Committed Learner

I did not have the simplest of childhoods.  I saw way too much heartache before my 7th birthday. Heartache in myself and for my family became what we knew intimately as this did not really slow down in my other formative years.  By 18 I was not going to marry or ever have children... I was going to be a missionary and help people get to heaven and hopefully in a country far away from my own. 

Then I met Holger.  He was different.  He was unlike any man I had ever met before.  I tried to chase him away.  I tried to NOT full in love... but...

I knew when I decided to marry and have children that I would need some extra support.  I read a lot.  I tried my best...

By the birth of my second child the cracks in my foundation years started showing up... having a little boy with special needs exposed the cracks for all to see.

I went to study!  For years I committed myself to learning and this led to me collaborating with some amazing people and coming up with different interventions for children in need.  It helped me be a better mom. My passion for orphans and vulnerable children was fuelled from experiences in childhood, although it took me years to acknowledge it or even understand it.

In the last few years I have come to see how my story has shaped what I do and how much more attention I paid to parenting because of it.  As this became clearer I started to wonder if I should stay in this work, because parenting was challenge enough.  For years I tried to find theory and parenting books...as I took steps towards my own healing.  I found a lot of Christian parenting books were not really helping me address a deeper issue I was struggling with or what I started believing to be a real thing that impacts families everywhere... undealt with childhood trauma that leaks on to our present lives.  Parenting from a fragmented self is very challenging.

I am so thankful for my journey, my learning, all seven of my children and my very patient and committed husband.

It is the wrapping together of all this life experience that makes me the person I am, the passionate mother and trainer, and I am convinced more than ever as I parent my new 4 little ones whose life started in very hard places... that God's heart is to heal the broken-hearted and set them in families.  I am so thankful for all I am being taught by them.

God's plan is family.  God's heart is to heal and re-parent... He has brought me to this place and I am thankful for whet I have learned and the opportunity I get to share it.

My vocation will hopefully continue to lead people closer to wholeness and impact their relationship with God, themselves and others... this is the journey I am on!