I think many of you know I had put off writing Mari's book for a little while but I may not have gone into why I did so. Through different writing forums I became apart of I found out the book I had completed would be a great one for family and friends as long as that is where it ended. But if I wanted it to be read by more than just people I knew then it needed to be done in a completely different way. One thing I kept being told is I needed to add fiction elements to her book. At first … [Read more...]
The Unexpected Journey – Revised
I wrote this short story a couple of years ago. I have been told it would make a good children's story. What do you think? I would love to hear any and all comments. Thank you. The sudden darkness hit her like an overwhelming force of nature and seemed to envelope her all at once. Suddenly off in the distance, a small speck of light appeared. It drew her in as if calling her by name saying, “Ariella, follow the light. It will guide you on your new path.” So she did. As she went, she … [Read more...]
Old and New
It’s interesting to me to have a child, my niece, ask me a question about a conversation she over heard me having with her mom on the phone talking about how I died the day Mariana died and a new Kristena was born. Athena asked me this morning, “Auntie Kris, last night when you were talking to my mommy you talked about an “Old Kristena” and a “New Kristena,” what was the “old Kristena” like?” I wasn’t quite sure how to answer this. How do you explain to an 8 year old what you used to be like? … [Read more...]
Having Kids
This weekend has been a nice relaxing weekend. I have basically sat here catching up on one of my favorite shows. The only thing that stinks is that Keith is not here. He is on a business trip this week. I miss him when he is gone. The kids haven’t been exactly happy has they have both been grounded all weekend. I think that it really has impacted them. Trevin’s was mostly for lying (again) and Athena’s was mostly for being disrespectful and rude to an adult but going up to the other’s team’s … [Read more...]
Missing Her…
I sit here thinking about my beloved angel today and how much she is missed. I was looking at one of her pictures up on the wall and at how truly beautiful she was at just 5. Then I started to look at some of her other pictures. This got me to thinking about what she would have looked like once she was an adult. I think she would have been one of those adults that when people looked at her they would have thought she had such natural beauty. Unfortunately, we will never get to know. All we … [Read more...]
Women’s Retreat third entry
The start of a new day. It is a beautiful day but to look outside you wouldn’t know it. Our cabin is off the mountain side and you can see all the other beautiful log cabins around us USUALLY. This morning looking outside our bedroom window everything is in a major fog. It is interesting how it can just come and envelope the area like this. Fog is kind of representative of our own lives. Everything can be beautiful and then all of a sudden something happens in your life and the fog can … [Read more...]
Going on Business
Keith leaves on another business trip tomorrow. He will be back on Friday. It’s not too bad. He will leave again a week after he gets back on another one for another week. He seems to usually go for about 2 weeks every month to different places all over the country. I think he likes the scenery but is getting tired of the traveling. It’s hard to believe he turned 40 today. For almost half of our lives we have been together. When you really start to think about it that is a very long … [Read more...]
Writing through tragedy
Recently things have been good. I have not been overly sad. I mean, I miss Mari but I am doing good. I sit here in church again. I am glad we have started going to church on a regular basis. It is important for the two of us and our marriage. My hope is it only makes us stronger and helps us to get through the loss of Mari. I know through God anything can happen. I know some people might say, “How could you believe in a God who would do this?” My response is God knows more than I … [Read more...]
Strength…
Strength: Where does it come from? Everyone always wants to tell me how strong I am for how I am today with dealing with the death of Mari. And I used to think the same thing when I saw a parent and how they were dealing with the death of a child. I would think to myself how incredibly strong that person must be to be dealing with the loss. The strength they have inside themselves must be so incredibly strong to be able to get through this incredibly hard time. I know I could never be that … [Read more...]
It’s that time of year…
It’s that time of year again. That time of year everyone dreads yet some look forward to. What time of year is it you may ask? Well it is TAX TIME. For most people this is just a time of year that is required by our federal government to report how much money we have made during the year and to try to find as many deductions as the IRS will allow to either pay the least amount of money possible, or, for those that are lucky, a refund. Every year I would start getting all my documents … [Read more...]
