smile. Together with her husband along with her kids and grandkids, they transformed at Santa’s helpers for Christmas. Dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus with their kids as elves, they then take small bags of Christmas goodies to family and church gatherings as well as patients in nursing homes. “The excitement and laughter in the eyes of both the young and old is contagious enough to fuel me through the New Year,” she continued. With all the things she does, it is on purpose, from fostering over a hundred children, from adopting kids, to publishing a book for children, and making them smile, it is all in her hands that make it worth the while. But if Kathy Blomquist has to say, “So maybe I’m Krazy…or am I?” EC
With a popular dad DJ back then, she had a wonderful and merriment memories of the Christmas season. “From the newsroom he would get insights of where Santa was and when he would be in our area. My siblings and I bubbled over in excitement that kept us awake all night. Around five in the morning we could wait no longer. We were sure our parents had enough sleep by then. After opening our gifts, we would gather with friends and go from home to home to see what Santa had brought. Then it was off to my grandma’s for Christmas breakfast,” she explained. And she continues to love the season as opportunities are available to serve and make people
At 65, Kathy now enjoyed the luxury of watching her children grow and play. She still has children and grandchildren who lives with her. “My boys are all Eagle Scouts, they and the older girls are college graduates. Some with more than one degree. It is time to retire from fostering and scouting and enjoy them. I do not look forward to becoming an empty nester,” she explained. As she watches her grandkids playing and noticed their big vocabularies, she felt motivated to write a children’s book for them that had fun with words that rhyme and homophones like bare and bear. She added eventually some new bigger words to support wide reading concept and increase child vocabulary and comprehension. “I included a vocabulary page to introduce the new words so kids could look for those words in the story as it is read. My teaching philosophy is to make learning so much fun the kids do not realize they are learning something. I titled the book BIG BEAR FAIR.” And this lead her right now to her new book titled “Mango, The Long- Haired Ginger Cat.” Her book revolves around Mango, one of her real cats that she found abandoned under a deck when it was around 8 days old. At the same time, a series of books about Mango is in the pipeline. “This first one is about being who you are, being best that you can be, and being happy with what you have. The next couple of books in the series will be about Mango learning that she is adopted and one about Mango getting a foster brother,” she added. Kathy’s conquest on her children’s book has to do with every kid’s smile, “It lights up my soul,” she described. It’s her legacy to continuously teach and make children smile even if she’s gone. But not to mention, using a Les Misérables lyrics, “I dream a dream in times gone by” she could only dream of children smiling. “It’s a bonus if an adult smiles, too,” she ended.
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EC Magazine | Christmas Edition 2019
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