EPISODE 151: Meet Kathleen DiMonaco! (Everyday Woman Interview)

Meet Kathleen DiMonaco!

I am going to start with my “be” words and not my “do” words. I am creative, extremely compassionate, nonconforming and very, very loving. I was raised Catholic so I have a strong foundation in Christianity, but over the past few years Catholicism just wasn’t fulfilling me spiritually anymore, so I’ve been looking for other Christian outlets. My do words; I’m a wife and mother of 2 and I’ve been working as a special education teacher for the last 10 years. I am currently becoming a certified health and life coach.  This is a strong calling I am being faithful to, even though I don’t know how God is calling me to fulfill it. I feel like God is calling me to use everything I have been through in my life to educate and empower women. I don’t know what this looks like yet, and maybe I am entering a period of waiting, but I am going to be faithful to this calling.

The last year has been just crazy, but I have learned so much. So much has been revealed to me and I have become closer to God than I have ever been before. My father entered the hospital in July of last year and was in ICU for eight weeks before passing away. He was born with a heart condition and an infection in his heart lead to the emergency surgeries and long stay in the ICU before he passed. We were devastated, especially because he did make progress and looked like he might be able to get better and come home. During my father’s hospital stay I discovered “Be Still Be Free” and it got me through the long stays at the hospital and eventually helped me through the months of grieving afterwards.

Unfortunately, there is more to the story. My beloved mother-in-law also fell sick in November of last year. She is actually my husband’s grandmother, but she and his grandfather adopted him as a baby when his mother died.  She and Grandpa are two of the most loving people in the world and they were married for 60 years. She unfortunately had a recurrence of lung cancer that aggressively spread all over her body.  She passed away on December 9, exactly 3 months after my father. Again, we were devastated, but continued to put one foot in front of the other and we somehow got through the holidays.  We are blessed because despite everything, by the grace of God, our family drew closer and closer and we have never been stronger.

Other things happened too, but nothing as traumatic. We lost power for a week after a bad storm and our basement flooded.  After the autumn we had, that felt like nothing to us.  My son Leo was also diagnosed with Autism in October. We already knew, but this was the confirmation and official diagnosis part of our journey. Leo is doing amazing! He is the happiest, most gentle little boy and he will be going to Kindergarten in September.  My daughter Ella is also such a blessing to our family and brings us incredible joy.

So my life was a little crazy this year and had its fair share of heartache.  But I’m happy as I sit here and write this today. Be Still Be Free was a huge factor in my survival this year, and I might even go so far as to say I am thriving now because of it. I have an amazing relationship with God now, my family is closer than ever and God gave me a vision for an entirely different life where I will empower women by sharing my journey. I am so grateful.

Connect with Kathleen on Instagram and Twitter at @ilovebewell!

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