About Me

Hi!

I’m Debbi! I’m an energeric Mommy to four wonderful daughters, ages ranging from the great preteen year of 12 to a 5 year old, and I’m a wife of 17 years to my adoring husband, Jon.

Education and Experience

I graduated from Martin Luther College with a bachelor’s degree in teaching. I was hoping to teach first grade anywhere in the U.S. and found myself teaching Composition and Literature to high school juniors and seniors at Northland Lutheran High School in the middle of Wisconsin. It was a one year position while my husband was on a one year pastoral internship. The next position I took was teaching reading to inner city students at Hope Christian School in Milwaukee, WI while my husband finished his last year at the seminary. Jon graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and his assignment moved us to the beautiful state of Florida where I became a first grade teacher at South Olive Elementary in the public school system.

After teaching in Florida for three years, we decided to start our own family and thankfully God blessed us with a baby girl! We named her Violet, now 12 years old! Sixteen months later we had another baby girl, Lydia, now 10 years old! Another two and a half years passed and God gave us another baby girl named Eden, now 8 years old! Through these early years of raising our girls, I continued to substitute teach in the public school system.

When Eden was 2, Jon and I prayed about having a fourth child and our efforts were denied for 6 months. We started questioning our decision to expand our family. Waiting was hard, (and I know many people wait much longer!) but we finally found out we were pregnant again! This time, with twins! Imagine that surprise! We were thrilled and humbled and scared and amazed at God’s timing!

Loss of a Child

The LORD gives and the LORD takes away. One twin, our son, became ill and died in utero. Meanwhile our fiesty baby girl twin continued to grow and survived a premature birth at 32 weeks. Her name is Maggie, now 5 years old! Her brother, who lives with Jesus now, is named Martin Jonathan. (We call him M.J.)

During the pain of losing a child and raising our four daughters, I continued to work. I had found great pleasure in working at a home schooling firm, The Academic Link, working one-on-one with students who were behind in various subjects in school. This school has since changed administration and its name to Bridges Christian Learning Center. It’s a top notch school with teachers who really care about their students!

Relocating our Family

Recently, my husband’s job relocated him to be a campus pastor teaching Religion to high school seniors at St Croix Lutheran Academy and to the cold state of Minnesota where my Florida-raised family has had to adjust to winter life! It’s been a hard transition for all of us trying to find our new place in this culture as we settle into new friendships and volunteer positions at our local church.

What’s Next?

I’ve been a working stay-at-home-mom for twelve years! It terrifies me to think of what I should do in the next chapter of my life when Maggie goes to kindergarten in the fall! What job do I jump into? Where do I fit? Where can I make the biggest impact for the betterment of God’s Kingdom?

In the Bible, “Go” is used more times than “stay”. But what kind of work is He telling me to “go” and do? HIS work… Telling others about Him and His love, His Grace. So when I think about going back to work, I want my “Go” to be productive! My “Go” must be for the Lord. My Lord has given me so much grace and I feel His calling is no longer in the classroom. My “Go” is to write and share with YOU just how great and wonderful my Lord is so you can see that He is your LORD too!

I’m Here for You!

I will share God’s Word with you. I want to share my insights and advice from experiences I’ve been through, good and bad. I’m here to encourage you to get through the tough times and celebrate the good times with you! I want you to see the Blessings Thru The Stressings!

I can’t wait to meet you!

Debbi