Valerie J. Steimle was born in Brooklyn, NY, to a close-knit Jewish family. Her mother searched for many years to find what was missing in their lives and found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Their baptism brought an incredible change in their life, but her parents would not tell the rest of the family for 10 years as they lived in both the Jewish world and the LDS world.
She graduated from Ricks College in 1979 and attended Brigham Young University from 1979 to 1982, where she met Robert Steimle. They married and had nine children.
Though she grew up in New Jersey, she found southern Alabama to her liking and has lived there for the past 19 years with her family. Her husband of 25 years passed away suddenly which left her to raise her youngest five children on her own until she met James Foy two years later. They happily reside in southern Alabama.
While she was raising her children in the early years, Valerie felt compelled to write about the family and started with a newspaper column in the local paper. She then published her first book, called Home Is Where The Heart Is, which is a collection of those articles. Her next book, Home Is Where The Learning Is: Home School Lifestyles from Home School Moms, includes seven other home school moms contributing their story in understanding the lifestyle of a home school family. Her third book is Of One Heart: Being Single in the LDS World which was written to help all those who are single and belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. Her last book published to date is Dogs, Blogs and Hobbits: Writings from a Widow's Perspective a culmination of other writings on life and death.
Her next book published was Thoughts from the Heart: Writings from a Widow's Perspective .
“Thoughts from the Heart” was a column especially written
for the gulf coast of Alabama
with inspirational stories, small town politics and federal government
antics. Read one hundred of the best of
“Thoughts from the Heart,” an insightful collection of honest, humorous and
heart-felt writing.
Here latest book is Home Is Where the Learning is for High School:
High school is often the most intimidating
aspect of homeschooling. Most parents don't know anything about preparing
transcripts for college and the unknown is scary. Home Is Where the Learning Is
for High School helps parents learn the necessary classes to graduate for
college, or trade school as well as information on how to write high school
transcripts, how to plan and execute a graduation, transitioning from public
school and more.
Besides writing and reading, Valerie loves to spend time with her family, watches movies, embroiders, and gardens. You can find her website at www.strengthenyourhome.com and her blog at www.valeriesteimle.blogspot.com