Hi Friends,
     Here’s a little bit about me.
     I was born and raised in Michigan.  I came from a family of six kids, but my oldest sister, Marilyn,  died at the age of four months before I was born.  We all graduated from Thornapple Kellogg School in Middleville.
     When I was around twelve I began dreaming of being a published author.  I loved to read – and still do.  To that end, I filled out every writer’s test I came across in a magazine, but never had the confidence to follow through.
     Time went on, I got married to my wonderful husband, Tom, and we had two children.  Then, something happened to change the course of our lives.  A friend was killed in a drunk driving auto accident which prompted us to rethink the direction of our lives.  Tom and I began attending a local church and one evening after the service, we knelt to ask Christ to come into our lives and take charge.
     That was Sept. 7, 1975 and what a roller coaster ride the Lord has had us on since then!  One year later, Tom began attending a Bible School in Grand Rapids; and in June 1980, we joined our first mission to be foreign missionaries in South America.  We’ve been in full time ministry ever since.
     From 1980 until Fall of 2001, we served with various missions in Mexico, Bolivia, and here in the States.  Then I developed some medical issues which stopped me from being able to work a full-time job.  It soon became necessary for us to stop being in missionary status and take a full-time pastorate at a country church in Michigan.

By that time, our two children were meeting their future spouses and it wasn’t long after that they both got married.  We have four beautiful grandchildren – ranging in age from 17 to 20. That breaks down to – three girls and one boy.

     Then in June 2004, our son’s colon ruptured due to complications from Crohn’s disease and my life turned another direction again.  For the first time in my Christian walk, I had struggles with God over the issue of bad things happening to good people.  Those thoughts prompted me to read the Old Testament Book of Job.  I wanted to find out how he could have so many disasters happen to him – all in one day – and still not get upset with the Lord.  That study prompted the writing of – my first fiction novel – OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND; which also began the Whirlwind Series (of which I now have five in the series).

By that time I was 53 years old and I’d finally published my first novel.  (Actually, you could also add to that statement – that it was the first novel I ever finished too.)   ( ‘-‘)

     Now, I was on a roll!

   In Feb. 2010, a sequel came out called – OUT OF THE SNARE.  While WHIRLWIND is a drama, SNARE is a suspense/intrigue.  Both are set in the beautiful wonderland of Michigan.  The prior starts in Grand Rapids and ends in Petoskey.  SNARE starts in Petoskey, moves to Beaver Island, and climaxes in St. Ignace.

    The third novel in the series entitled – OUT OF THE MIRE – came out in 2011.  Many had voiced an interest in reading more about Quaid and Abigail (aka Sydney), s-o-o MIRE is kind of their love story.  Actually, I couldn’t just leave it at that so I threw in a kidnapping, too. 🙂  This book is totally set in the Petoskey area.

    I love the beauty of my home state and like writing about actual places and unique things for the areas.  That way those of you not from Michigan can get an idea AND maybe even plan a trip here to see our Michigan Winter Wonderland!

   May 2013 my first non-fiction novel came out about our son Paul’s journey with Crohn’s disease and how it affected all of our lives.

     I wrote this from my perspective as his mother and have received many, many encouraging words about the effect this book has on the lives of others.

     You can read more about this book entitled The Fire Within: Fighting Through Adversity on another page in this website.

     Then in November 2013, our life went another direction and we moved to Arena, Wisconsin to pastor the Arena Bible Church.  Now, I’ve got another beautiful state that I can write about.  🙂

     Once I got settled in my new home and ministry, I pulled out a manuscript I’d written back in 2010 that had been sitting on the shelf.  It was recently published by createspace.com and I believe, is an interesting read. It was certainly fun to write!   It’s entitled – Finding Joshua.

     I’m excited to say that I finished the fourth book in the Whirlwind Series – Out of the Heart ; which came out the Fall of 2014.  The fifth and final book in the series came out in March 2016 and is called – Out of the World.

      In the Spring of 2018, my husband Tom asked me to consider writing a mystery series geared toward pre-teens and teens; the ages of our grandkids.  

     So . . . I did.

    Josie and the Digger’s Club books are about four kids – three girls and one boy – (which happens to be the same as our four grandkids!). They stumble upon mysteries and solve them.  So far I’ve written three and they all became available to the public within one year – July 2018 through July 2019.  They are entitled – Case of the Stone Mansion, Case of the Missing Cats, and Case of the Stolen Medallion – in that order.

     They are all available in this website on the “Book” page.

     Please check them out.

     Since July 2019, I’ve taken a break; AND had a right knee replacement.  

     In March and April 2020, all of our lives changed with a worldwide pandemic.  We thank the Lord that no one in our immediate family contracted it, in spite of various exposures.  Starting in June 2020, my husband’s health took a turn and he was in the hospital multiple times over the next months.  In July he had triple heart by-pass surgery; October he had back surgery; December he had an intestinal infection (all hospital stays). On into 2021, first part of February he had melanoma removed from his neck (outpatient), end of Feb. he had a mild stroke (hospital stay); then in March they needed to take more off his neck (again outpatient).  Most of these times in the hospital, due to covid, I spent out in the parking lot doing a lot of praying, reading, and crying (several in the middle of the night!!). I’m saying all this to let you know that by April our children were wanting us to move closer to one of them, so we packed up the first part of June 2021 and moved to Bowling Green, Ky near our son Paul and his family.  It’s been an adjustment; but it’s nice being closer to our family while Tom continues to have some leg and feet issues.  We greatly appreciate your prayers.

     This has been a huge adjustment for us.  For the first time since 1980, we’re not directly involved with a ministry; plus Tom still struggled with lack of energy and we went from rural living to city living.  Life was becoming more difficult as Tom continued with health issues and we were trying to find a church to attend and be comfortable in.

       In the midst of all this, my husband, Tom, took over the job of being an author and now has seven books published:  Morning Devotions Love – Tom/Grandpa ; Study Guide to the Book of Revelation – 2020 ; Twelve How To’s of Scripture ; Morning Devotions with Pastor Tom, and three Spread the Word Devotionals.

     All of these can be ordered from this website.

March 2022 UPDATE – We were informed that during the Viet Nam era, Tom had been exposed to Agent Orange even though he’d been stationed at an Air Base in Thailand. It took “them” 54 years to let him know; AND that all his medical issues were directly related to this exposure. There’s no cure, no treatment except for helping with the symptoms which are slowly worsening for Tom. He’s losing the use of his legs. Plus, he’s now been officially classified as totally disabled by the VA. This is a mixed blessing for us. On one hand our financial stresses have definitely eased, and we were able to purchase a small, new home in the country that is the perfect size for us. On the other hand, Tom’s feet and leg issues continue to slowly worsen and we greatly covet your prayers about this.