The Official Bio:

Deanne Mott is an inspirational speaker, skilled communicator, and gifted educator who loves to inspire audiences through her use of story. As the Director of Community Relations for Hearts At Home and an Adjunct Professor of Communication, she enjoys the opportunity to encourage, educate, and equip women and youth. Deanne speaks to varied audiences including women’s events, adoption conferences, keynote events, and university forums. She brings a combination of humor, relatability, and depth to every event.

The Everyday Me:

I grew up in a small, western Illinois town and am now living and raising a family in a small, central Illinois town. My most important jobs are wife, mom, educator, and witness. I love to travel and also the opportunity to serve the fatherless, having done that in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Guatemala. I relish opportunities of sharing with others the work Christ is doing in my life and in the world.

My husband, Ryan, and I were high school sweethearts. We weren’t so sweet on one another in the early years of college, but our lives never really parted, and by the time we entered our fifth year of college (it happens), we were married. It’s hard to believe that was 19 years ago. Ryan is now an Illinois State Trooper. We were blessed with two children, and then a trip I made with to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to work in orphanages changed our lives in the most beautiful of ways. Soon after, in the summer of 2010, we brought home two more children through the gift of adoption.

Fikirte (16) enjoys drawing and basketball, and especially likes to watch movies. Her favorite subject is Spanish (crazy, yes, her third language), and she finds spelling to be somewhat frustrating. Her name means “love” in her native language of Amharic.

Kaden (14) is our outdoorsman, aka Bullseye. He is happiest alongside his dad, and requests to go hunting, shooting, or fishing every day. His favorite season, other than all of the hunting seasons, is track season.

Konjit (13) spends most of her time giggling. She loves to run, likely because she is really fast and it appears effortless. We lovingly refer to her as RockStar. Her name means “beautiful.”

Karson (11) is our tiny dancer. She literally twirls her way through life. She believes in accessories with every outfit and the more, the better. Her latest passion is cheerleading. Butter would be its own food group if things were up to her.

Belete (19) is our most recent addition. We first met Belete while in the process to bring Fikirte and Konjit home, as he is their biological brother. He joined our family just two weeks prior to his 18th birthday. Belete is currently taking ESL classes at Heartland Community College and hopes to begin GED classes in the fall of 2016.

Our family’s goal is to live a life after God’s own heart.

God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.                                                                   Ephesians 1:5

Need a promotional headshot?  Check out the patient photographer, Michael Gowin, at gowinphotography.com.  The above picture was a man’s labor of love while helping a camera-shy woman.  Way to go Michael!