It all started one morning at 3 AM.

We were living in a tiny cabin on Ames Lake in Washington State, and I woke up with a single, unexpected thought in my mind: “Hazelnut, it’s time to get up.” I grabbed my phone and wrote the very first Hazelnut story in the dark.

Honestly, I was just desperate to find a way to explain to our friends—parents of typically developing kids—why Hazel was turning one and still couldn’t walk or talk. I wanted a gentle, simple story that helped them understand her, see her, and love her.

A few years later, I turned that early draft into a Shutterfly board book filled with pictures of Hazel. I wrapped it up as a Christmas gift for a few friends and cousins. Deep down, I always had a dream of illustrating it professionally, but despite talking to several people who were excited about the idea, it never quite worked out.

Then one day, something shifted. I woke up and thought, If I want this to happen, I have to make it happen. I went online, hired an illustrator, and we started creating the very first Hazelnut character. Watching someone bring my vision to life was surreal. Looking back now, it’s wild to realize how much has happened since that moment.

Once the book was illustrated, I paid a publishing company to handle everything. I wish I could say the rest was easy, but after paying them several thousand dollars and waiting an entire year—nothing happened. That’s when I realized I had been scammed. My story had been scammed.

So I did what someone like me does: I decided to figure it out myself. I believed this was a story that had to exist in the world, a story kids needed. I got on Facebook, asked around for help, watched tutorials, and eventually figured out how to self-publish on Amazon.

I’ll never forget the day my first book arrived in the mail. I was so proud. Years of dreaming had finally become something I could hold. And if I’m honest… that version—what was technically the second edition—still wasn’t exactly what I envisioned. But I didn’t quit. I kept editing, adjusting, learning, and eventually got the book to where it needed to be. That’s the version you can buy today.

After selling hundreds of hand-stamped copies—yes, stamped with Hazel’s actual hand, which if you knew her at age five or six was a feat all by itself—I realized there were so many more stories I needed to tell.

When we moved to Tennessee, I was invited to share my story with 250 educators. After that talk, a teacher asked me to visit her classroom. When I walked in, she had made T-shirts for her students, gifts for all the kids, and had arranged for me to visit several more classrooms that day. I left that school knowing, without a doubt, this wasn’t just a book anymore. This was a movement. And that was the day our kids’ programming was born.

Today, after self-publishing 17 books and speaking to thousands of children with one simple message—that we are all created different and unique on purpose for a purpose—I can say with full confidence that the 3 AM idea was a miracle.

Most of us have moments like that—tiny sparks that come into our lives for just a second. But we let them slip by. We don’t write them down. We don’t follow them. I can’t help wondering how many of those ideas would lead to something else… that leads to something else… that becomes more than we ever imagined.