Happy 2023 from our family to yours!

Can you believe it? It’s 2023! Where does the time go?

Now, I hope you didn’t make a New Year’s resolution and already toss it in the trash….And, if you did make one and you’re still going strong, we’re you’re biggest cheerleader, so don’t give up this early - you got this!

As for us, it is officially February and we have so much on the “to-do” list for the upcoming months and this blog is one of the few projects we’re excited to see come to life. It is surprisingly one of the most requested features for the website (a way to learn more about candles, upcoming projects and so much more).

So, we thought, why not start with a post about us? With how busy our lives are, we often fall short to get to know so many of you on a personal level - so we wanted to share a little more about why we kind of disappeared right after the holiday season last December. 

Some of you may follow our instagram account and saw the news of our family growing…..but the story starts so much further back.

It was a far back as 2018 that we began the IVF process and while we didn’t share much of it publicly, it was a struggle behind the scenes. The process failed and despite the many efforts, we succumbed to the stress that is associated with trying to start a family to no avail. So, we put the process on hold and of course in 2020, we started this amazing candle business that we are blessed to see flourish. During this time, we revisited the idea of starting a family and began looking into adoption. We dived deep into the process in late 2021 and there were times it was equally overwhelming and often there were choices that seemed beyond difficult to make. In 2022, we presented ourselves to birth moms and many times, got passed over. We’ll be real, it was not easy - asking questions like “why didn’t they choose us? Do we not look like we’d be great parents? Is there something wrong with our portfolio? Did we say something wrong?…..and as we struggled with no after no, we also had to juggle the loss of family members and grieve at the same time….

So, when October, November and December rolled around we allowed the busy holiday “candle” season to blanket us from such a hard year. Little did we know that by the end of the year, we’d be blessed with a beautiful child.

On December 11th, we wrapped up our last event for the season and decided that we would just enjoy Christmas and the remainder of the year with family and making new memories…..only a few days later, we get a call, asking us how fast can we get on a plane and fly across the country. That night, we were on a red-eye flight and the following morning, we walked into the hospital as a nurse greeted us and said, she’s been waiting for you.

Of course, there’s so much more to the story from here, but it would take days for me to write it all out - but on New Year’s Day 2023, we flew home with our new daughter and immediately knew that this year would be a hard year - but it would be such a magical one at the same time - a year of bright optimism and hope, a year that would help us recover from such a hard year just months prior. 

We’d so grateful to have been chosen to be her parents and even more blessed to have a community of support that surrounds us. We came home to so many gifts and messages on social media - from not only family and friends, but also from our “candle community” and so many amazing souls like you.

So, we wish you all a great 2023 and hope you’ll continue to follow us on this crazy journey we call 1982 Candle Co.