Most of my life, I have listened for guidance from within. I have always felt a kinship to God, Spirit and nature and feel most alive when I feel the oneness. Listening created my life experiences that are now told through the stories Katie and the Spirit of One Heart.
I began listening at 10 years old when my mother took my hand and led me underneath a giant pine tree in our backyard. She asked me to be quiet and listen. I heard a faint "pop, pop, pop." It was the pinecones opening. It was my first experience feeling a connection to anything and it felt holy. I have been listening ever since.
I was inspired to write these stories from reading to my niece Katie, who loves stories but can't read herself. One day, I decided to tell her about some of my own "pinecone" moments as if I were reading her a story. Katie and the Spirit of One Heart captures these stories.
Answering My Call
In my twenties, I heard an inner voice say, Bring the children to me. After many years in a rewarding marketing career, I heard the voice a second time, It's Time. I ended my marketing profession, contacted a statewide foster care/adoption agency, and started the program, Campaigns for Kids. We developed public awareness campaigns for 50 counties in North Carolina to promote the need to adopt and foster school-age children. After meeting hundreds of children waiting for families, I founded Under One Sky Village Foundation, a nonprofit organization to bring children in foster care together. Our mission was to Renew the Human Spirit. The core programming included self-discovery overnight camps that created opportunities for children in foster care to connect with their innate gifts, God, one another, and Creation. Passages Camps thrived for 20 years.
Now retired, it occurs to me that these books are also a response to that calling.