Category Archives: Uncategorized

Tuesdays With The Angels-Special Needs Children-Angels Unaware

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My life would change years ago while in high school. It was  during the days when kids with special needs weren’t allowed in public schools. My gym teacher asked me to monitor four girls with special needs because they had swimming lessons at our high school. I was to help them get ready for their lessons. Why was I asked? I was a teenager with low self esteem and an underachiever academically. But the teacher asked me and I obliged. Did my teacher find a way to help me feel good about myself? Did she see something caring in me  I didn’t see? I had a heart for the kids ever since I was little and saw a child bullied outside of the school.

After college I had two thoughts. One was  to pursue acting and the other was teaching kids with special needs. I decided acting wasn’t for me  but I didn’t have a degree in education. But miraculously or shall I say with synchronicity, I was given an opportunity to work with the children again in a private school setting in a church.

I loved my job. I learned by interacting with the children as I had no training. I was blessed with two fantastic assistants who knew more than I did about the diagnoses and behavior. But I learned. As I went  on,  I learned more by getting a masters degree then by raising my own children. I went  back to work when my kids were in school.

Instinctively, I knew the children were my teachers. They were like angels to me. Their love was uncondiditonal. There was never an agenda but mostly kind souls navigating their own lives. Some had supportive families while other did not. I found they brought out a gentle nature in me, a calmness. There was always a  kindred spirit  feeling when I was with them. I knew they were the most important teachers I would ever have.

When sadness came and my daughter passed away, these children with special needs were kind and empathetic . Like my own children, they needed me and I needed them. They were comforting, caring and seemed to have a wisdom about the needs of the emotions of others. 

Years later, my sister encouraged me to write a memoir about my experience teaching them. I realize I am the mother and grandmother I am now because they  taught me about life, loving  the now, forgiveness and finding joy in all  accomplishments as well as the little things. The students embraced learning and loved succeeding. They seemed to know instinctively who were their advocates.

It is with such gratitude toward heaven that their grace glowed around me. The shy girl with self esteem issues changed the day when I first volunteered. I thrived, and had goals for the future. Helping them helped me mature and grow.  For twenty-five years I was blessed to have the privilege of teaching Special Needs Children The Angels on my Shoulder.

 

 

Tuesdays With The Angels- New Mystic Bay Series New Angel In Town

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My latest novella, New Angel In Town, is a labor of love as all my books are. However, this one is different from the others in the Mystic Bay Series. This book has a compilation of all the angel stories ever told to me from family members, friends, and people at book fairs. These are true accounts of  real encounters people have experienced in their lifetimes.  I decided to write a  book in the series  bringing all the characters,  townsfolk and the angels living as humans together telling their angel stories. The secret is known to a few but the angels have their own favorite stories of helping those in need in Mystic Bay. These stories told to a filmmaker will  become a film to inspire humanity.

How did writing the Mystic Series start? Thirty years ago, my  treasured first child, Kate tragically passed away.  I was beyond hope yet found heaven had a plan for me. An angel was sent to me  to comfort me. He appeared as a human undexpectedly as a friend took me on a girl’s trip to help my grief. He was at a department store and spoke to us then appeared again the next day walking up to Nancy and me again in a tiny store forty miles away. I can see his face in my mind. It seemed an unlikely and miraculous encounter. He told us he’d see us at the airport. Then Nancy and I turned away for a moment and turned back and he was gone. We looked for him up and down the street but he was nowhere. Believing he is my guardian angel, I started writing stories about angels living as humans in a town where the secret is kept that angels are all around us guiding us, sometimes appearing as humans. 

And so it is an honor to write the stories I’ve been told by friends, family and people I met at book fairs. These are true stories from their hearts, their encounters that changed their own lives. I ask them, ‘Tell me your angel stories’ and people do.

Writing this book was a labor of love and hopefully readers will see the humanity, the soul searching, the honesty and vulnerability many have shared with me. The themes involve child advocacy, friendship, bullying, romance with magical scenes of flying angels and visions of their missions. The storyline weaves it all together in a tapestry of hope. I’m sure that meeting my angel long ago gave me  hope to keep going and to ultimately write angel stories to inspire hearts. Tell me your angel story if you can. This novella is filled with encounters from the hearts of many who confidied in me their precious miraculous stories. I’ve put them into a fictional novella to radiate kindness and love. Angels are everywhere.

Tuesdays With The Angels-It’s A Wonderful Life & My Very Own Angel

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It was Christmas time a few years ago. I  met a man outside a grocery store. We were putting our carts back in the proper place assigned for them but others had put their carts on the sidewalk or in front of other cars or in handicapped spaces. I remember this man said, “Everybody is acting like a Mr. Potter,” He was referring the film,  It’s A Wonderful Life. I was surprised he mentioned the old film but he and I briefly exchanged our disappointment in others. As we left, I wondered how he knew I had watched the 1946 classic film. Was it a coincidence? Or was he a messenger from above?

The themes in my Mystic Bay Series have  always been inspired by the iconic  Christmas film, It’s A Wonderful Life.  Set during World War II, the theme resonates today as bullies around the globe try to bring us down to our knees. In the film, George Bailey, a kind son, has to take over the family business when his father dies. Now he can’t follow his dreams of seeing the world.  The bully in town, Mr. Potter,   tries to destroy George’s family business and takeover the town. George  becomes despondent and decides the world would be better off without him. Yet, heaven and Clarence, his guardian angel, have a lesson for him. His angel, appearing as an older gentleman, comes from heaven and  shows George what life would be like in the town if he’d never been born. George saved his brother’s life as a child by pulling him from an icy pond. That would have never happened if George had never been born.  At the hands of  Mr. Potter, George’s wife would have never married and    the town would be ruined by Mr. Potter’s cruelty and greed.

The theme resonates with me as I write my soon to be eighth book in the Mystic Bay Series where angels live as humans guiding the townsfolk with love. In the film, George changes his attitude and handles the bully as he realizes his wonderful life. The town comes together to help him thwart the bully with their friendship. 

Long ago, after my daughter died, I met an angel of my own.  My friend, Nancy, took me on a girl’s trip. The distinguished man was standing by the cash register in a department store.  We exhanged pleasantries as  he said he was on business and we explained we were on a girl’s trip. I think now his business  really was showing me that he was my guardian angel.

Surprising us, we encountered him the very next day as he walked up and greeted us in a small gift store miles away. He smiled at the coincidence of us meeting again. He told us we would see him at the airport. We turned away to look at some items a little taken aback at the coincidence that he was there. Then we  looked back to find he had disappeared. His   presence had been surreal and it  comforted me. My fear of flying had escalated since my daughter’s passing. We had met him twice in a twenty-four hour time period. I suddenly wasn’t afraid to fly anymore. Nancy and I decided right then that he must have been an angel sent to comfort me.

This theme is in all my books. My Christmas novel is typical of the love I try to create in my themes. Finding joy with the help of friends and family and helping others is key to having our own wonderful life.  Counting on the fact that our angels are all around guiding us helps me daily. I believe the bully never wins and love is always triumphant. Angels are with us. Was that man at the grocery store parking lot sent from above to remind me of the thought  that we have a wonderful life? Nancy and I still speak of the man angel we met years ago.  That day, he changed my life. I met my very own Clarence. I thank him everyday.

Tuesdays With The Angels-Angels & Sunflowers

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In the summer my husband and I happily live in a mountain town. There, I marvel as August comes and the wild sunflowers emerge from the ground with spectacular precision as they sway with the wind. This year two grew in the yard and I knew when I saw the little bit of green they would be wild sunflowers blown in from the fields and forests nearby. The wild ones grew tall in September and as late in the summer came they still hadn’t bloomed. One is just opening up and the first one bloomed  two days ago. October has arrived with fall chilly morning air, so I wait for the second one with hope to fully bloom before the frost comes.

The little miracles happened  as they grew when both their closed faces seemingly overnight  turned toward the east and the morning sunlight.  It made me think of the problems of our world. I’d asked the angels to help sunflowers, and the pumpkins in my garden. I asked for the flock of  black birds to return in August for their brief time at the feeder and they did. I ask everyday for  humanity to help each other around the world..

Since I’m a writer of angel stories, I ask the angels to help people see the need to help each other  the way nature cares for all the trees,  flowers and plants. In these times when hope seems to fade toward peace, we have everything we need to help ourselves and our world. Turing our  faces to  heaven, we can feel the gift of life just as the late blooming wild sunflowers in my yard instinctively did.

Tuesday With The Angels-Goodwill vs Bully

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I always ask the angels to give me  words as I write my novellas and blogs. I knew a healer who said when I asked him what to do about others who are critical or cruel to me or those I love, he said, “Wish them well.”  

How powerful it is to wish well those who are unkind to us. In all the  books I write, goodness always wins and the bully learns. Today with so many bullies plagueing our media my belief now and forever is that hopefully someday they will see the light kindness brings. Wishing them well but also wishing them knowledge are compatible. In my new  book set in Mystic Bay I am writing, the angels who live as humans in Mystic Bay, impact everyday lives with thoughtful gestures and examples of kindness and understanding.

We are fortunate  to be here on earth to help our families, our friends as well as those we might never know. Our impact to help those in need will fly on angels wings little by little spreading love and kindness. Thoughts of love have power and change. Love is always more powerful than hate. Remember, we can be stewards of kindness, light workers, lighting the way to a path of kindness. The bully never wins!

My NFPW  2025 National Award for The Dog Who Came For Christmas!

Tuesdays With The Angels- Angel Inspirations- Teach Our Children About Bullying

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You know who the bully hurts? Our children, the most vulnerable in our society.  Many lives of children are suffering because of the bullying in the schoolyards, the bullies in the neighborhood and as they see it play out in the media. Recently, I purchased a t-shirt that is for kids and adults. It says Everyone Is Welcome Here.

In my seven Mystic Bay Series of novellas, and memoir, Special Needs Children The Angels on My Shoulder, bullying is always one of the main themes. Why?Because bullying has to be taken to task in our society.  Teaching  about bullying begins at home and in school. Teaching kindness and how to be kind is our great opportunity to change the world.

Every one of us may have been bullied in our young lives or as adults and there is such a  need to teach the children how to overcome being bullied and how bullying hurts. We can teach kids to walk away, tell parents or adults like their teacher, bus driver or family member if somebody has bullied them. Talk to your kids about bullying.

An important lesson for our kids is to explain to them how kindness helps us grow into loving adults and how helping others helps ourselves grow up to be kind. Being kind can spread love around the world. It is more powerful than hate.

I’ve writen books that have won awards, I think mainly because of the themes of love, forgiveness, redemption and thwarting bullies.   In my next Mystic Bay novella  due to be released in 2026, bullying will once more be a theme. I love to write and the angels inspire me to realize my potential to get themes of love and hope out into the world. It is my belief that any one can change if they want to.

I ask the angels everyday to give me inspiration and they always come through. Phrases of hope, love and working through problems come to mind in my writng, creating good outcomes. Through  educating our children by helping them solve  problems and through our role modeling these traits in our lives , love and kindness will win against bullying. Kindness is inherent but can be learned. Being kind never leaves you. Kindness Crossing and Everyone Is Welcome Here are signs I love for  kindness  is forever, a  gift from above.

Tuesdays With The Angels- Angel Inspirations Children & Animals

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In 1995, this very day, I lost my daughter, Kate. At nineteen she was beautiful, bright, in love with her boyfriend, and glowing going to college. She loved her family, her dogs and cat and her friends. Her promise of a bright future was there for the making but her future was to be with God.

I have learned so many things these years gone by. So many lessons learned that I can’t put them all down on paper.  I do know for sure that love is the answer to everything. My twins, Mike and Elizabeth, who are adults now, have shown me with grace and fortitude their ongoing love for life and others. As teens when Kate died, they had a wisdom way mature for their age. They are kind human beings, my daughter, an incredible  mother and my son a loving uncle.They help others in need and of course love animals as our whole family does.

Years ago my journey through grief was helped by my children’s love. My dear friend Nancy,  took me on a girl’s trip years ago to help my sorrow. There we met a man I’m sure was an angel.  One day he was  at a store in Houston politely talking to us and the next day there he was again in a town we had never been to an hour away in another store. His presence astounded us and he told us he would see us at the airport. Then we turned away for a moment and when we looked back he was gone from the store. We went outside but he was nowhere. I know he was an angel there to comfort, letting me know Kate was safe in God’s hands.

Because of him, and in memory of my Kate, I have written ten books. There is only love in the books I write, all with angel themes.  My novella’s, my memoir about teaching children with special needs, and my children’s book, all were inspired by the angel and my love for Kate, my family and my own gift of life. 

My angel inspirations today, this day of remembrance and love, is to keep on loving, forgiving, hoping, praying for all to find places in their hearts for others, to know their blessings,  to help those who need us the most, the children and animals, the innocent ones of our world. Is there another book about angels in my ever-growing imagination? Always. Here is my latest.

 

Tuesdays With The Angels- Life Lessons &Two Special Ladies

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Recently, I lost two dear friends. One was my cousin, Marcy, and the other, Maggie, who was like a sister to me. Both were the same age and vivacious, kind women who were truly my confidents. Grief stricken, I wondered yet knew I would have to go on without talking to them and sharing our lives together.

I will forever miss them but learned so much from them in our years together. From Marcy, I learned how to laugh and live a positive life. Though she had lost a daughter, like I had, she went on living her best life, knowing the treasure life holds. I wrote a part of what I learned from her in my newest book, The Dog Who Came For Christmas, An Angel’s Tale. When someone would bully Marcy giving her an insult of some kind, she would say, “thank you” and then walk away smiling. What a great way of thwarting a bully.

And Maggie? Well, Maggie could see angels and the spirits of past loved ones and others since childhood. Her stories about her spiritual experiences with her dogs are written into my new novella too. She was a soft spoken person and kind to everyone. She too, had lost a young granddaughter, and yet she went on knowing loving the rest of her family was her primary goal in life. They needed her care . These two women were so close to me and though I will miss them all my life, I know their influence will keep me evolving spiritually and writing about the new lessons I’ve learned.

Once long ago, when I lost my own daughter, Kate, a woman I met briefly said to me, “Don’t worry, one day you will meet Kate in the center of a rose.” I’ve always loved that image. Roses mean love and having memories of loved ones that are forever with us are part of the gift of love from above. Someday, with hope in my heart, we will meet all our loved ones again  in the center of a rose.

Tuesdays With The Angels- Angel Inspirations-Animal Rescue

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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- Knowing Children Are Our Treasures The Way to Peace

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Our Children are our treasures. Love and kindness are primary for children to have  a wonderful life. In our world today why aren’t we all working together for peace? Do we all want peace for the children’s future? If so, then why isn’t it happening?  I shout with my words when I write and if anyone is reading them then that gives me hope. Hope is a prayer and dreaming for peace is a prayer too. I pray to God and the angels to help us find a pathway to end wars and strife for all our sakes.

There is a solution which begins at home by teaching children to accept others differences and viewpoints. War is destroying our world with brutality and yet it continues with it’s consequences of anxiety, fear and distrust . Putting peace in our own life helps protect our vulnerable treasures, the children. For they can’t speak for themselves now but someday they could change the world for the better with learning peaceful ways. Be their advocates. Be their hope.