Tuesdays With The Angels-Bullying and Our Children With Special Needs

Bullying is always a theme in my novels and was  part of my memoir, Special Needs Children The Angels On My Shoulder. Recently, a seventeen- year- old boy, whose father is running for our vice president, was bullied by a person in the media.  For me and many others, this cruel commentary was unacceptable in our supposedly civil society.

For twenty-five rewarding years I spent the school days with children with disabilities and special needs. Many now are considered neurodivergent. As I wrote in my memoir, my encounters with these children filled my soul. They were my own teachers giving unconditional love to all with many having no agenda except to be accepted into family and friendships.

These children and adults with special needs don’t choose their life’s path, this is their life experience and they should be respected. How do we handle such bullying in the media where some have become like the typical school yard bully? We need to  teach our children and all children self respect and respect for others while protecting and caring for them. How sad this media bully must be who didn’t apologize as of this writing.

When the loss of my daughter overshadowed my life, I remember how my classroom of children with special needs cheered me onward with warmth and gratitude. They changed my life,  they were my own teachers. They showed me respect, sympathy as caring attitudes came natural to them. The Bully Never Wins because most of us thankfully don’t have bullying inside our hearts. I pray that this bully and others  someday realize what most of us know, that truly children with special needs are our angels unaware.

Tuesdays With The Angels- Angel Inspirations-Animal Rescue

Bless The Beasts and the Children, one of my favorite songs from the seventies, has a wonderful lyric. “Keep them safe, keep them warm.” I’ve written many times about protecting our children from man’s inhumanity to man. As of  now bullying  is considered almost the norm in politics, dividing people. However,  I also feel strongly about the well being of  our animal friends. Protecting them from animal abuse has recently driven me to write it as a main theme in my new novel coming soon.

My husband and I  have rescued many animals and continue to advocate for them around the world, whether companions to people or in the wild. They are innocent and vulnerable and the poor way some individuals regard them shows all of us what these people are made of.  Animals can’t speak for themselves. Just like we all should share in protecting the children of the world, we are also the animals’ voices of hope. I believe in hope, love and helping those who need our strength and our kindness. 

Angels inspire me. Why? Because I surely met an angel in human form once when the loss of my daughter turned the light out in my being for a time. And all these years later as the light turned on knowing angels were really near,  I became a writer, writing about angels with novels storied with goodness, kindness and redemption.

Taking care of those who have no voice is my fervid hope. Children and the animals of the world need to thrive. Bless the Beasts and the Children. Everyday I  ask the angels for help with problems, as I navigate this precious life I’m given.  I am always sure they are telling me to follow my heart. I know for sure they are listening.

 

Tuesdays With The Angels- Angel Inspirations- Being Champions For Our Children

I was a special education teacher for twenty-five wonderful years. When I retired I wrote my memoir, Special Needs Children The Angels On My Shoulder. I’d always had a heart for children, animals, the earth and those in need. Where did it come from?As a child I remember being around nine and witnessing bullying. A little girl with special needs, who would be diagnosed as a child with Down’s Syndrome today, rode her bike past school each morning. She was not allowed in regular public school in those years. Other children were laughing and calling her names and it made me hurt for her. Wondering why she wasn’t in school and why they were  mean to her was embedded in my heart. I knew even then I would never be mean like those kids were.

Now that I am a grandmother, and a writer, I reflect on the makeup of people in our world. Some have the hearts for others and some are the bullies of the world. Why? The bullies teach us how not to be, I know that for sure. Yet, why can’t they change or can they? In our warring world today, where bullying by politicians  and others is accepted as near normal, . we must keep loving, keep caring and keep on. The children of the world are watching how we handle life day by day. There is a theory that those  bullying adults have been bullied themselves and their jealousy and rage come from childhood experiences and the lack of love.

When I write my novels there is always a bully character who has an awakening  and changes his or her ways to good in the end. This is what I pray for. This is why I write. Because as I say and write frequently, the bully  never wins. Loving our children and helping them learn how to treat others, that’s the winning way. Being a champion for our innocent children, this is love’s triumph! Ask the angels because even the thought of them inspires me with hope and determination.

Tuesdays With The Angels-The Bully Never Wins-Teach Children To Be Their Own Hero

20 Moon Rd. An Angel’s Tale is my 5th in the Mystic Bay Series.  There is always a theme in my books where the bully is thwarted. Madam Norma, who has recently died was the oldest psychic in town and everyone was unaware that she saw angels everywhere. Also, she had the kindest and calming demeanor with all who knew her.

In the story her spirit asks Angel Ken, who is an angel living a human existance to write her memoir. Madam Norma shows Angel Ken scenes from her life. One scene he writes in the book about her in particular stands out.

It’s around 1940, a rude blond woman walks in the grocery store Norma is managing. Madam Norma is also the acting mayor of the town. The rude woman pushes her way in front of a customer who is trying to pay for her groceries by trading  farm eggs for her groceries. The rude woman puts down the customer calling her a ‘ragamuffin’.

Madam Norma asks the rude woman to apologize to the customer and let the customer back in front. The rude woman becomes incensed and calls them all ‘hicks’. Madam Norma is firm,  “Miss, please leave the store now. My customers have shopping to do. There’s a grocery in Hillsboro, the next town north. Perhaps you can find what you are looking for there.

The rude blond woman turns on her heels and storms out. This is what we can teach our children…..to thwart the bully when walking away isn’t possible. Using a quiet confidence  the children and anyone else can stand up to a bully. Children need guidance to be their own hero in the making.

Tuesdays With The Angels-The Bully Never Wins

As a young girl I witnessed bullying in our neighborhood. The little girl was cruel  to my friend and me. My own mother didn’t seem to notice but my friend Sally’s mother did. She sat us down and talked to us about it. Her words gave me confidence. I’ll never forget her kindness. Perhaps she is the inspiration for so much of my mothering skills. 

Unfortunately, in our lives today bullies come and bullies go. The bully is in the schoolyard, the neighborhood, and the politics played out like a TV show in the news headlines.

What can we do about it? Like Sally’s mother, we can gravitate to those who inspire us with their kindness and support. Besides these people with angelic qualities, I always visualize Heaven’s angels near. I think they send messages of hope, and positive thoughts and ideas.

Gratefully,  I’ve met many a kind person in my life especially one I am sure was an angel sent from above to comfort me long ago.When I lost my child and sorrow took me down, a kind friend took me on a girl’s trip. There we met a man who had to be an angel. He is the inspiration for all my angel books. In my books, of course, there are kind characters, themes of hope, redemption, forgiveness and love. But also, there are oh so many angels to help make sure the bully never wins.

Tuesdays With The Angels-Summer of Angels

November 1st from 4 to 5 pm  I will be speaking at Desert Foothills Library in Cave Creek, Arizona. My topic will be my writing journey I call, The Angels on the Writer’s Shoulder. I will emphasize the journey of synchronicity I’ve been on since my late daughter passed away twenty seven years ago. My talk will include how it all transpired and I’ll read a few paragraphs from my memoir, Special Needs Children The Angels On My Shoulder. It’s a passage about Ned, of one of my students, and his interchange with me that changed my life for the better. All my students transformed my life on this incredible journey of mine. Five books in the Mystic Bay Series tell the secret story of  angels living as humans where no one knows the secret. Besides my memoir and Mystic Bay Series, I will speak briefly about my children’s book, When The Angels Sent Butterflies. I just completed my sixth in the Mystic Bay Series, Summer of Angels which will be published early 2023.

I’d love for my books to reach more readers because the thought of angels and writing about them inspires me each day to keep on the path of positivity and love. I walk the path with the angels, it’s my calling. 

Tuesdays With The Angels-The Angels On The Writers Shoulder

Years ago, when I started writing my first novel, The Angel’s Daughter, I encountered many experiences that seemed to be my destiny. Since my daughter, Kate, passed away years ago, I have written seven books and I am writing the eighth. This was not happenstance, this was meant to be in the tapestry of my life. You see, writing became healing, especially about angels, because I know I encountered an angel once in human form. He comforted me at my time of loss. I will speak of this encounter and more in my talk, The Angel’s On The Writers’ Shoulder. I am excited to announce I will be at the AZ Author’s Series Desert Foothills Library in Cave Creek, Arizona, November 1, 2022 at 4 pm. Come join me as I take you on my writing journey with each spiritual discovery. More information to come. Sending this in Light and Love.

Tuesdays With The Angels- Are Angels Divine?

The word divine means from God. God is divine and angels are sent from God. The angels are as perfect as they can be because they are God’s messengers. When I think of angels, I call on them to help me in my writing and in my day to day solving problems. I know now I get thoughts in my mind that are sent from above. These thoughts help me embrace my joys. I find  peace knowing these divine celestial beings are sent from God to help all of us. I have heard many inspiring stories from friends and others who have amazing angel encounters. To me, angels bring hope and God’s divine love to us all. I know this because I’m sure I met an angel once long ago when I needed God’s assuring love the most.

Tuesdays With The Angels- Angel Messages

A message from the angels ran through my thoughts the other day. I wasn’t thinking about angels at the time.

Love Is Tangible was the message. And as I thought about it during the day, it made such sense. Yes, you can see love in another’s eyes, in the devotion you feel for your loved ones on earth and loved ones gone on to heaven.  You can almost touch that love when you touch your heart.

My late daughter Kate, was afraid of bees when she was four. Years later after she passed away, I met a man who I am sure now was an angel. His presence and words comforted me. A few years later, I began writing novels about angels who come to earth in human form to help.

In ‘Town of Angels,’ the third novel in the Mystic Bay Series, Angel Ken sends butterflies to people in the town to calm their fears.  I was encouraged to  write a children’s book about the angel sending butterflies. Thankful for the wonderful illustrations by my friend, Susan Claire Anderson, I wrote ‘When The Angel Sent Butterflies’. In the story, Angel Ken sends butterflies to calm little Kate’s fear of bees. On the back cover I wrote, “Children need to know love from their parents and others surrounds them. Love conquers fear and beieving that angels are near can help sweep any childhood fear away.”   My love for my daughter, Kate, grows on as the years do now. Love never dies and as the angels’ message relayed to me, Love Is Tangible.

Tuesdays With The Angel- Messages From The Angels

The other day as I planned my day, doing the dishes, looking out the kitchen window, a thought came to me. I wasn’t thinking about heaven, angels or God at that moment but the words came through my mind. Walk with me. I realized it was a message from heaven.

Later in the day, I was contemplating whether to text a loved one who was having a disheartening day. Unexpectedly, the birthday card from that same person with a butterfly on it fell down on my desk. It had been leaning on the wall. There was nothing to have prompted the card moving. I knew it was a sign from above to text the loved one and I did. I knew the words that ran through my mind at that moment were part of my morning message.

“When one door closes, another one opens. Angels are near,” I wrote in the text. My message from the morning was clear. I was walking with the angels that day.