At Our Everyday Parables, we empower parents to shape their children’s faith by using everyday moments in life and literature to teach, connect, listen, and inspire.
Sometimes helping our children encounter the Lord we love is… hard, awkward, iffy. Add busy days and childhood ages, stages, and personalities, and we may find ourselves asking: “How can I make more time for faith conversations?” and “Is any of this getting through?”
We want to help you:
- instill spiritual truths in innovative ways
- foster meaningful, authentic connections
- become more aware of God’s presence as you go about your day
- recognize opportunities to start natural faith conversations
Why? Because we are trying to grow in those same ways too. Our areas of need–as parents and as humans–drive us to seek communion with God and community with others. We would love to be a small part of that community for you and for you to be part of ours. We’re so glad you’re here.
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Deuteronomy 6:5-7
Our Contributors
Valerie Ellis is a children’s book author, speaker, certified teacher, and nonprofit consultant, but nothing has challenged and energized her quite like parenting her two boys, ages 12 and nine. When she’s not reading or writing children’s books, she loves sharing about parenting and kids’ books at @iamvalerieellis. You can learn more about her books, author visits, and speaking events at valerieellis.com.
An Ohio-born, Texas-raised TCU Horned Frog, Valerie lives with husband, Josh, and their two boys in Houston. She loves live music, is obsessed with Big Bend National Park, and always has a good reason for not putting her shoes back in the closet.
Kim Fernando is an NYC career woman turned Midwestern wife and mama. She’s passionate about Jesus, His Word, and growing in discipleship and believes all of these things are also at the core of parenting.
She spends most of her days making up stories for her children’s insatiable imaginations, dreaming about her garden, soaking up every second of Michigan’s short but perfect summers, and writing about the Bible and discipleship at @hislittlebranches and hislittlebranches.com.
Karis McQuinn is a totally serious grown up. She is married to a dreamy engineer and is raising four gentlemen to be world changers. Karis has spent more than 14 years in professional children’s ministry, and the greatest joy of her life is watching her children grow into who God has created them to be–using everyday moments as proof that Grace wins.
Karis grew up in El Paso and remains a desert girl at heart. She attributes her contentment with living in Houston to the copious amounts of Tex-Mex restaurants. Among other achievements, Karis has perfected the art of Spanish rice and drives a minivan (to keep her pride in check).
Sarah Musselman spends most of her time homeschooling her three children, reading intently, cooking, and eating the things she’s cooked. She also breaks into song quite frequently. Besides her love of sharing her opinions, she possesses a slightly nerdy obsession of children’s literature (hence the very opinionated articles written by her… about children’s literature.)
Sarah graduated from “The Best University” (aka The University of Texas) with a degree in Applied Learning and Development. Then she taught in an elementary public school for five years before she had her first and best child, Madeline (who has written this bio for you to read today).
Joanna Jones spends her days homeschooling her four children. When it comes to parenting, she leans more to the crunchy side and is a firm believer in the value of barefooted adventures, getting dirty, and a good bucket of leaf soup.
A former high school teacher with a master’s in liberal arts from St. John’s College and work experience in everything from Sonic carhop to Capitol Hill, Joanna currently directs the Classical Conversations homeschool co-op in her town in Colorado. Her passions include coffee, a good book, the mountains, and spending time with her family.
Karey Klemm is a teacher to her very core, which means with or without a classroom, she can often be found creating fun, meaningful learning opportunities for the children in her life. Currently a preK-4 teacher in a Christian school, she has also taught both third and fourth grades in public school and is a certified librarian with a passion for children’s literature.
Hailing from Michigan and MSU (Go Spartans), Karey has now fully embraced the Texas heat and culture. She loves to explore cities (to find the best coffee shops) and countrysides (to find the best hikes and views) with her husband and kiddos–a son age 11 and daughter age 8.
Our Everyday Parables also benefits from the editing skills of Dian Kidd
and the graphic design skills of Andrea Moore.