Our Story: Finding Purpose In Life’s Imperfections

Posted July 1, 2021 by Theresa Miller

Categories: Featured, Our Story

The greatest gift our parents gave us was each other.

Childhood

Growing up, we were six sisters scurrying around in second hand clothes riding bikes through potholes like we were one of the motorcycle cops on the TV program, Chips. We’d race through fields of dandelions—or maybe it was just our backyard full of dandelions—with clasped hands and pointer fingers raised toward the sky like guns, pretending to be one of Charlie’s Angels. When playing “house” or “office” indoors, we’d argue over whose boyfriend the Fonz would be from the sitcom, Happy Days.

We’d choreograph dances and concerts to relieve boredom and invite the neighbors to view our performances. Our imaginations and big dreams dictated most of our childhood. You wouldn’t guess from the outside our family was unraveling at the seams.

Unraveling Hope

As pre/young teens, our parents divorced. We loved a short time in New York after moving from Pennsylvania before motoring across the United States. Our mother journeyed with her six girls to the unknown wilderness of Wyoming, leaving our childhood as we know it behind. The wide open space and fresh air allowed us to breathe new possibilities, and a kind Wyomingite, who later became our stepfather, oriented us to the Big Horn Mountains. Starting over felt a lot like slowly unraveling a twisted and tangled idea of hope.

Purpose

We continued to perform together—however, not for the neighbors. At this junction of adolescence, we collected songs that had given us hope through hardship and major change, and sang a heartfelt message for adjudicated girls residing at a local institution, who were about our age. After our performance, our mom would nurture those tearful girls, as we sisters mingled with their softened exteriors. It was then we felt the common thread of purpose woven throughout own disheveled pain.

Today, we come together to share our story of hope. It is the wounds, journeys to healing, determined faith, and the collective purpose we each felt in those early years that became the glue adhereing our sisterhood.

We all face wounds this side of heaven, yet our wounds do not determine our destiny. As we acknowledge those wounds, allowing Christ to shine his light into the cracks of our brokenness, we discover the way to healing and unrelenting hope. Our true sisterhood was born out of coping, healing, and growing through our brokenness more so than our biological bond. This is possible for you, too, whether or not you have biological sisters.

Unrelenting Hope

The desire to share our unrelenting hope through struggle is how Dandelions, Potholes, & Wrinkles was born. Dandelions represent bringing our childhood back to it’s playful innocence, while remaining resilient through life’s storms. Potholes represent all those obstacles we plowed through as kids, and continue to navigate with the healing power of Christ. Wrinkles represent the growth and wisdom that has come with time and healing.

We want to invite you into our deep conversations, playful personalities, and passionate spirits. We believe our innate silliness, creativity, and relentless work ethic come from our Creator God to be used for his glory, and that nothing we have faced or will face in this life is wasted. 

The greatest gift our parents gave us was each other because together we’ve learned what it means to overcome. We can’t wait to share our sisterhood with you!