While she might tell you that being a wife and mom is her greatest joy in
life, Renee has found many ways to spread her joy around to others. With training
in speech therapy, Renee has tutored many students out of their home. Many
parents and schools have been very impressed with the progress students with
speech and reading needs have made with Renee's help. She has helped a number
of kids to advance multiple reading levels in rather short periods of time,
which has made students, parents and teachers alike very happy!
Renee also loves to help adults! After a C-Section birth with their
first child, a friend offered to be their "Doula" for the birth
of their second child. Renee loved the experience so much that she trained
to become a doula ("doula" is the feminine Greek term for servant)
soon after the birth of Noah. She has already been able to be an encouragement
and a help to women & couples as they experience the joy of childbirth.
Renee is now excited to have moved cross-country with her family to Portland,
Oregon as she & Steve came to lead an exciting new church in the Orenco
Station area of Hillsboro in Portland, Oregon called Our Place - Your Christian
Church. She loves her friends & family in Indianapolis. But God is providing
her with friends & family in this new Portland adventure, too. Renee directed
the founding of the children's ministries for the new church. When she was
pregnant with little Grace and became quite ill, she had to hand that off
to other capable hands.
After almost losing Grace in the delivery, Renee treasures her kids and the time they spend together as a family! She also loves to write, spend time with friends, pray for people, help others, and even study! Since she has been in Portland, she has taken some courses at Portland State University. Within only a year, she has been selected as one of the 20 from among 120 applicants to enter into the master's program at PSU in speech therapy and has begun her program in September 2003!
She has also been asked to teach women of Our Place in the riches of God's Word. She is looking forward to this coming year with a real gleam in her eye. She's found a simple joy in life that's from God and she loves spreading that joy around her wherever she does...even if she isn't wearing a queen's tierra or a dancer's tutu!
