the entrepreneurs

Brian and Tammy were entrepreneurs. Brian is a general contractor and Tammy is an interior designer. Aside from raising us kids, they were managing cash flow, clients, and five new mouths at the same time. That's a different kind of hard.

So much discipline to do whatever it takes, work integrated with passion projects, practically driven.

We had garage sales, catering events; I helped sew drapes and bedding for the design business. We decorated the Christmas tree at church, set up holiday decor for clients. We continued distributing gifts to kids with incarcerated parents at Christmas time through the new church. This time, it would be called Operation Joy.

Operation Joy was our biggest undertaking, sorting gifts for 1,500+ kids, and we had so many more volunteers to help. Each kid would receive a clothing or practical gift, and the other gift would be fun, like a toy, or something to pursue their creative interests.

A few years into living together as a family, we purchased a ceramics business and operated it out of the home. We converted the garage into a studio, and the front porch was covered to house 3 commercial kilns. it was called Gilgal Designs, named for the biblical spot where Joshua set up the first camp, laying down 12 twelve stones. We’d sell contracts at trade shows at the Dallas World Trade Center. My mom, Tammy, recently found a platter they made at an estate sale.

Most importantly, Brian and Tammy, stepped in to carry the burden that I once held, allowing me to experience childhood and just be a kid.

We continued to go to youth gatherings and summer camp, funded by scholarships and youth group fundraisers.

Family friends and the church community were generous in their outpouring of love we all experienced during this time. When I think of this time, I think of the sacrifice of my parents, and the fellowship and support we received. The village.