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Welcome
We’re Brooks and Danielle, the creators of Our Best Laid Plans and living proof that Murphy’s Law should be a fundamental part of our education system. We tell stories about taking the lemons life gave us and squeezing them into something sweet that sometimes resembles lemonade. Also, free lemons! We had a life plan and a spirit of adventure. We were ready to take on the world, then life happened. Three Hyperemesis pregnancies (HG), two beautiful daughters, one with Autism Spectrum Disorder, countless roadblocks, setbacks, and detours later and we are still standing (more or less).
We started Our Best Laid Plans because we can’t be the only ones who reached adulthood and thought, “This isn’t what I expected.” Well smooth seas don’t make for skilled sailors and we’ve been through our share of squalls. Now we want to take what we have learned and pass on some encouragement and skills that may help others weather their own storms and hopefully find a simpler, more satisfying life.
Smooth seas don’t make skilled sailors
Danielle and I met in 2008 at Trinity Western University, a small school just outside Vancouver, British Columbia. I was a weary agnostic punk rock burnout from California. I attended TWU through a scholarship based on my dad’s employment with the school. I’d never been to Canada, my life was headed nowhere, and had nothing better to do. So I flipped a coin to choose my fate and moved north a couple months later. Danielle grew up in British Columbia and attended a private school from kindergarten to high-school just down the road from TWU. Our lives and experiences up to that point were pretty different and yet somehow we complemented each other. We were inseparable from day one.
As we progressed through school I studied Inter-Cultural religion and theology and eventually began working toward a life in Christian ministry. Danielle found her calling in linguistics and teaching ESL after trying her hand at pre-med and art. Our first of many reversals. We married in August 2012 and began planning our lives together. We started putting together a new mission organization to help other struggling missionaries around the world get back on their feet and do what they were called to do.
Things were great and going according to plan. Then life threw our first real curveball when we found out Dani was pregnant in the fall of 2013. When you find out you\’re going to be a parent you can\’t help but dream and scheme all the wonderful adventures you will have as a family. But soon after learning the good news Danielle started getting sick. Really sick. Danielle was diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum HG) which is like morning sickness on steroids and speed. Nine months of utter despair and suffering and our first daughter Tova arrived! A blessing to take the sting out of what we had endured physically, mentally , and emotionally.
Life was ready to get back on track, until two years later when Tova was diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, and SPD, or as Danielle calls it, an Alphabet soup of diagnoses. I think this is a sign that going into the mission field is not supposed to happen right now. Instead we dedicated ourselves to being the best parents we could to our daughter.
In 2016 I was starting a new career in the film industry when life threw us another curveball with my visa expiring and not being able to renew it like we had been told. So we packed up, moved to California and I began pursuing a masters degree in marriage and family therapy. Danielle got pregnant with our second daughter and faced another bout with HG. We moved in with my parents for support while I worked and went to school. Nine months later, Saoirse was born!
Finding Purpose
About a year into my masters I had the realization that I love talking with people and helping them with their challenges. But I really hate working in an office chained to a desk. And sporting the business casual look is my kryptonite. I knew that this career would burn me out and leave me unfulfilled. So I quit and decided to narrow the focus to find our Ikigai or “reason for being.” How we can use our gifts, talents and passions to help make the world just a little bit better. We are preparing to move to the east coast to continue our mission to serve others and provide a source of rest, comfort, and encouragement when your basket of lemons is getting too hard to carry.
It’s not an adventure till things go wrong. If you are looking for motivation to keep going when your adventure begins or some encouragement when you’re caught in the storm this is the place for you. We tell our stories and pour out our hearts because we know we aren’t alone. This site is for anyone who wants an off beat way to simplify life. To find shelter through the storm and connect with others in the similar boats. As the old saying goes, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” Well this is the story of how our best laid plans went awry and were reforged by the God who laughs into something beautiful. It’s a story in the making and we invite you to join us as it unfolds.
