Hi!

There has been nothing new on this blog for awhile, I have been at the drawing board, literally! I am going to post the cover and two pages  of our upcoming book on relocation…I think you all have stories about PCS (permanent change of station, for those of you outside the Military)

This is the cover…as you can see, moving can be difficult. The tone of this book is to help kids know they are not alone in not wanting to leave behind what they know, but that good things can come of it. Paula has written this in her famous rhyming style, and it is fabulous!

The story title is Little Daisy’s Worst/Best Day! I don’t want to give it all away, but do want to let you know that is a true story, that the author Paula Johnson experienced, as Daisy had to leave her home full of foster kids (social services said too many dogs,) and Paula and Barry took Daisy to live with them on the farm.

All the feelings of sad , mad, getting used to things, and finally acceptance, good memories and positive outcomes are there for parents and kids to discuss.

What kids can resist wriggling, soft, sweet puppies? The story begins with 9 of them!

The long scary ride to a new place far away. Not only far, but also different! You can see that Daisy is not too thrilled, but as it does in real life, the new that we resist, can be the best!

Well, that is all I will share right now! I have lots of painting yet to do! We would love to hear your stories of kids and PCS adventures if you want to share!

We are hoping to publish by early March! We will keep you posted!

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Almost Forever is a book written by Maria Testa.

I love this book. It is a remembrance stone in the wall of my life, though I did not experience this particular situation, others in my childhood came flooding back. The way it is written is so authentic to a child’s eye view , the thinking that kids do in the privacy of thier own hearts.

The book is written in the perspective of a 6 year old girl in 1967, as she and her brother experience the deployment of their father to Vietnam. The father, a medic, copes with his connection to family, as the family at home works to stay afloat. My experience as a military mom and grandma, allows me to say that this is a powerful, authentic, though short read, and the realities are all there.

As a child of divorce at this very age, I found myself again able to recall vividly the experience of a fatherless home, and the lonely ,unstable feel of it.

The mother in this book, like my own did, works hard to make it all work. I cannot give away the part that wretched my  heart most, but then perhaps it would be different for others  anyway. There are places where you think you know what is happening, to be surprised that you were wrong.

Written in a prose, the language is stark and powerful. There is no overt political commentary, but only what a 6 year old might pick up from what she sees around her.  At a park and her mother comments ” lucky kids, I wonder if they even know anybody in Vietnam.” You know they are protesters, but it is not said. The ending is one you will not soon forget.

The child’s eye view is so much more complex than people know. This book is universal , about life, and how we figure out what to do next when we don’t know what to do next. If you want to get a glimpse of the heart of a Military child, a read of Almost Forever, is well worth your time.

You will know even more clearly why we say We Serve Too!

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Here is just a little taste of the new  Military Alphabet coloring book we are about to release!

In the back, we have this little ditty, written by Paula Johnson, another clever way to help you learn the letters. It goes like this:

Military Phonetic Alphabet

A is Alpha, Bravo-B

C is Charlie Horse and me!

D for Delta , Echo-E

Foxtrot-won’t you dance with me?

G is for Golf , H is Hotel

I is for India (the Taj Mahal). J is for Juliet (she’s Romeo’s dream)

K is for Kilo, Lima is L (that’s the city and not the bean)

M is for Mike as in microphone , N is for November when we love to come home.

Grouchy O is Oscar. Papa-letter P,

Q is for Quebec where saying yes is said, “Oui, Oui!” (pronounced we , we)

R-where art thou Romeo? Sierra-S you see!

T-Tango in U-Uniform

V-Victor…victory!

Whiskey, whiskers W

X-ray-I can see through you! Y -is yankee doodle doo

Z for Zulu- now we’re through!

——————————————

The coloring books are on their way! Lots of fun for kids and parents!

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Today we had lunch with our dear friend Elaine Dumler. Her books   I’m already Home… Again, and her newest, The Road Home, are staples in the Military world. These books give helpful tips, advice and stories of real life Military Families and how they cope with deployment and reunion.

Paula and I are blessed with not only a great business relationship with Elaine (she carries our books in packages with her books),but we share the passion to help and address the struggles common to all Military Families. http://www.imalreadyhome.com/cart.htm :this link takes you to Elaine’s store page that features several packages that have books on deployment, reunion or both, for adults and children to help smooth the rocky road of being separated from loved ones.

If it were not for Elaine’s support and coaching, we would never have had the joy of publishing books that reach the littlest members of the Military Family. We hope you will visit her website and check out all the helps and offerings there!http://www.imalreadyhome.com/index.html

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The long year of praying and waiting is coming to a close. Justin will be coming home very soon and we can’t wait! It wasn’t long ago that he was back on leave, but this time he will be back on American soil…at least for awhile! We never know what the next thing will be, but our little ones will get to be with daddy again, and that is worth all the waiting.

I was thinking about our book We Serve Too!2 A Child’s Reunion Book, and feeling that though it is never easy to negotiate the changes in life, it sure helps to know you are not alone. We hope as we get our books into the hands of little ones, that this is something they learn. Soon we will be living some of the things in the book, and for now, we just look ahead to that still obscure date in September!

We have had two wonderful reviews lately. I am putting them here so that if you are considering our books for your own young ones, or as a gift, you can get opinions other that mine and Paula’s! If you want to get more testimonials, just check our website .

http://excellentorpraiseworthy.org/2009/08/children-serve-too-2/

http://cwahm.com/wordpress/2009/cwahm-columnists/ideas-and-resources-to-help-kids-cope-with-deployment/

P.S. As I typed the final letter and posted this blog, the phone was ringing….He’s HOME!!!! Justin is back in the U.S.ofA.!  I can’ begin to tell you how happy I am, except to say that the hour and a half I just spent on the phone was like being a kid in a candy shop! I wish we all could have been there at his base in Virginia for his homecoming, but in two weeks, we will get our homecoming here in Colorado! WooHoOOO!!!!

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Well, here is the link to our hometown newspaper article, http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20090615/NEWS/906149986&parentprofile=search.

There Paula and I are on the front page (Paula on the left, me on the right). Though it is not explained in the article, the basket of balls are something we had made for kids to go with the second book. In the second book the father throws the ball against the wall with these words: “We bounced back last time he said with a wink, We’ll bounce back again and a again don’t you think? Our Family’s a tough squishy rubbery ball, you can’t keep us flat We bounce back, that is all!” Our balls say: Can’t keep us flat, we bounce back!”

Well, check it out, I told you we would let you know how it went!

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Well, Paula and I had an interview with our local paper about We Serve Too! It was an interesting time with a very nice reporter who sat with us at the kitchen table. Paula’s cat decided that not enough attention was being paid to the house feline, and walked past the french door windows with his catch…a squirrel he had successfully hunted.

Short of that, we had a nice visit and look forward to the story coming out next week. The photographer came today to get a shot of us in the barn. This had to be a quick photography session because we were having wild weather and possible tornado in the area, which as anyone knows, is just a little more exciting than two grandmas who have written a couple of books. We understand completely, and breathed a sigh of relief, when our photographer did not fall off the table he was on to get the right angle.

Well, it has been a fun experince really, even though we have felt media shy for the last year, and so never pursued any attention. My grandson’s sweet preschool teacher Marsha, was the one who decided that we should get a little press.

We’ll let you know how it goes…we hope it will mean that more little ones will get a book to help the lonely days of deployment and the readjustment times of reunion!

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In the world of writing and publishing books for children, there are some wonderful moments, when the purpose you set out to accomplish comes full circle and you see in a child’s life something that makes all of it worthwhile. Paula and I have been blessed lately with that experience. We have been spending the past months from October through this past week, preparing our second book, We Serve Too!2, A Child’s Reunion Book. This book was created to touch the children of those in the process of reunion and reintegration.

The process of publishing a book,is somewhat tedious ,with many decisons to be made. Many small tests must be passed to make sure that the books we produce for the littlest members of our honored Military, will end in  resources worthy of the calling.

I am going to post here a special letter, and picture from one Military Family that is dear to our hearts. Thank you for encouraging us as we forge ahead! This letter was written in regard to our first book: We Serve Too! A Child’s Deployment Book.

Alex (Christians Mom) writes:
Dear Paula & Kathleen,
Christian wrote a little note for you. He really love the creed in the back of the book. He lights up when he reads it. The book brings tears to his eyes because that Daddy had to leave just like his Daddy. He feels bad for those kids and hurts for them. I think it is good since he is really articulating his feelings and letting us in his pain, sharing his fears. I am glad hea can open up about it and talk about it now. He was a very worried and scared little boy. Iam enclosing a picture of Scott & Christian.
Thank you again,
:

Christian’s note says,
“My favorite part of the book was the poem. It was my favorrite part because it had a lot of nice words. When I read it, it made me feel proud. it made feel proud because i’m a Military kid and my Dady(sic) is fighting for us.
Christian 7 years old.
(and a hand drawn picture of “Dady”)

Thanks Christian! A compliment like that from you, is truly a treasure to us!

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Well, we have a new book in the wings! It is called We Serve Too!2 A Child’s Reunion Book. We are very excited about this one!

In it , we address the difficulities military families face when a parent has been deployed and spent long months away from home. It is a story of the joy of reunion, and the changes that have to take place as a family member is brought back into the fold. It is also about the resiliency of the military family.

We believe military families will see themselves in this book, and will be encouraged to address the issues openly with the same family they met in We Serve Too! A Child’s Deployment Book.

I’ll keep you up on the news as we go to print and get the logistics of publishing finished! We are thrilled with the people who have offered to write the “blurbs” on the back of the book, and with the support we have gotten from the military community! We can’t wait to unveil this latest book in the We Serve Too! series!

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I have to let you all know about a great resource for personalized things for military kids. Paula and I had been asked many times about doing a book fro military moms, but we found such a great resource that we don’t need to. My Mommy wears Combat Boots is the perfect book for the little ones who have a military Mommy. The book is sweet and speaks to the many emotions that children have as a parent deploys.

Sharon also offers on her website personalized calenders, stationary, postcards and her keepsake books that are the right size to be carried by a toddler, or in the zip pocket of a school age child’s backpack. You can see that she has made these for my son and grandchildren.

I have to say that I love the stationary and post cards! It is a special gift for a parent to know that not only will their little one get the letter from them, but a picture as well, keeping the parents face always there.

All you have to do is contact Sharon, download your favorite photos and get back products that will help your child during deployment. Military kids will love it!

To see all that Sharon offers, you can get on her website right from weservetoo.com and click on My Mommy Wears Combat boots on the right bar. Great stuff Sharon!

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