08/22/2026
Good morning everyone!
This post is over due I’m afraid, but here we are.
I took this selfie on my birthday 6 years ago. I had just lost 50 pounds on the keto diet and I felt better than I had in a long time, after battling toxic mold poisoning when my youngest was a baby. Fast forward to today. I’ve gained back over 60 pounds.
Here’s the part of the story that I have to decide if I want to be vague, overshare, or somewhere in between.
As we’ve grown our bakery I’ve watched so many other bakeries struggle, open store fronts, close store fronts, scramble for orders etc. We’ve been blessed to have had a lot of success, but this amount of success has come at a high cost, and nothing about it has been easy.
We grew so fast that we had to build a 2nd kitchen within the first 6 months. Getting up at 3:00am, and standing on concrete every day for years has done a number to my body. When I had a blood clot in my leg, we simply ordered a chair, and I sat down when I could.
I’ve had 7 children, and 7 back labors. My back likes to just go out from time to time, and the extra weight I’m carrying isn’t helping. It hurt to even make cookies this week.
The constant, daily stress of knowing that if I don’t go bake something our bills won’t get paid, and we won’t have grocery money, has greatly affected my mental health. It’s too much pressure. I LOVE being a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a grandmother. I love to cook, and bake. Before “accidentally” starting our bakery, I used to bake daily for fun, and just give things away to family and friends. I loved it!
The COUNTLESS messages and kind words we’ve gotten at the markets have kept me going. SO SO many people have told me they never want us to quit, and I get it. Social media is a highlight reel. I, like other bakers post mostly the good things. New items, our excitement, our wins, etc. I can look at another bakers page, and know at the rate they’re going they’re burning themselves out…..just like me…but who wants to admit that publicly? Who wants to admit that this much success isn’t worth it, and rather than continue pushing to keep it, you should humbly take a step back, and as hard as it is, I will admit it. For mine and my families sake. 😢
My family needs me, and I need to go back to being “just” a housewife and let John take over providing for us.
On that note John has a 2nd interview for a job he applied for and we would greatly appreciate your prayers!
We have somewhere between $15-$20,000 worth of equipment, ingredients, market tools, etc in our bakery we can sell, and after today we have ZERO income until he gets a job and his first paycheck. If you’re in the market for anything we have please let me know, so we can get our bills paid!
It has been an honor to bake for all of you for so long and I will miss seeing you so much! I know at some point I will offer small amounts of goodies fo pick up at our house. John is at the market today, for the last time, with cookies and scones. Please come by and say hi to him if you can!
💜💜💜
