News flash! My book is so popular now, people are stealing it!

I don't know if I just be mad or flattered. I am in a book swapping club and a member in New York requested a copy of my book, "The Power of a Penny." I received a notice this morning that all she received was an empty envelope and a note from the post office saying they damaged it. But where is the book? Someone actually opened the envelope and stole my book!

Listen up! Who ever stole the book, I will forgive you on one condition.....read my book and tell all your friends and family to BUY the book!

So much for a secure mailing system!

My heart is in Haiti

As I watch the devasting news of the horrible things going on in Haiti right now, my heart aches to be there to help those poor people. I feel so helpless not knowing how to help. My neighbor, who is a doctor, has been trying to go since the first earthquake happened but hasn't been able to find a way to get into Haiti. I have a jar full of pennies I have been saving for a rainy day that I can send, but I feel like that isn't enough. My husband would love to bring home several of the orphaned children. When I hear stories of the things these kids are going through, I think I would too, but how do you make it happen?
I made a You Tube video a few months ago when some people criticized me for sending some of the proceeds of my book, "The Power Of A Penny: The Priceless Journey Of One Penny," to Kenya to help with the people who are struggling there. In that video I asked the question, "What are you doing to make a change?" Right now I feel like a hypocrite because I am doing nothing to help the Haitian people. As I sit here in my nice warm house, with a belly full of food and a full cup of water, I try to push the images of the children in Haiti that have been shown on the news the last few days.
I guess I need to take my own advice from the You Tube video, " Don't just sit there, do something to make a difference!"

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln

The U.S. Mint just put out a statement that said the new Penny design will be released on February 11th, 2010. That is exactly one day before the 200th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birth. Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln! I wonder if President Lincoln would like all the fuss about a coin honoring him. He was a simple man who probably would want to for go all the fan fare. But this really is a momentous occasion! The old penny with the Lincoln Memorial on the back is no longer going to be produced.
I wonder if any of my great, great grandchildren will search through their pocket full of coins to see if they have one of those old pennies featuring the Memorial on it like I look for the pennies with the wheat on the back. Who knows what is going to happen in the future.... coins may no longer be around, for that matter tangible money may not be around either with the technology that is being developed.
I am so amazed with the machines that are being used today. Just before Christmas, we took our kids to Sea World in San Diego, California. When we got to the gate there were two machines waiting to greet us after we spent seventy bucks for a two day pass. One scanned each person's entry ticket and another was a biometric finger scanner. It instructed us to put our index finger inside a little box which lit up with a green light and then scanned an image of our finger. Isn't this the amazing technology that was so far out there in spy movies a few years ago? There is a big debate on whether amusement parks should be able to do this because law enforcement agencies could use it. Are these parks trying to reduce their work force or are they searching for terrorists within their parks? It seems a little suspicious to me. I'm sure President Lincoln wouldn't approve. In his day if you wanted to talk to your neighbor, you walked over to talk to them, you didn't text them. When you bought groceries at a store, you walked up to the counter and the clerk knew you by name and asked you how your children were. Now you have to scan your own groceries and have a machine scold you for not placing an item in the bagging area.
You would think the cost of things would go down now that companies aren't having to pay employees to do the work. All this just makes the penny worth more in my opinion because you never know how much longer it will be around.

A New Year and a new penny!

Happy New Year! I had the most amazing holiday season ever! I feel so blessed to be able to spend it with family and friends. I didn't get any high dollar gifts like in years past, but I received the best gift of all, the knowledge that the Christmas season is truely about spending time with family and friends. We went to our cabin above Park City and played games, built the annual sledding course and ate tons of junk food while sitting next to a roaring fire!

Now that 2010 is here, I look forward to many new adventures! I also look forward to finding one of the brand new 2010 pennies that will replace the old one I grew up with. The Lincoln memorial on the reverse of the penny will be replaced by a shield with thirteen vertical stripes which represents the thirteen colonies which united after the Civil war to make the United States of America. The words, "E Pluribus Unum," are written at the top of the shield which means, "Out of many, one..."

This year, I hope to tell as many people as I can about Koins for Kenya so, "out of many, one ..." can be unified as a family on this earth helping our brothers and sisters in need, even if they live across an ocean on another continent with the "The Power Of A Penny."

The Best Gift Of All

After several hectic days, I can finally sit down at my computer and sigh because the busy holiday is over. I'm not complaining, it was a fabulous holiday, just busy as usual.

The boys got out of school early on the 22nd and we hurried to Salt Lake to the family holiday parties in a blizzard. The only time it snows lately is if we are headed out of town. After two nights of fun with the families, I took my youngest to do his Christmas shopping. Who knew it would be so fun to buy your Dad a Nurf gun tag game? The best part was the Sponge Bob Christmas wrapping paper he found to wrap his treasures in!

This season I took some young women to the care center in town to make some lovely ladies look even lovelier by fixing their hair. I also took along my book, "The Power Of A Penny," to give to some of the nice people there. I received lots of hugs and sincere, "thankyou's." One lady who had MS, was sooo.... excited to have the book. I can't describe the warm feeling I had when I left the care center knowing I had made someone else smile.

Speaking of making somone else smile, on Christmas Eve I was packing up the car at my Mom's house to head back home. I kept hearing a strange noise. I knew I had heard it before, but I couldn't quite picture what it was. Then a memory came to me of floating over Park City with my husband in a hot air balloon ride to celebrate an anniversary. Sure enough, I looked directly above me and there was the basket of a hot air balloon - maybe 30 feet up. And you will never guess who was in the basket waving. Santa and Mrs. Claus! This sight made me smile. There are still good people out there who want to spread Christmas cheer. Not to make money, but to just make someone else smile. I watched as the balloon quietly floated away over other neighborhoods so Santa could make someone else smile!

Merry Christmas

I received an email from Bret Van Leeuwen, the founder of Koins for Kenya which touched my heart. When we have gone to speaking engagements together, he has told about a little girl named Hope. He said he loved to visit her family, they were kind of his favorite. He said he usually doesn't take individual gifts to the people in his village which he sponsors, but he sneaks a few special dresses in for this family. The last time he went to Africa, he stopped by to visit and everyone ran outside excitedly to see him. After a few minutes he asked where two year old Hope was. Her mother pointed and said, "There is Hope." Bret said he looked where she was pointing and saw a little mound of dirt not far from their porch. It was covered with briars and thorns to keep the animals from digging up her body. She had died from dysentary. Bret's heart was broken. If he had only known she was sick, he could have gotten her help. He said he is especially sad because he doesn't have any pictures of her. The only thing he has is his memory of her in his mind.

He took a picture of her sisters in their new dresses from Baba Brett and he sent it on to me so I could see these beautiful little girls. Their names are Phyllis, Lucky and Nancy. Aren't their smiles amazing?
This story touched my heart because it helped me realize that even though times are tough and we may not be able to buy our children a bunch of material things for Christmas, we have good health and each other.

I am so grateful for all that I have and for friends like Bret VanLeuween that help remind me that my life is so blessed because I have a comfortable bed to sleep in, my children can go to school, we have clean drinking water with the turn of a handle and we don't have to walk miles and miles to get medical help.

Thank you Baba Brett for all that you are doing for the African people, but most of all for helping people like me realize that our blessings are overflowing, if we just stop and look.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Audio book available at the end of January!

Yesterday I received an email from the man who is going to do the reading for my audio book. I am soooo.... excited to finally get this done. I can't believe it has taken so long! Anyway - I will post the date it will be available as soon as I hear.

It's hard to believe it is Christmas time already! One of my friends is posting a Christmas story a day on her blog. Since I couldn't even do thirteen days of Thanksgiving, I don't think I will try this, but I think it is a fabulous idea! So when I get a minute here and there I hope to post a few of my favorite Christmas stories. Check back regularly and maybe you will find a new favorite!

Since I absolutely love horses - especially my two paints, this story is one of my favorites. It is called, "A Horse Traders Christmas."

It was two days before Christmas and Sven Nickelson hoped he could make a few more good horse sales for Christmas because he knew business would be slim after that.
Sven, locally known as, "Nick," was a horse trader who was known for his shrewd trades and high-priced horses. He always got all a horse was worth and more. He never traded without a bout, even if he was getting the best horse. He had a way making his clients feel like they had to have the horse he was selling and they would have to pay the asking price.
Nick was sitting by his stove in the tack room when he heard a car pull up. He got up and watched as a young woman got out of an older car that looked like it was ready for the junk yard.
"She's not going to buy anything unless it is the old mare in the back," he thought to himself. It was obvious she didn't have the kind of money to buy the good stock in his corrals.
"Mr. Nickelson, I'm Mrs. Jackson and my son Jeff wants a horse for Christmas. He has been wanting that pretty little paint in your corral for a few months."
"We'll he must be a pretty good judge of horses because that little pony is registered and well broke," Nick informed her.
If she must have the pony, he thought he could surely jack up the price. So he told her it would the horse was $1,000. He told her in the right place, that horse would bring twice that much. She told him that all she had was $250 and she would need a saddle as well.
Nick was almost insulted that she would offer that price for such a fine animal. He chuckled and told her that wouldn't even buy the old mare out back.
Frustrated, Mrs. Jackson told him she had to get that horse for her ten year old son. She said he had wanted a horse all of his life and had fallen in love with this horse. Tears streamed down her face as she pleaded with him to consider selling the horse to her. He told her that he makes a living selling horses, not giving them away. He told her when she could afford more to come back and talk to him.
Slowly she walked back to her car as she brushed the tears off her cheeks with her coat sleeve.
Nick watched and shook his head as he watched her drive off. The nerve of some people thinking they could get the best of him!
Nick had to pick up some feed, so he climbed into his pickup and drove to town. He kept thinking about the lady and her reaction to his position. He wondered, what business do people with only $250 to spend, have buying horses? Her money would be better spent for groceries and shoes for her kids.
At the feed store, he ran into a fellow horse trader named Jack who asked him how business was going. Nick told him about the woman who wanted to buy his horse for $250. "Why that horse is worth at least $750," Jack replied. Then he asked Nick who had offered that for such a fine horse.
Nick told him it was Mrs. Jackson - the new family that moved into the Olsen home. "Well that explains it," Jack said. Then he added,"Their boy has a terminal illness and I heard they don't expect him to live more than a few months. Her husband has been out of work since early fall and when he was cutting wood for spending money, a tree fell and broke his leg."
That explained why she had reacted the way she had, Nick thought. She had about as much as one woman could handle. "If only I would have known, I sure wouldn't have talked to her the way I did," Nick said.
After getting his feed, Nick drove home. The whole way he kept thinking about the lady's problems and the hope she had for a horse to make her sick boy happy during his last Christmas.
That night and the next day were really tough for Nick. All he could think about was that lady and her sick son. Then he had an idea.
Christmas Eve night, Nick found himself cleaning up an old saddle that had been in the back room. Then he found a bridle and a blanket. With a halter in his hands, he walked out into the corral and caught the paint. After washing and trimming the pony, he put her in a box stall for the night.
"You are going to make a little boy real happy tomorrow," Nick said as he brushed her mane. All night he had a warm feeling. He couldn't sleep for the excitement he felt as he anticipated the events of the next morning.
Finally, when he couldn't stand to lay in bed any longer, he got up and hitched up his trailer to the back of his truck. The saddle and other tack were lifted up into the pick up along with three bales of hay and a sack of grain.
"It's time, let's go girl," Nick said as he put a halter on and led her out to the trailer.
The sun was just peaking over the ridge as he pulled into the Jackson's yard. The horse was unloaded and saddled before anyone heard him. As he was tying her up to the fence post, Tom Jackson came hobbling out to meet him.
"We can't afford your kind of horses Mr. Nickelson," he said.
"Call me Nick, Tom. I came as a friend. I heard about your son and I know you've come upon hard times. If you will let me, I will leave this horse for your boy as long as he needs him," replied Nick.
Tom started to argue with Nick that he couldn't let him do that because he knew he could sell the horse with no problem when he heard his son yell, "My horse! I knew the Lord wouldn't let me down!" Jeff ran over to the pony and threw his arms around her neck. The gentle horse just stood there as if she knew this little boy needed her more than anything right now.
Nick helped him up into the saddle and then watched as the paint walked him around the yard. Jeff was beaming and laughing as he sat proudly in the saddle.
This had been the best Christmas Nick had ever had and he knew he would never regret his decision to help a little boy on Christmas day.