What Have I Been Up To?

 When I looked at the lists of my posts, I couldn't believe  how long it had been since I had an original post.  But looking back over the last two years, I have been incredibly busy for someone who is "mostly" retired.

On September 2, 2022, I decided to stop being a full-time Labor & Delivery nurse and go "PRN", which means I would only be required to work two shifts a month.  I was just dipping my toe into the lake of retirement.  But that doesn't mean I wasn't doing anything.

My husband and I do Chapel services in four nursing homes.  We do seventeen of these services each
month.  Then we also have a Small Group meeting in our house four times a month.  If this wasn't enough to keep me busy, I decided to write a book for new nurses in my spare time.  Along with this theme, I also made a journal specifically for nurses.  I created a "journal of smiles" because I believe the more we acknowledge things in our lives that make us smile, the more we will notice other things that do.  But the most unexpected thing, and the thing I have enjoyed the most, is the children's books.

Me and Ellie with our first "proof book"

I have written three Christian children's books and the fourth will come out in the Spring.  The books are stories of our beagle, Ellie, and the Box turtle who lives on our property, whom we call Percival.  In the books, Percival teaches Ellie lessons through the experiences she has with animals in our neighborhood.  Writing the books was the easy part, the stories just seemed to show up in my head.  The part that takes the most time is the illustrations.

I will create a "Books" page and put more information on my present and upcoming books there, as well as books written by my husband, which we will be publishing next year. All of the books are or will be, available on Amazon.com.

On January 2, 2025, I will officially - and - fully retire.  One of my goals is to be more consistent with blog posts.  This is more of a mindset issue than a time issue.  Once I begin thinking in this vein, the posts generally come naturally.

I also plan to do some much needed updating of this site.  I may move it to another venue and may even change the website name, but for now it will all stay the same.

I cannot begin to tell you how much or how often the Lord has clearly guided me in all of this.  I have been amazed at the ways He has directed me and/or kept me from following the wrong path.  He has been abundantly faithful in our lives through our almost 46 years of marriage and for the 51 years that I have been a Christian.

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; 

and He that sat upon him was called 

Faithful and True..." 

Revelation 19:11