Beautiful Editor

We loved hanging out with Johanna at her Real Beauty shoot!  We walked all over downtown while she told us the story of how she came to be the editor of the fabulous local magazine, Lynchburg Living.  Johanna used to be on a more fast-paced and stressful career path, but she made the decision to go in a different direction.  Since Johanna came to Lynchburg Living, the company that owns it (Prototype Media, Inc.) has gone from that one publication to five!  But this Beautiful Girl didn’t give up her career for her family, she just tweaked it to make it fit better!   Johanna is proof that we really can ‘have our cake and eat it, too’, we can have a fulfilling career AND keep our family priority number one.  She gets to work closely with her husband and they both make sure to schedule plenty of time with their new baby daughter.

  Johanna loves working with a local magazine, and she loves showcasing local businesses and people.  We were even stopped on the street by a local business owner who wanted to thank Johanna for a recent story in the magazine. 

  Besides her career accomplishments, Johanna is an encouraging and sweet Beautiful Girl.  She had never met Aubrianah, but she chatted with her, gave her tips (Johanna is a photographer, too!), and made Aubrianah feel like her work on the Real Beauty project is worthwhile.  Thank you, Johanna, for participating in the project, we had a blast with you! 

Check out Lynchburg Living, and all the other Prototype Media, Inc. publications.  They are all free, and you can find them at many local businesses!  www.lynchburgliving.com

Beautiful Healer

Today’s Beautiful Girl is special to me and Aubrianah.  She may be special to you, too, if your child is a patient at Rimland Center.  Aubrianah spent many years just being sick.  She saw specialists and had tests and tried medications, but every ‘cure’ was short-lived and she was soon sick again.  I remember the last time I took her to her previous doctor, he told me that if I wasn’t interested in her taking the medication (it had severe side-effects) or allowing more invasive tests, there was just nothing else that could be done.  She’d just have to live with it.  I cried that day. 

  Then someone told me about Dr. Mumper.  “She stays up on the research,” they said.  “She takes a different approach,” they encouraged.  “Couldn’t hurt,” I thought, and made the appointment.  I switched Aubrianah’s records over from her former pediatrician, went for a consultation with Dr. Mumper, held Aubrianah’s hand through one last battery of bloodwork, got the results, did the things Dr. Mumper told us to do, and three months later, after seven years of off-and-on sickness,  Aubrianah was healed.  To top it off, the things Dr. Mumper had us do didn’t have anything to do with strong drugs or invasive tests.  That was about three years ago, and my daughter has not had one relapse.  In fact, we haven’t even SEEN Dr. Mumper in a very long time, until we went to do her Real Beauty photo shoot.  Aubrianah’s former pediatrician got a sick visit from us about once a month!

  Our story about this beautiful doctor is not the most dramatic in town, by far!  Dr. Mumper works a lot in autism research, and Aubrianah’s symptoms had nothing to do with autism.   But my friend Krista, whose son Gideon was on the autism spectrum and now IS NOT on the autism spectrum, has a much more dramatic story.  The plot is the same:  Child is diagnosed with something other doctors say he will just have to live with, mom takes child to Dr. Mumper, child does not have to live with that diagnosis after all.  Krista says, “I used to compare Gideon to Pinnochio and say that Dr. Mumper turned our 'wooden' boy into a real boy. Our boy who didn't make eye contact or understand language, who was afraid of everything and didn't really seem to know that he belonged with his family, was turned into a boy who interacts freely and comfortably with everyone, without irrational fears and who knows how to express affection.” 

I don’t want to tout Dr. Mumper as a miracle-worker, and I know she wouldn’t want me to do that.  But she does what others in her profession don’t often do.  She and her staff are committed to staying up on research.  They are interested in the things that make our children sick, not just the medications that are available to fix them.  She cares for her little patients, she cares for their parents, she listens, and she doesn’t get so proud of herself that she thinks she knows everything!  She is always interested and always learning.  Because of her humility and willingness to discover new things, she is sometimes able to heal children who have previously been left to ‘live with’ their illnesses.  Thank you, Dr. Mumper, you are our Beautiful Healer! 

If you’d like more information about Dr. Mumper’s work with Autism or other conditions, and/or the Rimland Center, you can find it here:   http://www.rimlandcenter.com/RimlandCenter.php

Courageous Beauty

Cindi~  When I look at this picture, I see a gorgeous mother (Susanne) and daughter (Hannah)…..healthy, happy, beautiful.  You would never suspect the trials they have had the past two and a half years.  Hannah was only 6 years old when she started having bruising, a rash and extreme fatigue.  A parent’s worst nightmare – Hannah was diagnosed with leukemia.  In an instant, their whole world changed. 

Now 8 years old, Hannah has been given over 20 spinal treatments, 10 different chemotherapies, and multiple blood transfusions.   Susanne said Hannah endured all of this with a smile on her face, never complaining – what courage!!  It’s amazing now to see how God has restored Hannah – you would never guess what she has been through.

Talking to Susanne was so uplifting and encouraging for me.  I asked her about how she has dealt with everything.  She said this experience has been life-changing and that in the beginning, they had to completely release Hannah to God.  I can’t even fathom the anguish of that type of prayer, knowing that Hannah is a gift from God and that they may not have her much longer.

What a praise that God has been merciful and allowed the leukemia to go into remission.  Treatments ended in April, but Hannah will be closely monitored for relapse.  As life for their family returns to a semi-normal state, the possibility of the leukemia returning is always in the back of their mind.  Please add this precious family to your prayer list!  They have carepages to keep you updated, and the link is below.  You will see from the journal the tremendous strength, courage and awesome testimony they have displayed throughout this journey.  An excerpt is below as well.

http://www.carepages.com/carepages/Susannesgirl

Hebrews 6:18-19 "....We who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls."

 “ We have learned such valuable, precious insights as a family, that we would not have learned without going through the darkness, all the uncertainty and not-knowing, with Hannah's cancer. The complete dependency on the Lord, when it was out of our hands....realizing all we do, is not for our agenda...but it's God's agenda for our lives.... learning to trust when we didn't understand or see what He was doing......placing our faith in an uncertain place, knowing God is and will always be at work in our lives for our good. And I could list so many other treasures learned in a hard place. But no matter what you're facing now or will face, know that the trial can change your life....allowing you to never be the same.....it's all in the heart response to it that matters!”

Peaceful Beauty

Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.


This is my friend, Kristin, with her daughter. This past year, Kristin had her fourth child. She was having some troubling symptoms during her pregnancy and was diagnosed with a heart condition. Although she was put on medication, the symptoms continued and made for a difficult and scary pregnancy. Since having the baby, Kristin has had more testing done and has learned that her heart condition is very serious. To add to this, the baby was hospitalized twice for his own health concerns in the first few months of his life.
Through this whole difficult year, I have never heard Kristin complain. She has endured each trial with peace, patience, strength, and beauty. With each new complication and decision, she and her husband have prayed and relied on God to guide to direct them. She has displayed a calmness that comes from the Lord, and I know the people around her have been inspired by her testimony of peacefulness.  


Photo Credit:  Faith Perry Photography

A Beautiful Boy and A Beautiful Girl!

Did y’all hear the recent news story about the new parents who just welcomed their little bundle of joy, Storm, into the world?  The birth announcement listed all the pertinent information, name, weight, time of birth.  But the announcement was missing one thing….gender.  Storm’s parents have decided not to answer the first question everyone asks, “Is it a boy or a girl?”  They are going to let Storm decide which gender to pick.  I know, if you hadn’t already seen this story, you think I’m making this up.  Or you think Storm must have been born with some medical problem that would make Storm’s parents decide to do this.  But Storm wasn't.  Storm’s birth was and Storm’s body is perfectly normal.   (This non-use of pronouns is exhausting!)  Storm’s parents just don’t want Storm stereotyped. 

  Huh?  I don’t want my children stereotyped, either.  I want them to buck tradition, ask questions, not follow the status quo or just go through life the way everyone else does just because that’s the way it’s done.  But our gender is our identity.  There are so many other ways we can throw off stereotyping! 

  Luke here is proud to be a boy.  He does all the boy stuff.  He tagged along to his mom and big sister’s Real Beauty shoot, and the whole time he was climbing trees, walking on his hands, getting dirty, and falling off of stuff.  After all, he had four beautiful girls there to impress.  And when we asked him to write what he likes about himself on the ‘beauty board’, you can see what he wrote.  But even though Luke is a boy and proud of it, he is not JUST a boy.  He is kind, inquisitive, and smart.  And his sister, Nadia, who did plenty of tree-climbing herself at the Real Beauty shoot, is tough, funny, and energetic.   

  Just the Girls: Real Beauty is mostly about girls, and being a girl is great.  I know I’m happy to be one.  But what would the world be like with no boys!?  That’s why we throw one or two in the mix here at Real Beauty ‘headquarters’, because as happy as we are to be beautiful girls, we wouldn’t be anything without our beautiful boys!  Hug a beautiful boy today!  But if you pick one Luke’s age, be ready for him to say, “Ewww, girl germs!”  

Beautiful Friendships

My daughter just got out of a bad relationship, but I don’t mean that the normal way. What I mean is…she was in a bad relationship with a good friend.  Instead of severing the bond altogether, the two beautiful girls got together and they worked it out.  I don’t know the details of the rift, but even if the problem may have seemed trivial to adults, it certainly wasn’t trivial to the girls.  It was serious.  So they got serious and fixed it. 

  What a lesson to the rest of us!  These two teen girl friends were open with each other and the relationship was made stronger than ever.  Talking it out, looking at it from one another’s perspective, and then putting the other’s needs above their own made things better for them and for everyone who spends time with them.

  I’m a pretty high-maintenance and sometimes annoying friend.  I’m famous for speaking without thinking, I’m impatient, I forget birthdays, and I tend to think of my own needs over the needs of my friends.  For some reason, though, I have been blessed with amazing girlfriends.  Oh, I have a few who have no patience or tolerance for my mouth and take quick offense, but those are the ones who are first to bring my family a meal if I’m sick.  I also have one or two who can’t stand the way I parent, but I’m 100% sure they would bail my kids out of jail and then stand by our side in court. (Let’s not test that one, though!)  But a great many of my friends are true-blue loyal confidants, always, no matter what.  Mad at my husband when I am, then turning on a dime and thinking he’s great again as soon as I do.  They love my children like their own, just like I love theirs.  We laugh and cry and pray with one another, and they forgive me everything before I’ve even realized I did something wrong.  I have friends who I know will be with me through a lifetime, no matter how many circumstances or miles separate us. 

  The lesson my daughter and her friend have taught me is one I pray I don’t forget.  The friendships I share with other girls are worth swallowing pride and working hard to keep!   Keep your beautiful girlfriends close, and if a problem crops up…deal with it.  That’s the Beautiful Girl way!

Beautiful Loyalty

It’s always a fun and special day at Just the Girls: Real Beauty when we have a guest photographer doing the post!  Life Captured by Rachel is located in Florida and owned by the fabulously beautiful Rachel VanBuren.  The photograph and post today is of Rachel’s mom, Sheila, who is oh-so-special to me, too, because she is my aunt!  My Aunt Sheila helped shape my life, and she has been an example of Real Beauty to me. Like so many other women, she has dealt with a lot of heartache.  But she weathers it with determination, and yes…loyalty.  She is loyal to her friends, her family, and faithfully loyal to her Lord.  Thank you, Rachel, for sharing your photograph with us today!  And thank YOU, Sheila, for showing Rachel and me what a Beautiful Girl looks like!  

Faithful, devoted, and constant. That is my mom.  Direct yet quiet, firm yet vulnerable, not easily angered. That is my mom. When I asked her to describe herself in one word, I crossed my fingers that we’d have the same word in mind {LOYAL}…..and, we did!  If you know Sheila, aka Mom, you know that is the epitome of her life: loyal and true.  Both to herself and others.  She’s been through it all; she’s seen it all.  Yet, she remains beautifully loyal, good times and bad.  Here’s to you, Mom, for being a constant reminder that ups, downs, ins, outs, good, bad, happy, sad are no cause for contempt, but help mold me to become ever more committed to my faith in my most faithful Friend. ~Rachel