As a child I discovered a love of reading and creating. To go on an adventure with Tom Sawyer or solve a mystery with Nancy Drew entertained me for hours and inspired me to put pencil to paper. I would write my own endings and draw pictures to go along with them. I graduated to a typewriter and paints in high school (yes, that definitely ages me) and finally to a computer and software as an adult.

 

Putting words on paper to create a scene, elicit an emotion, encourage imagination, and inspire action has always intrigued me. When I found I could express myself better through my artwork and with written words, the seeds planted as a child grew into a passion.

 

Family, and all that life involves overshadowed my creative desires much of my young adult life but I did manage to let my artistic juices flow from time to time. The results were a couple of children’s stories I may pull off the shelf and publish someday and a good collection of paintings.

 

As I neared the half century mark my life changed dramatically. The adventure I’d only read about became real when God called me to Africa. Alone and isolated in the bush country of Zambia I went to work building and running an orphanage that became home to an average of eighty-five children. Witchdoctors, jail, midnight excursions through the bush, cradling dying children, and teaching grandmas and kindergartners to write their names made up my world. In monthly newsletters to family and friends, I shared my experiences by weaving stories that depicted the challenges and events that filled my days.

 

Those stories conjured up excitement, laughter, disbelief, and sometimes despair. “You made me feel like I was there with you” was the comment of many, followed by “You should write a book.”

 

That encouragement was the catalyst that started the process of becoming an author.

Today I live, work and play in the southwestern Colorado town of Montrose. While Rwanda is the land of a thousand hills, Colorado is the land of a thousand mountains. When I’m not working I enjoy the beautiful outdoors with my dog, and spending time with my children, grandchildren, great grandson, family, and friends.