About Patti

My family moved frequently when I was a youngster, so I was blessed to call Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana home. In 1977, I graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, with a B.S. in Education, science and English teaching fields. That summer, I married Alan Lacy, a junior high teacher and basketball coach.

A year later, Alan and I packed up a U-Haul and moved to Arizona, where Alan attended Arizona State and I worked as a junior high school teacher and coached a boys' tennis team. Then we switched roles, and I attended and graduated from court reporting school while Alan taught and coached. For five years, we made a home, along with a Dalmatian and a Sheltie, in the Southwestern desert.

In 1981, we returned to our Texas roots. As a certified court reporter, I tore about the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex with the help of my shorthand machine, taking depositions of high-powered executives, expert witnesses, and divorce-minded couples. Then our lives changed in a wonderful way! By 1988, we had two children, a girl and a boy.

After fourteen priceless years surrounded by our Texas relatives, we moved again, this time to Terre Haute, Indiana, where I worked on my master's in literature at Indiana State University. Now we live in Normal, Illinois, a strange place for wacky Southerners! Last year, I resigned from my community college teaching job to embark on a full-time writing career. To satisfy our need for children since our two are grown, Alan and I recently "rescued" a dog from the Humane Society. Laura, an interesting mix of at least ten breeds, accompanies me on daily jogs and then lies peacefully at my feet (or in my favorite chair) while I write.

In my spare time, I enjoy volunteer work at Ministries & More, a food distribution ministry. I've also enjoyed hiking and sightseeing in most of the fifty states, Canada, Ireland, and Switzerland.

My Faith

God gifted me with Christian parents who proclaimed the gospel of Christ Jesus, tucked me in with Bible stories, and woke me with a prayer on their lips. I accepted Christ at the age of twelve and was baptized in a Southern Baptist church in Monroe, Louisiana.

During my teenage years, I veered away from my Savior and chose to live to please myself. For years, I became mired in a cycle of repentance and regression. I had to experience both physical and mental struggles to come to a place where I could declare God as sovereign and allow His Holy Spirit to begin the miraculous process of sanctification on my life. Through God's Word, the Holy Bible, and God's gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ, I can live assured of God's promises and have the hope of heaven.