Hi friends,
I'm Mikayla
and this is my story...
Hey you.
i'm honored you're here
I struggle deeply with condensing thick stories.
And let me tell you, I have a dense novel within my ‘about me’ story that I have promised myself and God, that someday I will write.
But for now, here's what you need to know:
I’m Mikayla Dawn.
But not the one
I used to be.
The new one.
I’m married to my best friend, Justice Christian Chaparro.
Our story doesn’t have a fairytale beginning, and it wasn’t love at first sight. It’s been more of a romantic-comedy-drama-thriller-tragedy. If that was a movie genre. But it has, like all aspects of my life, been redeemed. (Besides, who wants Pride and Prejudice when you can have the mashup of The Notebook, Juno, The Shack, Twister, Redeeming Love, and Cheaper by the dozen)
Speaking of dozen- we have six beautiful children whom we absolutely do not deserve, but have been sovereignly gifted to us nonetheless. I never thought I wanted to be a mom, in fact, if I were better at ‘planning’, I’d likely not be. But here I find myself, and oh how I’m thankful I am.
Emagen Dawn
My firstborn came in 2009, when I was just 16. She was my very first new beginning, tenderly entrusted to me by the Lord. A lover of art, animals, music, and creativity—with quick wit and dry humor—she is impossible not to adore. I have grown up alongside her, and she has witnessed every transformation of my motherhood. Some days, I wish I could go back and mother her from the very start with what I know now. Yet I trust the Lord has written her story with my inadequacies in mind, so that His adequacy would be all the more evident to her heart.
Natalie Jael
Conceived while I was engaged to Justice, our spunky, sassy Nat came into the world just four months after our wedding day in 2014. She carries creativity in her bones, loves to read, and delights in caring for her baby siblings—a natural mother and helper. Her mind runs deep, unafraid to wade into the hard questions about God, asking things I never thought to ask until I was grown. She is a searcher. A seeker. A bright flame with roots that reach deep.
Beckham Jude
Four months after Natalie’s birth, I learned I was expecting again. Our wild-at-heart Beckham Jude came barreling into our lives just 13 months later, like a wrecking ball with a grin. He opened the door to the world of boy—mud on his hands, pockets full of bugs, and a trail of scraped knees. He has been a refiner’s child, shaping me as much as I shape him. His heart is as wide as the ocean, mirroring the compassion of our Father. He cares for others with quiet strength, finds joy in “manly” work, and carries a love for numbers, nature, and the wide-open call of adventure.
Valor Monroe
Knit together in the chaos of 2020, he entered the world like a gentle whisper yet changed everything. In his 357 days here, he reshaped the landscape of our lives—in his living and in his leaving. Soft as vapor, with ocean-blue eyes and a cartoonish bald head, he was full of laughter and light. I sang him a lullaby: Oh mighty man of valor, you are so brave and bold. You’re filled with such a purpose I long to watch unfold. I believe that thread is still weaving itself into the tapestry of our lives, though now from beyond the veil.
Reverie Isla-Vale
Conceived 8 months after Valor died. Born on Christmas eve’s eve in 2022. She is balm to my wounded heart, and the sweetest merciful gift that we never ever would have known we needed. She is spit-fire, adventure, and boldness embodied. She knows no fear and the Lord is going to use her for mighty works.
Rune Winslow
Our last baby came 17 months after Reverie, quiet as a whispered prayer. I kept his growing a secret, drawing inward with the Lord while He knit him together in the hidden place. One morning, as I stood in my bathroom, the Lord placed his name in my spirit—just as He had with Valor. I searched its meaning. “Rune.” Secret. And my heart went straight to the words of Scripture: the secret, hidden wisdom of God, revealed through the gospel. I knew it was his. To be entrusted with another son in this life is a gift beyond language, and when he was placed in my arms, it was as if the circle of our family finally closed.
All of these lives have shaped, refined, and brought me closer and closer to who I was truly made to be. It’s through their stories that mine has truly been forged.
I grew up in the bible belt of West Texas. Which fortunately for me, meant I was exposed to the gospel at a very young age. And unfortunately for me, it was distorted, watered down, and lost its shock value at a very young age as well.
With a church on every corner, around here, calling yourself a ‘Christian’ was about as meaningful as calling yourself a ‘Texan’.
I heard a quote one time that said, ‘The hardest people to reach with Christ, are those who already think they have Him.’ And that has been a theme I have seen lived out in the culture I was immersed in.
Through my journey of my faith becoming my own, I wouldn't say that I’ve deconstructed, but rather, untangled lies, from truth as the Lord has relentlessly pursued my soul.
I remember feeling in my heart as a child that I was called. Though I didn’t know by whom or what- I remember hearing a distinct quiet voice deep in my spirit that said “I love you. Your existence matters. I have big plans for you.” It was calm, steady, familiar- like a friend.
I would grow up in a broken home and a rocky childhood trying to both muffle and answer that voice in all sorts of broken ways. Love, relationships, substances, striving, hustling, dream chasing, etc.
But it really wasn’t until I was saved at 28 years old, after the birth and death of my fourth baby,
that I would really truly start to answer that calling genuinely.
And now, it has taken 30 years for the truth that was planted within me to start to genuinely sprout through to live and breathe on the outside of me.
This is the part of the story in which you are entering. The 33 year old, much more refined, but far from complete Mikayla. The one that has finally come to the end of herself. (Although I’m sure I’ll find an inch more that will need to be scorched through the fire.)
I used to use all these gifts that God has given me, for personal gain. For striving. For earning my worth. For creating significance. For Mikayla.
But the Lord has been ever so fervently, consistently, kindly but firmly….
not allowing me to keep on being Mikayla.
Through all that I’ve been through, I have been sharpened, refined, sifted, and purified.
I thought all along that surrendering my life would mean losing myself. But it has been through losing myself, that I’ve found who I truly am.
I put all of this off for a long time for fear of what this calling might require of me.
And how not enough I truly am.
I have, for a very long time, wanted the courage and bravery to be who he was calling me to be. And losing Valor, ironically…has birthed valor within me.
Fear has lost it’s grip on me.
My heart is pounding. Not with fear- but with joy. Excitement. Anticipation.
Because for the first time ever, NOT living fully alive isn’t even an option anymore.
The Way, The Truth & The Life are beckoning me.
And I choose to answer.
So all you see here, whether art, voice or words….are…
