Snap By Snap

1990: A year later, we'd lost our first child and Mark's job situation wasn't promising. Finding myself not pregnant as expected, I crashed a backpacking trip in the Sierras with Mark's Dad, brother-in-law, and nephew.
1991: We had been married 9 years when Amy was born, and our priorities changed rapidly. We bought our first home - the infamous condo in Goleta - I began working at home to be with Amy. In the second picture above, Amy was two and we were just months away from a move that would change our lives. Not long before that move, we lost our second baby.
2000: In 1995 we survived a shortsale on our condo after I lost my job and we managed to get out of town with a truck full of furniture, a three year old, and not much else. While moving here we received the call that my parents had been in a catastrophic car accident while on a mission trip in India. My Dad had been killed and my stepmom was very seriously injured. The move itself was incredibly stressful and this shocking loss put us over the top. We moved in with Mark's parents for almost two years while starting up Mark's practice. In spite of all the stress involved in the move, it was one of the smartest decisions we've made. When the picture above was taken, we had been in our own home for several years and had begun our one car, one job, one homeschooled kid lifestyle.