she's here!

No, I did not just give birth. 

Thank goodness.

But...a delightful little girl and three musical bears did get released on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble scene just this past weekend, so may I introduce -

What fun!

Seeing it on the bookshelves at B&N this past weekend was pretty much a thrill; being nestled between a Berenstain Bear's book and Eric Carle was the icing on the cake.

I started this blog with the intention of it being the record of my journey toward picture book publication.  That was February of 2009.  Here I sit, exactly 5 years later to the month, with a picture of the cover of my published picture book.

It kind of blows me away.

This was a dream of mine that I didn't even realize existed.  Not until I started working in the elementary school library in February of 2008 and became inundated and surrounded by picture books did my love of them surface completely to the point where I felt I needed to write one.  At first I thought it was just me following a familiar pattern; typically, I have a hard time sitting back and just observing or enjoying things that I come across.  If it's out there and possible, I either want to teach it, sing it, lead it, write it, or speak about it.  I'm a front row and on stage kind of gal that usually bites off more than she can chew and gets rather ahead of herself and overcommitted. 

So, I figured this could be more of the same.  It's not enough for me to just enjoy picture books; no, I need to write one.

And for whatever reason, this time it took.  Things began to happen that I couldn't possibly have orchestrated or predicted.  The key element was that I met Corey Rosen Schwartz online and her generous offer of collaboration worked for both of us and here we are.

I have spent time recently focusing on dreams of mine that haven't worked out.  The frustration comes, the questioning, the wondering why.  Then I come and sit down and write about this and see the uncanny timing, the way God put me exactly where I needed to be when I needed to be there (without any help from me; He's really quite talented, you know), and the direction the past 5 years have taken, and I think "wow".  Why am I lamenting what hasn't happened when this has?

I am thankful that this event is a part of the story of my life.  I am thankful that it happened.  And many thanks to you, too, for your continual encouragement and support that I felt all along the way.

Onward and upward....