My Story

Welcome to my website! Let me introduce myself:

I am a Midwesterner at heart—born and raised in southern Illinois, second oldest of four children. Mom loved music, loved to play piano and sing, and our parents encouraged us to love music, as well. Piano lessons for all, practicing instruments in the evenings, concerts in the park or concert halls–these were major activities and commitments throughout my childhood. Music filled our home and lives.

Music—and stories. Stories brought home from school, stories read aloud at bedtime, stories told around the table at family gatherings, stories handed down from those eccentric great-aunts when they visited—so many stories! Grandma Roos lived next door, and when I was a child, she would entertain us with her stories of her childhood in rural Tennessee and her life as a pastor’s wife—ending each with a wise nod, and these words: “The Lord has always been faithful to me.” I became a pastor’s wife, myself, having met Bryan when he became the new pastor of our tiny church in Southern Illinois. He was a seminary student, I was a music major in college, and we were married there in that little Presbyterian church after we both graduated.

A decade of pulpit ministry was followed with thirty years of Bryan’s teaching ministry at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. During that time, I was delighted to serve as the music director at our home church, Covenant Church—an historic church once pastored by Francis Shaeffer.

Just as our youngest was finishing her high school education there in St. Louis, we felt the Lord calling us back to pulpit ministry, this time at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois. We were there for seven years—seven years of great blessing and joy— and then, to our surprise, felt the Lord “stirring our roots”—this time for Bryan to assume the role of Stated Clerk of the PCA. Now we are living in Atlanta, where we again are daily aware of the Lord’s care, provision, and love.

I have always thought of myself as (1) daughter of the King, (2) wife and mother, (3) musician. This writing thing? New to me. But I recognize that I, too, am a storyteller. I love to know and tell the stories of our ancestors, of our history, of how the Lord has providentially and lovingly cared for us over the years. Ask me about my grandmother’s life-long passion for the lost in China. That “As Far as the East Is From the West” section of my “Great Iowa Road Trip” book is dear to my heart, and I tell it often—marveling at the expanse of our Father’s love and grace. If you have spent any time at all with me—usually over coffee and something chocolate—you will have heard about climbing Horn Peak in Colorado, or my dad rescuing me from the bees when I was a child, or Aunt Dorris getting locked in the outhouse behind the church. Or perhaps you have wept with me as we shared our burdens, the dark valleys of grief and loss, the anxious prayers for a child wandering from the faith, the struggles of living in a broken world. And it is my hope and prayer that my stories always include how the Lord has blessed, protected, and shown mercy through it all.

That is my chief desire now—that I will somehow reflect my Savior in my life, my music, my storytelling, my writing. Echoing the Apostle Paul, “Christ Jesus has made me His own,” and my grandma’s words, “The Lord has always been faithful to me,” I want to honor and praise Him in all that I do.

So, sit down with me—grab a cup of coffee, and chocolate is always appropriate, you know—and we’ll share stories.