RockWall Cottage Chronicles

A newsy, sometimes amusing, usually interesting fly-on-the-RockWall view of my life as an author with updates from my Substack adventures.

The small cottage where I live and write has been affectionally named RockWall Cottage because of the rock wall that divides our side of the property from the side of the property where our friends, the owners of the cottage, live. (Learn More)

What Has Been Happening at RockWall Cottage?

Scott was released from the hospital on Saturday evening. This was unexpected and created a bit of chaos as my friends and family helped me navigate getting everything ready for him. He passed the physical assessment for leaving and the doctors decided he would be better off at home where he did not run the risk of contracting another illness as a result of his low white blood count.

We do understand what happened—maybe. When we were in our 40s we were driving on the freeway between St. Louis and Springfield, MO when the car behind us flipped three times and landed in a field. Scott pulled over and ran across the field and pulled two injured people from the car which was threatening to catch fire. There was blood.

Not long after this he became very ill and was diagnosed with Hepatitis B. He was treated and though the virus remained in his system, it was never showed up as active again—until now. In all our moving and changing of doctors, it seems it wasn’t being tracked, even though we always mentioned this as an important part of his health history.

After almost 30 years, and without any of the normal ways Hepatitis B can be reactivated (such as treatments for cancer) everyone missed it and now he has significant liver damage. All the symptoms pointed in other directions until everything else was ruled out.

So now the office visits to specialists begin. We know they only applied bandaids to keep his symptoms in check. Nothing is solved, and there are already insurance complications.

2025 hit us hard.

But I was so relieved to not go to the hospital yesterday.

News, Highlights from Previous Weeks, What’s Coming, and Other Stuff

• I will be speaking twice this week. First, Broken to Beloved Annual Summit Registration (Free) is now open.

“We have an incredible lineup of speakers this year, including old friends and new faces. Session topics include: Engaging Your Story, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Emotional Recovery, Impacts of Unresolved Trauma, Breaking Free from Shame, Holy Rage, Healing through Connection and Community, Disabled Psalms: Processing Honestly with God, and so much more.”

”Don’t miss out and REGISTER FOR FREE TODAY. Starting January 21–25, you’ll get 3-4 sessions to watch each day. Each day’s sessions will be available for 36 hours before they expire. We’ll also be hosting LIVE Bonus Sessions and Community Calls throughout the Summit.

• The second opportunity! Women’s Ministry for Small Churches. Registration is open! My choice for a topic seems a bit prophetic right now. What will I say?

A few words from Laurie Graham, the creator of the Small Church Network:

This is our 17th conference inspiring and equipping volunteers in small churches and those who lead them! Here’s what you can expect:

• Actionable steps to have lots more impact (and fun!) in ministry

• Community who “gets” small churches – where you can be real, talk freely, and get excited about what’s next

• Strategies for doing ministry like Jesus and joining God where He’s already working

• Solutions to stop doing it all yourself and develop a team you love

Grab your ticket and join me and 24+ other speakers for a one-of-a-kind event to help you have the impact you were created for!

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