I currently live in Ohio, and I have 3 grown children and 8 grandchildren.

I was raised in the church, but never heard the gospel presented. When I was 12, my dad died in an accident which sent me into a soul-searching time to sort out what I truly believed about God. During that time, God spoke to me about many things, so that when I heard the gospel when I was a teen, I knew that I had already dedicated my life to him. My life is filled with stories about how he has guided me and walked with me!

After a few random jobs, God arranged for me to have experience in ministry with kids, which led me to accept a position as the children's ministry director in our church plant. After almost 10 years as director, I sensed God leading me elsewhere, to work with children in a different capacity. 

As children's director, I felt God's nudge to go to Children's Pastors Conference in Nashville, where I discovered the KidZ at Heart booth. When I heard about the ministry KidZ does, I felt it was God's next step for me. After a year of transitioning my children's director position over to another leader, I began full-time with KidZ at Heart training others internationally to help children learn to love Jesus. I have been with KidZ at Heart for 13 years. 

In my years of ministry, drawing away in solitude is the gateway to practicing the rest of the spiritual disciplines for me. It's easy for me to get busy on the computer or with tasks and appointments, but if I ignore solitude for very long the craving to come away into God's presence, with no other agenda, is what satisfies my soul. While in solitude, I enjoy the other disciplines of silence, prayer, meditating on his word, worship, etc. Solitude keeps me filled spiritually and able to shake off the "clutter" that so easily invades my day and my heart. 

I am grateful to see numerous training networks being established in many countries, allowing each nation to train its own people to help their kids draw closer to God. And I anticipate what new countries God will invite teams into so that KidZ at Heart's training will expand and God's name will be honored by young hearts turning to him.