We are where He wants us!  June, 2012  Well, it amazes us how long it has been since we have been active here on Author's Den.  Time flies at a shocking rate sometimes. We sure have been busy.  Darrell finished getting his Masters and has been teaching for a couple of years now.  He loves it!  Kathy is so proud of him and still loves him to distraction, continuing to write more poems to cronical that love to post here.   One of her real comforts and joys is journaling through poetry and often processing her feelings on these pages. Kathy has also been quite busy taking an extensive course in jewelry design and repair and is now a bench jeweler.  She loves her craft which is another great outlet, and finds she is a good jewelry aritsan. Both Darrell and Kathy dream of her making jewelry someday with the gold he prospects for as a hobby. The last few years have blessed us with several children graduating and continuing good, productive lives.  We have welcomed two new grandchildren. Our marriage is still strong and we are still best friends, which we consider such a gift.  We have had our trials also.  Kathy remembers so much support of her poems and what was going on with Darrell's parents passing on and now, just a short time ago her father passed and she is dealing with that as best she can.  Writing poems, working hard, loving her family is good therapy. From Kathy, I commend Author's Den and all who use it.  I have been reading over the work of poets I remember from the past and also a few new ones and, gosh, it's really special.  The people on here are special.  It is so great to belong to such a supportive and helpful community and to be able to learn through others how to hone our craft.  God bless you all!

Darrell is now working on his EdD which is the teaching equivalent of the Phd. He hopes to help turn things around more for special education students, who have a lot of help compared to say, those who came up in our generation, but still have far to go in getting the unfettered help and individual attention they need. Kathy has had an interesting couple of years in her new career as a bench jeweler, and now it taking time off to address some major medical issues. These issues are bound to show in her poetry at times, and she does not mind answering questions at all but does not care to go into any details here. Darrell and Kathy still love this adventure they call life as much as they did years ago and their love for each other is stronger than ever. They feel blessed to be married to their best friends. God is good.