Hi! I'm Julie Steck and the host of this incredible blog! So who am I? That's a loaded question. I'll start with who I am NOT....
The list could be rather long, but here's the top 8 of what I'm NOT:
- Organized
- Detailed
- Boring
- Follower of the ordinary
- Satisfied with mediocre
- Early morning thinker
- Good with directions
- Early
- And many more.... BUT
I AM, however, a Child of the One True King (even when I don't FEEL like it!), who made Himself known to me at the early age of 3. I saw my mom, going through one of life's great struggles cling to her Savior and because of that I wanted Her Jesus in My heart. Wow! Now as an adult, who regularly trips over my own struggles, I pray that through those, my children would somehow see HIM.
I am married to my extremely handsome and completer to my personality, Adam. We met beside the pool in Holly Lake Ranch, Texas, set up by his beautiful sister, Holly. Yes, clothed in swimsuits - well, actually just me - (Adam wore steel-toed boots and jeans, but that's another story!) anyway, this is where OUR story begins. Looking back, we were WAY to young to be so in love, but no one could tell us that. Stealing any time we could just to be together, we loved going on dates to the movies, out to eat and usually to Circuit City where Adam jammed out with the employees and planned custom speakers for our future minivan! Hoping to deter us from marrying too young my parents set us up with our pastor. After a few months his prognosis was "I strongly encourage you to let these kids get married! Are they ready? Probably not, but I think they'll make it." Two months after high school graduation these two love birds were married and began a journey of a lifetime. And that's the brief version of how the "I" became "We".
Fast forward four years, God gave us the gift of our first child, Caleb. Then 2.5 years later, because we knew we couldn't possibly have another just like him, God placed Mackenzie in our lap. Now, fully confident we must be incredible parents to have molded such a sweet, tender-hearted child, we batted again and out came our jokester Zachary. So 10 years and 3 children later, our journey from 1 boy and 1 girl continues to deepen. About 6 years ago, we decided that homeschooling was the best option for us and have been educating all three of our kids at home ever since. More info on that journey under the homeschooling tab...
Adam's day job uses his God-given gift of business administration with Southwest Metal Systems and Ameristall Horse Barns. A company we started in 2003 that manufactures metal for steel buildings, horse barns, roofs, or anything requiring metal. After 5:00, though he transforms into Daddy and manhandles his trap loving boys, takes his daughter out on ice cream dates and saves a little pillow talk for his quality-time demanding wife.
My (Julie) passions and daily life are intertwined through out this site. Writing is my first love along with relating to other people, reading books to my children, whipping up something for dinner and staying as far away from the vacuum as possible make a great summary.
Recently, the Lord has placed on our heart a desire to strengthen the family. We all come from colored backgrounds and come to the table in our relationships with different strengths, weaknesses, upbringings and expectations. In the Bible we see the Lord defining marriage as the unity of all those differences and calling what was 2 individual people 1 whole unit. Funny, huh!? The process of that takes a lifetime, a community around you and GRACE plus much more. We pray that the words on this site would serve to encourage families and couples to remain committed in that journey.
And lastly, but never least, our heart beats for Missions. We echo the lyrics to Casting Crown's song, "Sing until the whole world hears". The message of salvation must be told to all peoples and nations. And it starts with ME. Having visited Mombasa, Kenya for 5 years now, our family loves to partner with Lighthouse for Christ and the impact they have on the people there. You can see pictures and read more about that journey under the Missions tab.
So, there you go...that's the long and short of who we are as individuals and as a whole family. My prayer for this site is not to promote our family's good looks, or talents or accomplishments but that you readers would see a beautiful story of Redemption. That God takes ordinary, common place people and circumstances and can use them for His purposes and His Glory. I pray you find encouragement and truth here for the day-to-day, for that is the time-frame in which we live!
This song, "How can it be" by Lauren Daigle is one of our favorites and beautifully puts to music God's perfect, undeserving Redemption. Please listen!
~ The Steck Family