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I have been married to my husband, Steve for 37 years. I met him and was immediately twitter-pated when we lived in Washington state while I was finishing my BA in Human services at Western Washington University. We married and started our family in Bellingham. We enjoyed the outdoors; my family has a cute cabin up by Mount Rainier where we have spent a lot of time. We have enjoyed gardening, hiking, water-skiing, white-water canoeing and rock climbing. I started homeschooling our kids in 1993 and did so until 2014. Not that I would necessarily recommend that for everyone, but it is what we chose at that time. In 2002 we left the beautiful Pacific Northwest and went to southern California for Steve to go to seminary. We moved to Billings, Montana in 2005 after he graduated, to pastor a small church. Thankfully, we no longer pastor the church.

We now have four ambitious adult children, plus a son in law, and two daughters in law and four beautiful grandchildren. We also have a foster son and his wife and their two precious little ones. To read about our fostering journey look here. A Radical Change of Heart (yellowstonevalleywoman.com) We enjoy spending time with our family whenever we get the chance, it is especially nice in the summer, to play around with them in our backyard swimming pool. We also have a community group of friends that we have been doing life with for the past ten years. We usually meet once a week to share a conversation about books we are reading together. We can be found enjoying a beer together on a Friday night at one of our local brew pubs .

In 2019, I met Katie Skurja, author of Paradox Lost, and founder of Imago Dei Ministries at an Open Table conference in Oregon. I went to her breakout session and knew that even though I could not make complete sense of what she was saying, that there was something there that I needed. Later that year I was given the opportunity to go to an Imago Dei weekend retreat with some friends. We were all touched in very significant ways through the space provided for us to hear from Papa (God). The healing that was began during the Open Table conference and the encounters I had with Jesus at the retreat changed the trajectory of my life. I knew I wanted to heal and then learn how to offer this kind of inner healing prayer sessions to others that have been hurt and stuck as I had been. I am starting my fifth year as an inner healing/integration practitioner. I took all of Katie Skurja’s courses and continue growing by being a part of her inner healing community, and leading book discussions on inner healing for my cohort. I am also part of the pastoral team for Perichoresis and I host classes for Dr. C. Baxter Kruger whenever I have the opportunity. I host the Perichoresis Americas Cafe, and also lead book discussions for for the folks in the cafe.

It was through inner healing prayer sessions that I learned how much I was already loved by Father, Son and Spirit, that they grieved when I grieved, and that when the church was not gracious or kind to my family, it broke the trinity’s heart too. This understanding lifted years of depression and angst as related to the ending of our pastoring. Father, Son and Spirit also showed me that they do not do power and control, but love which is much stronger and is capable of changing people and the whole world. These prayer sessions have been restoring my true identity as an image bearer of the most loving, kind, forgiving and relational God. I have been able to forgive the church and move on. It is a process, I will continue to be recovering from PTCD Post Traumatic Church Disorder!

I have experienced artizo. My true identity is being uncovered and I am functioning more like a person filled by the beautiful holy Spirit, as I naturally bear her fruit. I believe this restoration has brought a much closer version of the me, that God had originally created. I am more peaceful as I no longer “need” to strive to make Him happy, I understand that I already do. When I forget my true identity and I hurt others I am able to bring that to Papa much quicker than before and seek restoration with the one I have injured. I am less of a hider than I ever have been before. I am at peace, so I use coping strategies less often to make me feel like I am ok, because I truly am ok. These changes have created a desire in me to provide space for others to be healed and experience life like this. I consider making this space for people, to be the greatest privilege and joy of my life these past years. I am grateful that I am able to serve my fellow human beings in this way.