Runaway Bay - Chapter 7
Cravings
In 2021 Amy took a break from her on-again / off-again attempts to write Runaway Bay, to work on a children’s book that pulled from the same material. Amy wanted to communicate to children, what it was like to be a child of abandonment - and how God provided healing through other children, whom she termed God’s “secret agents.” The name of the (as-yet-unpublished) book is Carrot-Stick Boy and Gymnastics Girl: God’s Secret Agents … and you might guess from reading Chapter 7 that “Gymnastics Girl” is Susan, who befriended Amy and taught her how to hula hoop. As part of the process of writing the book, Amy asked her talented artist friend Bethany Neely to create a few illustrations. The image above is a beautiful representation of Susan and Amy’s friendship.
Susan
Susan was a real person! Below is the picture of Amy’s second grade class in Lubbock, with her and Susan highlighted.
Above is another of Bethany’s illustrations. This one is her interpretation of Amy’s description of peering into her dollhouse, and realizing that God could see into Gid and Peggy’s house. Here is the way she writes about this in her children’s book:
My sister Krista and I had a small dollhouse which opened in the middle. I loved peering into that dollhouse and imagining what our brick house looked like to God. I knew He could see through our roof and walls, just like I could see into my dollhouse. What was better, He could see right into me, and look at all my thoughts and feelings. Thinking about how God knew everything about me always made me feel safe.
We still have that Fisher-Price dollhouse from Amy’s childhood! Below is a picture of a precious young friend of ours, looking into to it … a little like the picture above.
The New Stepfather
Chapter 7 describes Geri’s remarriage to Les Craver - providing Amy with a new father figure in her life, and a new family structure, and new step-siblings (Les had three children from a previous marriage).
Here are three pictures of the new family, two of which include the very important family member Snuggles the dog!
A couple of words about this website of “bonus material” for Runaway Bay:
Amy didn’t create it … Thomas did. You may have already guessed that the “I” in the captions isn’t Amy, but me - her husband.
( She doesn’t really like websites. Or QR codes for that matter. Or bulleted lists like this one - a dead giveaway that she didn’t write this part. )Therefore I don’t mind making the shameless plug - if you are enjoying her phenomenal book, would you be willing to put a review on Amazon? As Amy’s “publishing partner” the one surprising thing I’ve seen is this: people love her writing, and even volunteer their time to email or text her with their responses … but getting them to post a quick review on Amazon is a whole ‘nother level of hard.
( Here’s the link, if you’re so inclined https://a.co/d/9BbaoX2 )
Thank you so much!
Amy and I celebrating our 35th anniversary in Phoenix, Arizona.