My Everyday
Our family of six lives in an expansive blue aqua colored home that we call our beach house, atop a hill with fabulous sunsets. It's not near a beach but has enough sand in its landscape that it could rival the gulf view 15 miles away. My husband was raised in Florida, and after 11 years of following our dream of horse ranch ownership in Texas, we returned to his home state to be near family.
At home I can be found snuggling with Delilah, my wrinkled English bulldog, or sitting cross-legged in my swivel recliner, a cup of coffee steaming from my 'Don't Wake the Bear' mug enjoying an early morning time with Jesus before chaos begins.
People assume that I'm an extrovert, but the life of a writer is often in solitude, which suits me well. Perhaps its the constant activity with 4 boys at home has me craving the quiet that comes from pouring words out onto a page. As with many mothers, I enjoy the God-given gift of tuning out the crazy around me while my fingers dance melodically over the keyboard.
My Family
Eddy and I were married in a barn in Texas surrounded by our love for all things country. Riding in on horseback, I wore a western corset, red cowboy boots and a matching jeweled belt. I was clasping a wild bunch of happy sunflowers and walked up the middle of the barn to the sweet strands of Michael Buble singing ‘Quando?’. It was glorious.
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We began our journey toward fostering after a quiet whisper worked its way into my heart. Legacy. What will you leave as your legacy? Will it have eternal value? Today, my legacy is that of raising four young men with a boundless love for our heavenly Father. Our boys all came to us between the ages of 2 and 5 and all from backgrounds of trauma, some more severe than others. Today, they are active early and middle adolescents who are all boy all the time. Falling into bed a 8 pm is not an uncommon occurrence for this tired mama!
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My Areas of Research
Parenting neurodivergent children has sent me on a quest to understand the critical phases of child development and the challenges for at-risk youth. My research focuses on hemispheric brain balancing, secure attachment, oppositional defiance and neurodevelopmental disorders, early childhood development, hardwired temperaments and brain remodeling. With 3 middle adolescents and 1 early adolescent in my household, I have expanded my research to these disciplines in preparation for authoring a book on middle school parenting. Dissecting the confusion in this critical time of development into straightforward language, it is my aim to reorient the apprehension many families feel during this critical season.