Tips for Smart Stepmoms
Seeking advice for your blended family? Then you’ve come to the right place! Stepmothers Laura Petherbridge, Heather Hetchler and Gayla Grace talk about the challenges they’ve faced blending a family and becoming effective stepmothers. They offer their very best advice for becoming the best stepmom you can be.
Meet Series Guests
Gayla Grace
Gayla Grace serves on staff with FamilyLife Blended, a division of FamilyLife, is the founder of Stepparenting with Grace, and co-founder of Sisterhood of Stepmoms.
She is a writer, speaker, and coach on stepfamily life and is passionate about equipping blended families. She holds a master’s degree in Psychology and Counseling and is the author of Stepparenting With Grace: A Devotional for Blended Families and co-author of Quiet Moments for the Stepmom Soul and Unwrapping the Gift of Stepfamily Peace.
Gayla and her husband, Randy, have been married since 1995 in a “his, hers, and ours” family. She is the mom to three and stepmom to two young adults. Gayla and Randy are recent empty nesters and live in Conway, AR.
Twitter: @GaylaGrace
Instagram: @FamilyLifeBlended
Facebook: @FamilyLifeBlended
Website: www.familylife.com/blended
Gayla Grace serves on staff with FamilyLife Blended, a division of FamilyLife, and is passionate about equipping blended families as a writer and a speaker. She is author of Stepparenting with Grace: A Devotional for Blended Families and co-author of Quiet Moments for the Stepmom Soul. Gayla holds a master’s degree in Psychology and Counseling. She and her husband, Randy, have been married since 1995 in a “his, hers, and ours” family. She is the mom to three and stepmom to two young adults.
Heather Hetchler
Heather Hetchler, M.A. is an author, speaker, and positive thinker! She is the mom of four and the full-time stepmom of two living in the trenches with all six at home. She is a life coach for stepmothers and co-founder of the ministry Sisterhood of Stepmoms.
Heather has a passion to help stepmoms define their own positive path to success and focus on a peace filled heart rather than a perfect home. Heather brings faith based resources, encouragement and support to stepmoms while also speaking on divorce recovery, grace, forgiveness, healthy communication and remarriages in crisis.
She is the co-author of <em>Quiet Moments for the Stepmom Soul: Encouragement for the Journey</em> and <em>Unwrapping The Gift of Stepfamily Peace</em>. Heather speaks and leads workshops for stepmothers at churches, conferences and community events. She also speaks with her husband, Andy, on the topic of remarriage and blending families to stepcouple audiences.
Laura Petherbridge
Laura Petherbridge serves couples and single adults with topics on women’s issues, relationships, stepfamilies, co-parenting, single parenting, divorce prevention, and divorce recovery.
She is an international speaker and author of four books including, When “I Do” Becomes “I Don’t”—Practical Steps for Healing During Separation and Divorce, and The Smart Stepmom, co-authored with stepfamily expert Ron Deal and endorsed by Gary Chapman (Five Love Languages), 101 Tips for The Smart Stepmom—Expert Advice from One Stepmom to Another and Quiet Moments for the Stepmom Soul-a devotional.
Laura has spoken at the Billy Graham Training Center, and for Lifeway, FamilyLife, Hearts at Home, and Iron Sharpens Iron conferences. Laura is a featured expert on the DivorceCare DVD series, which has equipped more than 14,000 churches worldwide.
Laura and her husband of over 30 years, Steve, reside in Florida. She has 2 stepsons, and 2 grandchildren. Laura can be reached at LauraPethrbridge.com.