The Blog

How do writers go about creating fictional families? I suppose there are a lot of ways, but I start by looking at MY family, and I go from there. (Yes, this is a picture of me and my siblings. I’m the youngest. The cutest, right?) When I submitted a 6 book series to Love Inspired, I knew that I wanted... read more

Pebble Creek Series, VC Book Spotlight This week I want to tell you about my Pebble Creek series. My wonderful editor at Harvest House, Kim Moore, asked me to write an Amish romance. I could set it anywhere, and it could be about anything. I’d written about Pennsylvania and Indiana, so I wanted to try somewhere new–somewhere different! Wisconsin was... read more

Christmas Books, VC Book Spotlight I thought I’d spend the next few weeks introducing some of my writing to you wonderful folks who stop by my blog. If you’ve been here all along, you’ll be familiar with most of these. If you’re new, then you might find something you didn’t know about. Either way, I hope you enjoy the spotlights.... read more

SIMPLE Ways to Deal With Stress There’s nothing simple about stress. It can rob you of sleep and steal your joy. While stress may be a normal part of life, there are things we can... read more

SIMPLE Ways to Clean Your Place Who likes housework? Raise your hand and keep it up until you finish reading this blog. Ha ha. Well, I kind of do like housework. It makes me happy to do it, and I love when it’s done. The problem is that I’m kind of busy! Aren’t we all? So how do we simplify... read more

SIMPLE Ways to Eat Fresh Last week we discussed ways to be healthy by getting up and moving around. Have you ever noticed that Amish families are outside a lot more? 🙂 We can also learn simpler ways of eating... read more

4 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health, Part 1 I thought for the month of August that I would share some things I have observed while visiting the Amish–things that I think would improve our health. I’m not a nutritionist, but I am a mom and a wife and I like to think that I’m a fairly healthy person. Get... read more

Amish Crafts–Yarn I’m sometimes asked if the Amish knit and crochet. The answer is yes! The Amish do knit and crochet. It’s not uncommon to see women working on a project as they sit in a booth at a produce stand or while waiting at an auction. They’re likely to make things such as socks,... read more

Quilting, An Amish Craft For the month of May we’re going to focus on Amish crafts. This will be a lot of fun, as I know that many of you are “crafty” too. If you’re not, this might be a good chance to start – OR, you could just enjoy the pretty pictures. The Amish are well-known for their quilting.... read more

Amish Beliefs, Part 2 Last week we talked about Amish beliefs in relation to specific spiritual teachings. Today I thought we’d talk about the role of family members. Remember, the comments below are what I have observed, but each community is... read more