Okay…..so about me.  I mean, if I were taking a Journey through an unfamiliar landscape, I’d want to know about my Guide!!

I am a Grand Mother.

I come to this Grand Phase in my life from the humble beginnings of life in a small town in lower MIchigan.  I was surrounded by fields that shared time with corn and soybeans, lived next to the creek that used to flood in the Spring, and carried a deep belief in the goodness of People.

Being somewhat shy and terribly introverted, I grew up with my nose in a book, learning about honor, integrity, chivalry, and the power of doing right, telling the truth. These values and ideals shaped me as I sang along with John Denver, read the speeches of Martin Luther King, and went to church, learning how to love everybody.  

My path led me to Colorado where my first husband, son, and I became a military family in the Air Force.  I came to know such things as domestic violence and homelessness so I served in the Soup Kitchens and food pantries.  I came to understand the dynamics of addiction so I became a minister of sobriety within the AA community.  I served within a parachurch organization that changed my life and guided my path to seminary and service as a pastor, spiritual director, and teacher.  Within the church walls, I learned of the deepest hurts that I was unable to meet, so I returned to school and began to learn how to be a counselor, therapist.  

LIfe shifted direction again and I found myself working with some of the deepest trauma experienced by People.  I have devoted the last 10 years of my life focusing on trauma therapy and helping People regain their ‘new normal’ as they pick up lives that have been forever shaped by pain and healed by love and acceptance.  

When we find our Truest Selves, broken and repaired, cast away and then reclaimed, we tend to live lives tempered with compassion and mercy.  Love becomes our way of life and Peace becomes the Path we walk with each other.

I am a Grand Mother.

I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in the Woods, with my husband, our dog, cat, and 9 chickens.  We pick berries in the Summer, cut firewood in the Fall, and drink coffee ‘round the firepit in the Winter. In Spring, I begin to anticipate kayaking on the thawing waters.  

I am a Mother.  

I have a son who lives locally and a daughter who lives in the South.

I have several ‘children of my heart’ who have called me ‘mom’ in my life.

I am a Woman.

I am a Human Being.

“You don’t have to walk alone…I’ll walk with you.”