Kathleen Edick
Kathleen Edick was born in Camp Zama Japan,the daughter of military parents. A heritage of military family includes many who served in WWI, II ,Korea, and Vietnam .The mother of four, the families oldest son is an Army Sgt. who has served two tours in Iraq. She has been an advocate for children, a teacher, adoption caseworker and artist. She has taught parenting classes and loves being with her family. She is married to Don, an entrepreneur and football coach. They have four children and two military grand kids! Don and Kathleen’s grandchildren ,now eight and five, were the inspiration for the book We Serve Too!
As Kathleen searched for a book that would explain her sons deployment, and what that would mean to her grandchildren, she found little for the young child. One day as after passing a playground and seeing children climbing a net, very much like soldiers do in basic training, the idea came to link the everyday experiences children have, with what their absent parent may be doing. Paula, also loved the vision, has a wonderful gift with rhyme, and together they created this book.
The second book on reunion We Serve Too, 2! helps children with the changes and adjustments that the resilient Military family must face at Homecoming. The Military ABC’s Coloring Book, the newest addition to the We Serve Too! line teaches kids the Military alphabet with the characters they have come to love in the series. Kathleen says;The military deserves our appreciation and support. Children make a sacrifice of the parents time and attention which needs to be recognized by the American public. We need to care for and acknowledge that they indeed serve too!
Paula J. Johnson
Paula J. Johnson is a traditional soul. She grew up in a traditional farm family, one of five children on the Lind farm near Windsor, Colorado, with her grandparents just a skip across the pasture. She and her husband, Barry, continue this traditional lifestyle operating their farming business near Eaton, Colorado, having raised two sons on the Johnson family farm and is now enjoying the blessings of the title “Grandma”.
Working at home fine-tuned a variety of skills which Paula has found useful in the children’s book publishing world (i.e., storytelling, drawing, teaching, child-nurturing, scheduling, budgeting, etc) Also an artist, Paula designs and creates worship banners and recipient of the 2004 City Choice Award at the Greeley Arts Picnic Fine Art Show for her watercolor, Wildflower Fanfare. She served for years on the North Colorado Medical Center Bioethics committee, as Mom’s Night Out leader for Home Educator’s Fellowship, but finds greatest fulfillment in her self-named, “Arm’s Length Ministry” (so called, because she just tries to informally minister to those needs around her, or within her arm’s length–meals for the sick, comfort for the grieving, listening ear for the distressed, toads and mud for city kids, etc.). Paula is a career homemaker, spending her adult life with home and family as priority, second only to her faith. Much of her work at home consisted of caring for their youngest son, with profound physical, medical and developmental needs all of his nearly 21 years. She integrates into her writing and art the lessons learned in those years of love, commitment and joy “in the midst…”
Being a part of writing and publishing the We Serve Too! series of books in part fulfills her desire to tangibly support the military, their families and their mission. Always a patriot, Paula finds great joy in helping strengthen families, agreeing with President Ronald Reagan’s sentiment that, “all meaningful change in America begins at the dinner table.”
