Growing up in Overisel, Michigan, I was raised in a Dutch family with values similar to the Victorian ones I write about. As a youngster, I went to the same two-room schoolhouse my grandfather attended and at age fifteen began teaching piano--which I still do. And I loved to read; for me it was like eating dessert.

After graduating from college, I moved to Ft. Lauderdale, where I taught music and language arts, especially loved teaching literature. My second summer, I decided to spend in France--having studied in Grenoble during college. Before leaving, a special man proposed marriage, but I said, "No, we're just friends." Besides, the first photo I saw of him was astride a motocyle, Viking horns attached to his helmet, and my perception of him hadn't changed much. 

Within days of arriving in France, I became very ill. As the rest of our ministry team readied for our tour, I lay flat on my back in bed, looking up to the ceiling--and to heaven. That was when the Lord took the proverbial two-by-four and hit me over the head, saying, "Wake up, Ruth. This man is the one." Little did I realize God was not only calling me to marry him, but also calling me into a family very different from the one in which I was raised. While mine was the conservative, steady Dutch family from Michigan, his had Western roots in Oklahoma and Southern ones from Mississippi with a dash of Sicilian volatility to spice things up.

After my time overseas, I continued to teach high school language arts and piano, then later worked as Public Service Director for a radio station. But as time went on, life took its toll. My marriage was especially difficult; I had to constantly be "the diplomat." Then our newborn daughter died. When our next daughter arrived, no baby could have been more loved or welcomed. But I felt restless. I prayed daily, asking the Lord what to do.  Then, reading a historical romance, I was so encouraged, so uplifted, I suddenly knew the answer. If I could be so reinvigorated by a book, then I wanted to do the same for others--write stories to encourage them!