Updates

As some of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter know, my mother died unexpectedly right before New Year's Eve. For everyone who left a supportive comment and/or their condolences, thank you. They meant a lot to me. Over the past two weeks, I've been reminded of the last line from the poem Footprints: "it was then that I carried you." I know that me and my family have been carried through this sorrowful time, and we are grateful to God for that.

I left town to attend the funeral and make other arrangements, so I've been away until last night. Because of this, the contest winners from two weeks ago didn't get their books. My apologies for that, and the books will be mailed out this week. I'm also behind on emails and other messages sent through my social media accounts, so apologies for that as well. I will try to get caught up this week.

I'm closing this post with a picture of my parents from several years ago. At the time, they both worked for the same hospital. When the holidays came around, they volunteered to play Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus to entertain young patients and other children at hospital-sponsored events. My mother and father were together for a total of fifty years (including dating), and if my dad and the rest of our family would've had our way, they would've been together for another fifty.