Welcome to my online home. If you were walking into my house, I would bring you into my chaotic kitchen and offer you a cup of Guatemalan coffee and a piece of pumpkin banana chocolate chip cake. Pets and grandchildren would huddle around your legs. You would see the woods that surround the house and might want to step onto our back patio to experience the beauty of southwestern Pennsylvania. 

I would feed you and I would ask you a hundred questions. I was a newspaper reporter and editor before my husband and I adopted our four children and the interviewer in me remains highly active. I am fascinated by the lives and the faith of other people and their stories fuel my fire for finding my own truth. 

I am a serious, contemplative geek. I read recipes and book reviews for entertainment. Running shoes and books appear regularly on our front porch. My husband, Todd, and I could not be any more different, but we have been together since we were 16 and have been married for 35 years. He likes hunting, fast cars, bourbon, and talking to anyone who will listen. I prefer kayaking, classical music, and lunch with a friend. Think Yellowstone versus Sound of Music.

We live in a house that he helped to build on twelve wooded acres in southwestern Pennsylvania, just minutes from where we both grew up, at the foothills of the Laurel Mountains. 

The greatest adventure of our marriage was the adoption of our four children (1994, 1998, 2002, 2003). Our oldest daughter was born two counties away and came home at two days old. A daughter, a son and another daughter were born in Guatemala and all came home as infants. Our family has returned to this beautiful country several times. Birth families are our family and we see them when we can. The miracle of our children’s lives never grows old. They are the crux of me, but the coming of grandchildren has given renewed joy. 

I hope that this space makes you feel welcome, that you are encouraged to share your story with me, that you will take the information and the writing that I offer, and find ways to use it to give your life greater meaning.