About the Author:
Cecilia’s greatest treasures are her faith, family and friends. Her love for working with children spans many decades as a home educator, in ministry and in the classroom. She has been married to her husband Steve for over thirty-six years. They have three adult sons, three lovely daughters-in-love and four sweet granddaughters. Cecilia lives in the majestic Rim Country of northern Arizona and enjoys hiking, kayaking and line dancing with friends.
Cecilia’s Book:
About the Author:
Anni has been involved in education all her life. After graduating from Arizona Christian University, she got a job teaching elementary students and never looked back. She and her husband helped start a classical school in northern Arizona and now their four daughters also attend. In her “spare” time she has been known to write plays, poems, and curriculum.
First Name Acrostic:
A mother, daughter, sister, wife
Needs more time to read amazing books
Native arizonan
Iinstruments include, piano, bass, guitar, and ukulele
Travel Bucket List Items:
In the U.S.A. – Alaska, Hawaii and Delaware (because then she will have been to all 50 states)
Outside the U.S.A. – the British Isles
Adventure – seeing the aurora borealis
An accomplishment she’s proud of:
She recently learned how to lay and grout tile.
Favorites:
Author – Hannah Anderson
Date Night – anything involving a hamburger
Tea – peach
Way of Shopping – thrifting
TV Series – The Chosen
Coming Soon:
Copycatting Our Creator
About the Author:
Kristin Lim is from the sunny city of Cebu, Philippines. As a seven year-old, she had trouble finding books that were appropriate for her age so she began writing and illustrating her own stories. Now, as a mom, she’s thrilled to share this passion with both her children and her beloved readers.
First Name Acrostic:
Keen on
Reading and Writing
Inspiring
Stories
That
Ignite
Newfound wonder in Jesus
Travel Bucket List Items:
In the U.S.A. – To watch a theater production of Sights and Sounds in Branson, Missouri (I love how they make the Bible characters relatable).
Outside the U.S.A. – To visit more places in my country. We have 7,000 plus islands!
Adventure – Skydiving. I would also love to swim with whale sharks again.
An accomplishment she’s proud of:
Being able to write a story and invent new guiltfree desserts that family and friends get excited about.
Favorites:
Sweet Treat – Chocolate
Observation – Starry Nights
Book Series – Mark of the Lion by Francine Rivers
Season – Christmas
TV Series – The Chosen
Website: www.facebook.com/KristinLimStoryteller
Coming Soon:
The Aurorians’ Dwindling Light
Family Photos:
Above is the “Wacky family picture” — After 4 miscarriages, for Kristin, being able to have two children feels like a miracle.
Below is from Kristin and her husband’s adventure swimming with whale sharks in Oslob, Cebu.
About the Author:
Stacy Leicht was born and raised in Michigan, but her extended family is from Mississippi, so she likes to say, she was raised in the north with a southern frame of mind. As an educator, Stacy taught many grades, but most recently taught at the university level supervising future teachers.
Stacy and her husband Rick live near the North Carolina coast and love spending time with their grown children and two grandchildren.
Stacy enjoys teaching water aerobics, snorkeling, and anything pertaining to beach life. She is an avid reader and enjoys writing both children’s books and adult suspense novels.
First Name Acrostic:
Swimmer
Teacher
Always looking on the bright side
Compassionate
Young at heart
Travel Bucket List Items:
In the U.S.A. – I would love to travel to Rhode Island to see the small coastal towns.
Outside the U.S.A. – I would love to travel to Wales and Scotland where my family ancestors were from.
An accomplishment she’s proud of: As a teacher, I feel like I made a difference in the lives of many of my students. I stay in contact with many of them and enjoy hearing about their lives.
Favorites:
Movie – The Shawshank Redemption
Food – Spaghetti
Drink – Coke
Childhood Pastime – Riding bikes and swimming
Music – We the Kingdom
Website: https://stacyleicht.com/
Coming Soon:
Good One, God
Dear Teacher, I’m Watching You
About the Author:
Brad has been an active-duty Army Chaplain for over twenty-five years and will retire in June of 2024. He and his wife, Lori, have been married for more than thirty-two years and have six loving children. Their first grandchild is due in March of 2024. Their fifth child, Kaydan, was born with Down syndrome and later diagnosed with autism. The journey through the special needs world has not been an easy one but has also been one of rich experiences of God’s grace and faithfulness. Out of that journey was born the idea for “Walking with Kaydan: A journey of faith, struggle, and hope,” Brad’s first book that chronicles the challenges as well as the victories in the special needs world. As Brad enters retirement, he has plans to establish the Special Needs Marriage and Family Institute as a ministry and academic partnership in the Nashville area.
“Family Photos”
Website: www.walkingwithkaydan.com
Coming Soon: Walking with Kaydan: A journey of faith, struggle, and hope
Maxine’s Books:
* For more information on her book and/or the accompanying activity packet, click the pics above
About the Author:
First Name Acrostic:
Mother of three
Always chasing Jesus
X-ray my heart, Lord
Immigrant, so I love America
Never giving up
Ending up on a small farm, someday
Travel Bucket List Items:
In the U.S.A. — Yellowstone National Park
Outside the U.S.A. — Vietnam caves
An adventure — “I hate heights so I think zip-lining over a forest canopy would be nice.”
An Accomplishment She’s Proud Of:
After years as a stay-at-home mom, I pivoted my way back into the work force to help pay for my kids’ college tuition. I is a different way of taking care of my children, but I feel proud knowing they won’t be saddled with debt as they start building their futures.
Five Favorites:
Movie – The Princess Bride
Childhood Gift – Being brought to America
Coffee Drink – Anything with a hazelnut creamer
Book – The Wind in the Willows, still
Season – Fall
Ben’s Books:
* For more information on his books, click the pics above
About the Author
Ben is a farm raised husband, father, beekeeper, author, speaker, and friend. After a 43-year career working for Maryland Department of Agriculture, he retired early to write, teach, speak, and live the dream in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains of southern Pennsylvania. He is proud of all five of his now adult children and volunteers for various organizations. He is thankful to live in an area where he gets to experience all four seasons, but wishes Winter would only last until mid-February.
First Name Acrostic:
B-eliever in the finished work of Jesus Christ
E-ncourager of others
N-othing better than Cherry Pepsi and Reese’s peanut butter cups
Travel Bucket List Items: Yosemite National Park; Staffordshire England where his family originated; he would like to hike the “Golden Mile” that the gold rush seekers had to climb to reach Alaska.
An Accomplishment He’s Proud Of: Receiving the George W. Imirie Award for Excellence in Beekeeping Education from the Maryland State Beekeepers Association.
Five Favorites:
Movie: Muppet Christmas Carol
Childhood gift: A John Deere pedal tractor
Coffee drink: More of an iced tea person.
Season: Late Spring / early Summer
Book: Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. & Mrs.Howard Taylor
“Family Photos”
by Andrea Elston
I really struggled with how to start this blog post. I wanted it to be encouraging and informational, but to be honest, I am so tired of “we’re all in this together,” and “we’ll get through this.” Quite frankly, if I hear the words “these unprecedented times” on one more commercial, I may actually throw the remote at the TV. I did not want it to be yet another piece of media pushing an agenda and telling parents what they should do about their child’s education, or telling teachers what amazingly helpful tips I have for distance learning, should that be the case in the fall. To be honest, I am currently neither!
I am not a parent, and although I spent 20 years in the classroom and will always be a teacher at heart, I did not have to endure the abrupt switch to remote learning and all the logistics that accompanied it this year. I also did not want to send a bunch of links to multiple online resources! From what I can tell, parents and teachers are already getting inundated with those from countless other company websites, forums, organizations, etc. I figured you are all “linked out” by now! I would be! So for my first blog post, I am going to just share my thoughts from the heart.
Parents, whether you choose for your child(ren) to be educated through traditional or non-traditional methods next year, it will be the right choice. You know your child, you know your circumstances, and you know what’s best for your family. Fortunately, we live in a country where we are free to make that choice and, as has been proven by these unprecedented times (I couldn’t help myself), there are a plethora of resources out there to support your decision. When it comes right down to it, all children are homeschooled. It doesn’t matter whether they attend a public school, private school, charter school, online school, co-op, or an actual homeschool program, education begins in the household. Parents are the teachers and life is the curriculum. My encouragement to you this summer is to continue homeschooling your children. Use resources if you wish, but the bottom line is, if you have created your “classroom” as a place that operates on love, standards, boundaries, consequences, follow-through, safety, trust, and respect, your “students” will flourish no matter what school looks like for them in the coming months.
Teachers, I don’t know how you did it! I am so impressed by what I saw and heard from my friends and colleagues that were in the trenches every day, trying to figure out what to do just to survive, first of all, but then how to improve as the year went on. I know teachers are innovative, but this event took everything to a whole new level! My encouragement to you this summer is to relax and revel in your accomplishments! Again, there is much uncertainty about the next school year, more or less depending on where you live, but as a whole, teachers and administrators have shown that they can handle whatever comes their way to create an educational environment, whether physical or virtual, for students to thrive!
Bottom line, the mission of Shine-A-Light Press will always be to provide supportive and supplemental resources to help educate the next generation…in whatever capacity and from whatever location! Whether you are an administrator looking to give your staff all the resources you can to help them succeed, a teacher looking for another fun and creative way to reach your students, or a parent wanting to take advantage of any and all educational materials out there, Shine-A-Light Press is committed to providing products that give you those options!
Don’t ever hesitate to contact me directly with questions, comments, suggestions, and thoughts. And rest assured, I have plenty of favorite resources and links to share in the future!
Andrea Elston
andrea@shinealightcorp.com
