The Reveal… 3 truths and 1 Lie!
One of my favorite ‘get to know you’ games is Three Truths and a Lie… which I started playing over on the home page. Here’s the reveal! [did you guess right?]
- I’ve written over 30 cookbooks – Truth!
- My first career was as a cruise ship singer – Truth!
- My first born owes me a world cruise – keep scrolling for that story!
- I’ve traveled to 5 continents and going to the other 2 is on my bucket list. – Lie!
- I’ve only been to 2 [see world cruise reference above! 😄]
- I’m an introvert. – Truth!
- Most people who meet me IRL or have seen me speak think the opposite!
About the 30 cookbooks! Before I became a successful entrepreneur, coach, author, and speaker, I was a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom of four. I had no college degree and regularly found myself deciding which groceries to put back on the shelf when my list was longer than my bank account was deep.
One day, on the brink of bankruptcy, I decided that “doing without” would not be my family’s story. That decision sparked a journey to build a multi-million-dollar business—starting at my kitchen table. With sheer determination and a “do it scared” mindset, I launched a company focused on helping families get budget-friendly meals on the table fast and easy. Along the way, I created a line of seasoning blends, recipes, and, yes, cookbooks!
Fourteen years later, after choosing the wrong investment partner, I found myself stripped of the business I had built from the ground up. Along with my company, I lost what I believed to be my value and purpose. If I wasn’t the founder of my business, who was I? What worth did I have in the world?
At this crossroad I didn’t choose, I struggled to see or appreciate what I had overcome. All I could focus on were the bad decisions and disappointing outcomes. In the years that followed, I leaned deeply into my faith, pulled up a chair to what I called a “table for two,” and engaged in honest, soul-searching conversations with God. It was there I was reminded of a profound truth:
Purpose isn’t something to chase or measure by others’ standards. When we let others define our purpose, we end up living with our hair on fire — caught in a never-ending race to meet ever-changing expectations.
Through this time of reflection, I also began to see how I had been living with my hair on fire—constantly chasing the world’s expectations while losing sight of my heart fire. I realized that an overly committed schedule full of “yeses” to everyone else’s needs and goals wasn’t a measure of success or importance—it was a recipe for burnout. So I asked myself:
What would it look like to reclaim my joy? To live a life where I woke up excited for the day instead of dreading it?
Living with our heart on fire doesn’t mean we’re any less busy—it means we’re passionate about what we’re doing! The days may still be long, but they’re fueled by the joy and purpose of seeing the results of our work and effort.
Eventually, I had the opportunity to help another founder build his national brand, sharing my experience and pouring out my expertise to help transform it from a kitchen-table idea into a multimillion-dollar corporate campus. But once again, after pouring my heart into this work, I was pushed out during a “restructuring.” I found myself at yet another crossroads I hadn’t chosen.
This time, I reflected on how much oxygen I had given to someone else’s heart fire, leaving my own heart fire neglected. I was done living with my hair on fire. It was time to fully embrace what I call heart fire living.
Today, through books, retreats, speaking, and coaching, I help others who are ready to stop living with their hair on fire. I show them how to breathe life-giving oxygen into their own heart fires so they can wake up every day excited for what lies ahead—not burned out or overwhelmed, but alive with purpose and joy.
FAMILY
So, about that world cruise…
I met my husband during a break between cruise show contracts. I had spent a year as a singer on a cruise ship, traveling across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and into parts of the Pacific—then back again. During my six-month hiatus, I met and married my husband, who (at least in theory) was on board with my plan to take three-month contracts with three-month breaks in between.
Then, just two months into our marriage, my agent called with the opportunity of a lifetime: a world cruise as the featured entertainer! That was also the day my singing career came to an abrupt end—because I answered with four unexpected words: “I can’t—I’m pregnant.”
So yes, my firstborn still owes me a world cruise 😄—so I can finally check a few more continents off my list!
Since then, I’ve raised 4 amazing children (3 boys and a girl) and now I’m enjoying the ‘Nana’ life (current count at 8!) Oh…and that’s my dad in the middle of our big family picture! After my mom passed, my husband and I moved in with him to help him walk the hard path of dementia. When your heart is on fire, even the hard can bring joy – and we wouldn’t want our path to be any different than it is.
So yes… growing with and up in this family has come with more than its fair share of hair on fire days, weeks….SEASONS! I tried to find a picture that told the ‘real’ story, but no one’s ever around saying ‘hold on…let me take a picture of this moment’ during the ‘real story’, ‘hair on fire’ days. Can I get an amen somebody!
Walking with me, raising this family and learning together to melt more into God every step of the way is a patient and empowering husband of 30 something years (don’t tell him I’m not real sure what the ‘something’ count is at this point!)
Our story definitely had some hard and ugly years in which our marriage almost didn’t survive. But when we let God guide us through the hard, the ugly and the chaotic – when healing happened and the heart fires blazed – it made every singed hair worth it!
FAITH
My first love is Jesus. He loved me before I even knew how to love Him and when I wasn’t that lovable. Without Him, my hair would always be on fire, and He is the reason I have a heart fire.
I learned along the way that when I let Jesus take me to His Father’s table every day, I’m sure to find nourishing conversations to feed my soul. It’s at His table that I discover my heart fire.
My times of great success followed by total loss and all the normal/ordinary before, after, and in between all of that, taught me that glorifying God with our heart on fire is about day to day surrender. It’s not about ‘look what I’m doing’, but ‘look what He’s doing‘.
Now that you know all about me,
I’d love to learn all about you!