speakers | Joy in the Journey

Keynote Speaker

Stef Loveland

Stef Loveland is deeply passionate about Jesus, people, and adoption. As a momma, wife, daughter, friend and counselor, Stef is grateful to pursue all three. As an adoptee herself and a mom through adoption, Stef has a heart that beats fast for leaning into adoptee stories and navigating all of the elements involved, specifically grief and loss. Stef's story has been shaped significantly by her faith, adoption, and her mom moving home to heaven in 2017. Stef and her husband West love adventuring with their son, Shepherd, daughter, Annie, and their two dogs Kamp and Boomer.

Stef began her therapy career in private practice with a focus on adolescent identity development and journeying with adoptees and their families. Currently Stef loves her job as a high school counselor in Kansas and is working on her first book, Kept. Stef holds a M.S. in Community Counseling with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from John Brown University. Additionally she holds her B.S. in Elementary Education from Pittsburg State University and spent a year studying Leadership and Bible.

Breakout Speakers

Tiffany Knowlton

Tiffany Knowlton has been a practicing Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for 25 years. She has also fostered a total of 21 children. Her 21st foster child joined the family through adoption, making a total of 3 children who bless her life today. Tiffany serves in her church’s adoption ministry and promotes foster care and adoption throughout the community. Over the last 12 years, Tiffany taught art part time in a middle school. She enjoys the quirky way middle schoolers see the world. She loves to travel to learn about God’s people and their cultures.

Karen D. Wood

Karen D. Wood is a neurotherapist with a BA in art and a Master’s degree in social work. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Central California, providing trauma training for organizations that serve at-risk populations. She is also the Program Director for Clear Thinking Solutions, a non-profit that develops materials for counseling sessions and training. Clients call her The Brain Lady. Her curriculum in trauma training for the church is currently being beta tested.

Karen grew up in a fostering and adopting home of six children of different racial backgrounds. Today, she and her husband have one biological son and one son adopted from Korea in the 1990’s. Having adopted before information on attachment and ADHD was available, their first years were extremely difficult. Understanding the brain shed light on the behaviors, and she began parenting in ways that were more effective. That experience led her to adoption education, teaching about the connection between the brain and body and trauma-informed therapy. You can catch more of her wisdom through The Brain Lady Podcast – Notes from the Couch.

Heidi Newell

Heidi is a Christ-follower, devoted wife, and grateful mother of five - four biological children and one adopted daughter. She is also a veterinarian, daughter, sister, friend, mini farmer, animal lover, care-giver, rescuer, crafter, baker, homemaker, book reader, journal writer, and survivor. Heidi says, “I try hard and let God do the rest, which is always far better than I could ever ask or imagine.”

Heidi and her husband, Mike, founded Amelia Grace Farm, a 501(c)(3) which offers a safe place for vulnerable youth ages 10-14 to find hope and healing as they bond with a rescue horse, a caring adult, and a loving God. Caregivers/parents/guardians are also able to participate in valuable trauma-informed training and fellowship with each other. Sessions focus on both family and fun, teaching life skills and modeling Christ's love, grace, and mercy in a peaceful environment with gentle animals in a small farm setting.

Danielle Friedrich

Danielle Friedrich continually clings to God's grace as she navigates this joyful chaos called life. She is a wife and mom to four children, two of whom are from Uganda. Danielle also works as an ER/Trauma RN, nursing instructor, nurse mentor, and board member for African Orphan Outreach. She loves cheering on her boys from the hockey stands and spending time traveling with her hubby and girls. Danielle finds rest by being in creation: paddle boarding, camping, hiking, and backpacking.

Jon Moffat

Jon Moffat has been educating people of all ages Internet safety for the past 18 years Since MySpace (remember them?). He has presented to 100,000's youth/parents/youth service providers over the past 18 years. His goal is to help bridge the digital knowledge gap that exists between youth and their parents. He is excited to talk about the latest challenges of parenting in the digital world, and best practices to bridge the digital divide.

Maria Hansen-Quine, LASW, MSW

Maria currently leads Unity & Belonging for Hillsong Church, works one day a week as a counselor, and spends the rest of her time writing and speaking. Maria has dedicated her life to living out Micah 6:8, working in a variety of settings as a therapist, school counselor, social worker and director; and volunteering in a variety of leadership roles with the local church and nonprofits as board member, volunteer, mentor, speaker, educator, and ministry leader.

Alongside her husband, Sam, who has an incredible adoption story, they have 9 precious jewels, 2 biological and 7 adopted; as well as two adorable grandsons and one son in law. Maria's passions are deeply personal because of her beautifully God created family. They have both a multi-racial and multi-ethnic family, with five different races and seven different ethnicities/cultures represented. As adoptive parents and former foster parents, trauma interfaces their every day.

In addition, their precious jewels have many varying special needs and mental health needs. Their big and small million little stories are testament to the best stories God writes. Maria is a huge TBRI/trauma parent advocate and became trained by TCU in 2008 and in 2022 she received a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Certificate through Cornell University. Maria has a Masters in Social Work from Rutgers University and a Bachelors in Psychology from Trinity Western University. www.mariahansenquine.com

Lindsey Wilson & SarahBeth Sherreit

Lindsey and SarahBeth are both involved in Encounter Praise, a worship collective from Newbury Park First Christian Church in Southern California. Their hearts are to serve the local and global church by leading them to encounter God through the vehicle of music.

Lindsey Wilson has led worship alongside her husband for more than 15 years. She lives in Thousand Oaks, CA, with her husband, Peter, and three children, Brayden, Blake, and Emma.

Over the past 15 years, SarahBeth Sherreitt has led worship at all sorts of camps, schools, and churches, as well as Orange County Fishfest. She has produced two children's albums, Shout Out and Faith in Motion, which are available on iTunes. She lives in Thousand Oaks, CA, with her husband, Tim, and three young kids, Caleb, Micah, and Lydia.