If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up… my answer was always the same, “a mom!”

But I never imagined my role would include the Sucked-Out Juice Box Mom experience!

Here’s a little about me:

I’m Cindy Vandael, and my mom experience started out as a stepmom to two great kids, then added five amazing kids, and then added two more through adoption.

This incredible parenting journey has included some pretty unexpected turns with a special needs child, a child with a medical condition, a child who passed away at 13-years old, besides navigating the international adoption process twice.

I was fast becoming a sucked-out juice box mom, and had no idea there were time bombs ticking away right in front of me.

After 20 years of marriage, the time bombs went off, and my mom role pivoted in a whole new direction to a life as a single mom.

To say that life got really hard is a huge understatement. It felt like all of my efforts were draining right out of the bottom of my parenting bucket.

That’s when I realized how and why I became a sucked-out juice box mom.

I learned how to find the drains, stop the time bombs, and started taking better care of myself… so I could take better care of my kids.

That’s how Refreshing Mom came about.

If I was experiencing this awful side of motherhood, surely there were many others who would like to know how to stop it, too, and I could show them how.

And then my mom role changed again when I married my husband, Paul. Now we’re living the dream together, enjoying traveling, working on home renovations, and having fun with our three Boston Terriers.

I’m a wife, mom, grandma, teacher, and an entrepreneur… and thankful for God’s amazing blessings along this crazy adventure called life! xoxo