{Do you know how hard it is to get your book from your head to an actual sheet of paper? If I get this down on my blog, I will have taken a significant step forward to accomplishing it. You who choose to read it will be the first to do so, though I am pretty sure not many read my posts or emails. That’s okay. I ran for City Council because most people didn’t think I could, but I did. And when this book is finished. I can say, It Is Finished.}

DEDICATION
There are many people worthy of receiving this dedication for what they have done, who they have been, and how they have supported me. They are too numerous to mention for fear of leaving someone out.
One person was there from day one and has walked with me each step of the way and is most deserving of my highest gratitude. That is my wife, Mary. We were still determining what road we would travel to arrive where we are today. Who would have imagined that such a simple phrase, “It was good to see you in church yesterday,” would set in motion God’s Plan for my life and her’s as well?
We have known each other for over 50 years. God put a love for Mary in my heart long before it seemed possible that we would ever be married. God never put that love for me in Mary’s heart until He knew it would be possible. Still, I did not have a sense of how. I had no idea, but it became a dream. One that was hard to cling to. And many a time, I’d want to give that dream up. God’s ways are not our ways, and what’s impossible with man is possible with God.
Mary has always been my friend. Through 43 years of marriage, she has supported me and shown me the love of a Godly woman. After years of struggling to put a word on paper, she gave me the idea for this book.
I also wanted to write this book for my children, Ruth Kasanin, Naomi Del Valle, and Brendan Thomson. I pray they will gain insight into how God has preserved me and, even more, how He has kept them. That they will, in time, know God as I know Him.
And then Reba Place Fellowship. A big hug is wrapped in these pages for your standing on the other side to pull me across from the ‘hole’ that I always sank into in previous releases.
I would be remiss if I failed to give thankfulness to Lloyd Colbaugh. He may have meant more to me after my release from prison than in the years he knew me during my stay at the U. S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners. Thank You, Lloyd. If Lloyd was my Spiritual father as he was, then Hester Downey was my Spiritual mother. Hester died 6 months before Mary, and I were married, but like Lloyd, she also volunteered in prison and ministered to me for several years. She was also a great encourager to hold on to my dream.
“…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” -Psalm 30:5