Here are some of the basics:

I am a fortysomething woman who has wandered the wild path of adventure with God for my entire life. It's been a crazy ride! It's taken me from the US to Japan to Scotland to Canada, from certainty to mystery, and from surviving to wrestling to flourishing (and back again). 

​

I am trained in theology (Master of Theological Studies) and spirituality (Clinical Pastoral Education), and I am currently working on a Master of Psychotherapy and Spirituality. Alongside my studies, I have worked as a hospital chaplain for four years.

​

I've been married to my best friend for twenty years. I'm a mama to four kids, ages 11, 14, 16, and 18. Life is always busy, chaotic, and rich with this adventurous gang!

​

Here are some of my favourite things: 

• Family Time - games, jokes, movie nights, road trips

• Camping - favourite places ever: Cape Disappointment (OR), The Juan De Fuca Trail (BC), and Dinosaur Provincial Park (AB)

• Books - there are so many genres and so many favourite authors, I might have to wait to tell you about them in a blog post!

• Writing - I have a few books in my brain, but none of them are written yet

• Creating - I used to have a stained glass business, but now I create through words, designing this blog, journaling, decorating my home, and using my imagination to dream how I can make the world more beautiful, colourful, and kind

• The Beach - anywhere will do, but I long for the beaches of my childhood homes as a US military kid in Japan and Hawaii

• Hot Tub - my happy place at home, in all seasons

• School - I love being in learning environments, especially the conversations that happen in and around them, and the friends I make along the way

• Coffee, Chocolate, and Häagen-Dazs - my weaknesses

 

Here is what I know about myself:

I am a helper, a feeler, a recovering people-pleaser, and a peacemaker. I am a thinker, reflecter, and wrestler with God and ideas. I’m passionate about learning and sharing what I have learned with others, and I am passionate about modeling and facilitating generous dialogue with others (as well as myself). My greatest joy and challenge is the integration of belief and practice, and my goal is to be intentional in thought, word and deed.

​

Here is how I understand God: 

I experience God as a God of process who companions with us in our journeys of becoming the people we were created to be. This process-orientation makes room for life to be messy, unexpected, complex, and adventurous. It also makes room for us to be more aware of God-with-us - Emmanuel - on the journey, wherever we are, working in and among us in our ordinary lives. As my pastor, Ryan, reminds me nearly every Sunday, “God meets us in the mess.”

 

This is such a hopeful word that it is easy to live it out in my spiritual care practice. In many ways, my understanding of spiritual care can be summed up as companioning with others to explore and notice the ways that God is at work in the situations they’re in – to honour the journey by acknowledging the truth of it, as well as the hope of it.

 

Life is messy, and that can be painful, scary, mysterious, exhilarating, hopeful, or any combination of these. The good news is that God meets us there, and redeems us along the way. We can trust the process, because God is the beginning, middle, and end of our journeys.

​

I look forward to journeying with you!

 

Shalom,

​