Category Archives: My Family

So Here It Is…

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Having just decorated the cake, it now feels like Christmas! It’s been the same over the last few years…my cakes used to be standard, just rough iced, but after watching Kirsty Allsopp a couple of years ago I became more adventurous!

The first year I put polar bears on my cake and I haven’t looked back since…this year I attempted penguins. Not all plain sailing…couldn’t buy black fondant icing anywhere, so had to make it with food colouring. Advice is to use gel paste colourings, but couldn’t find a black one, so it was liquid colours…and that didn’t help. You need a lot to make white fondant black, though I made it a day before and it darkened from steel-grey to black overnight. The icing became softer and stickier with each drop of black…which added to my frustration as I tried to mould penguins. It turned out to be easier to keep the icing in the fridge and only bring it out each time I moulded or added something (eyes, feet etc), was a long drawn out operation and several penguins were violently sacrificed during this process!
The iced-over pond was made by melting four glace mints in a tiny cake tin on grease-proof paper (at a low temperature for about 15 mins) then cooling in the fridge. The bubbles made as the mint heats makes the ‘ice’ you’re left with look pretty authentic! The pond sits on top of very stiff royal icing (I add as little water as I can get away with when making my royal icing, I like the peaks!) and I lightly coloured the icing below the pond with the palest blue (food colouring). Finished with a few snow-covered rocks of white fondant and the penguins surrounded by ‘snowballs’ (sugar decorations) and silver balls.
The rest of my cake is a standard rich fruit Christmas cake and traditional marzipan. My husband makes the cake with the children, I marzipan it…then make decisions about decorating it myself in secret and we all enjoy the big reveal when it’s finished!

So, yes, now it’s Christmas! We’ve decorated the tree…I love that my tree is covered with individual decorations, which I add to each year with anything unique I can find. I love homemade decorations too, the children’s school efforts…Bekah’s robin, Dan’s star and angel and Cait’s snowflake… Almost nothing is repeated, and this year I made my own Button Snowflake and Button icicle (similar to the snowflake, but buttons on one white lollipop stick, both sides, big buttons at the top and small at the bottom…)

I’ve had my face painted, cute snowflake on my cheek. Bekah is starting up a Face Painting business http://littlemasterpiecefp.blogspot.com/ and she painted faces at our local church Christmas party…some excited little tigers! See her Facebook Page for some more great pictures: http://www.facebook.com/LittleMasterpieceFacepainting

Along with the cake we’ve made our Christmas pudding, lovely recipe, which makes our main pudding and several mini ones too! Takes ten hours in the oven, but oh boy, the house smells good that day!
We’ve even been carol singing…granted, people find it strange that a large group can go carol singing and not expect payment, but being out in the dark singing carols and wandering down a street of twinkling Christmas lights is magic!
Since Caitlin moved to High School, I’ve missed the infants/junior school concerts and nativities…what’s not to love about little boys with gold cardboard crowns, tea-towel shepherds, grumpy inn-keepers who forget to open the door, reindeer with runny noses and angels with wonky halos..? I miss the innocence and enthusiasm!

So what’s left? I must finish the present wrapping (before school’s out!), Santa’s done all his! We’ve got our Santa hats, the holly and the ivy…what more?

Perhaps just the time to take a moment and remind myself of the reason for it all…

http://www.lizlemonswindle.com/
‘And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped himin swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger…’ (Luke 2:7)

In raising children, I have lost my mind but found my soul…

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I’ve read a few blogs, articles and bits and pieces on motherhood lately…many different views, delights, frustrations and opinions. So I thought I’d throw myself into the mix too…
Having been a mother for eighteen and a half years now, I have a bit of experience on the subject!
The first thing that comes to mind is that moment your very first child is delivered and handed to you, and all of a sudden you have a new life, a miracle, a human being that you’ve created, in your arms…I remember the rising sun, twinkling on the ocean, and shining through the blinds in the hospital window as I held Rebekah in my arms…motherhood had begun…
She was a delight, a baby that slept all night, set herself an easy routine and was a pleasure…I only wish I’d been a less frantic parent. Severe pain (I had Fentons repair surgery nine months after birth) and difficulty feeding (I could have fed triplets and almost drowned Bekah whenever I fed her…) made me sink into depression and I forced myself to keep breastfeeding despite my state of mind. I made the mistakes many young mothers make of believing I had to make everything perfect…life isn’t, so I should have appreciated my  mothering skills didn’t need to be either!
Two and a half years later and we were joined by our little monkey…the one on the left…this time I was a stronger mother. This pregnancy had overcome the ME (Myalgic Encephalopathy) that I’d suffered since I was seventeen, so I felt physically stronger…but I still struggled with chronic depression when he was tiny. The best advice I got was from my GP who helped by telling me at four weeks that I didn’t need to breastfeed if I didn’t want to. Her permission relieved me of the guilt that had plagued me when Bekah was a baby and I bottle fed Daniel much earlier. He flourished and I enjoyed him! 
Two gorgeous children and a mum who was much more relaxed second time around! I loved those years with the children. Bekah was old enough to enjoy a little brother and he thought she was the bees knees!
Now, I am someone who plans to the utmost…and I wanted the same gap for my third child…I’d fallen pregnant easily with both, and I was pregnant again much quicker than I’d expected… 
Not straight forward though…a twelve week heartbeat check and my midwife send me for a scan. Vince and I sat waiting, excited to the see the scan, then when the sonographer turned the monitor away from us and rushed out of the room, our hearts dropped. We were told to return for a more detailed scan that afternoon. When we arrived back, my midwife ‘just happened’ to walk past and said she’d stay for the scan. She broke the news that I had a ‘hydatidiform tumour’ and the tumour would be immediately removed. Returning home after surgery, we mourned the loss of the baby that had never arrived…
Two years of two weekly blood tests with Charing Cross Hospital followed and my hCG levels were monitored, they were supposed to take two years to return to normal, but were normal only nine months later. With the all clear, we tried for our missing child. This time we had to be patient… I truly believe that Caitlin would have been born if that third pregnancy had worked, and she’d had to wait…so did we… finally, we became a family of five…
I can smile thinking back to Caitlin’s early years…I was twenty-eight and had much more confidence than I’d ever had before. I breast fed Cait for eight months and loved it! She chose to wean herself off way before I wanted her to! I was lucky with each of my children, they each settled into easy sleeping and feeding routines…Sounds idyllic…some of it was, much of it wasn’t…such is life!
I loved being a family. I loved holding tiny babies in my arms. I loved watching them sleep, especially on their father’s chest. I loved playing on the beach, kicking through autumn leaves, splashing in puddles and collecting outdoor bits and pieces for collages. I loved reading to them. I loved seeing the differences in each one. I loved recognising their similarities. I loved dressing them in amazing charity shop bargains. I loved their innocence…Dan, after visiting Gelli Aur with nursery school, told me at home that his favourite animals had been ‘the ones with sticks on their heads’…that would be the stags then!
I wasn’t so keen on crying babies, nappies (especially exploding ones), tantrums, nor shopping with three in tow, nor encouraging a toddler to sleep on their own in a ‘big’ bed in their own room (once they climb out of their cot…a big bed it was…), nor Caitlin’s escapee antics…she could escape from car restraints, bouncy chairs, high chairs, play pens, cots, and even the house…once the front door bell rang and we opened the door to find toddler Cait standing on the door step in the rain with teddy strapped into her little pushchair, having happily gone for a walk around our cul-de-sac…she was wet enough to indicate that she’d been outside for some time…scary, and a warning to keep the chain across the front door at all times… Not keen on fussy eating…lesson learned too late that chicken nuggets are useless…I would definitely work on better food if I did it all over again.
Perhaps the best things are watching them grow…
I love them more and more each day…sounds sugary, but true…I enjoy them more as they grow. I was once told that I should enjoy them while they were young because they would turn into sullen monsters once they grew out of traditional childhood, but I have to be completely honest and I have enjoyed them more as older children. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved those ‘milestones’ all the ‘firsts’…first smile, first crawl, step, word, first time they can write their name…nice story about that one: lovely ‘drawing’ on the wall, and the artist proudly signed their name underneath, then promptly blamed their younger brother for the ‘writing on the wall’ despite the fact said brother was only eighteen months and could barely draw a circle let alone a person and their name! 
I’ve enjoyed watching them grow immensely, changing from cute, angelic, sleeping babies, to mischievous little girls and boys, to creative children and teenagers…to adults that amaze me…
I love the way their cognitive abilities develop, I love watching them work things out…I love how their minds work, and sometimes wish I could regain the simplicity of a child! 
For me family and motherhood is about growing together and becoming better people. Encouraging them to be happy, to aim high and to work hard is what it’s all about. My most favourite thing about being a mother is the relationship and friendship that develops. Though I am stalwart about being a mother first before a friend…I know that as adults my children will be my closest friends. Developing bonds, long conversations, long walks and time together…top my list for the best things about motherhood.
(A mother) discovers with great delight that one does not love one’s children just because they are one’s children, but because of the friendships formed while raising them.
(Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
 (Title quote by Lisa T. Shepherd)
(Please do not use or reproduce any photographs of my children Thankyou)

Autumn Colours…

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Autumn is my most favourite time of the year…I adore the colours of the falling leaves, red, gold, bronze, yellow and brown…Showcased beautifully this week at the Preston Temple…gorgeous…

I love the whole season…the coolness of the air, the crisp breeze, stormy gales and the beautiful autumn sunshine. I love the drop in temperature, I much prefer wrapping up warm than stripping off in the heat…much more left to the imagination! I love to don my hat and gloves and wrap the warm scarf I made around my neck. I love to cuddle up on the sofa under a furry fleece and drink hot chocolate with whipped cream…I love conkers, acorn cups and kicking through rustling leaves…
Yes, autumn is definitely the best!

Expressions of Love…♥

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Today we have been married for twenty years…here’s why…
Vince:  I remember one of our first dates, a picnic then a wander through woods where we came face to face with a deer…we stood in awe for a few minutes ‘til the deer moved away…

Lisa:  I loved my first ever bunch of flowers, daffodils and tulips, from the 
Temple grounds where Vince was working as a gardener…

Vince:  On our honeymoon to Guernsey we hired a car and went to a petrol station and began to fill it up. The attendant quickly advised us to only put a few pounds in. We soon realised why when we drove round the island visiting all the beaches in one day!

Lisa:  That moment in hospital, after giving birth, when I looked over to see my husband holding our brand new daughter in his arms and tears running down his face, as the early morning sunlight streamed in through the window…

Vince:  Walks along beaches as the sun goes down and holding hands…

Lisa:  Dressing up posh for Youth Prom nights, made us feel like kids again as we never had Proms when we were young!

Vince:  The excitement when we planned a surprise, mystery day for the children which involved their first aeroplane flight and a day in Scotland…

Lisa:  We love romantic dog walks in all weather: seeing blossom on the trees in spring, listening to the bubbling river in the summer, rustling through fallen leaves in autumn and crunching through freshly fallen snow in winter…

Vince:  Visiting the Temple as a couple…both at Preston and London Temples…being in the spiritual splendour of the Temple and its grounds, reminding us of the eternal nature of our marriage…

Lisa:  I love his sense of fun…dressing up at Halloween, playing Bill Sykes in our family adaptation of ‘Oliver’ and just getting involved enthusiastically…

Vince:  I love how Lisa encourages our children to be the very best that they can be…

Lisa:  Christmas time…and family time…I love to watch our family unite in the season of giving and love…

Vince:  I love the support Lisa gives me in everything I want to do…. Even when she knows it won’t work out…

Lisa:  I love how Vince always does his best and conscientiously achieves such high standards…and his support and encouragement makes me feel special, like I can achieve anything…

Vince:  I love the confidence Lisa has in me in achieving anything, she knows my potential far better than I do, I love the way she encourages me when I have doubts….

Lisa:  I love how when I‘m anxious and worry about things Vince doesn’t let anything faze him…he tells me everything will be alright…
and it always is…

Vince:  I love when Lisa cuddles up to me on the sofa of an evening.  I love it when she comes up to me just for a hug…

Lisa:  Those moments when I’m out and see Vince drive by in his bus, or when he gets home from work…still give me tingles and bubbles of love in my heart…

Vince:  I love looking up at the night sky, with Lisa next to me as we contemplate the other worlds that Heavenly Father has created, and how we could one day, create worlds of our own…

Lisa:  I love his strength and protection… I love searching for Vince’s hand and finding it…


Twentieth Anniversary Celebration…

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Twenty years ago I married the man I love with all my heart…it was a wonderful day and I love my memories!

But…I was young and naive and we were short of cash…and we would have changed a few things if we’d had the chance. Our invitations were typewritten postcards, couldn’t afford posh stationary, and the reception left a fair bit to be desired! I wish we’d gone with the traditional idea of having the reception catered for by the women of the church, I’ve seen it work so well! We didn’t, and we weren’t happy with the catering, but I was too young and shy to object. So when Vince and I talked about having a twentieth wedding anniversary celebration, I wanted to do it my way! 
First came the invitations, many were sent out on a Facebook event page, but I also designed my own and had them printed…

I loved them, the roses were an almost exact match for the Jacaranda roses I had for my wedding bouquet! Thus our colour scheme was set…

My dress was the same colour, Bekah chose red and Caitlin wore lilac, beautiful jewel colours! Vince’s tie matched my dress and Dan’s was red. I bought reams and reams of ribbons in the same colours and twisted them to make decorations, the cake was covered in berries of the same colours. The sweetie jar was filled with red and purple sweets, and the glowsticks were red, lilac and blue! 
It rained on the day, but it didn’t dampen our spirits! 
So, the invitations looked good, and to rectify the food and drink served at our original reception (spicy food and concentrated carbonated apple juice…I barely ate anything and that wasn’t from wedding nerves!) we went for desserts and lots of them! Trifles, cheesecakes, gateaux, pavlova, eclairs, cupcakes and much more! And we drank Schloer in all its varieties…

The plasma ball and glowsticks went down like a house on fire, and we decided to have some fun with competitions! Guess how many sweets in the jar, a selection of twenty photos to guess our ages, and a list of twenty questions to see how much everyone knew about us! We didn’t realise how difficult it is to guess ages of people from photographs!
       
We chose to begin by sharing twenty ‘Expressions of Love’, memories and things we love about each other then we played twenty songs for each of our years together! It was great to feel relaxed, something we didn’t feel at our reception, (we were too keen to get away) to dance and just to have fun!
We loved our party, which incorporated my fortieth birthday too, I hadn’t had a party of any kind since I was about eight-years-old, so it was fulfilling in many ways! I loved my dress, I loved the music and the desserts, I loved all my friends and most of all I love (in the present tense) my husband too…♥

Tall, taller, tallest…

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How many of you get that patronising pat on the head from your kids as they overtake you in the height stakes?

Bekah shot past me a couple of years ago and I finally had to concede to Dan today. I am now the shortest in my family bar one, little Caitlin…

Now I’m not exceptionally short, I’m 5’5″ and always been happy with it, still am…but my children are all going to be taller than me!

Bekah hopes she’s peaked at 5’9″ and we’re waiting to see if, or maybe when, Dan catches up with Vince and his older sister. Bekah shot up at 15 and 16 and Dan’s following in the same fashion. Caitlin is keen to be taller and her time will come…

Vince was chatting about height recently and discovered an interesting theory…

Apparently…if you take the height of a child when they are two-years-old and double it, you’ll have their eventual grown-up height…

Fascinating…and how could you not check that out? So I dug out the childrens’ records and a tape measure.

I ran my finger down my handwritten height records and noted that Rebekah was 87cm at two-years-old…double that and she should be 174cm. So the tape measure unrolled and guess what, dead on 5’9″.

Quickly we checked Dan, 91cm which meant he should reach 182cm (5′ 11¾”) just short of six foot. 
Caitlin measured 86cm when she was two, so ultimately she should grow to 172cm, one inch less than Bekah at 5’8″. As a result of this Bekah should now have reached her final height…which she would be pleased about, and I can deduce that I should have been 82½cm at two years.

All in all it’s a thought-provoking theory…and one that will prove or disprove itself over time, but sounds like a pretty good guide to me!

        Rebekah 1995                           Daniel 1997                           Caitlin 2002
So these cute little two-year-olds above will all grow-up and tower above their mother!
‘For a tree to become tall it must grow 
tough roots among the rocks.’
(Friedrich Nietzsche)

(Please do not copy or use these photographs)

Loving Hands…

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I love hands for many reasons…creativity, the ability to hold things, expressiveness. Hands can have a calming influence, think massage and caresses…they can protect, and they are mechanically amazing!

I loved drawing my hands when I was doing my GCSE’s…(not so keen on drawing my feet though!)

My father has big, strong hands…hands that made me feel safe no matter what. In fact, it was straight into his hands that I was delivered as a newborn baby…

When I was a child I loved slipping my hand into his and feeling his fingers close around mine with warmth and security. His hands, though calloused and scratched at times, were always soft and smooth and comforting. It was his hands that blessed me when I was sick, held mine while I cried and taught me the principles that I should live by. I loved that his hands always held my mother’s.

When I first met Vince, I shook his hand, a month later that hand took mine and led me onto the dance floor, from that moment I didn’t want to let go…

The strength of his hands and forearms are the most attractive part of a man to me…
I love being held, and hand-holding is a universal way of showing affection. When two people walk side by side and their hands search for each other and take hold, don’t let go of the feeling that ensues…that rush of love and closeness…

If you ever get lonely, 
look at the spaces between your
fingers and remind yourself 
that mine fit in there perfectly. 
My husband’s hands are like my father’s, large and firm… I smile when our fingers touch and when his hand holds mine I feel as though I am where I belong. His hands hold mine when I need comfort and assurance, they help me when I’m burdened, they guide me when I need it and catch me when I fall. 
More than that they do the same for our children…
The most beautiful thing in the world is to watch your child walk hand in hand with their father…
Photograph: Two Hands by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)
I hope my girls seek out a man with strong hands, hands that work hard, that comfort, that teach and love…
My son is a hand-holder, an affectionate young man, with hands that are growing and learning. I love holding his hand and take pride that he is not ashamed to do so! I love watching my son grow…his hands are no longer the hands of a boy, but have an assuredness and firmness of a young man. Hands that I know will cherish and love in the future…hands that will hold newborns, hands that will bless his family, hands that will teach and lift and inspire…
I love hands…  

All Together Now…

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I love having my photo taken and it’s accompanied me into my adult life…not so much the vanity of photos of me, but photographs of my family.

I’m a perfectionist, so family shoots, taken with a tripod at home, have sometimes been somewhat stressful, but I love documenting our family and growth!

I have many, many family group photos to choose from to document my own family over the years. Check out our latest offerings: Steampunk and Post-Apocalyptic…

Now, my Dad was a photographer, and I loved the shots he got of me when I dragged him out to accommodate my teenage posing…but I am surprised that we don’t have many family group photographs from my childhood. Not always easy, I understand, as there were 15 years between youngest and oldest, so to get all four of us together probably wasn’t easy over the years…so I searched to see what I had…

 

This is the earliest I have, Dave, Mark, Jules and I, back in 1983 when Jules was almost 7, Dave was 11, Mark was 22 and I was 12.

 

 

Then three years later in 1986, recreating the pose…

 

 

And 1989, another three years later and I’m eighteen…

 

The next time together was for my wedding in 1991…

 

 

Seven years later Mark came over from Switzerland, I came down from Wales and we all met up back in Brighton…1998

 

 

Another big gap of thirteen years and we have all just got together again just this month, August 2011…
So there we are my siblings and I over the years…
 
When it comes to complete family pictures it’s the same story…I can only find two with all of us and my parents and a twenty year gap between each photograph…my wedding and this month…

 

The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.

 

Families are like fudge – 
mostly sweet with a few nuts…
 
…and that says it all…

A Decade of Growing Up…

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Sometimes it’s hard to imagine your children ever growing up…then, all of a sudden they’ve gone and done it…

I’ve noticed my older two maturing, it’s hard to miss when one towers over you and the other measures himself against you almost daily – ready to point out that he is taller than you – the very moment he is, he’s not yet, I’ve still got a few millimetres on him…but today it was the turn of my youngest. It was time for me to stand back and allow her her own decisions.

I’m a control freak…hard to imagine, but no really, I am…and my ‘control freakiness’ has sometimes got in the way of my children’s freedom to choose.
There’s been the odd Christmas, over the years, when my choice of present for a child seemed much better than the scribbled choice on their list…I bought my choice, then couldn’t understand when it didn’t get played with as much as I’d imagined it would! I learned that one the hard way and bought their choices after that, better value, even if I didn’t like it!

Today Caitlin and I were going through her wardrobe, chucking out clothes that are now too small, when she picked up one top and said, ‘You know I’m never going to wear this don’t you?’ I gave a sideways smile, and replied, ‘But I really like it.’ ‘That’s the point,’ she said, ‘you like it, but it’s not me.’
This happened several more times, with a dress and with a pair of boots. The boots were difficult. I bought cute Clarks, black leather ankle boots in a charity shop for only £2…a bargain! They were a couple of sizes too big when I bought them a few years ago and I put them away for Cait when she got older. It didn’t bother me that she disliked them on sight when she was eight…she’d appreciate them one day…
So every year or two I got them out and said, ‘Try these on…they’re lovely…’ and with a grimace and humouring Mum she’d try them on. ‘Ok, maybe next year.’ I’d tell her ignoring the unhappy expression on her face…after all, they were Clarks, and leather and only £2…
Today, I tried again…but though she tried them on and they fitted, I think they’ve fit for a while…it dawned on me that they weren’t the bargain I’d thought they were…
I asked myself how I would feel if I was coerced into wearing something that wasn’t me, or even that I just didn’t like…and I realised that Caitlin was completely able to choose for herself.
The boots went into a charity bag…and maybe they’ll be someone else’s bargain…

I noticed as my daughter tried on clothes and chatted away that she wasn’t my ‘little’ girl anymore, she was a burgeoning rosebud, blossoming into something more than even she can imagine…and it’s about time I noticed!

My children are becoming themselves…

In the ten years from 2001 to 2011 Caitlin, Dan and Bekah have grown up, Caitlin from one to eleven, Dan from five to fifteen and Bekah from eight to eighteen…
I love watching them grow…I love watching them change, I love hearing their opinions develop and evolve, I gain pleasure from the knowledge they collect and from the wisdom they share, I learn from them, I love watching the adult form within them…
I love them and love the way they love me back… 
(Please do not use or reproduce any photographs of my children)

A Childhood Dream…

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Caitlin asked me the other day when I first dreamed of being an author… I’ve been drawing and writing ever since I could pick up a pencil, and I used to staple ‘book’ pages together when I was a little girl. I even have a little notebook containing a long story and my own illustrations written at 12 and treasured, though I cringe when I read it now!
Writing has been my life…my escape and my fantasy…I adore words and love exploring my imagination.
Eleven years ago, when Cait was a baby I began reading ‘Harry Potter’ and thought I could do this…so I began putting pen to paper. Within a year I had written my first novel, a dragon filled children’s adventure, my own children listened intently and loved it, four years later and two sequels had been completed.
Then I spent several years getting rejected from publishers and agents. I even paid for a highly recommended critique service to help hone the novel. We worked well and the changes I made were well received, but ultimately they told me most publishers had closed lists and weren’t taking on any new authors, (despite their advertising) and that book reading was taking a downturn…Agents told me the same thing, they loved the book, but couldn’t take anyone on.
It is a completely demoralising process…where the only way to succeed is if the book is sent at the right time, to the right person…and how do you know when that is or who that is?
I’m not blowing my own trumpet…the books may just not be good enough, but I can only rely on the feedback I’ve personally had, and the old adage…don’t give up!

So a couple of years ago I put away my fantasy adventures, (for now) and worked on a new idea…out of it came ‘Beneath the Rainbow’:


‘Death is an inevitable fact of life, indifferent to whether you are seven-years-old, or an old age pensioner who has lived a long fulfilled life. This is the heart-breaking and uplifting tale of Freya. Freya has to come to terms with her own untimely death and the impending death of terminally ill Old Thomas, who has but one dream left to achieve… Freya’s story of grief, hope, ultimate fulfilment and joy.’

The first line of the book invaded my head and I had to go with it… ‘Freya was seven-year-old when she got hit by the car. It was a 4×4 with a bull bar.’ The book goes on to deal with grief and bereavement on both sides of the veil. Freya has to adjust to death and the life she finds after it and her family have to accept and learn how to deal with the loss of their oldest daughter. 
When Freya and members of her family discover Thomas, dying of cancer, they learn that dreams are important, they learn that we must live life to the full and dreams help us do just that…
‘Beneath the Rainbow’ came from my heart and spilled into my life and it was suggested that I try Amazon’s Kindle publishing. 
And remember you don’t need a Kindle to buy and download it…on the right of the Amazon page you can download a free Kindle program to your PC…
So here we are in ebook form…
It is, technically, a dream come true to see the book available to purchase…but my greatest wish is for people to enjoy the story, to escape into Freya’s world and share time with her…
I am both elated and terrified to see it in print…I love the book, my husband cried when he read it to the children, but the true test is how it is received by the general public…
So I would love to know what you think of it…and maybe, just maybe, one day it will end up in paper print on a bookshop shelf…
That is my dream…