About

Welcome to graceFULLhome!  We are excited to have you join us on our blogging journey of growing closer to God. Our lives revolve around being moms, wives, friends and women who are trying to pursue a relationship with God in a real and relevant way.  This means even on our ‘ugly’ days, we try to receive and give the fullness of grace that God gives us each and every moment.

Hey! First I want to say thanks so much for visiting our blog.  It is truly an endeavor pursued because of God’s nudging in Jen’s and my life.  (I was SO not a blogger before this!!)  This is our second blog. Our first, called CLOSER was our first plunge into a blog meant to help women (and some men too we have found out–thanks guys!) to dive a little deeper into their faith, or just get their toes wet a bit, along with lots of fun posts on life itself.  CLOSER has evolved into graceFULLhome, and we hope the journey continues! If this blog helps or encourages you at all, would you mind emailing it to some people in your lives who might also be encouraged by it? Thanks!!

I am former teacher, a wife, and a mother.  I have been married to my amazing husband, Jonathan, for almost 17 years.  Whew!  We work hard at our marriage, and believe that it is because of God’s grace and direction in our lives that we found each other and have stayed happily married (but not without some good old conflict along the way!).  We try to do a date night at least once a month, and also try, finances willing, to go away on a short vacation together each year (we love Mexico!!).  It is during those times that we reconnect and just focus on each other.  That is sometimes difficult in our busy lives with three kiddos.  Our oldest is Hannah who is in 7th grade, then comes Hunter in 4th grade, and Maddie brings up the rear in 3rd.  They are the love of my life…they are the reason I collapse in bed at night and get out of bed in the morning, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You will get to know them better in this blog!

I am currently holding down a couple of jobs…I am a tutor to a great little guy in the mornings, and I own my own staging company along with a close friend of mine. I still strive to primarily be a stay-at-home mom, and when I am home around 11:00 you will find me folding laundry and watching Kathy Lee and Hoda Kotbe on the Today Show.  I lead a bible study for some amazing ladies in my neighborhood, and am part of a couples bible study that has been meeting for 16 years!  Boy do we know each other!!  But, that is the gift…being real. I hope you will find that Jen and I are real.  We have real struggles and are always growing…hopefully you can relate.

Hi!  What to tell you about me?  The basics… I have a wonderful husband.  We know our children are gifts from God and we try to take care of them and love them with that in mind.  We desire to give them all our love and point them to the true lover of their soul and source of life.

My faith.  For a long time I traveled with one foot in and one foot out.  I wanted Jesus to be my Savior, but not so much my Lord.  I was afraid to follow Him.  I wasn’t sure that He could love a girl like me, a real sinner.  I tried shutting God out of my life for a time, it felt lonely and dark.  A friend I could relate to said, “If Jesus’s blood is good enough for me, if it can wash my sins away, it can do it for you too.”  On that day I believed, Jesus could love and forgive and embrace a sinner like me.  Next, I wasn’t sure I could trust Him.  I saw a fork in the road of my journey, was I going to pursue money or God.  One seemed logical and the other foolish according to how I was raised.   The verse that says “you can not have two masters” rang through my head.  I made a decision, I would rather be without and be with God than rich and empty.  I am not saying you can’t be blessed with both, but I had to choose what I would serve and give my life to.  Slowly, with one big YES to God and a lot of little Uh HUH’s later I am continuing to live my life pursuing Him.  I believe the Bible is true and it is His WORD, living and active.  I believe His grace is sufficient for me, a big sinner and I believe it’s sufficient for you too.  There is nothing you or I have done that the blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross can not wash and make white as snow.