralyzed from the waist down with 40% of his body in 3rd degree burns. I’ve held closely to the following quote during the past 2 years: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” I am living a daily pursuit of finding beauty amidst the storm…and learning to dance in the rain.

I am a mother to Kylie, who is 5, and wife to RD.  We’ve been married for the past 7 1/2 years and live on the east side of Indianapolis.  Life as we know it has been turned upside down, but we are learning so much and growing far beyond what seems to be possible.  We are watching God bring beauty from the ashes as He heals our deepest wounds within us.  We are broken vessels desperately seeking a God who loves us…desperately hoping for healing and redemption…and desperately seeking to see beauty in the midst of such pain and struggle.

At this point in my life, my camera has become a way for me to seek beauty around me.  It helps me not to forget that God is good.  In the fall of 2009 I started a photography business, Raindancer Studios, in response to the call to actively seek beauty and focus on goodness.  It has been the most beautiful thing that has come out of this mess…and it has been my umbrella through the storm.  It is amazing how it all started without much intention.  The other way God has forced me to hold onto goodness and truth is through writing on RD’s caringbridge site.  Freedom comes as I process the pain, but more than that, I can’t help but strive to see beauty and hold onto truth as I write.  Hence, the reason I am starting a blog of my own…a place separate from the medical happenings to share what God is speaking and teaching me.  I feel compelled to share the many lessons I’m learning and hopefully through it, I can encourage someone else who might be working through their own storm.

At the very least, I hope to share life honestly representing a person who loves and seeks God yet still struggles.  I believe that sometimes Christianity displays a false representation that when you seek God, life will be easy and so joyful that pain can’t exist.  Life is painful and filled with struggle sometimes, but we don’t have to walk through it alone and there is hope in the midst!  I look forward to exploring further what it looks like to dance in the rain, to hold onto hope during the storm, and to trust in a God who sometimes disappoints by allowing massive storms to sideswipe us.

My heart’s desire is to focus on the beauty that comes from ashes, to bring praise to God for the good that comes from suffering…”To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”—Isaiah 61:3

Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purposes.”