Moms in the Making group helps the Keslers amidst infertility struggles
***From Marriage & Family column in 2026 May/June issue of On Mission***
SHERWOOD, WI — Alexa and Danny Kesler, who belong to St. John-Sacred Heart Parish in Sherwood, have been married for almost five years, and in the midst of different health issues and infertility struggles, faith has always been an essential part of their relationship.
“Having God as a part of our relationship is something that was always important to us,” Alexa said. “Whatever was happening in our relationship, it seemed like the weekly Gospel reading would reflect on what that was.”
Danny was raised in a large, Catholic farming family in Hilbert, while Alexa grew up in Kaukauna and had only ever been to an Evangelical Presbyterian church before meeting Danny.
More recently, however, Alexa has had profound experiences through the Catholic Church with Jesus and Mary, the Mother of God.
Throughout their relationship, there have been many difficulties with the teachings of the Church for Alexa, a significant one being the special veneration Catholics offer to Mary.
That changed in a big way on New Year’s Day 2025 at a Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, when Alexa heard a powerful homily on Mary and “how so many people misunderstand the purpose of her role in the Catholic Church,” she said.
“That was another thing that I struggled with for a lot of years because my grandma, not being Catholic, didn’t believe in praying to saints,” Alexa said. “She and I have actually now gone back and forth on it.”
Alexa said that during that Mass, she felt called to visit The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion the very next day, when she was supposed to meet a friend, who had also been struggling with infertility, for coffee.
In 2019, after Alexa and Danny had gotten engaged, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and began medical treatment in 2023 to address struggles with infertility.
“(My friend and I) were up there just praying together, and we were able to walk around the grounds,” Alexa said. “We were able to sit in front of Mary and pray over our journeys (with infertility). Being down (in the Apparition Oratory) was really powerful.”
Alexa learned the value of fellowship and the support of women in similar situations from regularly attending meetings with a group called Moms in the Making, which is centered around Christian faith and fellowship for women who experience infertility.
It was shortly after beginning medical fertility treatment that she joined the group. Members of the group told her about Our Lady of Champion and the annual Walk to Mary pilgrimage, which she was able to complete for the first time in 2024.
The initial invitation to the group came at a time when Alexa and Danny had been struggling with infertility since they got married in June 2021 and were suffering greatly.
“I was scared, angry, confused, and truly heartbroken,” Alexa said. “We want a big family and planned to adopt at some point in life, but never thought that may be our only option for a family.”
Alexa’s first Moms in the Making group meeting was around the time of Mother’s Day in 2023.
“They do prophetic cards around Mother’s Day because it’s obviously something that can be pretty hard when you’re trying for a kid,” she said.
“They all wrote cards, and I got home and read all these cards from women who I hadn’t even met yet. (After that) I told Danny that I was going to sign up. It seemed like this was going to be something that could be really helpful.”
When Alexa heard about the Walk to Mary from members of the group, a lot of whom are not Catholic, she was pleasantly surprised.
“It was cool to hear that my friends who were not Catholic were a part of (the Walk to Mary),” she said.
Alexa’s journey toward the Catholic faith began with meeting Danny in 2016.
“When we met, he made it very clear his faith was a core value of his and his family,” Alexa said about Danny. “Soon after we began dating, I attended my first Mass with him.”
Alexa didn’t know what to expect going into her first Catholic Mass and said that “It wasn’t like anything (I) had ever experienced.”
She began attending Mass with Danny and his family every weekend, and since then, many of their conversations have been centered around faith, especially in recent years, as Alexa has grown in curiosity about Catholicism while struggling with infertility.
While Alexa was taking different fertility medications in 2023 and 2024, she experienced extreme discomfort and side effects such as fatigue and hot flashes. The medications were taking a toll on her physically and mentally, she said.
During this time, Alexa began to feel that God was calling her toward the Catholic Church after a powerful experience at Mass with Danny during which she was in so much physical pain that she could hardly stand up.
When the line for Holy Communion was forming, she felt God calling her to join it to receive a blessing, something she had never done before.
“(The extraordinary minister of Holy Communion) blessed me and as soon as I signed myself with the cross, my pain was immediately gone,” Alexa said. “That was my first moment in the Church where I thought, ‘Okay, this is where I am meant to be.’”
On another occasion, Alexa received the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick for back pain that she was experiencing, after which the pain immediately went away.
“(I realized) God was showing up, and working in our lives,” she said. “But it was all through the Church, and that’s where it solidified that this was the right route to go.”
Danny, being raised in the Catholic faith, knew that it wouldn’t bring Alexa any closer to Christ if he pressured her into the Church.
“I didn’t try to force anything; it was more or less: if you want to come along and observe, that’s fine, but I will not make any decisions for you,” he said. “If it’s something you choose to pursue, that’s your choice. I’ll support you either way.”
After participating in the Walk to Mary in 2024, Alexa kept feeling called to visit The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, which led her to visit the Shrine a few times in early 2025 and complete the 2025 Walk to Mary.
“For some reason, I keep feeling this pull back to the Shrine, and I can’t really explain it,” she said. “We did the walk again in 2025 and again felt called to convert.”
That August, she approached her parish priest, who connected her with Deacon Tim Stevenson, who serves at St. John-Sacred Heart Parish, St. Mary Parish in Stockbridge, and St. Mary Parish in Hilbert. Alexa has been meeting with Deacon Stevenson regularly since then.
“I’ve learned a lot,” she said. “He’s been able to break things down and explain a lot to me.”
Deacon Stevenson has been serving at St. John-Sacred Heart Parish since he was ordained to the permanent diaconate seven years ago.
“We would meet, and we would really have no agenda,” he said. “(Alexa) has a strong Christian faith. She’s inquiring; she wants to know the truth.”
He also meets regularly with several individuals who are curious about the Catholic faith and simply want to know more. Alexa talked with her grandmother often about faith, and Deacon Stevenson would help Alexa answer questions that her grandmother had about Catholicism, as well as her own questions.
In the same month that Alexa began meeting with Deacon Stevenson, she and Danny got connected through a friend with expectant parents, with whom they matched to adopt their baby, who was due this April.
Alexa said she is still working with Deacon Stevenson at her own pace to fully enter the Church.