In December, Des Moines Moms Blog put out a call for more local moms to join our team in 2015. We reviewed dozens of applications from real moms around the metro, and after a long and difficult selection process, we are thrilled to introduce you to the six newest members of the DMMB Team. Meet three of them today, and stay tuned to meet three more next Friday!

Meet Autumn

Hi, All! I’m Autumn, and I’m so excited to share a bit about my family and look forward to learning a lot more about yours! This group has already blessed my life in so many ways.

From the awesome play dates (no character fear in this little guy!) to the tear-jerking “me too!” posts, and now a chance to join with a whole lotta other mamas in sharing the triumphs and challenges of life. This blog has become a place where women—in and outside of mothering in all its forms—can come find great information about our community, find a word of encouragement, and walk away feeling a bit more connected.

Okay, okay, enough gushing—you’re here, you love DMMB, too, and you’re hoping to learn a little about the new team members.

I met this handsome fella in 2005, and we’ve been traveling the Midwest in search of good eats ever since!

Seriously. We honestly plan trips around the good food we might find there.

We married in the summer of 2007, less than a week after he returned from military training. Yep, we’re a military family. During our first year of marriage, the only time we saw each other regularly was when I went to 5 a.m. ROTC PT (physical training) with him. He’s a proud papa and a persevering hard-worker, and he gave our boys his winning-smile. I’m gonna keep him.

Oh, my boys. Our joke is that they are proof that two average people can have above average looking children. Self-deprecation might be my love language. They bring me great joy and huge messes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our favorite things to do as a family involve checking out science museums (nerd alert!), going to festivals (especially if there’s food!), and napping (okay, maybe that’s my favorite). While it’s challenging to be a working mama, my hope is that I present to them a picture of a strong, smart, God-fearing woman and that they’ll look for the same kind of women to be in their lives someday!

Well, these guys are the loves of my life, but here is some other stuff that floats my boat:

• Anything with a theme. Name one situation where a theme doesn’t make it better?!
• Double-fisting it. Diet Coke and Dunkin’ Donuts Mocha Hot Coffee.
• Working out while watching HGTV, TLC, or listening to Kids Bop on Pandora. You know you do it, too!
• Crafternoons. Break out your glue guns, ladies—it’s about to get real!
• Reading. Well, I think I love reading, but if I’m honest—I haven’t found my Kindle since our last move, I haven’t unpacked my books, and I never make it out of the children’s section of the library. Maybe someday!
• Connecting authentically with other long-winded people (like me). Truth be told, a lot of stuff in this life has been hard, but I am confident that we were meant to weather life in relationship, and I know that it has made all the difference for me.

I can’t wait for us to get to know each other better!

Meet Suzy

Hi! I’m Suzy. What an honor to be a part of a community of great moms and families here in the Des Moines area! We are so much better together, don’t you agree?

I am a blessed mom of two girls, Dara (12) and Hannah (4). My husband Saba and I have been married 14 amazing years. Saba’s career in insurance brought us from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Des Moines, Iowa, about three years ago, and we are blessed to now call Des Moines our home.

My first big move took place just as I turned 16—from Egypt’s Mediterranean shores to Toronto, Ontario, and, two years later, to Grand Rapids, Michigan. My parents and I had agreed that the move to the States was absolutely “temporary”—a four-year assignment to attend college. Well, I ended up meeting the love of my life in Grand Rapids and the rest, as they say, is history.

As cliché as it sounds, many of us would agree with the statement, “Life is a journey.” And often times, we journey through roads we are not familiar with. Roads that go upward to beautiful mountaintops, and some that take us downward to painful valleys. Call them milestones or transitions, life is filled with them. Mine has been an unexpected journey marked by transitions, many of which I barely saw coming. Not least of these transitions was my recent choice to pause my career, trading the pencil skirt and high heels for the glamour of the stay-at-home life.

Although since my teens, change and adaptability had informed my life, staying home was the hardest change I have experienced. I learned a lot of things like, If you want to know who’s boss, you should spend a full day with a toddler. 🙂

But as difficult as it has been, staying home has opened my eyes to new possibilities. Currently, I run a fast-growing blog called The Mediterranean Dish where I share my love of cooking to help others enjoy the best meals in the comfort of their kitchens. And now as a new contributor to Des Moines Moms Blog, I look forward to sharing recipes and much more with all of you right here in this special space.

A few of my favorite things include yoga, long chats with good friends, traveling far, and a good brew of Starbucks. How about you? What are your favorite things?

I hope you’ll come along on my journey here at Des Moines Moms Blog! And also stop by and see me at The Mediterranean Dish, or feel free to connect on Facebook and Pinterest.

So nice to meet you!

Meet Christy

Though I have traveled the world and lived elsewhere in other seasons of life, I am an Iowa girl at heart and am finding lots of joy in raising my kids in my own hometown of Ames.

I am a self-admitted control freak and introvert, married to my best friend Tim, an easy-going extrovert. Needless to say, he challenges me to be a better woman! We’ve been married for over a decade and are thoroughly enjoying the roller coaster ride of parenting our four beautiful and spunky children, ages seven and under. They provide much hilarity and entertainment.

Before marriage and kids, I studied Linguistics at Iowa State University. I had dreams of living abroad, translating Bibles for remote tribes. Then Tim proposed, throwing a wrench into my “remote village” plan, so instead I earned a doctorate in Physical Therapy at UNMC in Omaha. After our first daughter was born, I put my profession on hold to stay home full time. Two years ago I was blessed with a job that allows me to work just one afternoon a week as a PT. It’s a perfect balance, allowing me to keep up my professional skills (and get out of the house to talk to grown-ups!) while giving my kids the chance to miss me a little and hopefully appreciate me more!

My days at home are full, attempting to Classically homeschool my second grader and kindergartener, while simultaneously keeping the preschooler out of trouble and nursing the baby. During any down time (what’s that?!) you may find me reading parenting books or spy thrillers, working out, taking the kids to the library and park, or Pinteresting Paleo recipes for my family while hypocritically eating dark chocolate during nap time. My record is 211 books checked out from the library at one time and downing an entire 85 gram cacao bar in under 15 minutes. Yep. You read that right.

Tim and I are still actively involved in the church where we first met, Cornerstone Church of Ames. We have always felt tremendously blessed, and a burden to BE a blessing to others because of that, so we became licensed foster parents in 2009. Since then we have had around a dozen foster children in our home, ranging in age from 2 to 18. Foster parenting has taught me more than I ever imagined, and has drawn me closer to both my husband and to the Lord. I pray that we have blessed those kids as much as they have blessed us.

I am humbled and thrilled to be a part of the Des Moines Moms Blog team. Motherhood has challenged and grown me exponentially more than I ever imagined it could or would, and I am passionate about moms sharing these ups and downs of the journey with one another. What a great venue we have for doing that together here.

Thank you for reading!