My family has scaled many figurative mountains in the past. Some have looked as large as Everest, while others I knew were only like the rolling foothills of Tennessee. Yet, in each of those times in our lives, we had to determine both the knowledge and the tools we needed to make it to the summit of that situation. I've often had parents of my pediatric patients who are facing a diagnosis of short stature tell me they know this isn't a big deal compared to what other diagnoses are out there. It does not matter what someone else's crisis is, in that moment this is your crisis, and it is big for you. It is okay to embrace that it might be hard to face, but that it can be done.
I will never forget when our oldest was four years old, he went for his annual cardiology appointment. He was born with a congenital heart defect that was monitored yearly to ensure he didn't develop any complications. The chances of those complications were minimal, so we never worried. Yet, the day I received the call after his visit that he required open heart surgery, those chances got a lot bigger for us. I remember the surgeon meeting with us a few weeks later saying, "Of all the open-heart surgeries, this one is the smallest. It is really a simple procedure compared to those that involve bigger malformations." I could have laughed right in his face. This 'minimal' surgery to him, was my four-year-old son in an operating room where they cut open his chest and stopped his heart while they performed surgery on it. This may have been a little foothill to him, but this "nurse momma" was climbing Everest when they rolled him away from me that day.
See perspective matters. When I've been hiking in the Smoky Mountains there were many times I could not see the summit of the climb. There were times when no matter how easy the hike should have been, the path seemed steep, narrow, and impossible. These are the times when the knowledge of the path ahead was invaluable. I knew, for the most part, what should lay ahead. There could always be surprises, but the knowledge would get me to the end eventually. Then there was the equipment I had to assist my climb. Together this would get me to the summit along with my own will to continue no matter how long or short the hike.
This is why Mountain Hill was created. I want to build a business that will come alongside you and your family, equipping you with the knowledge or tools you need to scale your own summit. Whether it looks like a mountain or a hill, I want to provide quality products that save busy moms time in the week or 15 minutes of quiet while their child works in an activity book. My goal is to create more books that help others understand learning disabilities like dyslexia or neurodivergent minds, like Tate's ADHD mind in Tate's Big Imagination. My vision is that as we grow, you can come to our website and know we are providing just what you need to scale to your summit.
You can also know that in many situations we have been there and are climbing right beside you. In our little family of four, we have a chronic illness, a genetic eye disease, learning disabilities, and a congenital heart defect (repaired, yay!). We have faced financial troubles, job loss, living away from family and so much more. We have scaled so many summits. We haven't always done it well or perfectly, but we have tried to learn from our setbacks. We desire to continue to grow as a family as we face many more challenges in life ahead. I hope you will join our family and together we can climb, and in your moments of discouragement or fear, you can know that it is possible to get there.