I grew up singing and playing piano.

When I was still in single-digits, my parents bought an upright piano and began paying for private piano lessons.

Soon my sister and brother followed.

It was a rule that we had to take 2 years of private piano, after which we could continue private piano lessons or choose another instrument.

I stuck with piano.

Later, I began to study voice. 

I loved singing -- all styles of music. Opera, contemporary, rock, folk....I loved it all.

I led worship for many years, and after I moved to Croatia I served on the worship team playing keyboard and singing.

That's where my husband and I met.

He played percussion and drums on the worship team.

Then the health struggles began to ramp up and my voice began to fade. 

When I was pregnant with Robi, I began to experience significant weakness in my voice.

After I had Andrej I could barely sing at all.

It was a devastating loss for me - I never imagined myself doing anything other than singing.

There were times at church when I could barely sing one song.

Other times, I wouldn't sing at all, I would just mouth the words, because I knew I had to teach Sunday School that day, and I needed to preserve my voice as much as possible.

Many times, I couldn't get through a whole Sunday School class without my helper taking over, because I couldn't speak any longer.

The strain of that would exhaust my voice to the point that  I'd spend 2 or 3 days afterward speaking softly to get my voice back.

I prayed and prayed for the Lord to heal my voice, and there would be times when it would return for a short season and then hoarseness would take back over.

It was during this time that I began to recognize how God had given me another kind of "voice".

A Little R & R - my blog.

I worked on my writing skills, I listened for God's voice about what I should share, and I found a very solid place in my own convictions and beliefs.

But oh how I missed singing!