Christian thought-leader Jen Hatmaker was getting asked constantly by nonprofit organizations around the world to throw my weight toward their work, she says.
The Austin-based author became known for the book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, which was updated this spring into Simple & Free, and an HGTV show called My Big Family Renovation, which followed the renovation of an old house in Buda.
Through the show, the books and the ministry, she built an online community of mostly women, all looking to her for leadership on common causes, including how to give to charities.
By 2015, she was taking international trips to visit different organizations as an ambassador. She would return to Austin and bang a drum to get my community to care about this thing, she says. My community was operating out of compassion fatigue.
Their nanny continues to baby-sit for them from time to time.
Drew Giovannoli started Village Childcare after he experienced long waiting lists at local child care centers when his daughter, Ellie, was an infant. She s now 2.
Heading back to work after paternity and maternity leave, he and his wife, Alexandra, still had not found a day-care spot. They thought about hiring a nanny, but they couldn t afford the cost on their own.
Once he started the process of trying to find a nanny and saw what services were out there and the price, he began reaching out to other families and decided to start Village Childcare.
After cancer diagnosis, mom missed new daughter s milestones, but her eyes were on the future
Austin 360
Sydney Townsend thought of herself as a healthy person. When she was 39 weeks pregnant with her daughter Maxine, three years ago, she was still teaching boxing.
But three months into Maxine s life, Townsend, 39, didn t feel right. Of course, I was tired, she says. I thought that was being a new mom.
It hurt, though, to lift Maxine.
The first doctor she saw about her back pain told her to take some ibuprofen.
Then Townsend saw a resident, who listened to Townsend and scheduled an MRI that day. Before Townsend got back to her work desk from the MRI appointment, she got a call from the resident, who said that something was really wrong. She needed to get a blood test and see an oncologist that day.
Austin 360
This Mother s Day weekend many Austin-area museums are back with in-person programming for families. All have COVID-19 safety protocols, including limited attendance, social distancing and masking. Check with each location about specific safety guidelines before you go.
Here are a few events we found:
Saturday and Sunday
Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms
Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms has several Mother s Day weekend events. Celebrate Mother s Day like it s the 1800s with crafts kids can make for moms. You also can sign up for a Mother s Day Tea, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, for $5 a person in addition to admission. A special walking tour, Girls of Grit, about women and girls in Texas history, will happen at 1 p.m. both days. Kids also might want to attend the Barnyard Buddies tour (animal interactions included), which happens both days at 10 a.m. It s $10 a person. 10621 Pioneer Farms Drive. pioneerfarms.org.
Austin 360
The Austin Weird Homes Tour returns with virtual tours of seven local homes that aren t your cookie-cutter dwellings.
A ticket to this year s tour offers videos of the seven homes beginning Saturday, and then a Q&A with some of the homeowners on May 15.
Here are the homes on this year s tour:
The
West Austin Lighthouse is filled with meditation spaces, stained glass and artwork, as well as a very adult bedroom.
Morningwood is a showcase for global artwork and more than 10,000 curios for a University of Texas fine arts department faculty member.
Havenwald bed and breakfast is a forest of tiny homes in different themes including Medieval storybook cottage, steampunk and Gothic Victorian.