A little about me

Hi, My name is Allison. OK, so my name is also Heather, but I wish it was Claire. The funny thing, is that "Claire" is the name my mother called me in utero, but then my dad named me "Heather" when I was born. It never suited me and, as an adult, I decided to go by Allison.

I have one brother who is nearly 7 years my junior. He was born at home in 1979, and that was my first experience with birthing. I attended his birth and it set my life on this course. You can find his radical unsettled soul at http://chirodiesel.blogspot.com/

We were raised by a single mother, who was a third generation WOHM. It was not her desire to be anything other than a SAHM, but she and our dad split up, so that's where she ended up. I am still working toward repairing my relationship with my father, who chose a year he liked and stayed there...unfortunately, the year he picked was 1972, and I was born in 1973. He also had Polio as a child, fwiw, and it definately affected how he views the world.

I married Stephen in 1994 and we proceeded to multiply pretty rapidly. One child every twentysomething months or so. We got Elizabeth, Andrew, Abigail and Evelyn, who are now nearly12, 10, 7 and 5. I was pregnant and/or breastfeeding for 10 years running. I found the site www.gentlechristianmothers.com thanks to a client, when I had just had Abigail, and I have grown so much as a parent and changed so much as a person thanks to the introduction to Grace Based Living, which I learned about from the genuine, gracious, amazing women on the message board, there.

I homeschool our three daughters, and our son attends a very tiny, one-room-schoolhouse private school. I am a montessori mama, and constantly working to find curriculae that go with each child's learning style, because, of course, they are all drastically different.

I have worked in a LOT of different jobs (been working since I was 13) including, paperboy, waitress, nanny, commercial photographer, interpreter for the deaf, and for the last 10+ years, I was involved in midwifery, and had various businesses including a Birth Center and A holistic women's health clinic, but the only good partner I ever managed to pick is my precious, longsuffering husband ;) The Lord called me out of working outside my home to be a full time SAHM, last fall. It is being very interesting, learning how to truely be a manager of my home. It is far and away the most difficult job I've ever done.