Anne Garcia McCullough :: anne@infusionofhope.com :: 303-859-3320

Anne was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the first of many places she would live in her early years. Anne's father was a physician training for a specialty which necessitated many moves including Connecticut, Missouri, New Orleans, and by 5th grade, Mason City, Iowa. As Anne was growing up, she, her parents and her 3 little brothers spent time every year visiting her father's family in Puerto Rico. Nights on the island were sultry and soothing- unless there were family gatherings - which were festive, music-filled events where everyone sang, danced on each other's toes, and had a blast. Back in The States the Garcia kids were a little rambunctious and rarely had the same babysitter twice. As the kids grew up, the banter moved from physical contests to friendlier verbal competition and humor, everyone quoting appropriate movie lines with the best possible timing. In the same vein, Anne and her mother belted out show tunes and other Irish family favorites. At 16, Anne was finally given some boy-relief when her mother gave birth to a baby sister, and by the time Anne left for college, another sister was born. The girls were darn cute, but they were a little small and much too late to help her dominate the boys.

Returning to her birthplace, Anne attended Marquette University where she blossomed, discovering philosophy and history. During her junior year she studied in Spain, which solidified her fluency in Spanish, and in her senior year she worked for a law firm, eventually becoming a paralegal, earning a whopping $13,000 a year. She decided being an attorney was a better idea, and 3 years later graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN. The Irish half of Anne's heritage must have been in the mix when she met her future husband, Jake, on St. Patrick's Day in St. Paul. Four years later on St. Paddy's Day, their first child, Martha, was born. And just to make sure St. Patrick was completely embraced by the McCullough Clan, they named their second child Patrick.

When Patrick was 3 months old, he contracted whooping cough and both he and his mother were sleep deprived and stressed for 90 days. At about this time, Anne noticed the initial symptom of what would develop into a devastating illness: while writing, her hand wouldn't move as dictated by her thoughts. Her moderately legible handwriting - "Anne-script" as her brothers called it - became indecipherable. The "Our Story" section of this website completes the description of the disease as it continued to manifest. As dark and hopeless as those years were, Anne would not change a single experience. She is very grateful for the knowledge gleaned from the illness because those experiences led her to this moment where she is healed and feels whole. Life has been, and continues to be, an amazing trip!

Maura Ellis Youle :: maura@infusionofhope.com :: 720-253-8725

Maura was born to a ranching family in Casper, Wyoming, the youngest with two older brothers. Her parents were, and still are, great travelers, interested in art, culture and history, so Maura grew up subscribing to those qualities. She attended the University of Wyoming and graduated from the Colorado Art Institute. While working for an architectural firm in Denver a dear friend (who had had a bad day at work) said, "Do you want to quit your job and go to New Zealand?" "Sure! But if I'm quitting my job, I think we should go to Europe, too," was Maura's reply. So the two saved their money to buy around-the-world tickets and took off for the year of 1985. Being voracious travelers themselves, her parents generously funded the trip, although her father said he "didn't think the umbilical cord stretched that far…." The two young women started off in Hawaii, spent two months in New Zealand, two months in Australia, six weeks in Thailand and Burma and six months in Europe, all the while studying art and architecture, hiking and trekking. They returned before Christmas skinny, broke and unemployed - but it was worth it!

Only two months after their return to Denver, Maura met John Youle, who was just too much fun not to marry. In 1987, the day after their honeymoon, they moved to Lawrence, Kansas for John's work. They enjoyed 7 years in that area before following a dream to move to a mountain town. They lived in Buena Vista, Colorado for a few years until John's work took him to Jakarta, Indonesia. Maura and their young daughter, Bridie, joined John for 3 months getting a taste of expatriate life, which helped, because two years later they moved to Cairo, Egypt with their daughter and 21 month old, Jack. The Youles lived in Cairo for 5 years and took advantage of its geographical location by travelling extensively: safaris in Kenya and Tanzania, trekking in Nepal, two crazy weeks in Madagascar, skiing the Alps, touring European cities, Israel, Petra and Istanbul, frequently camping in the Sahara Desert and climbing Cheops Pyramid on a full moon night. By the time the family moved they counted 32 countries that their young children had experienced. The next stop after Egypt was Calgary, Canada, which was quite literally a breath of fresh air. They had two lovely years in Calgary before John started his own company in 2002 and they happily moved back to where they started, Colorado.

Along the way, Maura had the opportunity to follow what made her curious, becoming a yoga instructor and Reiki teacher. Her current adventure, Hopeology, is more a quest of spirit and mind than of physical travel, but is just as exciting.