As a kid I was crazy about horses and animals of all kinds and loved to draw (horses, mostly). Since I didn't have a horse, I wrote stories about them instead. My high-school English teacher sent one of my stories (about a couger) to a Scholastic magazine writing contest and it won First Place . . . and the rest, as they say, is history. I wanted to be a writer!

I grew up on the campus of a private Christian school in Seattle where my parents were teachers. A lovely childhood, though fairly sheltered. But college took me back to the Chicago area and a whole new world. My husband and I settled in the Chicago area soon after getting married, and even though we both grew up in solid Christian homes, our search to deepen our faith took the form of Christian community for much of our family life raising kids. Eventually the critical issue of racial reconciliation became the call of God upon our life, and we chose to immerse ourselves in African American and multi-cultural churches. Our world and our hearts expanded. What a gift these relationships of faith have been!

All during this time, my husband and I have been a writing team--writing books with expert resource people (as their co-authors) on a variety of topics (from medical ethics to stories of gang kids), then writing a whole series of historical fiction about great Christian heroes--40 titles in all!--called the Trailblazer books (and a series of "Hero Tales," five volumes in all). Now we are each writing adult fiction--the Yada Yada Prayer Group series for me, which was inspired by my real-life Bible study sisters, a multi-cultural group of feisty women going on 12 years now that God has used to turn my life upside down, or rather, rightside up! (I have to admit, sometimes my real world and my fictional world get a bit mixed up!)

I've been married for 40-plus years to the same wonderful man, we are truly partners in life. We raised two kids plus a Cambodian foster daughter, and together they've given us eight beautiful grandchildren! As one of my girlfriends and I agree: The best stress-busters in the world are pets, gardening, and grandkids!

My wife, Neta, and I are authors of over 120 books, including the Trailblazer Books for young readers and Hero Tales for families. But in recent years we have been doing adult fiction based in Chicago and known as Windy City Stories. They include the Yada Yada Prayer Group series, the House of Hope series, the Harry Bentley series, the Sold-out Sisters series, and the Windy City Neighbors series.

Most recently, I've released a romantic suspense novel, "Flying Blind."

We live in the Chicago area. Our son is the VP of Design for the Milwaukee Museum, and his wife is the pastor of Living Water Community Church in Rogers Park. Our daughter is the Access/Career Specialist for the Disability Resource & Educational Services at the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, and her spouse is the physical education teacher in a local Champaign school.

On Sunday mornings you will usually find us in church. On Tuesday evenings at our respective men's and women's Bible studies. And on Wednesday evenings, we serve in the local food pantry. Most mornings we hit the local senior fitness center. Except when the weather's good, then you might find me working in my vegetable garden. I have been known to brag about it!