Winnie's Book - "For You We Have Prayed"

I am now a published author...which will easily be my new fun fact about myself if I am ever in an icebreaker game situation.

Our journey to Winnie was rough. It still pains me at times when I think back to the procedures, bad news, injections, etc. But it also makes me happy--and oh, so thankful. Since October 2016, I have seen so much love. We have been enveloped in love by so many--when we were hurting and when we were rejoicing. It is overwhelming when I look back and think of all the prayers and support we received from our "village"--and I wanted Winnie to always know of this love that was so freely given to us. This love inspired me to write a children's book for Winnie, and all the other kids out there who were desperately prayed for by so many.

The book is called, "For You We Have Prayed". It all began with a poem I wrote for Winnie when I was early on in my pregnancy, which is now the back page of the book. From there, a story formed, featuring all the groups of people who prayed for her. 

After I wrote the story, I reached out to a friend from high school, Katelyn Hagen, who is an amazingly talented artist and animator and asked her to illustrate the book. We started collaborating in December and from there the book came together better than I could have hoped due to Katelyn's creativity and hard work! We even published the book on Winnie's due date, May 6th. 

The story shows the sadness we felt before Winnie, and she's represented as a little sprout of a plant that won't grow. But then, our loved ones show up-- the characters in the book even look like the people in our lives who prayed extra hard! Our loved ones water and care for the little plant, representing all the prayers they sent up for Winnie. It chokes me up every time I read it.

"For You We Have Prayed" is published on Amazon and available to be purchased! (Link below!)

https://www.amazon.com/You-We-Have-Prayed/dp/1987760255/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1528688371&sr=8-15&keywords=for+you+we+have+prayed

Here's a sneak peek! Below are the first few pages, and then the ending page with Thomas, Winnie, and I.