Bio

Four amazing kids looks to me for guidance and direction (Gabriel, 22; Kaleigh, 20; Samuel, 11; Josiah, 9). Despite occasional frustrations and continual exhaustion, they bring such joy and laughter every day. It's both an honor and a privilege to be their mom.

Cory and I met in college and have been married for 25 years. He is a rock-solid partner in this thing called life. He is calm and gentle when I am not. He faithfully serves a congregation in rural Illinois, an hour south of Chicago. We are blessed to call this place "home."

We served as foster parents for a time, and then shifted gears toward infant adoption. For us, the process was much more costly ($$$), lengthy (four years), and difficult (four failed adoption attempts) than expected. However, that time, and the many lessons learned during our interminable wait, brought us to our two youngest sons. We are grateful.

For many reasons, we began homeschooling our older two children starting with 5th and 7th grades. The little guys have been homeschooled from the get-go. The freedom of schedule, ability to pace curriculum to individual needs, and the necessity for six physical therapy sessions each week has made homeschooling an amazing choice for our family.

Our two youngest, Samuel and Josiah, have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy—a progressive, terminal, muscle wasting disease. I spend a lot of time researching and learning more about Duchenne myself, in addition to working toward educating others and advocating for Duchenne. If you'd like to learn more about DMD, please reach out. I'm always happy to talk about my kids, even about the hard stuff.

I didn't start drinking coffee until I hit right around 40 years old. Now? "Coffee is life," seems a bit much. However, I do really enjoy my two morning cups each day and any additional ones that come along in the afternoon. I'll drink it black if I must, but also prefer it not too sweet. My go-to is my favorite mugful with a bit of vanilla oatmilk creamer.

I love the opportunity to work remotely while using my "word nerd" skills in a productive way which actually earns a little income. I'm tasked with writing, editing, posting items to the webite, creating emails and newsletters, and any other task sent my way.

That's what this site is about, my writing—a place to share what it is I've done and what I hope to yet accomplish. My love of the spoken word is well known among my circle of friends. My affinity for the WRITTEN word is a newer realization. It still seems odd to include the word "author" as a descriptor when speaking with someone new, yet I'm so pleased it's true. I generally write about a mixture of family/parenting, advocacy, and faith topics.

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I am the author of four resources: a memoir-style book, a daily devotional, and two prayer journals. Please head over to the "Written Works" page for more info on these!

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I am also a contributing writing for Her View from Home, Motherly, and LutherWoman.