I have a heart to provide support for the so-called 'normal' siblings in families who have a special needs child, especially in families when the special needs child is adopted or has mental health struggles and the sibling is traumatically impacted. This was my story, and I share it to give other people hope that God can heal and redeem, that they are not alone, and to get to a place where every Glass Sibling is seen.

When I was five years old, my parents adopted twin boys from an orphanage in Africa. What was first dismissed as culture shock soon turned into a chaotic world of mental health issues, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse. To deal with the chaos, I was forced to grow up quickly from a young age and taught myself to be invisible to survive – to hide who I really was and what I really felt, only showing people what they expected to see. Because my parents were so often focused on the adopted children and dealing with the surrounding chaos, I felt I had to support and be responsible for myself since no one else seemed to be. Unable to cope and without support, told to quit making up stories to get attention, I dissociated and lived as an empty shell in a constant state of fight or flight.

By the grace of God, in my teens I became fed up enough with the pain to pursue healing and learn to connect with my life again. Now, I shares my story of how I found authentic community inside and outside of the church, learned to believe my worth in Christ, and overcome years of negative thought patterns to trust people again. I founded Glass Sibling to give the support I did not receive and help other glass siblings pursue healing as well through a community where they are seen, cognition and understanding about their situation, and courses for personal growth and development.