Views and reviews

It's been a few months now since the book came out. I remember how terrified I was to let go of it and hit the "publish" button. Who would read it? Would people who read it think we were looking for attention or, worse, pity? What if the people who meant the most to this story ending well (God, family, law enforcement, district attorneys) were disappointed in us; in me? What if people who've just gotten to know us suddenly turned away from us as so many did before? Would publishing the story be of value to anyone - maybe keep them safer- or would it be just more white noise?

We had and have no marketing budget. We wanted it that way. Early on, we looked at crowd funding, but decided that if this book had legs, it would make it by word-of-mouth. It's still got a long way to go before I'd call it a success in the sales sense, but it has been a success. Thanks to you. If you're one of the many that have bought it and read it and told others about it, you've made it a success and we thank you.

We were honored to speak at a local Rotary group because someone told someone else about the book. I was blessed and honored to be guest author at a local book club recently for the same reason. Blessed even more to be invited to become a member of that group! It's been a wonderful surprise and makes my day when I see a review on Amazon or Good Reads that the person has gotten something valuable from reading the book. In every case, the best thing of all was to hear statements like these:

"My husband and I realized, from the book, that we have too much routine. We're changing that." "I lock the door between my garage and house now." "We don't post minute-by-minute activities on Facebook now." "I'm more alert to where I am and who's around me." "We have started a check-in system in our family because of your book." "We don't open the door to anyone we're not expecting." "I make sure every door is locked, even my car." "We have a construction business and realize that this could have happened - could happen - to us. We are much more careful now."

We can't completely avoid tragedy in our lives. We can't know God's plans for our lives, but, He told us to keep alert; to be ready always. Our prayer is that this book honors the ones who risked their lives to save ours, honors the advocates who fought for justice on Paul's and Lance's behalf and prevents this kind of crime from happening to any other family.

Faces of evil

When a mother has a child - most mothers, I believe - she looks into the face of that child, into their eyes, and all she can see is the work of God in her life, in her arms. She sees hope and promise and perfection. As the child grows, she prays for its safety, health and a good life. She prays that it never wants, is never hurt and that only good things will come in that child's life. It doesn't matter if it's her first child or her tenth (or more). Every new life holds that promise and those prayers in her heart.

Still, we all know that no child grows up free from pain or sickness or temptations. As parents and adults, we didn't make it this far without some heartbreak, various illnesses - some life threatening - or mistakes in judgment. Still, we plan and guide and nurture our children as best we can. We pray to our God for mercy and protection and blessings that our children will grow up to be better people than we are; to have love everlasting and make the world a better place. Thankfully, most children do grow up to be happy, healthy and living good lives their parents are proud of. By the Grace of God, Paul and I have been fortunate with our six children. We pray for them every day, just like other parents do around the world for their children. What we don't pray for is that our childrens' lives turn out like the ones in the pictures below. One newspaper called them the "San Antonio Five". I call them the faces of evil.

"Walking Between The Raindrops" by Mary and Paul Roland on sale now at Amazon.com