I’m not sure what scares me more….that my daughter woke up this morning as a 12 year old, which means teen years are that much closer….or that I am the mother of a 12 year old, which makes me feel, well, quite old.

This week the theme over here has been “journey,” and our 12 years with our first born has certainly been one of it’s own. Thinking back to this day 12 years ago, I see a young girl, laboring, completely unaware of how life would never be the same. In just a few more hours her life would be dedicated to another little human to care for. Her parents’ lives would be so much richer with her in them.

Priya was born at 6:35 in the evening. She arrived with strength and a complete mind of her own from moment one. I just remember thinking she was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen, but I thought something was wrong because she didn’t want to be swaddled or held tight, unless she felt like it. She wanted space. This has not changed.

At midnight last night Brett and I were laying in bed and thinking about our Priya Izabella. How incredibly blessed we are to have her in our lives. We thanked the Lord for 12 years of wonderful health, learning, growing together, messing up and changing things around….We have tried and sometimes failed, sometimes succeeded with her, and I’m very certain she has taught us as much as we have her. She has always challenged us from day one, and I know God had a great purpose in giving her to us first. I’m so thankful for her abundance of love, her quirky ways, her abstract view on things, and the way she loves her family. Brett and I prayed for her future. If the next 12 years even come close to being as wonderful as the past 12, we would be overwhelmingly thankful.

Priya, you are such a delight to our lives. One of the qualities we admire most about you is the way you are not afraid to be who you are. This is a rare gift that many people try to acquire with time and maturity. I pray you hold on to this tightly as you go through these next few vulnerable years. Also, we admire the way you help your brothers and accept your part in our family, with rarely a complaint. You are such a gift to us.

So thankful for you sweet girl. We couldn’t possibly imagine life without you in it.

mama & baba

I’m not even sure where to begin today with this post. We’re running on coffee and very little sleep, but MAN-o-MAN we are so incredibly excited. Seeing all of this come together, after YEARS of thoughts, dreaming, working through things in our life, digging deep into ourselves, and TONS of work from our designer…..today we see it come to life. And we’re on cloud nine.  :)

BIG thanks and shout outs to Bobbi + Mike, Gabe of Perspectiveye, Sarah Rhoads, Myriam Santos, and Image Is Found for photos of us on our site.  Also, thanks to Pat Laurent for his artistic help today as well!

To our designer and dear friend Ryan, we can’t thank you enough. This journey has been something great. Dare I say, EPIC for us. There were days I was certain you would never want to speak to us after this process concluded because, YES, we are ridiculously picky. But we made it, and I think we’ve got a long friendship ahead. In other words, you’re stuck with us.  :)  You are awesome Ryan. Thanks for putting your time, effort, energy, and mad skillz into this project. You nailed it. The brand/the site, it is so very “us” and that is a feeling we only dreamed would be possible.

And to all of the people that have allowed us to do what we love to do, thank you. Each of our clients mean so much to us. Each of our blog readers that share their thoughts and support, this is all because of you. Our brand sprung up from the common quest we are all on….to find our own balance in this lifetime.

When my brain returns after some much needed sleep I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts to share. For now I want you to explore our site and get all friendly with it. I have to say it is pretty fun to explore. We can’t wait to hear what you all think!!

Thanks again for your love and support. We look forward to many years ahead, growing into Life in Balance, together.

Jess & Brett