The Adventures of Loriel the Wood Fairy

About the Book

Loriel is worried by the lack of communication from her Grandfairy Cyce and makes a journey to her cottage in the Forest of Echoes, to find it empty. Upon arrival she finds Grandfairy Cyce has been kidnapped by a goblin. This part of the story tells how Loriel, Padra (the house mouse) and Anya (the pet hummingbird) all help to save Grandfairy Cyce. Loriel is frantic with worry because she knows that goblins must be dangerous (not to mention smelly) and she will need to make a plan that does not endanger Grandfairy Cyce.

About the Author

I was born June 16, 1950 and lived her public school years in Everett, Washington. I am the eldest of 15 children. My parents divorced when I was 3 while my mother was pregnant with my sister Diana. My father returned to the Marines and my mother remarried. Over the next 23 years my mother had 9 more children by my stepfather. My dad eventually remarried and he had 4 children. I graduated high school in 1968 and moved with my family to Savannah, New York. I worked for about a year at an aircraft company (I made fuel nozzles for jet engines). While I worked at the aircraft company I met and married Steve Buettner in 1970. We had 3 boys while we lived in New York. My first child, Christopher Paul, died of sudden infant death syndrome when he was 3 ½ months old. Jeremy Steven in1971 and Ryan James in 1972 were both born in New York. After we moved to Washington State in 1973, my son Anthony Michael was born in1976. I lived in several places in the Everett area until 1978. I moved with my husband to Bothell, Washington where we lived for 14 years. I raised the boys there and when Anthony was old enough to go to school, I went to work for a company that made defibrillators. I worked my way up to supervisor in the 11 years I worked there. There is a lot of detail that goes into living somewhere for 14 years and I will not try to include it all here. Suffice to say that I enjoyed many friendships and worked hard at making sure my boys had a healthy upbringing. My husband was a welder and then became an engineer so that we had a comfortable living. We enjoyed so much about the Pacific Northwest. We loved the outdoors and all it had to offer. We hunted, fished, camped, rode dirt bikes and travelled all over the state. A sad note: in 1986 I lost my brother David. He was only 30 and stabbed to death during a pool game. He had spent all of his life in the Northwest. In 1992 we moved to a lovely large A-frame house in Arlington, Washington. I was sure that our retirement life would be built there in the woodsy, small town environment. Our boys were all grown except Anthony (Tony) who was in high school. We were just a couple miles off the Mountain Loop highway and at first it seemed idyllic. It was a shock when this turned out to be a sad time in my life. Our relationship began to deteriorate and I couldn’t mend it. In 1994 I left and went to live with my grandmother in Everett, the same year that Tony turned 18. By this time my son Ryan had two sons, Kenny and Devin. And I had become a grandmother. Kenny was born in 1991 while I lived in Bothell and Devin was born a couple of years later while I lived in Arlington in 1993. They were the light of my life and I was privileged to have them stay with me for a few months while their mother finished school in upstate Washington. I married a second time to an old high school friend, Steve Herschlip who I had known since I was 15 years old. It was too soon after my divorce from Steve Buettner and it ended after only a year and a half. He died of pancreatic cancer the year after we divorced. This is still a deep sadness to me. During that time with my second husband, Ryan had his third son, Kyle and Tony also had a son, Mitchell. After the second divorce I moved into an apartment next to Tony. It was comforting to live near to Tony and his girlfriend Rachel. This brings me up to 1997, the year I met the Lord. My son Jeremy was attending a church and he ministered to me about all the things I didn’t know about the Bible. I came to know the Lord and was baptized in May of 1997. This was a huge turning point in my life. I learned that the Lord doesn’t do things to us, He allows us to make choices and guides us. Although I never blamed God for my son’s early death, I became aware that my choices were my own. I found my heart and I no longer hold grudges, I just love people for whom they are and best of all I love myself. The Lord blesses us for many things including loving one another as we love Him. Between 1993 and 1997 I had gone through a few small jobs. I worked for a furniture store in Everett part time while I went back to college and after I was done with college I went to work at a machining company in 1997 where I met my third husband Richard. Richard and I had a great time and were so in tune with each other that I thought I had found my soul mate. I didn’t pay attention to signs of control issues until his brother Tom died in 2008. Something happened to Richard when he went through that loss. He slowly fell into drinking and after several years I called it quits and filed for yet another divorce. During the time I was with Richard, my eldest son Jeremy fathered a little girl named Gwendolyn in 2004 by his first wife and a son, Micah in 2007 and another daughter, Grace in 2010 by his second wife, Crystal. My grandson Kenny also had a little girl named Kiera in 2010. Now I’m a great grandmother! Since I became single in 2012 I have enjoyed a home with Jeremy and Crystal. We lived in California until 2013 but due partly to the economy; the Lord has sent us to Nevada. Now we have a large home in Minden, Nevada with a wonderful view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and this last fall Micah started school here. My adopted son Nathan and his wife Jo also live here with us…did I mention it is a huge house? I have lots of time to paint the landscapes all around me and I have recently started selling my artwork. It is such a thrill when someone buys one to hang in their home. Besides taking art classes I also took writing classes for writing children’s books. I had written several short stories and I decided to finally give it a go. I find it is a like sending my children out in the world to make it on their own but I did that too so I am forging ahead full of courage. I have always been a reader and I loved reading to my children as well as my grandchildren. I hope that comes through in my writing. Opening children’s eyes to the world of books is awesome. Seeing their eyes light up to an exciting passage is so special. Computers are wonderful but holding a book and relying on your own imagination is special and individual to each one of us.