Hi! I am Deborah. I have been married to the same man for 37 years. We have a son and a daughter who are making their way as adults. My husband, Dennis, and I own Studio 101 West Photography & Design in Atascadero, California. I am a graphic designer and he is a photographer. I spent 10 years homeschooling my two kids and a lot of my friends’ kids along the way. I love teaching and being with children, so much so that I find myself borrowing kids just to have some around me.
I currently work as a graphic designer, artist, art teacher, author, and Young Adult Life ministry leader. I am an artist with a passion for painting and writing. In 2012 I published my first book called Drawing on History which is a high school level, interactive Art History curriculum. This three-year writing adventure is a lifetime dream of mine and is now being sold in stores throughout the U.S.
When I am not working or teaching, I especially enjoy spending time with good friends, which always seems to involve good food, riotous conversations, and tears streaming down my cheeks from strained, joyous laughter. It only gets better when we can combine good friends and family while Hobie Cat sailing on Huntington Lake in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. I love to sail and have done so since I was in high school. My husband and I each have our own boats because he sails aggressively and technically while I prefer to sail like a girl with an artistic flare. Most of my girlfriends think I am a bit nuts, but that notion flies out with the wind when I take them out on MY boat for a leisurely sail.
Out of all the places and things that I could set my identity on, I am most proud of the fact that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a Christian. I know that without Christ and a deep personal relationship with Him, I would amount to nothing and my marriage would certainly have ended years ago. I know without a doubt that it is ONLY by God’s grace that I have the husband I do and the marriage I do. I fully believe the verse in I John 4:4…greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. I don’t have the marriage I do because I got “lucky” or because I knew how to pick the right man. My marriage is not good because I am a good person or my husband is a good person. It is good because we’ve allowed the GOD of the universe to be at the center of our marriage and to change our hearts so that we can love each other the way HE intended.