Lecce, Italia

Hi, I’m kellee.

I’m just an ordinary woman who bears the fingerprints of an extraordinary God.

I’m a devoted Christ-follower, wife, mother of four, mother-in-law to their spouses, and Nana to 13 and counting. I’m also a business owner with my husband of 39 years; we collaborate to build 5-10 custom homes a year, where I’m the form and he’s the function. We have lived in the Caribbean and Europe, Texas and North Carolina, speak a little Italian, and when necessary, try to piece together a Spanish phrase or two. Our guest book is packed with the stories of hundreds of fascinating people from around the world. My life has been enriched in countless ways by the individuals that have shared our meals and slept in our rooms (both at our primary residence and a vacation home in the North Carolina mountains). Through triumph and pain, this one thing I know: God is good.

My very abbreviated story

I grew up in a suburban rowhouse near Baltimore with three younger siblings. My parents were teenagers when I was born, and had their fair share of struggles. We all had our first encounter with Jesus when I was 10 years old on the tail end of the Jesus movement. It has been easy for me to believe in a good God, as I have a good earthly father, and have always wanted to please the Lord since first meeting Him, although I have stumbled and fallen many times. I struggled with faithfulness during my four years at a Christian college and then got serious about a faith-filled life in my early twenties. I went on to teach at a school for missionary kids in Haiti, where I met my husband. Less than a year after our first encounter, we were married and within the next five years, had three kids and moved to Italy. We spent 15 months there and then settled in North Carolina where we welcomed our fourth child. I home-schooled our children and tutored others for 17 years.

We later got to spend another year in Italy and came back with a strong desire to start a custom home-building business. Probably the biggest leap of faith we’ve ever taken was the decision to leave the perceived safety of corporate America as our kids were starting college, and follow God’s leading to start Tuscan Group. We celebrated 20 years of our business in October 2023, which is nothing short of miraculous.

I love to write, and want to pen the stories that have shaped me, in hopes that my children and grandchildren might learn something new or be inspired. Here are tales that attest to God’s goodness. Other miracles abound in the lives of our children and grandchildren. We’ve had high highs, and the lowest of lows. We’ve lived with lack, and we’ve enjoyed abundance. We’ve welcomed each of our sons- and daughters-in-law, and grandchildren - both through birth and adoption - with joy, and said goodbye to one of the youngest with unspeakable heartache.

We are comfortable with considerable risk, and it has afforded us quite an adventurous life. I wouldn’t want it any other way.