It seems to me that I’ve spent the past four or five years trying to figure out just who I am and what I ought to be doing. It may seem strange that a woman who is now kindly referred to as “mature” would be wrestling with her identity, but after spending 27 years raising three sons and looking ahead to my nest being completely empty by the end of August…maybe it’s not so strange after all.

This journey to finding myself began at the local community college. Though I’d entered the Early Childhood Education and Care program to strengthen my skills as a volunteer preschool teacher, it was my writing abilities that soon gained the interest of my professors.

My professors’ enjoyed reading what I wrote, and I wound up working in the Writing and Reading Assistance Area as a writing coach. Several professors nominated my work for publication in Essai: The College of DuPage Anthology of Academic Writing Across the Curriculum. I won the nominations and have work published in two volumes. I also won the prestigious Carter D. Carroll Excellence in History Award for a paper on the decline of the Roman Empire.

After graduating with an associate’s degree in ECE, I found my skills easily marketed, but I soon came to the conclusion that working in the business of center-based daycare holds no appeal for me. An opportunity opened for writing, and I seized it!

Currently, I work as a contributing editor for Christianity Today International.  My contributions include on-line resources under various media groups including Today’s Christian Women, Christian Parenting Today, Your Church: Safety Alerts,  and Gifted for Leadership . I’ve also written articles for the monthly newsletter,  Church Office Today. Currently, I’m working on new downloadable resources for Round-Trip Missions.com.

I hope to continue finding ways to support the Christian community through writing. Let me know if I can be of service, won’t you?

 Karen lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with Dennis (husband), two cats (Jasper & Goliath), a lovebird (Squeaky-Bird) and sometimes her college-aged sons, Bryan and Casey.  Jason (son) is married to Kaydi. In February, Karen became the proud grandma of Ruthie.