Kendra Broekhuis is an author who lives in the city of Milwaukee. For her day job, she stays home with four of her children and drives them from one place to another in her minivan. She’s written, spoken, and created non-fiction content for over a decade, and now is excited to be publishing two novels with WaterBrook, the first of which debuted in March 2024. You can find most of her sarcastic ramblings and serious encouragement—including the grief of losing a baby at 33 weeks pregnant—in her newsletter and on social media.

For a press kit, click here.

2007-2013

Kendra grew up in west Michigan and attended Dordt University in Iowa, where she fell head-over-heels for a guy named Collin. They got married and—one month later—moved to Guatemala to teach at Inter-American School for three years. Kendra realized the cool thing to do when you move overseas is to start a blog, so she did. This is where her deep love for writing began.

While in Guatemala, they had their plans rocked and highly improved by two pink lines and a lot of little pink clothes. Writing became much more than a way to keep in touch, but also a way for Kendra to process whatever was happening in their lives—including their move overseas and her begrudging first passage into motherhood.

2014-2016

From Guatemala, Kendra and Collin moved to a south suburb of Chicago for two years where they struggled through their transition back to the United States, as well as the devastating loss of their second baby at 33 weeks pregnant.

Two of the articles Kendra wrote during that time went viral, including an article called, “To Those Waiting and to Those Mourning on Mother’s Day,” and another called, “I Don’t Know What to Say.”

A little over a year later, they welcomed their rainbow baby boy.

2017-2020

Six weeks after their son was born, they moved to Milwaukee for Collin’s new teaching job in the city. They bought a house across the street from that school in hopes of learning what it means to love their literal neighbors on the margins.

In February 2017, Kendra’s first non-fiction book was published with Thomas Nelson called, Here Goes Nothing: An Introvert’s Reckless Attempt to Love Her Neighbor. That same year, she was the recipient of Dordt University’s Horizon Award, recognizing alumni who are community-minded and entrepreneurial.

Publishing her first book led to a variety of opportunities to speak at churches, MOPS groups, schools, and youth groups on topics such as neighboring, parenthood, minimalism, and grief. She was the keynote speaker at Hudsonville Reformed Church’s infant memorial service in 2016, two of Bible League International’s regional gatherings in 2018, and the Unseen Conference in 2021.

During this three year span, Kendra and Collin had two more baby girls.

Another notable artifact she created was this #sarcasmfont Parenting Food Pyramid that got turned into a meme and went viral. Goldfish Crackers sent a thank-you basket for being included in the foundation of the pyramid. Kendra considers this her favorite internet legacy thus far.

2021-present day

After writing nonfiction and creating social media content for a decade, Kendra started to burn out. So, she asked herself what she would want to do if she used her writing time to work on something for the pure enjoyment of writing.

The answer was: a novel.

She brainstormed ideas during the summer of 2021, wrote and revised her manuscript until fall of 2022, then passed it on to her literary agent who submitted it to publishing houses. She was offered a two-book contract from WaterBrook & Multnomah that she signed in January 2023.

The first novel, called Between You and Us, released in March of 2024. You can learn more about it here.

Kendra is so grateful for this wild turn in her writing career, and for the chance to continue doing something she truly enjoys. Through all the ups and downs of life and writing, Jesus has been frivolously kind.