about us

“They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” – Isaiah 61:3

…because we are the Oakes family, and we love God, and this is our ordinary life blog.

And I love a good pun. ESP if its meaningful ;). [Side note, my love of everything Anglo-Saxon made me reallyyyyy excited about the idea of sharing my husband’s last name back when we got engaged. 6 years later, I still love my new last name. I think it is so stately. Plus it is really fun to daydream about with future baby’s names.]

This little blog has evolved a lot over the last 6 years. It started as an idle creative writing outlet for me in college at Belmont Abbey (as if I didn’t already have enough of that with my Poli Sci/English major!)… It turned into a gushing, “SO BLESSED!” mommy blog after I had my first son at 22. It got me through dry times and preserved the beautiful times when my memory was useless in the blur of sleep deprivation. And most importantly, it enriched my life with some amazing friendships.

I am forever grateful for the annals of old photos and forgotten stories this blog holds (ps when I switched the blog over to wordpress it adopted some quirks. If you can’t see pictures of a post, try refreshing on the top of your safari/explorer and it should load properly).

I still think most of the people who read this little blog know us from real life and, since Jason and I got off Facebook a few years ago (HUGE RELIEF, NEVER REGRETTED!), want to see what we are up to.

But for those of you who don’t… I am Kallah (Hebrew, in honor of my Jewish grandfather, pronounced Kay-la); I am 28 and have been married to Jason since May 22 2010. I am the oldest of 6, brought up in central Florida, south Georgia, and then mostly Greenville, South Carolina, where my family is completely settled; I was homeschooled from kinder to College, went to Belmont Abbey, and got married the week after I graduated. 😉

Jason is four years older and probably ten years wiser than me; an only child; native Greenville-ian (his family tree is southern to the core and I love it); grandson of long-time baptist farmers in Green Pond, SC; and convert to the Catholic faith. He got his undergraduate degrees, History and Philosophy, in Catholic seminary, since he planned on becoming a priest. You can read a little more rambling about that here. And even more detail about our complicated love story here and here.

We were surprised and blessed with our honeymoon baby Will. I was 22 when he was placed in my arms for the first time, with his rooting little mouth and fluffy black hair, and I think that experiencing motherhood while still growing up has shaped me in many, many ways.

We were given the grace to say yes to another baby 2 and a half years later, despite Jason getting his MBA and working full-time, which meant it was kind of a blur. Henry was the easiest baby though – proof that God will never give you more than you can handle! – and his sweet cheeks and sunny hair have brightened our lives more than I could have imagined.

Every picture I have ever taken of this kid manages to convey some of the mischief and lovableness of his personality. Crazy little Harry.

This past year, we welcomed little Becket Christopher into our family of boys, and Jason left his job at a smaller, family-owned business to embark on a corporate career. So far so good!

My favorite pictures are the blurry ones, and my favorite stories take awhile to tell. But if you’re into that sort of thing, feel free to hang here. 😉 We’ll try to keep it unedited.