My Story
What a journey this has been for me! So many unexpected blessings and challenges that I’ve walked through with Jesus.
I’ve written stories since I was old enough to write and always had the ability to turn any little thing into a story. Whether it be on the backside of a horse or on a deck at the lake, I could always turn the smallest event into something worth reading. One year, we were taking Christmas décor out of a box and a mouse chewed up all of the packing around our nativity set. One guess on what I wrote about for a newspaper short story competition… a mouse’s encounter with baby Jesus.
After receiving a degree in Criminal Justice, I accepted a job in a correctional center north of Kansas City, MO. It was a tough time there as one of the younger female employees and only by the grace of God did I come out of that job unscathed. I went to work at a juvenile offender facility after the prison job and discovered I LOVED working with teenagers. You know, the hard, mouthy kind; they were the ones I loved the most. Somehow, God had given me another gift- the ability to see beyond the mouth and actions to their heart and the wounds they carried.
Fast forward a bit, I met my husband, Dennis, in the singles group of our church. He had two grown children and grandchildren of his own. We set on an adventure in June of 1997 when we got married and he shared his ready-made family with me. His testimony of how he met Jesus was so different from mine and yet God brought us together for Kingdom work. We had Nathan two years later and by then, we were fully invested in working with youth in our church. Dennis and I took on those hard kids that many people looked past. We encouraged and spoke truth to them for many years, over 20+ years in youth ministry.
In 2018, Dennis was diagnosed with throat cancer. We began radiation and chemo and surgery soon after the diagnosis. Nathan had graduated from high school and met the love of his life and this was a blow to our family. All of the details of the next three years are in my book “God’s Promises are still true EVEN WHEN.”
Dennis passed away on March 13, 2021 and left me, our son, his daughter and her kids, his son and his wife, his sister, countless nieces and nephews, and family and friends, bereft and unsure of what the future held for us now.
God, in His infinite wisdom and love, touched me, cared for me, and gave me words to write in a book- to tell my story of His faithfulness. Healing came through those words and I will be forever grateful that He loved me enough to scoop me up from the darkness that death so often brings to loved ones left behind.
Seven months later, I presented a manuscript I’d toyed around with for years to an editor (Cynthia Hickey) at a writer’s conference. She loved the plot and asked for a proposal. I told her I also had a non-fiction book and its platform- grief and loss. She looked me in the eye and said “People need this in their hands right now.”
Yes, yes they do. Not because it was my story, but because it’s His story with my life woven in the fabric.
His faithfulness.
His goodness.
His love.
Fun Facts
1) I had two amazing horses when I was in Junior high and High school. One, I showed in 4-H horse shows and the other was a trail horse. I have a friend that I met when we were 11 years old and we'd ride together- we're friends to this day!
2) I ran around with a Christian rock band in college and wore leather pants- come on, it was the 80's!
3) I have a Criminal Justice degree and have worked with juvenile offenders and in a correctional facility (the setting of my first fiction book).
4) I love board games and puzzles!
What do you get most excited about sharing with people?
That God is good. God is faithful. I wouldn't be doing what I love right now if I hadn't trusted God to turn awful into amazing. I want people to take my book and format it to their story and then turn around and share their EVEN WHEN moment and how God's promises are still true.
What gets you most excited?
Sharing with people one-on-one my journey and then listening to their stories. I love watching teenagers discover how very much they are loved and uncovering truth about who they are. I love watching people connect to others, to their purpose, to their "spot" in the church.
What are a few of your favorite things?
Tangible things: my grandmother's birthstone ring, cards and letters my husband wrote to me, the family calendars that my sister makes every year with family photos.
Not-so-tangible things: being with my son and his wife and my family, sitting outside on a patio on a cool summer evening with friends, watching the sunrises with my mom, on speaker phone with my dad during KU basketball games or Chiefs games, loving on teenagers.