About The Author

     

~JOY BUDENSIEK~

Joy has been happily married for over 50 years to John Budensiek and is the mother of three children- Julie, John Jr. and James. Bart Thompson, Ada Duren and Jayme Horning joined the family through marriage. John and Joy are the grandparents to eight lively and delightful grandkids.


Joy graduated from Brownsville Area High School in 1971. She obtained an AA in Business from Penn Commercial Business College, a BS in Education and BA in Counseling from Hobe Sound Bible College, as well as a MA in Ministry from Moody Graduate School.

Teaching has been her passion for many years. She has served as the Chairperson of Intercultural Studies
at Hobe Sound Bible College, and just recently retired after 44 wonderful years in the classroom. She was co-founder of Touching Lives for Christ, a summer short-term missionary ministry of Hobe Sound Bible Church. She served as the director for several years, and has personally taken many teams and traveled to dozens of countries. Weekends will often find John and Joy traveling to various churches and conferences where she shares her adoption story or introduces her new books. Taking pictures for these books has become a mutual hobby. Two favorite missionary quotes she often shared with her students are~

“Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God, by Jim Elliott. Another favorite is by Sir Winfred Grenfell, missionary to her own beloved Newfoundland. “When two courses are open, take the more adventuresome one.” Although enjoying “retirement years” John and Joy love their new freedom to travel. Meeting new friends and keeping those lifelong friendships alive. Summers spent at their Pennsylvania cabin have been the “icing on the cake!”