About Tammy

What does it look like to live a life you didn't expect? How can a person deal with the twists and turns that come from decisions made and circumstances beyond our control? How can we make the most of the complex things we face to help others meet their own hard things and feel less alone?

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I write and speak mainly about HOPE and being a #hopelesshoper, which means that no matter how hard I try, how low it gets, and what life brings, I end up hoping, often even when I don't want to. Hope pours out of gratitude, the hard-fought, practiced kind that comes from digging deep to make sense of loss, disappointment, and the lessons learned. That hope? It fuels just enough to have the strength to gather courage for each day.

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​I'm a Kansas Farmgirl, married to my Alberta Farmboy, living and working from home base in Central Alberta, Canada. We are both ordained elders, bi-vocational, and always searching for creative ways to live out our callings as pastors and parents while raising teenagers and chickens. We didn't plan on being farmers. Nope. We thought we'd retire as pastors of a local church, leading and loving the people God sent us to. But we're here, making a life out of all the stuff we didn't see coming and doing the best we can. ​

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My story includes many twists and turns, including the single life, adoption, and infertility, living with chronic & hidden illness, and learning compassion and connection through parenting and loving those with neurodiversity who have also experienced trauma. These firsthand experiences with the people I love have changed me and are more valuable than any education or career experience. It's from making life at the places we never thought we'd be - that is where transformation comes. And once you've been there, you can't go back. And all you can do is share it and hope others are helped somehow.

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I want to acknowledge that this writer and her family work and live on Treaty 6 territory, a traditional meeting grounds, gathering place, and traveling route to the Cree, Saulteaux (So-toe), Blackfoot, Métis, Dene (De-nay), and Nakota Sioux (Sue). We acknowledge all the many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for centuries.