Oh, Hi!

Newbie Here! Newbie at what? Pretty much everything. 

I’m Theresa, and I will be 39 later this year. I am in an odd life transition, and I have realized that instead of the hustle and grind culture, I want to slow down for myself and my family. 

Slower Days. Slower Weekends. Less doing. More enjoying. 

We have lived through years of chaos, trauma, hurt, and exhaustion, and I am determined not to keep living like this. 

Let me back up a bit!

My wife (Amy) and I became foster parents in 2014. We quickly jumped into a busy, hectic, chaotic life surrounding trauma, abuse, negligence, court systems, hurt after hurt, exhaustion, hospital visits, lots of hellos, and too many goodbyes. Before I knew it, it was December 2018, and we ended the year with one of the most painful goodbyes we have ever had. And we knew it then; we were done. 

We adopted our 3 children in 2016, and we knew that foster care was no longer for us. We couldn’t keep going through it - as parents or our children. We closed our license, packed up our house, and moved back to my hometown area to be close to family. Unfortunately, life didn’t slow down, and we experienced more hurt and heartache within the walls of our own home. 

It was as if we were a Lifetime movie - a lesbian couple adopts three children, and experiences the unimaginable, the unthinkable, the most dangerous, and….. fill in the blank. That was us. We were living our very own nightmare. And for a long time, there was no way out. The trauma, pain, abuse that happened….well, let’s just save all that for another time. 

The point is that we survived. We all made it out and moved forward. We have spent the last few years healing and restoring our lives. And at the end of that, I have found myself craving a more organic, authentic, slower life for my family. 

In what ways am I trying to accomplish this?

• Less STUFF

  • Less clutter

  • Fewer items taking up space

  • More organized and clean areas

  • Less time spent cleaning and organizing

    
    

• More GOOD

  • Learning to make food at home

  • Putting my heart into providing good meals for my family

  • Growing our food

  • Chickens (manifesting it for my future!)

    
    

• Living More Organically

  • Essential oils 

  • More natural products

  • More time outdoors

  • More free play - dirt, barefoot, living on the land, fewer scheduled activities

I have spent months of this new year reflecting on the years that have passed us by, and at the end of the year, the only positive thing we could come up with was that we survived. How sad. 365 beautiful days wasted. 

In my quest to provide more for my family, be available, and curate a loving and peaceful home, I also discovered my love for baking. Something about pouring my heart, time, and effort into something and seeing the joy it brings the other person was something I had been searching for: PURPOSE.

In four short months, I have immersed myself in baking whenever possible and creating a new garden to provide produce, herbs, and wildflowers for us and our community. I am spending more time at home, building a business and a brand, which has been exciting. 

When I began thinking about what phrase could encompass all of this: my family, my passion for baking and providing natural and healthy foods for my family, my past, my future, and my love for my people, Raised Wild was created. 

When I reflect on my childhood and life before being a mom and wife, at 38 years old, the most incredible experience of my life was being Raised Wild. 

The last name Wild is special and significant to my father and my family. I would love to post more on this later. Not only was I blessed with one of the coolest and unique last names, but I was also truly Raised Wild!

Exploring the woods, riding my bike through our small town, growing up at the lake with family and friends, water sports, playing sports my entire childhood, small town parties in fields, best friends from elementary school to graduation - I was a Wild Child and I was infinitely lucky to be Raised Wild. 

I have blessed my wife and our children with this same legacy. And truly, the last name Wild is a legacy that I proudly stand by. There is so much love, familiarity, fierce loyalty, compassion, and endless good times! And I am so proud to be raising my children to be wild! Sometimes the word feral best describes my boys, but still, Wild. (HA!)

Initially, I was thinking about what to do with this blog. I love to write, but write what? What’s my niche? Parenting, foster care and adoption, being a boy mom, being in a same-sex marriage, baking, creating and curating for the people I love, plant lover, gardener, dog food and treat maker, a mom that says bad words, a person who loves hard and always sees the good in people, someone who fiercely loves her people. 

I have always told my children that we do not exist to fit into society's “box”—we are meant to be unique, ourselves, different, quirky, funny, bright, and beautiful in all ways—and then our people come and find us! 

So, I am going to live through this blog in the same way. To hell with narrowing this all down to one niche. I will write, which is something I love to do, about whatever I feel like sharing. Sometimes, I will resonate with you, sometimes you might think I ramble, and sometimes you may disagree. Or maybe no one will ever read this, and I will talk to myself like a crazy person! It won’t be the first or last time someone has called me crazy!

But that’s because I am a Wild. That’s because I was raised and loved by one of the best families out there, and that is why I love my people as hard as I do. 

Hope you stick around and drop a line!