The entries are short and easily read in a minute or two. They are real things caregivers and mourners go through. Hope and practical suggestions are given, rather than trite, easy answers, from someone who has been there. Ellen's journal entries are excerpts from Ellen's Tears, the fictional story of Ellen and Rod as they grapple with care giving and mourning. Ellen lives alone with her nearly bed-ridden uncle. She struggles in day to day living, as well as in her faith. Though she is struggling, she is not giving up-not on her uncle-not on herself-not on her God. She is a caregiver and also a mourner, caring for her uncle who has Parkinson's disease and cancer. She is also mourning for her aunt, and later for her Uncle. Her aunt and uncle are the couple who raised her. The journal reads like a devotional. Ellen's one rule in writing her journal: she can say anything she wants, as long as she ends each entry on a positive note. The entries are listed under the above categories and under the head-ings: "Days of mourning and care giving" and "Days of mourning". The entries listed under Days of mourning and care giving are during Ellen's days of being her uncle's caregiver, while at the same time mourning the loss of her aunt. The entries listed under Days of mourning are when her care giving days are over and she is now mourning the losses of both her aunt and uncle. Ellen is a fictitious care giver. The author, Sally Hull, wrote the first draft of Ellen's story during the days when she herself was her parents' caregiver, and mourner. The words are from the trenches. Ellen's Journal is designed to help caregivers and those who love them. To the caregivers and mourners, there is hope, from one who understands and cares about what they are going through. To those who know and love the caregivers and mourners, Ellen's story will help them understand what caregivers and mourners go through.
About the Author: Sally Demaray Hull wrote her first novel at age seventeen: The Trail Beyond. She set the manuscript aside when she left her home in Gladwin Michigan for college in Canada at Toronto Baptist Seminary and Bible College. Following this three year course, she attended Mid Michigan Community College and Central Michigan University, studying to be a teacher. After college, she pulled out the manuscript of The Trail Beyond and rewrote it. Over the years she has rewritten it a dozen times. Shortly after the first re-write, she wrote a sequel. The next thing she knew, she was writing fulltime. Over the years she became her parents' caregiver, a teacher in a Christian school and a substitute teacher in the public schools. She also taught TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in China for two years and earned her TESOL certificate from the Canadian National Institute. Though she has had various occupations, writing has always been present in her life. Most of her book covers are from the photos her husband Charlie has taken, being a photographer and a writer himself. Sally's desire is that her books help people to know God better.