Jacqualine Rhoades

Author

 

My name is Jacqualine Rhoades and I am a single mother of two young boys Khristian, who is 11, And 1 that is 15 We are from Paradise, California. We move to Reno, Nevada a little over two years ago. In hopes for a fresh start in life. We were not able to heal in our hometown with the wild fires that would come next to our property every year triggering that horrible 2018 fire that we survived. Moving has had it’s struggles, leaving behind friends and the home that my children knew and loved. It was hard on me, leaving behind the life of a PTA mom who stayed at home and volunteered her time in the classroom. It’s been a struggle and has taken some adjusting and acceptance in our new life. Our move has helped us heal and have a better quality of life. Some days can be a struggle for my boys having a mom with rheumatoid arthritis, not every day is a great day, but we are humbled enough to be at peace.

I am truly blessed to be working on this project with some of the most loving people. I believe it is truly kismet that we all met for a reason. I wrote this book back in 2019 for my children while they were suffering from PTSD from the Campfire in Paradise, California in 2018. There are not enough words to describe the journey in meeting Mike Kungl, Alaska Dumont, and Laurie Spoon, To create such a beautiful book. The closure and healing this has given me to finish such a project with such an amazing team has truly been a blessing. I am proud to call them my friends. Being a single mom of two young children that have suffered such a traumatic event and not having resources at the time to help them was devastating. So one day I wrote them a book in hopes it would help them to freely express their emotions and how they feel. When I sat down and read to them, they opened up about their feelings of loss and things that angered and saddened them. It was at that moment I realized I did something 
that helped my children. Meeting Mike and seeing his beautiful artwork must have just been kismet that we were meant to create this book to give to the world and offer healing for families. Mike introduced me to Laurie,and Alaska who believed in me. I believe we were just destined to share this book with the world and those families who have suffered similar events. This being my first book has given me hope to create more books in the future.