I was born in Winslow, AZ, while my parents did voluntary service on the Hopi Reservation, through the Mennonite Church (An Anabaptist Christian Denomination). When I was just a few months old, we moved to Pennsylvania, where my parents cared for my grandfather, at the end of his life. Just 3 years later, we moved to Jamaica, where they again were serving through the Mennonite Church. After 3 years in Jamaica, we moved to Florida, and just a year after that, we moved to Indiana. Each of those moves found my dad employed with a Mennonite organization. The Mennonite Church strongly influenced my childhood and provided a foundation from which I developed values in self-responsibility, stewardship of resources, compassionate living, and being the change I wish to see in the world.
This foundation has led me to explore Faith-Based Ministry: leading workshops, preaching and teaching and developing opportunities for participants to deepen into their own relationship with God through spiritual transformation.
Although I am no longer participating in the Mennonite Church, I am active in my spiritual life and deepening into Spirit continues to be a foundational theme to the work that I do. I often refer to this at "Grace" or as "that which is greater than we are". I do not have a religious agenda, but do believe in a spiritual dimension that conspires for our good. I have been called a Contemplative and a Mystic. I have been called the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. I believe that we are all invited to expand love within our selves and then ripple that love out to the world. I am able to relate to Christians and non-Christians, people from "new-age" religions and rich spiritual philosophies.
Beyond the spiritual connections that I foster, I am a teacher. I have both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Education and taught in traditional school environments for over 10 years.
I also have a background as a Certified Personal Trainer and ran my own business training people's physical bodies and leading workshops around the country. Most recently, I have gone through Leadership Development Training and Advanced Leadership and Facilitation Training through a Personal Growth and Transformation organization called COR (www.CORexperience.com).
I have faced infertility, been a foster mother, gone through divorce, remarried, parent step-children, faced the possibility of a second divorce, battled Anxiety and Mental Health stigmas.
With all that I've experienced in life, I know the power and freedom available when we allow ourselves to be in the present moment, with whatever is at hand. I now create space to slow down, to be with what is, to tap into the innate intelligence that is in our bodies and to transform our relationship with our own heart, body, mind and spirit. It is about coming home within ourselves and welcoming in parts that we have wanted to disown or didn’t even realize were impacting us in a negative way.
