A prodigal, sort of... 24 years ago, I left my home and family in South Dakota, to go on the proverbial big adventure. I took the scenic route, and was blessed at every turn. I earned an MA in Theology at Franciscan University, and then worked on staff there for eight years. Then I went to Austria for a missionary year, and then to Ireland, where more doors for mission opened. I earned a PhD and helped start an ecumenical Christian radio station. I managed to make it to India twice before coming back to the USA in 2013. I went to work on the New Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, where I stayed until April 2018. Sometime around life's midpoint, I began to feel dissipated. I felt a growing desire for a more contemplative life. I wanted more time to pray and to write, to be less sedentary, and to have a way of life that would enable others to encounter Christ. The answer to this desire, it turned out, was in going home to my roots--literally. In May of 2018, I became the Director of the Sioux Spiritual Center, a small Catholic retreat center in the Diocese of Rapid City. Tucked into a nook in the Cheyenne River Breaks, it is well off the beaten path, in arguably one of the loveliest places in the world. The Lakota name for the Sioux Spiritual Center is "Mahpiya na Maka Okoigna": The Place Where Heaven Meets Earth. Or as the Irish might say--a place where the veil is thin. Who could lead the enterprise who would not be intimidated by 13 miles of gravel road? Enter me, who knew that road very well! I am a Catholic laywoman, fascinated with the mystery of Christian discipleship. I am a new evangelization junkie, a scholar, a writer, a speaker, a mentor, a spiritual director, and a lover of God. I'm glad to be home. But I haven't forgotten you, world! This is my way of keeping in touch.