A Home That Heals
Life on Barefoot Bluff
A Home That Heals is a blog and podcast journey taking place on Barefoot Bluff, a small rural therapy farm in the making. Two parents, two grandparents, four kiddos, and a growing menagerie of animals live here. We are slowly but surely turning our dusty, goat head infested acreage into a place where children can run barefoot and free, enjoying the many gifts God provides to help heal mental and physical challenges.
​
We’ve got our share of diagnoses with no easy or certain cures, BUT we’ve got a loving God who is teaching us about hope through the struggle, joy on the journey, and blessings even greater than the healing we long to see. We’ll share our ups and downs, wins and losses, practical tips and expert advice, and most important how we’re learning that God’s work in our hearts and plan for our lives is the only way toward a home that heals.
With him ….there’s gotta be a way …
Dee
God saved the best for last! That could be my motto. I’m grandma to four rambunctious, adorable kids, mom and mom-in-law to three amazing and accomplished adults, wife to my high school sweet heart (that’s saying something because we’ve been loving each other for over 50 years), and daughter to my strong yet gentle 87 year old mom. I had a blessed 40 year career as a broadcast journalist and now I teach Life Skills and Career Studies to high school students part time. And of course, I’m venturing into the blogging and podcasting world with my lovely daughter, Brie.
This will make a lot of grandparents jealous, and I’m sorry, but probably one of the best things about my life on Barefoot Bluff is that my grandbabies live just a short jaunt down the lane and it’s a well worn path! Beyond time with the loves of my life, I enjoy playing the piano and dreaming that one day I’ll be able to play really well, abstract painting and dreaming that one day I’ll be able to paint really well, and having farm animals and dreaming that one day I’ll have farm animals again.
Finally, but most important of all, I’m a follower of Jesus and can’t imagine life without knowing the giver of all good gifts and the forgiver of all my sins. Life with Him makes every day an adventure!
Want to know what’s really hard? Writing a few lines about yourself for a website. But here goes. I’d like you to know that first and foremost I’m a child of God, not because of anything special I’ve done, but because of what Jesus did and continues to do. An old hymn quotes a favorite Bible verse - “His mercies (love in action) are new every morning”. Boy, do I ever know that.
I’m married to a solid, supportive and loving man. Our home is filled with laughter, tears, and the pitter-patter (okay, who am I kidding … the elephant stampede) of four beautiful children.
​
A few of my favorite things include music blaring and spontaneous dance parties, having an animal or two nearby at all times, and late night conversations with those I love. I’m an incurable optimist so now I spend a lot of time planning the future of Barefoot Bluff, our plot of land now growing a healthy crop of weeds, but just you wait! My favorite days are those with nothing on the calendar but lifelong memories to write in my diary.
Finally, I don’t have life all figured out and probably never will this side of heaven. I fail daily as a wife and mom, but I stay on my knees asking that God’s perfect love will cover my multitude of sins and give me something worthwhile to share with a friend who might need a word of encouragement along the way. My motto when things get hard as they often do - There’s gotta be a way!
