About Me

Hi! I’m Amanda! It’s so great to meet you. Braving Beautiful is your place to find inspiration and resources on homemaking, homeschooling, and caring for the caregiver with a little nurse and rare disease life along the way.

My blog reaches readers just like you. Through my own lived experience it my goal to empower you with practical and encouraging resources to use within your own home.

My husband Adam and I are parents to two beautiful daughters Annabelle and Abigail. I had a focus as a nurse, homemaker, and homeschooler of these two young girls. In December 2020 both of our daughters were diagnosed with CLN2 Batten Disease a rare and always fatal brain disease. We found ourselves in the thick of rare disease, debilitating seizures, blindness, hospitalizations, loss, and trauma. The medical realities of Batten Disease are far from beautiful. In the years that have followed I have learned how to not only brave Batten disease but also brave something beautiful in our daily life.

I bring 5+ years of experience to this site to guide you in the same things.

Perhaps you come here tired and exhausted as a parent and caregiver. You may be facing something unthinkably awful, ugly, and challenging. Braving beautiful in the everyday has become my personal battle cry. I welcome you to join in this mission alongside myself and this community.

Let’s brave something beautiful together!

Myself, My Handsome Husband, and two daughters Annabelle & Abigail at Make A Wish Gala Chicago May 2022

Welcome to Braving Beautiful

Hello, I’m Amanda!
Hi! My name is Amanda. I am so glad that you are here. I am a wife, mother, registered nurse, and "braver" of All things Bright and Beautiful. 

In 2020, both of our children were diagnosed with a form of Batten Disease. Batten disease is a rare and always fatal brain disease. The realities of Batten Disease are far from beautiful. We as a family decided to brave something beautiful anyways. 

It was with spirit, Braving Beautiful, was born.
What is the “Braving Beautiful” mindset?
The Braving Beautiful mindset takes its inspiration from each and every time a person got up in the midst of something awful and decides to create beauty, art, and/or order to the world around them. Braving Beautiful is a mindset shift that leans into braving all that is Bright and Beautiful especially when the world around you seems swirling in despair and darkness.
What it is, What it is not.
The Braving Beautiful mindset is a fool proof way to curate more peace, more joy, more order, and more beauty in the midst of any life circumstance. It is rooted in unfailing Truth, an all-powerful God, and a foundation unshakeable. It is NOT blind positivity, invalidation of feelings, and/or an ignorance to the gravity and pain of any given situation.
Braving Beauty as an act of defiance against difficulty and darkness.
Each time you get up and brave something beautiful you are defying the difficulty you are up against. This is the kind of spark and inspiration that drives incredible things to be created and powerful transformations to be made.
I welcome you to join me in braving all things Bright and Beautiful today!
As part of this Braving Beautiful Community, I will be your guide of braving beauty through homemaking, homeschooling, & caring for the caregiver with a littler nurse and Rare Disease life along the way. I invite you to be part of this journey.