To teach what I have learned—and share what I know.

I was born and raised in Colorado and married my high school sweetheart, Tom. I first met him at a youth volleyball game when we were 14 years old. Later that same day, I wrote in my diary about his dreamy blue eyes. Sigh. He’s still my best friend after all these years. Along our journey, we’ve lived in Colorado, Texas, on both US coasts and in Germany. With more than 14 moves in our pocket, you can imagine we’ve met incredible people, heard amazing stories, and had some grand adventures.

We have three children and three grandchildren; you’ll read some fun stories about their escapades in my blogs and books.

I recently began to provide Christian Life Coaching for those whose souls have been injured. Sometimes church groups or church leaders leave us disillusioned by their un-Christlike behavior and our faith takes a hit. Or, some friend disappoints us, or we’ve caused our very own soul damage by our unwise choices. It can take the wind out of our sails and deplete our spirit. How amazing to provide a safe place and play a part in the road back to soul health. My favorite reminder is the promise that God will restore our soul in Psalm 23.

Another favorite pursuit of mine is to speak to live audiences and share life-lessons to those who want to listen. I’ve had the great honor of speaking at numerous events throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Whenever I hear a speaker share vulnerably and with honesty about their struggles, it helps me feel less alone and insecure about mine. My prayer is that my listeners will feel similarly as they hear me.

At heart, I’m a storyteller. Whether in speaking or in my books, or my blogs, I weave real-life stories into learnable truths, and strive to make them practical and personal. And funny. Who can’t learn from the mother who scolded a police officer about his bad attitude as he quietly wrote her a ticket? Am I the only one who has dropped a giant bowl of orange Jell-O on the floor at Thanksgiving? There must be a lesson in there somewhere! Surely you know someone who has fallen in a theater production and ripped off her skirt or has fallen off a horse and laughed so hard she wet herself? Ah, we love hearing those stories; they impact us, make us laugh and hopefully, they teach lessons to help us grow. 

Crazy happens. Of course it does—and yet, our response to it is key. I’m sometimes faulted for being too optimistic about such matters. When I stop to think about it, I find it’s mostly true, I am that glass half-full kind of person.

It definitely beats the alternative.