What better way to raise awareness about the importance of good foster homes than hearing from the perspective of a former foster youth, right? Today I am pleased to have Killarney Sheffield share a little of her story:
My name is Killarney Sheffield. I spent my teen years in a foster home. For me foster care was the only alternative when I could no longer take my step father’s sexual abuse. My mother did not want to face the situation so I was left in foster care until I was 18. I was lucky, though I lost my family I gained two caring foster families. My love of horses and reading were nurtured by caring foster families.
I always struggled in school and in addition to being bullied my grades were pathetic except in fine arts, (music, drama and art). In grade 12 I was told I have a mild form of Dyslexia. My goal in life was to be a horse vet, but I struggled so badly in maths and sciences that I soon realized I couldn’t achieve my goal, there was no way I could work to pay my way through college and keep up with my studies. It wasn’t the end of the world for me I could still work with the horses which I loved so I put myself through as many horse related courses as I could. I am now a certified farrier, natural horsemanship trainer, level 1 English and Western coach and a breeder of Appendix horses.
Eventually I met my husband on a farm, we got married and I had five great kids of my own that I would gladly die for. During the time I was having kids (I had 5 in 7 years so I was pretty much pregnant for what seemed like forever!) I decided to dabble in a little writing. One day four years ago I got the courage to submit one of my historical romances to a couple small publishers. Imagine my surprise and thrill to get offers for my book! Into the publishing world I jumped. I have since published 15 different titles, from full length historical romantic adventures, to short stories. Why romance? Well, I’m a Libra and the motto of a Libra is ‘A hopeless romantic who thinks life should be fair.’ I will always be grateful to those 2 sets of foster parents for caring and nurturing me, without their love I would not be where I am today.
I always struggled in school and in addition to being bullied my grades were pathetic except in fine arts, (music, drama and art). In grade 12 I was told I have a mild form of Dyslexia. My goal in life was to be a horse vet, but I struggled so badly in maths and sciences that I soon realized I couldn’t achieve my goal, there was no way I could work to pay my way through college and keep up with my studies. It wasn’t the end of the world for me I could still work with the horses which I loved so I put myself through as many horse related courses as I could. I am now a certified farrier, natural horsemanship trainer, level 1 English and Western coach and a breeder of Appendix horses.
Eventually I met my husband on a farm, we got married and I had five great kids of my own that I would gladly die for. During the time I was having kids (I had 5 in 7 years so I was pretty much pregnant for what seemed like forever!) I decided to dabble in a little writing. One day four years ago I got the courage to submit one of my historical romances to a couple small publishers. Imagine my surprise and thrill to get offers for my book! Into the publishing world I jumped. I have since published 15 different titles, from full length historical romantic adventures, to short stories. Why romance? Well, I’m a Libra and the motto of a Libra is ‘A hopeless romantic who thinks life should be fair.’ I will always be grateful to those 2 sets of foster parents for caring and nurturing me, without their love I would not be where I am today.
If you want to find out more about my current books you can find them almost anywhere books are sold online and soon in a store near you.
Amazon:
You can follow me at my website: http://www.killarneysheffieldromanceauthor.com/
My blogs: http://killarneysheffield.blogspot.ca http://meldermanstables.blogspot.ca
My blogs: http://killarneysheffield.blogspot.ca http://meldermanstables.blogspot.ca
On Twitter: @authorkillarney
FB: Killarney Sheffield.
Thank you for sharing, Killarney!
While we're on the topic of finding permanent and temporary homes for children in foster care I'm going to put in a big plug for the Dave Thomas Foundation's Home For the Holidays Annual Christmas Special featuring success stories of foster children who have found permanent adoptive homes plus performances by various musical artists. This year Celine Dion will be one of the musical guests and it's on TONIGHT so go watch it!
2 comments:
Thank you so much for allowing me to share my story! And for the record I am a HUGE Celine Dion fan so I'll be watching.
She's Canadian too, eh!
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