I know my picture isn’t some polished, airbrushed headshot. I’ve got gray hair, a few bald spots, I take bathroom selfies, and I smile way too energetically to somehow prove I’m okay today. And honestly? That feels more like me, because life is messy, parenting is messy, and I refuse to pretend otherwise.

My name is Jennifer, the founder of The Messy Middle. I’m a mother of many, a grandmother of several, and now my own mom lives with me. If there is a way to blend a family, I’ve probably done it, through marriage, divorce, foster care, adoption, remarriage, and taking in young adults who needed a home. And I think at this point I’ve earned my nap. I didn’t just wake up one day thinking, “You know what? I’ll become a social worker so I can change the world.” Nope. What actually happened is I stumbled (and sometimes crawled) my way here. Along the way, I learned that real transformation doesn’t come from perfect plans or shiny how-to manuals (though if it did, I’d be unstoppable, because telling people what to do is the easy part). No, the real growth happens in the middle of the spectrum — the messy middle — where you set the bar high and still find grace when you trip over it.

And here’s the best part: I’m not here to shout instructions from a pedestal. I’m here to walk with you at ground level. Whether you’re raising littles, wrangling teens, blending families, fostering, adopting, or even figuring out how to parent your own parents — I’m with you. You don’t have to start at some magical “right time.” You just have to start.

When you begin to shift — even in the smallest ways — your family shifts too. And those ripples? They add up. That’s how we change the world: not alone, but together. One messy, magical, bathroom-selfie kind of step at a time.