Hi, this is the requisite page about me, Amanda. In the photo to the right, I am holding my youngest daughter at her baptism. You can also see the top of my sometimes bashful oldest son’s head and the shoulder of my late husband who was a head taller than I am.
I am a widow and a mother of four children: a 9 year old son, 6 year old daughter, a 4 year old son and a 1 year old daughter. We live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
I started Survival With Kids in April of 2016 discussing survivalism and prepping, with a focus on families with small children. Since May of 2015, I had been interested in preparedness and wanted to explore prepping topics, relating them to families with small children.
In May of 2016, my husband was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme, an aggressive brain cancer. The summer of 2016 was a whirlwind of surgery, radiation and chemo. I was also pregnant with our youngest child, who was born a week before he finished his radiation treatments. Needless to say, Survival With Kids was on hold during that time period.
Fast Forward A Few Months
After things settled down, I went back and looked at what I had written before my hiatus. I realized that I wanted to write about more than just prepping. In order to really put my concepts of prepping into my life’s perspective, I needed to include information about my husband’s cancer and parenting my four kids.
Fast Forward Again
My husband passed away on April 20, 2017. I spent the following 6 months grieving and generally learning about grief. In October 2017, I decided to reduce my hours at my day job, spend more time with my kids and dedicate a bit of time again to this blog. I am still grieving. Life is weird. It will be weird for a while yet, but I think I’m ready to start sharing some of my journey on this blog. I’m not just focusing on preparedness topics. I’m just writing about whatever comes to mind that I think might help other young widows mamas.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back often. Feel free to leave any questions you have about me in the comments below.
Blessings,
Amanda Colby
Founder of Survival With Kids
Questions About Me?
Just ask! You can fill out the contact form just below this or leave a comment at the very bottom of this page. I respond to both regularly.
Hello, Amanda. It’s great to see you stepping up to fill in a void missing in the market of emergency preparedness and disaster survival for young children. It’s definitely something that would be great for them to learn (and I’m sure some of us adults will too). I will definitely be coming back to visit to learn myself as well. Shhhh, don’t tell no one.
Thanks for stopping by, Chris. It is definitely a void that I have seen, so I appreciate your comments. I do hope that you will come back. I have lots of ideas for my future posts.
Amanda, we don’t have human children, only our furry ones. Living in Australia where it can be either flood or fire, emergency plans are a must. So we plan for the cats and ourselves.
For years I was the natural disaster manager for the north east region of New South Wales. Funnily enough my partner and I often got flooded in so I couldn’t get to the office to co-ordinate things. I got pretty good at taking the high bush tracks to get places!
Flood and fire plans include things to have prepared to take (like the cats or in your case the children!) and where to go. The local communities have nominated sites where shelter, food and water is available.
As their children grow older my colleagues, friends and neighbours made sure a safety drill was carried out regularly. This is important as the kids then know exactly what to do. And they usually do it better than some adults!
Your site promises to have some great tips on safety so keep up the good work.
Thanks, Helen. I appreciate your comments and tips. I know that I am not the most experienced person when it comes to disaster management, but I’m hoping my research and subsequent posts will benefit both myself and many others.
Hi Amanda,
We live in Iowa, right in the midst of tornado alley. I am always worried about whether we are prepared. I love this topic, it is such an important one. Thank you for tackling it.
Thanks, Liz. I am really excited about sharing the research I have already done and also the research that this website is inspiring me to do. I am learning so much and know I can help others by sharing what I’m learning. Hope you come back soon!
Hi Amanda, How are you doing? My heart goes out to you and your beautiful children. I found your blog when researching the life expectancy of men with Grade 3 and 4 brain tumours. My father-in-law (age 70) is in hospital now having been diagnosed with a Grade 3, possibly Grade 4 tumour (the medical terminology escapes me at the moment). My husband is with him now to make sure he doesn’t feel too alone or confused (he’s just had surgery to remove about 50% or a fist-sized portion of his tumour). I’m not sure how best to help my mother-in-law, or even my husband, through this difficult time. At the moment I’m just researching trying to understand and anticipate what to expect and plan for in the coming months. Enough of my rambling. I just wanted to write to let you know I’m sending you warm wishes and hugs from Sydney, Australia. I hope the pain of loss is easing and I’m sure your children love you to the moon and back (I have an 8 year old who dare not confess the full extent of how much he loves me ;). Michelle xx
Thank you for your kind words, Michelle.
Amanda, my husband is diagnosed with glioma as well – the genetics look more like GBM but we are taking it a day at a time and living our lives, enjoying each sunrise. My sister’s husband (unbelievably) died of GBM in September of 2017. I’ve been reaching out to women facing this and similar situations to learn how they survived it and to hear what they wish they had known along the way. I am looking to share their stories – stories of faith, courage, hope, loss and love. If you feel you are ready to talk, please let me know. I think we can all learn from each other. Peace, love and healing to you and your family.