Hi.

The internet is full of great websites and blogs that offer advice about motherhood, parenting kids with special needs, Faith journeys, depression, you name it.

There are people who do really well in the aforementioned areas, and I am glad for them.

Seriously. I am.

But this is a place for the rest of us.

Those of us who struggle.

Those of us who fall down and get back up, and aren’t afraid of questions or answers.

Those of us who fail often, but learn from our mistakes.

Those of us who love God/or like him/or don’t know how we feel about it.

I am sitting on a virtual couch. And there is room here next to me for you.

My name is Gillian.

I am a Christian, wife, mother, writer, and speaker.

I write about real life motherhood, stumbling Faith, Down syndrome, adoption, things my kids do to make me laugh, depression, GRACE, the occasional spoonful of peanut butter, and sometimes the whole jar.

God is teaching me about faith, compassion, brokenness, and the need to look other people in the eye and meet them where they are at.

My daughter Polly is the light of my life, along with her sisters Elaina, Zoya, and little Miss Evangeline (who came to our family through international adoption in 2009, also sporting an extra chromosome,) and my wonderful husband Sergei.

Most Sundays, you’ll find me there in the back row of the church Sergei pastors, bouncing a toddler on my knee and giving the older girls the look. It’s been said that the wives of clergy live in fish bowls. Let me be the first to tell you that my bowl is cracked and most of the water has seeped out. I’m not your typical pastor’s wife. In fact, don’t even call me that.

Just call me Gillian.

My life’s not perfect. I struggle with depression, and together with my family, God, a supportive church community, and a really good therapist, I am working through the past and present to help make a better future for our whole family.

I have a passion to advocate for my daughters with Down syndrome, and to collaborate with others to promote inclusion for individuals with special needs in every area of life.

My heart is particularly soft to new parents of children with Down syndrome.

My first days as a mother of a child with Down syndrome were so dark. And now there is so much light in my life.

I love walking along side anyone else who ends up on this path.

What else? I’m a small town girl from Michigan who has spent the majority of her married life in big cities; Kiev, Ukraine for three and a half years church planting, and now with my family in Chicago.

And I am really, truly thankful you are here. So get a snack, and stick around.

(If you’d like you can connect with me on Facebook or Twitter too)