Hi, my names is Joni.  I love my name — it’s unique!  But my unique name is often misspelled or mispronounced, which added to the last name I married into — Updegraff  — well, lets just say I can tell right away if the person calling is a telemarketer!

Added to my unique name (I’m named after Joni James for those of you from the Korean War era) is the fact that I’m adopted.  This has always surprised people.  I guess because I somehow look and act like my parents, people automatically assume we’re blood.  I’m here to dispel the “blood is thicker than water” myth.  No one could love their biological parents any more than I love the mom and dad of my heart!  They ARE my parents.  And I am their daughter — period.

Now, on to more current affairs.  I have been married for 32 years to my high school sweetheart.  To clarify, I was in high school when we met, but he was 20 and in college.  I knew he loved me when he attended both my Junior and Senior Prom, and put up with all that high school stuff when he was well past that.  We were married in 1983, and welcomed our first son Jason in 1991 and our second son Joshua in 1995.

Our boys are all but out of the nest now.  Jason is an MP in the US Marine Corps and is currently stationed in Yuma, Arizona, where he lives with his lovely wife, Jillian.  We are so happy he found love while serving his country!  Joshua graduated from high school in 2014.  He is currently attending Harrisburg Area Community College and working for a landscaper.  Beyond that he is a gentle giant with a great big heart.  He keeps me laughing, and I am thrilled that he’s not in a hurry to leave the comforts of home.

I have been writing on and off since high school.  I took creative writing my senior year and was encouraged by my teacher to pursue my writing.  I mostly wrote poetry and short stories until I began working full-time for a law firm after graduating from HACC with a paralegal degree in 1983.  The story I began then was simply titled “The Beginning” and is now novella length.  It has been critiqued by the likes of Jerry Jenkins of “Left Behind” fame.

I am currently a member of The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild.  As a member of the Christian Writers Guild, I completed the “Novel Writing Boot Camp” held in Manitou Springs, CO, and the “Write Your Book Workshop” in Nashville, TN.  In addition to writing, I am a voracious reader.  I love gardening and long walks on the beach.  I hope to someday live near enough to a beach to take a walk into the sunrise every morning and one into the sunset each evening.  A girl can dream!