Life Is a Long Story Short : Lessons from Living Through Abuse, Abandonment, and Adoption

Have you ever wondered how others make it through life with their faith intact while you struggle mightily with your faith? This collection of short stories, gathered from the lives of real people, will help you understand that other people struggle too. It is what they do with those struggles that help to preserve their faith, even under the toughest of circumstances.

A 2013 graduate of Western Governors University, a computer programmer since 1976, and a freelance reporter for Kansas newspapers since 1999, I have been writing for more than four decades.

Abandoned in 1962 at the age of six, my first adoption was nullified because of abuse and neglect. My second adoption in 1965 was a rousing success. However, the adoption that matters most is my adoption as a child of God in 1966.

Although saved, I repeated much of my birth father's sins, falling into alcoholism and abuse. I had followed a path that I had truly known nothing about until a tearful reunion with my birth family in October of 1989. I have been sober and violence-free since the spring of 1989.

My life has been transformed, and I am living for the Lord. My penchant for noticing details serves me well in both my reporting and the stories I glean from life.

Along the way, I've also walked a lot-south to north across Kansas in 2014 and east to west in 2015. In 2018, I am planning to walk from Seattle to Miami to raise awareness for the need for foster parents and adoption.

Christ tells us in Luke 12:48 that “from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (NIV). Much has been given to me, now it is time to give back.