About Joy and Grace Families
Parenting teens and young adults in today’s world is challenging! Joy and Grace Families was founded to support you, as a Christian parent, in navigating the teen and young adult years so that you can—
- experience more joy, happiness, and peace in your family interactions
- handle family challenges with love and grace to transform conflict into connection
- nurture a close, lasting bond with your kids
- empower your kids to stand strong and grow into loving, responsible, resilient, spiritually-healthy adults.
Joy and Grace Families offers workshops, one-on-one and group coaching, as well as education, inspiration, and encouragement from a Christian perspective!
What would it look like to have more joy and grace in your family?
Both joy in the sense of family interaction full of laughter, fun, and meaningful connection…and joy in the sense of a deep contentment and peace, regardless of circumstances.
Grace in the sense of being able to do difficult things with confidence and elegance…and grace in the sense of interactions full of kindness, generosity, gratitude, forgiveness, and understanding.
More smiles, cooperation, love, and respect. Less arguing, yelling, conflict, and division.
That might be hard to imagine right now with the challenges your family is facing. But it is possible!
Joy and Grace Families uses a three-prong approach to help families through the challenges of parenting teens and young adults.
1. PERSPECTIVE—trusting God and holding onto hope amidst the challenges; keeping a long-term big-picture mindset, staying connected to Christ and relying on his strength and guidance; being creative and thinking outside the box in problem-solving.
2. PRINCIPLES—learning sound, family-transforming parenting and relationship principles from a Christian worldview.
3. PRACTICE—making changes to consistentently apply healthy perspectives and principles in every-day life; identifying and breaking free from negative relationship cycles; adopting next-level relationship skills to lead, connect, and empower.
As the mom of four grown children (two boys and two girls) and a veteran foster mom of over 20 years specializing in teen placements, my heart goes out to parents of teenagers and young adults!
As a foster parent, I had the opportunity to care for kids with all different backgrounds, ethnicities, personalities, strengths, and challenges. Additionally, since two of my children are adopted through the foster care system, we have experienced the extra considerations that adoption brings into a family.
I know through personal experience that many parenting issues are extremely difficult to understand unless you have lived through them yourself.
Additionally, I know the toll that parenting can take on a marriage, and how difficult it can be to agree on parenting approaches, support each other in parenting challenges, and in the midst of it all, find the time to nurture your relationship with your spouse.
Through our more than 30 years of marriage, my husband and I have gone through many challenges and had to learn the hard way how to hold onto each other and grow in our relationshp amidst life’s difficulties.
That is why I founded Joy and Grace Families–because I want to be the couch and mentor for others that I would have wanted to have for our family!
Professional Background
For the first 15 years of our marriage, I worked as a freelance writer and speaker, focusing primarily on topics of personal growth, family, and faith. I wrote two books and numerous articles published in various publications, such as Today’s Christian Woman, Marriage Partnership, and Focus on the Family. I then took a break to concentrate on my own family’s needs and the needs of the foster children living in our home.
In those years, we faced some serious challenges as a family. And during that time, I researched parenting and marriage topics, sought out professionals and mentors, attended trainings, and networked with other parents, foster parents, and adoptive parents.
Through this time, I became even more passionate about sharing the information I was learning with others. I decided to become trained to be a life and family coach, so I could begin helping families one-on-one in addition to my writing and speaking.
I received my coaching certification through Impact Academy, an International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited school, and have completed additional training through Light University, the education division of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC).
Fun Facts
- My husband is from Alaska, and I was raised in Kansas.
- I have been a public school, private school, and homeschool mom at different times in my parenting.
- My kids could not have been any more different from each other and exploring all their interests with them has stretched me and enriched my life–photography, orchestra, Boy Scouts, downhill skiing, dance, archery, the Asian culture, criminal justice . . .
- My longest-distance child is my son who teaches English in Japan; he keeps this mama on her knees with his love for travel and all things adventure.
- I enjoy hiking, kayaking, biking, and camping, as well as music, movies, deep conversation and hanging out with my friends and family.
- I love traveling and exploring new places, but I also love coming back home!
Free Video Workshop
Join our email list and receive the video workshop, “The 7 Essential Building Blocks for the Tween & Teen Years & Beyond” as a gift from Joy and Grace Families!
Complimentary Consultation
Interested in finding out more? I would love the opportunity to meet with you for a 20-minute, video call to find out more about you and answer any questions you have!
Speaking Information
Looking for a speaker for your group or organization? I love speaking at parenting, marriage, and women’s events, as well as for groups and churches!