A Brief Personal History
I grew up in Port Angeles, Washington, a small town in the northwest corner of the state. I have two sisters, Sarah, a teacher who lives in Olympia with her husband and two daughters; and Kristina, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who lives in Portland. My parents were each other's college sweethearts and are still married; my mom works at Macy's Furniture Gallery and my dad is an architect working in California, Nevada and Washington, and they both live in Olympia. I come from a big family on both sides both with strong roots in the Pacific Northwest - mill workers and fishermen on my dad's side, and loggers on my mom's.
I went to college at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, where I received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with a minor in English Literature. After undergraduate work, I went right on to graduate school in Boulder, where I received a Master of Arts in Theatre Arts.
In the theatre, I worked primarily as a dramaturg, which you might think of as the midwife to the play and all its supporting artists. The dramaturg companions the community of artists, bearing witness to their creative process, asking challenging questions and providing information related to the world of the play, and reflecting back to them the story as it was unfolding. Perhaps it goes without saying that another fitting analogy for the dramaturg, might also be the minister.
From a young age, I have always had a sense of call to ministry, affirmed both internally and externally. I was asked to offer the homily at my baccalaureate; I led my peers in discovering our core values at our middle school retreat - these sorts of experiences fill my childhood and youth. And though I left Catholicism in college, theatre offered me a new kind of communion, one I imagined could truly bridge differences and heal the world.
Still, it was not until I found Unitarian Universalism that I truly considered the possibility of entering ordained ministry. My partner Carri and I walked into the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder in early 2000, in the midst of a challenging time. I had come out to my parents, and they were struggling. We felt alone and confused. Additionally, my time at CU had left me feeling unsure that professional theatre could offer me the kind of transformative opportunities I had envisioned as an undergraduate. In this wilderness, Unitarian Universalism became an important way Carri and I found healing and support both individually and as a couple.
In the context of this re-construction, it is not surprising that in the second worship service we ever attended at UUCB, I leaned over to Carri and said, “I’m going to do that someday,” pointing to the minister. Without hesitation, she agreed. It was the clearest I had ever been about my path, even though it took me another seven years to act on that clarity.
In the meantime, I had some growing to do. I was working a temporary job putting together bids when the owners of the company asked if I wanted to start an in-home care business. I jumped at the chance to make such a wild departure. The owners acted as advisors to me, but the creation and building of this business was in my hands. As the only employee, I learned the details of every aspect of running a business in the early years; as the organization grew, I learned how to articulate a vision for where we were headed and to keep people excited and involved as our business changed – which it did quickly and often.
Nearly six years later we were serving 700 elderly and disabled consumers across three states, and as Director of Operations, I oversaw an organization employing in the range of 1200 people. As the organization began to stabilize, I asked myself about the underlying purpose of my life. Which is to say, I was turning 30, and I knew running a business – even a successful one – was not my life’s work. And yet, that same year, Carri and I became moms to our daughter Gracie Ella, who was born in the fall of 2005 – and so I was more aware than ever what a risk it would be to forsake the security of my job.
Ultimately, however, my daughter not only caused my hesitancy, but also helped me overcome it. Our family was created through a high legal risk foster-adoptive process. The risk of loving Gracie before we knew if she would get to stay, taught me how important it is to say yes to life’s gifts, even when you are not clear how they will turn out; to say yes to love, even though you can’t know for sure the outcome. These lessons of grace (which I came to understand by that label long after we had chosen our daughter’s name), spurred me to take the leap of faith required to enter seminary in the fall of 2007.
Of course, these life lessons are ongoing. In the spring of 2008, we received a call that Gracie Ella’s birth mom had given birth to another baby, a boy, just a couple days before. They asked if we were interested in another foster adoptive process. A few days later, we picked up our son, Josef, from the hospital. Josef, who is named in part for the compassionate, wise leader of Genesis, taught us all over again about risk, about faith, and about grace.
Seminary was a great experience, one that clarified and solidified my sense of call to parish ministry. I loved my classes, especially (and somewhat surprisingly) Hebrew Bible and Theology. My first year, I received a fellowship through the Fund for Theological Education that introduced me to a peer group of seminarians from other traditions as well as ministerial mentors across the country. Also my fellowship supported my research into cultivating spiritual depth in congregational life, an ongoing focus for me in my ministry. My third year, I acted as the full time ministerial intern at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, which was entering its second year of a five year developmental/consulting ministry.
At UUCB, I had the opportunity to preach and lead worship often, teach multiple adult faith development classes, and also to act as the coordinator of young adult ministry as well as the Campus Minister for the University of Colorado, Boulder. My experiences at UUCB set a strong foundation for my consulting ministry at Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist, which I began for the first year in collaboration with Rev. Robert Latham in August 2010, and continued on my own through June of 2012.
The congregation where I experienced my first sense of call to Unitarian Universalist ministry, and the church where I returned to serve my internship - the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder - ordained me to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in January 2012.
I grew up in Port Angeles, Washington, a small town in the northwest corner of the state. I have two sisters, Sarah, a teacher who lives in Olympia with her husband and two daughters; and Kristina, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who lives in Portland. My parents were each other's college sweethearts and are still married; my mom works at Macy's Furniture Gallery and my dad is an architect working in California, Nevada and Washington, and they both live in Olympia. I come from a big family on both sides both with strong roots in the Pacific Northwest - mill workers and fishermen on my dad's side, and loggers on my mom's.
I went to college at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, where I received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with a minor in English Literature. After undergraduate work, I went right on to graduate school in Boulder, where I received a Master of Arts in Theatre Arts.
In the theatre, I worked primarily as a dramaturg, which you might think of as the midwife to the play and all its supporting artists. The dramaturg companions the community of artists, bearing witness to their creative process, asking challenging questions and providing information related to the world of the play, and reflecting back to them the story as it was unfolding. Perhaps it goes without saying that another fitting analogy for the dramaturg, might also be the minister.
From a young age, I have always had a sense of call to ministry, affirmed both internally and externally. I was asked to offer the homily at my baccalaureate; I led my peers in discovering our core values at our middle school retreat - these sorts of experiences fill my childhood and youth. And though I left Catholicism in college, theatre offered me a new kind of communion, one I imagined could truly bridge differences and heal the world.
Still, it was not until I found Unitarian Universalism that I truly considered the possibility of entering ordained ministry. My partner Carri and I walked into the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder in early 2000, in the midst of a challenging time. I had come out to my parents, and they were struggling. We felt alone and confused. Additionally, my time at CU had left me feeling unsure that professional theatre could offer me the kind of transformative opportunities I had envisioned as an undergraduate. In this wilderness, Unitarian Universalism became an important way Carri and I found healing and support both individually and as a couple.
In the context of this re-construction, it is not surprising that in the second worship service we ever attended at UUCB, I leaned over to Carri and said, “I’m going to do that someday,” pointing to the minister. Without hesitation, she agreed. It was the clearest I had ever been about my path, even though it took me another seven years to act on that clarity.
In the meantime, I had some growing to do. I was working a temporary job putting together bids when the owners of the company asked if I wanted to start an in-home care business. I jumped at the chance to make such a wild departure. The owners acted as advisors to me, but the creation and building of this business was in my hands. As the only employee, I learned the details of every aspect of running a business in the early years; as the organization grew, I learned how to articulate a vision for where we were headed and to keep people excited and involved as our business changed – which it did quickly and often.
Nearly six years later we were serving 700 elderly and disabled consumers across three states, and as Director of Operations, I oversaw an organization employing in the range of 1200 people. As the organization began to stabilize, I asked myself about the underlying purpose of my life. Which is to say, I was turning 30, and I knew running a business – even a successful one – was not my life’s work. And yet, that same year, Carri and I became moms to our daughter Gracie Ella, who was born in the fall of 2005 – and so I was more aware than ever what a risk it would be to forsake the security of my job.
Ultimately, however, my daughter not only caused my hesitancy, but also helped me overcome it. Our family was created through a high legal risk foster-adoptive process. The risk of loving Gracie before we knew if she would get to stay, taught me how important it is to say yes to life’s gifts, even when you are not clear how they will turn out; to say yes to love, even though you can’t know for sure the outcome. These lessons of grace (which I came to understand by that label long after we had chosen our daughter’s name), spurred me to take the leap of faith required to enter seminary in the fall of 2007.
Of course, these life lessons are ongoing. In the spring of 2008, we received a call that Gracie Ella’s birth mom had given birth to another baby, a boy, just a couple days before. They asked if we were interested in another foster adoptive process. A few days later, we picked up our son, Josef, from the hospital. Josef, who is named in part for the compassionate, wise leader of Genesis, taught us all over again about risk, about faith, and about grace.
Seminary was a great experience, one that clarified and solidified my sense of call to parish ministry. I loved my classes, especially (and somewhat surprisingly) Hebrew Bible and Theology. My first year, I received a fellowship through the Fund for Theological Education that introduced me to a peer group of seminarians from other traditions as well as ministerial mentors across the country. Also my fellowship supported my research into cultivating spiritual depth in congregational life, an ongoing focus for me in my ministry. My third year, I acted as the full time ministerial intern at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, which was entering its second year of a five year developmental/consulting ministry.
At UUCB, I had the opportunity to preach and lead worship often, teach multiple adult faith development classes, and also to act as the coordinator of young adult ministry as well as the Campus Minister for the University of Colorado, Boulder. My experiences at UUCB set a strong foundation for my consulting ministry at Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist, which I began for the first year in collaboration with Rev. Robert Latham in August 2010, and continued on my own through June of 2012.
The congregation where I experienced my first sense of call to Unitarian Universalist ministry, and the church where I returned to serve my internship - the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder - ordained me to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in January 2012.
Home & Family
I moved to Colorado in 1997 for graduate school at CU Boulder and to be near my friend and theatre collaborator. My partner Carri and I have lived in Denver since 2000. People often ask me if I miss the ocean, but I fell in love with the Rockies and the big sky, and the bright sun, and I hope I never have to leave.
Carri is a social worker, and oversees the Older Adults and Caregiver Services program of Lutheran Family Services. She and I have been together since 1999, and had a non-legal ceremony in 2002, and happily celebrated our legal civil union in May 2013, on the 11th anniversary of our original ceremony. Our children, Gracie Ella (8) and Josef (6) attend second grade and kindergarten at Bill Roberts in the Denver Stapleton neighborhood. Gracie loves reading, music and dancing, has a great eye for fashion, and has art supplies stashed in every room (and the car) so she can always seize her constant inspiration. Josef loves basketball, football, soccer and baseball...and many other sports that he has yet to discover; he also loves hip hop and has a total obsession with stuffed animals. Together our family loves to go on walks and runs with our dog, Nina; we love playing at the park and jumping on trampolines and riding our razors. We love making cannonballs and doing somersaults into the pool, playing board games, and going to the movies. We never leave the library with fewer than 20 books, and we are always looking for new and fun restaurants as the kids are very adventurous eaters. Most of all we love to share good meals, stories and laughter with our friends and family. We are looking forward to moving to Fort Collins in the summer of 2014, once the call process has been completed. Carri has an office in Fort Collins, and so anticipates being able to stay with her organization. |
Interests
I love church life and learning and reading about and doing ministry. However....outside of church and the ministry, here are a few of my favorite things:
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