My Heart Is In Africa

Yesterday the Vernal Express ran a story about the trip to Africa my son Brayden and I took.

To read the story, go to www.vernal.com and in the search box type: Students helping Students then click go.

When we arrived at the village where we stayed for ten days, one of my friends said, "Now your penny has come full circle." It truely did. I would love to write about all of the stories I heard about in Africa, but I fell so inadequate as a writer to be able to tell the stories like they should be told.

When I wrote The Power of a Penny, I never imagined that I would travel to Africa. It seemed so far away and like such a hard thing to do emotionally and physically. I'm glad the decision to go on the trip happened so fast because I probably would have changed my mind about going once I found out about all the shots I had to have, the malaria medicine I had to take that made me depressed and the chances I was taking by going to Africa. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I am so grateful I got to go because I learned so much and experienced a deep love for the people I met. I may never get to go back to Africa, but the village of Gona will always have a place in my heart! I wish there was some way I could raise $l0,000.00 to give to Koins for Kenya so they could help the villagers build a school for those kids. I keep waiting for the quarterly check from Tate Publishing for the sales of my books. Even if it is just a penny, it will be a start to help with the school!

Anyone have an extra $10,000.00 sitting around? It would go towards a good cause. I will even make sure the school is named after you!

I have been focusing on the Christmas tree I'm going to decorate for the Tree's for Charity festival. I was stumped on how to decorate a tree with the things I brought back from Africa and yet have it still be Christmasy so someone would want to bid on it. After many hours of searching for ideas, I think I finally found what I want to do. I know it's only September, but I have several vacations, a family wedding and other things going on and before I know it, it's going to be November!