Pull up a chair, it's been a hot minute.

Welcome back! To all of us. I let my website die there for a little while as I prioritized family and my life off-screen.

We moved to an acreage, tried out having every animal known to man, had another baby, went through some health things, and now here I am right back in a sweet spot of being able to tap some things out on my computer and let my imagination have space for another type of creativity.

I have been flexing my creative muscles in other ways these last couple years.

Animal husbandry with rabbits, goats, c

hickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, pigs, guinea fowl and cows. I'm sure i'm forgetting an animal or two in there. My goodness. It was a continuously peaking learning curve and we LOVED it! I am going to write some short stories eventually about all of the hilarious scenarios we found ourselves in that first year in particular. Have any of you gone out on a beautiful summer morning to do the chore round after your significant other has left for work only to be met with an empty rabbit tractor? If you have, I want to hear your version! We had two rabbits tractors with about 20 rabbits each (they were very large tractors and the rabbits had ample space) but when the tractor was moved the evening before it was moved onto uneven ground and every single little rabbit found that little gap and turned into water to escape! My kids and I had plans to be somewhere within the hour and here we were, each of us with a fishing net, scrambling all over Gods green pastures trying to catch these little rabbits and return them to their home. If i wasn't awake before that incident, I certainly was after. Breathless too.

Things have slowed down in the animal department. We figured out which animals we want to put our time and money into and which ones we didn't. We held onto the guineas, the ducks, the cows and the chickens for now. I would eventually like goats again, but I have realized I can't have a garden and goats at the same time.

I learned canning, and sourdough, and how to take life much more slowly. We changed churches and developed a new community of friends. We had another baby! Did you see that coming? I didn't! We thought we were done after three, but after meeting some of the most amazing people we have ever met and seeing their large families, and the beautiful ways they interacted, we realized our family had some room left to grow. Best decision ever. Little Joy has been exactly that.

This last summer we were hit with some health issues that took around six months to really get sorted out. We finally feel we are on the other side of it now for the most part, which is such a blessing. It was nothing very serious, but it was keeping us from normalcy for awhile. It took us awhile to find answers and develop a trustworthy team. I am so thankful we took the time and did what we needed to do to get healthy. Part of that health journey is hitting the gym three times a week. That's another thing I never saw coming! We figured if we were getting healthy in all the other ways, why not start building some muscle? Apparently weight training is excellent conditioning for women heading into the magical realm of peri-menopause, and I plan to head into it ready and rippling. This year feels like a very promising year for our family on the health front, but we are trusting God to lead us, and joyfully living the life that unfolds before us (that's a reference to Jonathan Rogers "The Wilkderking" trilogy. Definitely worth a read!)

So here I was, trekking along through this season of life where writing did not have an active place on my priority list, let along social media and websites. I used to really like making instagram reels and thought that was a lot of fun, but once I started seeing people doing all the trendy things (I was one of them!) and dancing, or doing whatever the lates trend was so they (we) could sacrifice to the algorithm monster, I just got really turned off. We all looked like a bunch of preforming monkeys in a cricus, just hoping to be thrown the banana of being highlighted, seen and followed. I will still post things occasionally on my instagram, but I refuse to dance for the algorithm gods. If people want to find my books, they can. I don't need to sacrifice my mental space, my facetime with my family, my being present with the people I'm actually in the room with just. to get my books into people hands. That's not for me. Maybe at some point I will hire someone to do posts for me, but I'm not there yet. For now, I will remain in my small little corner and shine as brightly as I can in it.

Despite not being present on social media, someone DID find my books! The coordinator of the Family Expo! She messaged and asked me if I could read at the event. It took me a minute to think about it, but as I pictured myself doing a live reading to some bright faced children I could NOT say no. Doing readings is my favourite thing to do! I love interacting with the kids, and its always energetic and fun. I like to see their faces and hear their feedback. After all, these books are for them!

The event is tomorrow and the opportunity came at such a good time. I have just started writing again and have three different books on the go, and a cascade of ideas. I'm excited to feel excited about creating again. I am EXTRA excited because I am launching a subscription box this Spring! I have been working on subscription box ideas since my oldest son was one year old. He is eleven now. I started a subscription box company with a friend ten years ago that we called "Discovery Nook". We made educational unit study boxes and I would write the stories. We had two characters, a boy and a girl, and they would be the same main characters in all the box stories. There was one about carnivorous plants, another about the solar system, and a couple others that I can't remember at the moment. We never really were able to make it take off. I think we didn't know how. Then I started "Learn and Return" on my own a few years later which was another unit study idea where I would rent out equipment, such as an egg incubator and the brooding gear, put together some related activities and picture books and it was a hit! I should have had someone come along side me and tell me how to really establish it as a business but I was just having fun sharing these interesting things with people and wasn't as concerned about it being a business.

Fast forward to today. It all seems to be coming full circle.

I have the stories, I have gained a lot of business understanding and experience. I have the experience of homeschooling for several years and I know what sorts of boxes I would want to invest in for MY children.

I am finally ready to bring this baby to the world.

April 2nd, 2025 I will opening pre-orders for this 3-month subscription box. It will include a book, a stuffy/doll make in the likeness of the main character, crafts, activities, and more! I am so looking forward to carefully sourcing and curating these boxes and bringing them to you to encourage family time and create opportunities for bonding with you and your children. I want to create moments for deeper conversation, and asking questions, and having fun together! The boxes will tackle the same themes as my books do; bravery, emotional growth, imagination, and social awareness, to name a few.

As more books come out, more themed boxes will be made available.

The first boxes will ship out June1st, 2025. If you would like to be notified when the pre-order is open just send me an email and I will make sure you get notified!

Well, I have an event to be at tomorrow, so sleep is a must.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking the time to get this far.

Until next time...