pixar superfan, hot sauce addict, BARGAIN-HUNTER, designer, crafter, collector, AMATEUR MUSICIAN, mama, wife, jesus follower.

Hi! My name is Keri Kaba-Dien and I have many identities but the ones listed above are my top 10. If you’ve ever been to my house, you’ll find that all of these things to be true.

I have a room in our house that I designed to look like Andy’s room from Toy Story and my frig always has at least 5 open bottles of hot sauce in it. When I’m not busy playing live Star Wars with my two sons or wiping up pee from the bathroom floor, I’m usually found in my home office (on my $700 designer desk that I scored FOR FREE on Craigslist) working on freelance graphic design work, or just pretending to work to get a break. Also in my office are tall Ikea shelves full of my kawaii product line which I sell at online and at craft fairs state-wide (when it’s not a pandemic). On practically every wall is some collection of mine ranging from a framed set of Yogurtland spoons to a mini clothesline of Starbucks gift cards from around the world. In the corner of the living room is my electric piano that I bought discounted on Black Friday, a full-sized guitar, a mini guitar, and two ukuleles. And somewhere amongst all of this chaos is my wonderful husband who will go along with my wild ideas and construct things for me since I refuse to learn how to use a saw out of fear of chopping off my fingers.

I screw up daily in my parenting, wife-ing (is that a word?) and in just my being. In my failings I am reminded of the immeasurable grace of God through Jesus Christ—who died on the cross for our sin and rose from the dead so we could be reconciled to God. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Other somewhat interesting factoids about me:

I dislike pumpkin pie. I love instant noodles. I have never seen Forrest Gump. I have watched all the seasons of Fuller House. I generally get less than 6 hours of sleep a night. I am thankful my mom forced me to take piano lessons as a kid.

My pipe dream is to sell 95% of our possessions and own a tiny home and live off-grid with a composting toilet. Then I look at the state of my garage and the volume of snacks my kids/husband consume daily and realize some dreams aren’t meant to come true.