July 2010 - Lisa

Hi, my name is Lisa, and I am a super busy mom of four, wife, student and new business owner. My children are 20, 16, 2-1/2 and 6 months. Having one in university and one in diapers has many challenges but more rewards! Most people think I pack too much into my days, but luckily for me, I have a ton of energy, and I don’t need (or get) much sleep. I really do believe you can do anything you want in life with enough determination! I got married young and had my first daughter when I was 20 and my son came along when I was 24. Having kids part worked out wonderfully, the marriage part, not so much. So for the next while I concentrated on being a super single mom, doing every sport they wanted to do, volunteering at their schools, working full time and going to school at night.

Whether on the soccer field or the gymnastics centre, you could always find me with textbooks in hand and a camera to capture the memories. There were some lean years and a few trips to the food bank, and it did take me eight years instead of four, but I got my BA in child psychology from SFU without owing any $ for student loans. Modelling that learning is important was essential for me to pass onto my children. We didn’t have cable TV (and still don’t to this day) so my older kids are readaholics just like me. Then I met someone who could put up with my hyper self and after five years of being co-workers we decided to date. After five years later we are happily married and now have two more children and a house that had to be renovated down to the studs. I always say my poor hubby went from bachelor to having four kids, two cats & a dog in four years! Good thing he was up for the challenge. Now that I had some support, I thought I would go back to SFU again to do my masters degree in gifted education. I took a 1 month break when our two year old was born, and I had my last presentation for my final class the night before I gave birth to our daughter. I am finished my coursework and am now on leave until the fall when I will start my thesis.

Our two year old son has celiac disease, so I make most of his food from scratch to make sure he eats right and our six month old daughter was born a little early and has fairly severe GERD ( Gastroesophageal reflux disease) so she has been the most difficult to parent as she needed to be kept upright 24/7 for the first few months of life and screamed anytime she wasn’t nursing or sleeping, and truly this is no exaggeration. Months of doctors visits, literally sleepless nights and medication changes we now have it under control, and as long as we don’t miss a dose and I don’t eat anything that makes her digestive system upset, she is doing better, though because she throws up much of what she takes in she is still tiny and is just over 11 pounds at six months old.

Realizing that the two youngest kids need me with them, I decided to open a business from home part time so that I can pay for my school, my older kids braces & driving lessons, contribute to the household and still be able to be home with the kids. I decided to turn my passion of photography into a business, and I opened End of the Road Photography in April of 2010 (www.endoftheroadphotography.vpweb.ca). I work out of a studio my husband built for me on our property. We take turns with the kids, I have them Monday to Friday while he works and he has them on the weekends when I work.

I have learned to pick my battles with the oldest ones and to go with the flow with the youngest ones. My favourite saying is on a plaque on our wall. LIFE ISN’T ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS, IT’S ABOUT LEARNING TO DANCE IN THE RAIN. If I waited for life to be calm I would have missed much of life! Like I said it really is a little crazy busy around here but I wouldn’t have it any other way!