I’ve been busy with life, so it’s been a while since I have focused time and energy on my website and writing projects online. Five years. Half a decade. A lot has happened to say the least. Definitely hit with some hard things. Covid, enough said. Selling a home. Renting a shoebox. Buying land. Building a house. Personal health struggles that included gall bladder, food poisoning, severe anxiety, and panic attacks. Child diagnosed with lymes disease from a tick bite. Job uncertainty in the midst of building. Child in the hospital. The death of a parent and near death of the other parent shortly after. Growing from a family of three to a family of four. More job uncertainty. Other child in the hospital. The death of a friend followed by the sudden death of another dear friend only two weeks later. Friends marriages falling apart.

I have to say though, through it all, I always felt the presence of God. I knew He was always there with me. I was busy living life, and at times, feeling like I had my head just above the water, you know? I wouldn’t even recognize the me from five years ago. You grow through what you go through. I had many opportunities for growth as you can see! The year between May 2021 and May 2022 contained most of the aforementioned “opportunities for growth”. The first four months of 2025 held some real doozies as well!

There were definitely times I grew frustrated. Death, grief, various circumstances out of my control, waiting for healing, feeling stuck. Then add onto all that the frustrations of unfulfilled dreams. I wanted to write and publish books! I had so many ideas. I was ready to go. But time and time again, God gently reminded me it wasn’t time yet. I self-published a gratitude journal in 2019 and I think I sold about five copies. Three of those were my own purchases, so yeah! That isn’t to say I didn’t write anything in the eleven years since I first heard God tell me “write a book”. I have written down so many notes for various novels and stories. There were times I would be washing the dishes and it was like He downloaded an idea to me. I would stop and write the ideas down in my notebook. Numerous children’s books, even a few series ideas, historical fiction, young adult fiction, fantasy, and inspirational non-fiction. At the end of January, God made it clear to me it was time! So many stories to tell and 2025 is just the start.