Laura Moss - JOY Blog Coordinator

Laura Moss is beyond grateful to be able to say she has survived being Mom to 4 spirited girls, a battle with agressive breast cancer, and some difficult seasons in her almost-25-year marriage. She calls herself a Creative, is drawn to beauty in all its forms, and loves loving on people. You can find more of her musings at gratefulamazement.wordpress.com.

Posts by Laura

Kaci Bower - JOY Blog Editor#

Kaci Bower is the founder of Letters from a Tooth Fairy, a creative collaboration with her father. When not recording the conversations with the tooth fairies in her head, she plots out content marketing strategies, runs after (and sometimes away from) her two daughers, and wishes that her house would just stay clean. After particularly long days, her favorite thing to do is to crash on the couch with her husband and watch their favorite TV shows.

Two of Kaci's favorite quotes are "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." (Saint Augustine) and "A bad day for your ego is a great day for your soul." (Jillian Michaels).

Posts by Kaci

Fran Dwelle

Fran Dwelle is the Founder of JOY. Prior to moving to Bismarck in 1997, she and her husband were missionaries in eastern Europe where she founded JOY in Vienna, Austria. 

Fran loves God and life and cherishes each day. She enjoys helping women fulfill their purpose and discover their gifts and strengths. In her spare time she enjoys playing piano, reading, cooking Italian, walking, or having coffee with a friend.

Posts by Fran

Sheila Heiser 

Sheila is a writer who loves to spur women on to believe what God says about them. In her musings, blogs, and poetry, she loves to get to the heart of the matter using examples in her life as a married woman who married again in her 40's, completed nursing school in her 40's and had twin daughters in her 40's.  She is a woman that believes that age should never hold us back from doing what God is calling us to do.

Posts by Sheila

Heather Brostrom

Heather Brostrom is a wife to Jason and stay-at-home mom to two sons: Benjamin and Josiah. 

Heather has been a Christian since she was a teenager. She enjoys ministering and wants to be used of the Lord to touch and inspire others. She has suffered with depression for all of her adult life and wonders if some day she will have a unique opportunity to share her story of hope and perseverance. She heartily believes that Jesus has been good to her, showing her that life can still be blessed even through adversity and trials.

Posts by Heather

Cari Bousfield

Cari Bousfield is a freelance writer and blogger who has a degree in journalism from North Dakota State University. She has been married to her husband Rob for 12 years. Together they are raising Faith, their amazing 10-year-old daughter.

Besides blogging for JOY, Cari blogs at Faith's Mom's Blog and Write On! She is also writing her first book, Having Faith, to be published in 2014. Cari has a strong desire to help people connect with one another and to God. She prays that through her writing, she can reach the hearts of others and help to bring hope, inspiration and courage to "walk by faith not by sight".

Royann Bold

Royann has lived in North Dakota her whole life and is a prairie girl at heart. Recently moving to a new home north of Bismarck, blessings of beautiful sunsets and the meadowlark calling are now a daily part of her life. She also recently retired from the 8 to 5 grind, and is awash in pursuing her interests of writing, reading, volunteering and lifelong learning. She thoroughly is enjoying her free time to participate in Bible and book studies.

Royann and her husband are empty nesters, having seen their three sons take flight to three different states, which brings many travel opportunities. She is also thrilled at the blessing of becoming a new grandmother. 

In her posts for the JOY Blog, Royann draws on her life experiences as a friend, wife, daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, worker, leader and spiritual seeker.

Posts by Royann

Kate Bommarito# 

Kate Bommarito has served with mission agencies for more than twenty years, developing leaders for effective ministry. She holds an M.A. Intercultural Studies from Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, CA, and a B.A. in International Economics from Goucher College, Baltimore, MD. After serving as a missionary team leader for ten years in Budapest, Hungary, Kate, her husband and their two sons, moved to Bismarck, ND in December 2003.

She loves skiing, gardening, hanging out with her teenage sons, and, of course, writing. More than anything, Kate's desire is to build authentic relationships that help others find their joy in life!

Posts by Kate

Susan Jacobson 

Susan is a newly 60 year old female who presently resides in Bismarck ND. There is only so much Spider Solitaire a woman can play before thinking, "Hmm, what else can I do before I die?"  From this arose her interest in blogging as a way to share with other women and praise God. 

Susan was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1953, sans ear canals or ear drums, and spent most of her childhood there. Her mother was the secretary of the Peace Corps payroll, and her father was an auditor with the U.S. Navy. When Susan's mother passed away from cancer at age 38, her father, who suffered from bipolar disorder, sent Susan to live with her grandparents on a dairy farm in Minnesota.

Susan completed high school and vocational school (accounting and computer operations) in Minnesota. She eventually met her sweetie from North Dakota, married, had two babies and traveled extensively. She's lived in Australia, Central America and South America. Her daughter has a doctorate in Social Psychology and lives in Leipzig, Germany. Her son lives at home and is writing a book.

Susan went back to college late in life and earned a Masters in Social Work in 2005. She is employed as an Instructional Aide with Bismarck Public Schools. 

A year ago her husband sent her to England to get implants for bone anchored hearing aids. She now says, "Every day is like Christmas morning as I can hear better than I have heard in my whole life."

Posts by Susan

Cindy Mastel 

Cindy has a passion for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others and encouraging others in their walk of faith. She also has a heart for helping others who are hurting.  

When not working with developmentally disabled adults, Cindy enjoys meeting friends over coffee and spending times with her two beautiful nephews, Noah and Jonah, who have grown up way too fast.She also loves to read a good book, write, or just relax. 

Cindy lives in Bismarck, ND and has chosen to stay single at this point. She considers herself "married to God." She has been on a journey this year to learn more about who God is and has been memorizing scripture to help her on that quest. She has found this to be a "rich" experience and recommends  that others try this.

Cindy looks forward to using her gift of writing to "spur one another along" as we walk this journey of faith together and learn from one another what it is that God wants to teach us.

Posts by Cindy

Kristy Rose

Kristy Rose is a Gen X homeschooling mom who sells Avon to support her writing habit. She grew up in a Christian home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2006, God transplanted her to North Dakota, where she lives with her husband, son, daughter and 3-pound poodle. Moving to the state her great-grandparents homesteaded in 1903 and the ensuing adventures on the prairie have deepened her faith and given her a heart-felt understanding of God's amazing mercy and grace.

Kristy is fulfilling a childhood dream of being a writer and a speaker and hopes her words encourage, edify and inspire you. You can get her take on pretty much everything at throughrosecoloredglasses.weebly.com. 

Posts by Kristy

Betty Marschner

Betty Marschner is a retired housewife who has lived her entire life in rural North Dakota. She, together with her husband and two sons, farms and ranches in central North Dakota. Two of her children were classified as special needs children, and a son is a long-term survivor of childhood leukemia.

Betty draws on her unique experiences in life to reach others with the promise of God's divine providence in the face of uncertain and difficult circumstances in life. A strong advocate of neighborhood Bible study, Betty has facilitated women's groups as well as taught Sunday School for many years. She has received both state and national recognition with some of her writings.

Betty once worked as a medical lab technician and was a reservation agent for a leading hotel chain. She is an avid reader, loves to garden each summer, and also raises and shows Morgan horses. As a family, they enjoy trail riding in the Badlands each summer and giving sleigh rides each Christmas season to others in a local community.

Betty claims many verses of Philippians 4 as key verses in her life. Verse 13, in particular, has special significance to her:  "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (NASB)