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Blog

September 2021

As the new school year is launching, so did my newest Homeschool book, Washington State History, a Highschool resource guide for homeschoolers. I am so thankful to my adult student who critiqued this course when I first put it together. Now, its been modified and published! I have another devotional called Faithfulness about ready to hit the final editing process. Christian Faith Publishing wanted my books so bad back in 2019….now another publishing company has contracted me. I will need prayer as to what direction the Lord is leading me this year. The next school resource book will be for Geography class and I will be walking my daughter through World History going through our ancestry and writing books about our journey to America. This is exciting.

August 2021

There has been some awesome movement in my life this past few months. I took on being the CEO of Family Academy, a private school that offers a private school extension program for homeschoolers to utilize and allows me to run my learning center. I am watching it grow leaps and bounds, bringing on board 7 new teachers, 5 learning centers between Arlington and Lakewood. We now have a Spanish, German and French tutor who also is a Music teacher. I started a monthly newsletter for homeschool parents to enjoy and use as a guide for history, art, writing, bible and cooking. By signing up for this Family membership program, homeschoolers can even get a discount on services like testing and assessments. You can go to http://www.familyacademy.org and go to the shopping cart to purchase a family membership and get this great little newsletter!

All the while, writing my curriculum into a book for Washington State History as many homeschoolers always wonder what to teach. So I did a research curriculum and its about to be available! Plus I got another devotion, Faithfulness in the works! Come back and find out what else is going on!

February 2021

This past year has been a life changer for me. I slipped and fell at Safeway on March 3rd. That hurt. Then Covid 19 hit at my daughters work. The coworker she spent the weekend with died on Monday, and all of Costco travel was sent home to quarantine. Being Diabetic put me in a state of panic. The coworkers Mom and Sister died 14 days later, but we were fortunate and had no symptoms. I spent my time working on Faithfulness, the next Lenten devotional that was way behind schedule. I finished Faithfulness during Holy Week, and God must not have liked it that when I came back to upload for print with the publisher, it disappeared. Literally. It was not in the cloud, it was not on the hard-drive, it disappeared. I was heartbroken. All my backups didn’t have it anywhere!

My family lost income for a good portion of the year, we were thankful that my husbands longevity at his work had built up enough sickleave to make it last until the holidays! During this time we had family who suffered with Covid; and had a dear friend pass away. He was careful, his kids delivered food each week, he only went out to the postoffice.

I took time off in lieu of working on my writing, so I have hit it hard come January 2021. I am offering mini study kits and took your words for the year and will turn those into devotionals. I am almost done with Faithfulness again and Commitment! Its All About the Heart is started and I am on fire with the holy spirit leading my fingers on the keyboard! Come back often to see what is going on!

January 2020

I wish to start the new year off with a huge Thank you to my fan base! You are awesome! 2020 was a whirlwind in my house. January, we started off with A Year in Bible Journaling. The book was not polished off as I would like, but the remarks from those who purchased say keep it the way it is! Unfortunately, Amazon will only publish it in black and white, so I am looking for a new publisher and you can order color copies of it through me!

The In His Time 30-day devotion with bible journaling ideas and custom artwork by my daughter and my husband’s cousin was a true hit. I have had not one negative comment about it. So with that, the same format and the next generation of bible journaling devotions will start hitting the press in a month or so. In His Time was modified to be viewable on Kindle through Amazon. Although, you will need a book to do your part in the devotional.

Another Year in Bible Journaling was released on Black Friday. This one is wonderful, more in-depth and a great resource even for those Lutherans in your life! I have been contracted to do a 3rd Bible Journaling book that will be released at the end of 2020.

Life has its ups and downs. As a homeschool parent, I see the toll on society and how kids just don’t have the crucial elements in their life to combat the online bullying, the eating disorders, the loss of loved ones. I notice we need better resources for our seniors and those who are recovering from accidents and traumas.

Our private school extension program for homeschoolers will be designing a website to give resources across the nation for teenagers who need help. As a 501(c)3 school, we can use your help to get this off and running. If you know of a resource in your community or wish to donate funds, please email me for more details. One person can make a difference in the lives of many by simply helping!

Thanks for making 2019 memorable and 2020 a year of action!

July 18, 2019

What a whirlwind of information from my journey through Massachusetts back in April. I recently found out that two of my family members were responsible for the liberty bell.  The first one from England arrived cracked and they would not fix it. So Stow and Howe both names in my family, figured out how to replicate it. Thus the bell. 

Then I found out that not one signor, but two on the Declaration of Independence are in my family as well. What an honor that is. The history is so rich in my blood line, I get chills thinking about it.

So my next book is all about this trip I have gone on and what I uncovered. It won’t be ready for quite some time, but it is another adventure I am entering into. 

My next devotional, Spiritually Thirsty is being worked on now.  You can message me to place a hold on a first edition run of this one. Thank you for your support.  God is the reason I am here today (story about my death in 2017 is in the book “In His Time.”)

May 3, 2019

In April we lost our current location where we have been meeting as a ministry for the past 4 years. Now, I have 3 locations willing to take us on, and its just coordinating with everyone and hoping we can start somewhere on May 11th.

Plus, my husband took me to Massachusetts for our 30th Wedding anniversary and the historical and emotional roller coaster that was for me. Sitting in the original kitchen of my ancestors who built a home in Sudbury in 1645 and turned it into a Tavern in 1716. Most of you know it today as the Wayside Inn. Then to go to the Wayside Country Store and after leaving realized your ancestors built it and that your Garfield side of the family taught school in the upstairs….OMG, the history….Then to find the records that lead your family to Elizabeth Howe, the supposed witch that died during the Salem Witch Trials and learning she was exonerated in 1711 and restitution given to her family for her wrongful death. Amazing.

Then to come home and publish my second of many books, In His Time. Order your copy today.

March 12, 2019

Life has had its moments of negativity. Sometimes we can’t do anything about it but ponder if we are on the right path or not.  I can tell you that in 2017, I died. I was in the hospital at the time, and being admitted for a diabetes related issue.  I was given an antibiotic called Rocephin.  I went into full blown anaphylactic shock.  All I know is I was being told to sit up and breath like I was having an asthma attack.  Even my blood pressure was stable. I was given Benadryl by the IV and I remember the nurses getting two epi pens and telling me that my heart is going to race. My heart didn’t race but being injected was the last thing I remember.  My daughter and husband were watching as they wheeled me away. The doctors came back to tell him that it was touch and go for a while. I was stable but still unconscious.  I woke up 4 hours later.  In the morning, the doctors came in with sheer disbelief that I was alive. They said if I had remained laying down when I was given the epi pen’s that I would not have made it.  That the act of my sitting up saved my life.  I spent 6 months living in a fog and wondering if I suffered a stroke as well.  Because I couldn’t get the right words out. I had problems talking and getting my thoughts out. I could be thinking of a word like computer and I would say something totally bazaar and off the wall like cat!  My students at school gave me a hard time. I rolled with the laughter.  It was seriously hard on me and it didn’t help when my daughter decided to move in with her sister in New Mexico.  It broke my heart but I think she couldn’t handle what she witnessed and knew that once she saw the resuscitation room just how close she came to losing me. She needed distance in case it happened again.   Well, after I finally get out of that fog, I ended up with Vertigo so bad that I lost 30 lbs. in a week and people at the urgent care thought I had something so dangerous when I came in they got up and walked away.  I couldn’t drive for 5 months!  Well, its been a hard long road and I finally was able to concentrate enough to write A Year in Bible Journaling which helped me to focus.  Then to be torn down because I used clip art.  Well, not all of it is from Google Images.  There were several contributors to the clip art.  At this point today, I don’t know if I want to continue.  Being  put down is so negative and one thing that I don’t need in my life.  

 

 

March 11, 2019

I recently found out that I had disappointed a true FB friend by seeking permission to “sell” my book on the FB group.  She was excited by the prospect of more resources in the Journaling world.  Today, the use of clip art banned me from her FB group.   The clip art that is included in my first book, is what the Burien Bible Journaling Ministry used the first year. None of us are any good at drawing, let alone have the  courage to try other mediums.  The book was more or less for our ministry and a few other people. Then ended up with preorders for 120 people all over the world. I made sure everything went through the proper channels, even the clip art we used.  The copyright company did their inspection, and made sure everything was acceptable and I didn’t cross over anyone’s copyright boundaries.  I just feel blown away to lose someone that allowed me to start and get excited for taking on this endeavor, leading to other books.  Now, I don’t even have resources to pull from.  I will be eliminating clip art from my next book In His Time and hopefully it will be picked up by Christian Faith Distributors.  

 

February 26, 2019

I was turned down a contract with Christian Faith Publishing because of the clip art. They said to get rid of it and they would be more than happy to publish it.  Bible Journaling is all about images we put in our bibles. Some of us can’t draw for anything. So we use clipart and copy into our bibles.  Maybe there is something out there that will let me publish and leave the clip art in?

 

February 14, 2019

My first 120 copies arrived today. How exciting. There is an unbelievable feeling of accomplishment.  I will get the next one ready to submit.  

 

February 1, 2019

I am often asked how I got started with Bible Journaling. 

Three years ago I attended a class at Family Christian store. As a funeral coordinator in my church, it was my duty to help the families by going thru their loved ones Bible to see if a verse was noted or song listed.

In most cases nothing was found. This started the Burien Bible Journaling Ministry.

There is currently a group of men, women and teens that gather twice a month and enjoy 3 hours of fellowship.

Once a month we learn something new. In March we met and made prayer journals with duct tape, washi tape and stickers. All who attended loved this project and although everyone’s talent is at different levels, they all turned out great. 

We do once a month online challenges and love the sharing. 

Come and join us!

 

One Reply to “Blog”

  1. A Year in Bible Journaling Book
    I received mine a few days after it came out, I love it. Can’t wait for the next book

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