A few years ago, though a lovely lady by the name of Jean, I was formally introduced to my guardian angel.  Jean, along with her long time partner Deb, are the Angel Ladies in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

My guardian angel’s name is Trudy and we have been working directly together since Jean formally introduced us.  It was through Trudy and my literary angel (whose name I do not know), and the other angels that God has been kind enough to have watching over me, that I wrote my books.

I hadn’t been planning to write until I actually retired, but the angels prompted me to get moving and gave me the idea of writing these stories as six stories to one book.  I believe that the writing Bible stories from the point of view of animals, was my idea, but they could very well have planted that idea too!

Now anyone who writes, who actually would like to make money knows that if you want literary income, you need to write something that will appeal to the masses.  My books fit into a fairly small niche market.  They are Christian, children’s books written for four to six year-olds. Rather a small market indeed, however, this is what I was guided to write.

I believe that these stories will bring both the Old and New Testaments back to the children and allow them to learn and remember the stories, and God willing, grow into great kind and giving Christian adults.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I had a small hand in that happening?

So, please spread the word.  There are three books out there now and one more to come in the next month or so.  You will find them here.

Firstly, let me say that I am a firm believer of everyone getting the challenges in their life that they need to learn from and that some of us are just not worthy of some things.  I am at peace with that, at least most of the time.  I know that God has my best interests in mind.

May first, I could have retired.  I have the age and years of service, so I reached that magic number.  Why am I still working?  Well, as I’m sure I have mentioned in more than one blog, I can’t retire until my youngest daughter is finished university. 

Yesterday I woke up realizing that if my life partner was actually paying the bills, I could retire anyway.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love the guy, and I also know that in a day or two, I’ll get over it, but for now, I am in quite a funk about it.  I should also point out that Cavan and I have been together for over eleven years. 

Let me tell you my Cavan story.  We met in 1985.  He was obviously smitten, and we became good friends, but I ended up marrying his roommate, which, having been left as a single parent, was the wrong thing to do.

I ran into Cavan several times for the next 17 years and then I finally ran into him at a Chamber of Commerce meeting and found that he and his wife had been separated for a couple of years.  So we finally got together. I love Cavan and I know he loves me.  You would think that would be good enough but, he contributes very little monetarily to the household and he is still married to his wife.

How does that make me feel?  It makes me feel like I’m not good enough, that I am not entitled to better.  Is that the challenge that I’m supposed to have in this life?  I guess so. 

As I said, I believe that God gives us what we need, including the challenges we have.  Because I believe that, I will get over my little funk, but give me a day or two.

I have read that 90% of authors do not write full time.  I am one of that 90%, although, if you have read previous blogs, you will know that I could actually retire any day now, but with the financial obligation to keep my youngest daughter in school, I’ll be hanging in at the day job for nearly two years yet.

That having been said, I do have the luxury of having adult children who live on their own, so I have no mommy duties, except for paying the bills.

I have to admit, though, that there are still not enough hours in the day!  I don’t know how you writers who are the parents of small children do it!  Do you not sleep at all?  Wow, I bow down to you, that’s for sure.

Well, I am just finishing up my fourth Christian children’s book and that will be it for a while, because as all authors know, the big job is marketing.  If I do a good job at it, and there is enough interest, I will write some more in that series.  If not, well, I’ll have to think about what comes next.

That doesn’t mean that I will stop writing.  I think that most, if not all, authors are driven to write and if God believes that this is what our gift is, then things will work out and we will write and the sales will happen.

This falls under the category of ‘do what you love, love what you do’ which is what I taught my daughters and every Junior Achievement student I ever had. If you align yourself with that, I believe that it is God’s purpose for you, while you are here in this life.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone was happy to get out of bed in the morning because they loved what they did?  We all would be so much more relaxed and happy.

I did love the IT world, and it allowed me, even as a single parent, to give my kids the necessities.  But now, I grow weary of it and since I am involved with computer software and device vulnerabilities, I worry that the bad guys are winning.

It’s time for someone else to do that stuff and let me just write.  At least, it’s almost time...

Dreams change over time, but right now, my fondest dream is to retire.

I have worked at the same company for 30 years. Now, I do like the people, and I do like what I do, but I am so ready for a change!  Since last August, I have been working on writing in my spare time.  I now have two Christian children’s books out, another with the illustrator and one just itching to work its way from my brain to the computer.

After over 30 years in the IT business, I’m ready to have a little rest and relaxation and focus more on the writing.  It should be noted that for the last 20 years of my life, I have been living with multiple sclerosis.  At least it was just over 20 years ago I got my diagnosis.

Add to all that fun stuff, that I became a single mother about a year before the diagnosis of MS!  So, life has not been without its challenges.  Please don’t take that as whining.  God does not give us more than we can handle and so far, I have been able to handle it all.

This week, while I was away in Calgary for business, I received an e-mail from my ex-husband to remind me that support for our youngest daughter ends when she turns 22 in June.  Kaitlyn still has another year of university.  But then there is the right thing to do and then there is that.  I’m afraid that many ex-husbands are not known for doing the right thing.  Now, I will point out that he has been paying child support all along, although the amount never changed.

So, will we manage?  Of course!  God will find a way and once my lovely daughter has finished university, I will be able to afford to retire!  Did I mention that I am actually eligible to retire in 19 days?  But who’s counting? 

My gift to God is my writing and I will get some more done before I retire and then focus more on it when I do retire!

Last month was the 20th anniversary of my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

I remember sitting on the edge of my bed in the hospital and thinking that at least now I knew what it was.  I was in an unusual situation because since I am adopted, I have no family health history.  So, I had no clues as to what the symptoms might have been.  At the time of diagnosis, I was the single parent of two young girls, who were three years old and 20 months old.

I think that for most people, that would have been a very frightening time.  I have always believed, though, that God never gives you more than you can handle.  Looking back on the diagnosis, though, I knew then, as I know now, you just need to have a great attitude and keep going.  That may seem rather smug to some, but having worked for many years with the MS Society, I can confirm that it is the best thing to do.

Now, I will say that despite, my MS, I have been very blessed.  I am still upright.  There have been rough times, but so far, I have only needed either a walker or cane to help me to get around.  I have some memory difficulties, so I compensate with reminder notes.  Every symptom, at least so far, there has been a compensating control for.  Can you tell I work in IT compliance—always the logical one!

Compensating controls have had to include three months off work to recover from a five relapse year, injecting Copaxone for 15 years, constant reminder notes, Poise pads for bladder difficulties, assistance with dressing in the morning, and planning my activities, so that I don’t get too tired.  It is all doable stuff to keep me going.

So, in the last 20 years, I raised my kids on my own, managed to continue to work full time so that I can actually retire soon and fit in courses on teaching adults and writing for children and actually writing for children.  All of that, living with MS and, of course, my faith that God will always help me to manage.

My MS became secondary progressive about seven years or so ago.  But again, I am blessed with a very slow progression that means I shouldn’t need a wheelchair for quite a few years yet.