Control Chaos Daily Grind

Why I Started Writing This Book

I didn’t sit down one day and decide to write a book.
This book found me.

For years, my story lived quietly in my heart — carried in memories, tears, prayers, and moments I never fully put into words. I was too busy surviving, raising children, advocating, and holding everything together to even consider writing it all down. But God has a way of stirring something inside you when the time is right.

This book began with a simple realization: my story mattered — not because it was perfect, but because it was real.

I became a mom at sixteen. I struggled with school, lacked support, and learned very early how to be strong when I didn’t feel ready. As my life unfolded, I walked through marriage, military life, deployments, divorce, and the beautiful chaos of raising six children — several of whom face dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing challenges, and sensory differences. Along the way, I learned how to advocate fiercely, love deeply, and trust God even when I didn’t understand His plan.

For a long time, I thought those experiences were just part of life — something I survived and moved past. But the more I worked with families through dyslexia advocacy, the more I realized how often my story echoed theirs. Parents would stand at booths, sit across from me in quiet rooms, or pull me aside after events and say, “I thought I was alone until I heard you talk.”

That’s when the seed was planted.

I started writing not to relive the pain, but to give it purpose. I wanted to capture the moments that shaped me — the fear, the growth, the healing, and the faith that carried me through it all. I wanted to write honestly about the parts of motherhood that aren’t often spoken out loud. About childhood wounds. About addiction and loss. About surrender. About becoming an advocate before I ever knew the word for it.

Writing this book became an act of healing. Every chapter allowed me to sit with my past, not with shame, but with compassion. It helped me heal the little girl inside me, honor the woman I’ve become, and see how God was present in every chapter — even when I didn’t recognize Him at the time.

This book is for the young mom who feels unprepared.
For the parent navigating learning differences.
For the woman carrying childhood wounds into adulthood.
For anyone who has had to be strong before they felt ready.

It’s for the person who needs to know that survival can turn into purpose — and that healing doesn’t mean forgetting, it means becoming.

I didn’t write this book because I had all the answers. I wrote it because I’ve lived the questions. And if my story can give someone hope, courage, or even the smallest reminder that they are not alone, then every word was worth it.

Stronger Than I Knew isn’t just my story — it’s proof that strength grows quietly, faith carries us further than we imagine, and God can use even our hardest chapters for something beautiful.

And this…
This is just the beginning.