It was an honor to attend the Wreaths Across America event Saturday, December 15, 2018, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  Our granddaughters are members of Ameican Heritage Girls and they were among many others who raised money to buy wreaths to place on soldiers graves.  The ceremony was solemn and respectful.  The event was patriotic. It reminded all who attended of the sacrifices many have made to protect freedom and fight tyranny.  My father was a soldier during WWI and Walt’s father was a WWII veteran.  Our thanks are due to all who have served and are serving.

My journey has taken me to many places, people and callings.  Every step of the way I have known the Lord is with me.  AND he blessed me with family and friends to share the journey with me.  The “jobs,” or I’d rather say “callings,” have been a blessing as well.     It is through them I have grown and shared invaluable friendships.  I owe the Lord much praise and thanksgiving.  We have a few weeks of 2018 to go, but another year is soon here.  Where will my journey take me? Where will your journey take you?

It has been over 10 years since we went.  I recommend it!  Mount Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Banias springs near Ceasarea Philippi, Syrian border, the Jordan River, the Blue Caves and Mediterranean Sea, Qumran and Jerusalem.  The Galilee region and the Garden on the Mount of Olives were my favorite, but everyplace had special meaning.  It is a holy land.

So, we had a blizzard yesterday.  This might be the most snow we have had in one event since we moved to Missouri.  As a kid, snow meant sleding, snow forts, snowball fights, cold noses and toes.  I remember it took a long time for our stiff fingers to work well enough to play a game of caroms when we finally came back into the house.  That was how we took advantage of snowy winters in Nebraska.

I found out many, maybe even most Minnesotans like snow.  When I lived there it seemed like Minnesotans wore it as a badge of honor to be able to survive the cold and snow of winter.  Snowmobiling, skiing (cross-country and downhill), snow-shoeing,  ice-fishing, dog-sledding, etc. the fun never stopped.  People were not fazed by a blizzard, snow plows efficiently kept roads open, schools were rarely canceled and I don’t remember church ever being canceled because of wintery conditions.

I lived near Langley, British Columbia for two years in the late 1970’s.  Even before a snowflake hit the ground the staff who lived off campus at the college where I worked were in their cars heading home.  The accumulaton of snow was never more than an inch or two, but the people seemed to fear even a small amount.

It snowed twice in deep south Texas during our years there.  It was such a novelty I had a young friend call me Christmas morning after a Christmas eve snow fall and ask me, “How do you make a snowman?”

Snow is snow wherever we find it.  People’s reaction to it is what is different and interesting.  I still like snow, but I would probably like it better in 70 degree temperatures.  Not likely to happen, though.

For the reader in your family, consider ordering RJ’s Journey, RJ’s Valley, RJ’s Legacy as well as Matthew Hartmann and the Pony Express and Year of the Hawk Rescue.  Books are available on this website, Amazon.com and Kindle, and Ben Franklin in Sandstone MN.  I say this as a gift idea for the “reader” in your family, but folks who identify as “not interested in reading” have enjoyed these books.

The RJ series is done and out there for the world to see.  It was, also, fun to write about the “Pony”  and my young friends in the “Hawk” book.  It is time for some other projects.  I have two books in the writing stage currently.  They are not historical fiction, but they are fictional.  The picture above is a hint about the “characters” in one of the books I’m writing.

Also, getting ready for the Midwest Parent Educators conference in KC in April ’19.  I will be selling and signing books there.  I will, also, be leading a workshop on the journey from writing to publishing.  So thankful for all who are enjoying the books I have written.  I have many more ideas for books.  It will be fun to see them come to “life.”

A big thank you to Sara Pugsley who helps me in so many ways…publicist, proof reader, editor, technical staff and all round encourager.

Enjoyed being with Ms. Lourey’s 8th grade English class at East Central High School, Sandstone, MN.  Ms. Lourey invited me to the class.  She said her students were interested in writing.  I shared some of my journey with writing and encouraged them to use their creativity to write about things that interest them.  They got right to it and began writing.  I was impressed with their attentiveness and eagerness to write.

I also spent a class period with the 7th and 8th grade students at Harvest Christian School in Sandstone.  I taught at Harvest for two years from 1995-1997.  Working with teen-agers has been one of the joys of my life.  It was great to be with these two classes of students to share my passion for writing.

Thank you to Franklin’s Ben Franklin store in Sandstone for hosting a successful book signing.  It was fun to see many old friends who came by to say “hi” and get acquainted with the “RJ” books and just about every other book and devotional-journal I have ever written.  My husband and I moved away from Sandstone 21 years ago, but we have many friends who we cherish there.  A big thank you to Mary Ann Nelson who was the creative force behind the display and who served as cashier and PR person.  It was a great day!

RJ’s Legacy is now available on Amazon.  It is the third and final book in the RJ series of historical fiction.  RJ’s Legacy is different than the other books.   In the first two books RJ tells her story through her journals.  In RJ’s Legacy her children and others dear to her tell their remembrances of RJ and the impact she had on their lives.  RJ’s Journey is about a girl writing of the adventures with her family on the Oregon Trail and beginning a new life in the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  RJ’s Valley is  that girl grown up and coming into her own life’s story as she continued journaling.  RJ’s Legacy tells more about RJ as an adult, the family she raised and the causes she championed.

The fictional “High Meadow Ranch” where RJ and Joshua Weaver raised their family had the beautiful Mt. Hood in the distance east of the ranch.  So, this photo taken by Carla Danielson of a cabin in a meadow with Mt. Hood in the background is the perfect cover for RJ’s Legacy.