Madison deel - early childhood coordinator

I'm a native Angeleno, born and raised in "The Valley" and currently live on the street my husband and I both grew up on--life is weird, and I promise we're not as cute as that makes us sound. I left for NYC after graduating high school and quickly realized I much prefer saying "hi" to everyone you pass on a hike over keeping your head down through the icy wind until you reach the next warm building. So I came back, eventually married my childhood neighbor, and had 3 sweet and wild boys.

I grew up going to church on Easter and sometimes Mother's Day to make my grandma happy, but never heard about or experienced a relationship with Jesus. I spent my middle and high school years in an LA suburb with a pretty loud Christian majority, but my takeaway was that religion felt like a bunch of rules and exclusive stuff I wasn't interested in. So I spent my early twenties exploring any vague, spiritual path I could find. Nothing ever stuck or brought me any meaning, so I was content believing in an identity-less "higher power". Until one day, I wasn't. Very pregnant with my third child, I felt Jesus knocking and something told me to answer right away. I reached out to the only "cool" Christians I'd ever known, and was invited to Alpha. I felt so at home amongst the people of bread, I knew it was a safe place for me to explore what God was doing in my life. A few months later, I attended church on Sunday and felt the Spirit moving in the room and in me. That was the start, and now I'm here! So thrilled to be trusted with the care and encouragement of the youngest members of our bread family. Watching my own children get to know and love Jesus has been one of the greatest joys of my life and I love the abundance of faith and wonder children have when given the space to express them. 

Outside of church, I am very passionate about childbirth and postpartum care, and I've been supporting families as a doula and midwife since before I was a mother. Always happy to chat about it and love seeing all the new, growing families at bread!

Likes:

my daily iced vanilla latte / getting back in bed /hairless cats / the way kids smile when they're proud of something / perfectly worn in linen sheets / a hike with bird-watching opportunities / the specific blue-green color of rivers / whole(or raw!) milk / making people feel cared for / respectful conversations with people who disagree with me / worship music / packing an aesthetic+tasty lunchbox / swimming under ocean waves / greeting cards for every occasion / voice memos instead of texts(and pushing "keep" on every one)

DISLIKES:

the way hair smells after being near a campfire / crumbs on my feet / non-dairy milk / loud (for no reason)cars / fake sugar / oblivious people / when people call me "Maddie" / artificial fragrance