Susan Fitch, January, finish illustrating a story book

Hello.  My name is Susan Fitch.

I met Nora in the summer of 1994 when we were counselors at Oakcrest girls' camp together.  I consider myself truly blessed to be counted as one of her friends - especially after all this time. (I also got to work with Nora's sister Vanessa at Aggie Ice Cream at Utah State!)

A little about myself: I have been married for nearly 15 years.  We have 3 living children, Aiden 11, Emma 8, and Mary 4.  We also have one angel baby who would have turned 14 this summer.  She was born and died just a few weeks before Nora lost her Charlotte.  I remember climbing into Nora's bed with her and the both of us crying together over our angel babies.  For that, and many other things, I will love Nora forever.

I have loved reading about all of you and your stories and goals.  I've found something in common with each one of you as you've posted.  I've been thrilled to see that so many of you live in Davis county.  We just moved to Kaysville from Weber county. Everytime I read that one of you are close by it makes me feel like I have new friends here already!

 (our new home)

My project for this month was to finish illustrating a story that my sister wrote.  I love to draw.  But I have purposely tried to keep it a hobby and not a profession.  It is so easy for me to let life distract me from my family & my Heavenly Father; the things that are really the most important to me.  I'm kind of scatter-brained by nature. A couple of years ago I read this blog post that gave me inspiration to go about my life more consciously and really think about choosing the things that I will or will not do.  The balancing act is a constant juggle for me, and sometimes I do better than others. 

Here's where my project comes in.  I screwed up.  Last year, my sister wrote a story for one of her children who was having some issues with anxiety.  She asked me if I could illustrate the book.  I made a conscious decision that it was a good project, and that the time I took away from my children to do the illustrations would come back to bless them in the form of a book that would help them too.  And maybe even grandchildren down the line.  Several weeks later, I was asked by a guy in one of our previous wards to illustrate a series of short stories about Santa Claus that he had written and was going to self publish.  I talked to my husband, and prayed about it and felt really good about it, so I told him yes, but spread my deadlines far apart so I could do other projects as well.  As time went on, I illustrated the Santa Stories but never got around to doing my sister's book.  I felt so guilty about it that I almost didn't tell her that my illustrations had been published in a real book for the first and only time ever.

So you can see why I chose this for my project.  I needed to give myself some deadlines to get this done.  While the Santa book was super fun, and has been a great experience, my sister is more important to me and I didn't want her to fall through the cracks. 

In the past few months, I have been working on her book.  It's called "Super Sarah"  I wanted to have it done and printed up on Blurb to give her a fancy hard copy for her birthday which was Feb. 11. Each illustration takes at least 2-3 days.  And with moving, my time was really limited.  I mostly did my drawing late at night in front of the TV.  When my sister's birthday came, I was still working on it.  But she got very sick on her birthday - and I must admit that I was glad- because I thought that would give me more time to finish.  Now here I am on the 26th.  I still have 5 illustrations left to do. I haven't seen my sister since before her birthday, but her birthday lunch was rescheduled for tomorrow.  So technically, I have failed in my goal.  In actuality - it's a success because I never would have gotten this far if Nora hadn't come along and given me some accountability for this project.  (thanks Nora & all you project connecters!)

I will post the reading rainbow version of the book & illustrations here if you'd like to read it. It is enough for you to get the plot, but doesn't spoil the ending.  Though, I really only have one other illustration done beyond what I'm posting. Here goes:

Sarah lived in a beautiful old farmhouse.

One of Sarah's favorite places in the whole world was the attic.

She wasn't tall enough to turn the light on, but the window let in just the right amount of sunlight so she could see perfectly.

Sarah loved to play dolls in the attic.  She loved to dance.  She loved to read by the window where she could watch the birds in the trees.  Sometimes she would just curl up and take a nap in the warm sunshine.

Whatever she did in the attic, Sarah always felt strong, and smart, happy, and creative and safe.

One day, Sarah was tall enough to turn the light on.  She was so excited until she noticed something she had never seen before.

A few of the boards on the walls had ugly old knots in them.  Some of them even looked scary.

Sarah's mom and dad told her everything was okay.  The attic was still as safe and fun as it had always been.

But Sarah felt worried.  She did not like those ugly knots and scary faces.  Maybe, she didn't like the attic anymore. 

So that's it.  That's all I've got so far.  I will keep working on it and report on it again next month.  I will also be working on next month's goal:  To potty train my 8 year old. Before you judge me, you should know that Emma has cerebral palsy.  Muscle control and balance are big issues for her.  Sitting on the toilet is really scary and difficult.  Sometimes I wonder if she has the muscle control to control her bladder.  But I'm 95% sure she does.  She was just about potty trained until we moved.  Once she started her new school she regressed a whole lot.  They do not have a small sized toilet low to the ground that she can balance on well.  So, we're starting over again.  I feel like I've tried everything.  I'm not exactly sure what my plan of attack will be for this next month, but I think that solving the problem of the 'too tall' toilets at school will be the first step. Wish me lots of luck because I really need it!