Personal Page

By now you've probably gotten to know me well enough to skip a formal introduction. However, the most important thing to know about me is my commitment to God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I asked Jesus into my heart when I was seven and made Him the Lord of my life when I was twelve. Serving Christ is my passion, and helping others is my joy.

I grew up in Washington state and attended Christian schools from second grade until graduation. I majored in business and communications with a minor in psychology. I worked in a variety of fields: bookkeeper for a fabric store and later an Italian restaurant (can't beat those free lunches!), graphic designer/artist/copy writer/copy editor for a Seattle firm, executive assistant for president of an electronics sales firm, office manager for a computer hardware/software development firm where I also became the Human Resources Administrator, and benefits specialist at a major Seattle daily newspaper.

My hobbies include Letterboxing with my family (a form of treasure hunt in public places across America), illustrating with chalk pastel, pen-and-ink, color pencils, and watercolor; riding my ten-speed bike with my family; home repairs (friends are surprised by my personal assortment of tools and table saw); photography (some say I should own stock in Kodak); reading all sorts of books; teaching; and playing with HTML code (website design).

I spent my childhood creating adventures for my three siblings, a younger brother and two sisters. One evening, my parents held a family meeting during which we voted to give our television set to my great-grandmother after her husband died. During those five years in junior high and high school without a TV, we missed the assortment of comedy sitcoms and some character named Mr. Bill on Saturday Night Live, but we filled our summers with weekly visits to the public library and rode our bikes to the neighborhood Book Mobile, checking out as many books as our little baskets could hold and still allow us to pedal home. I also built things out of cardboard and wrote long letters to my cousin Faith and my Native American pen pal Shannon in South Dakota. I loved making puzzles and mazes for them! Thus the beginnings of my love for communication via words, pictures, and puzzles.

After I married my engineer husband Russ and we were expecting our first child, I worked part-time as benefits specialist at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (before I knew I'd be a full-time writer), soaking up exposure to reporters and photographers while seeing how a major regional newspaper is run. I've been writing professionally since 1993.

During this time I also performed in my own small ministry as a Gospel ventriloquist serving schools, churches, communities, and businesses in the greater Seattle area regularly from 1980 until about 1995. When our second son was born, I chose to stay home and be a mommy and a writer. I'm known to take an occasional booking, however, since "Ronnie" can't stay quiet for long! He often accompanies me to writers' conferences where, if given half a chance, he makes an appearance (and half a chance is all he'll get, since I'm the other half ).

I volunteered hundreds of hours at my church during that time, serving two years as a lay counselor for the junior high group. I also directed the church youth puppet troop ("The Calvary Temple Puppeteers")--more reasons why I love writing for kids.

Family Life

I'm married and live with my husband Russ and our two sons in a rural area north of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We moved across country in January 2000, leaving our native home in Seattle, Washington to experience a new adventure in the Midwest. Both of our extended families still live in the Pacific Northwest, although some of Russ' relatives live in Wisconsin and Illinois. Here's a photo of Mark and Jonathan--they're my other reasons why I love writing and performing for kids! Romping with them are the family dogs, Isaac and Jeffie (photo taken in 1997):

A few months after Isaac turned 10 years old, we discovered he had severe heart disease. By the time we found out, his heart had already enlarged to the size of a large cantalope. We put him on medication right away, and after a courageous seven-month battle, he died the day before spring, in March 1998.

Photo by K. S. Gollnick
In memory of Isaac: May 16, 1986 - March 19, 1998.

Just before we moved to Iowa, we rescued this little kitten, abandoned with his siblings in our front yard in October 1999. We named him Moses. In this photo you can see Jeffie is a little suspicious about this new member of our family, but we're enjoying our mischievous cat. Moses is now five years old. He grew bigger than Jeffie; we suspect he's part panther.

Then we experienced a very sad day. On Monday morning before Thanksgiving, my precious Yorkie-Poo named Jeffie died of kidney failure. Jeffie was 15 years old. You can see the cataract in his left eye and the one growing in his left. He remained cheerful to the end. My family and I miss him very much.

Photo by K. S. Gollnick
In memory of Jeffie: June 3, 1988 - November 24, 2003.

Jeffie, the Best Little Dog in the World

To learn more about pet health, click here to see
the web page for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The Gollnick Girls

Since we have two boys, we sponsor girls through the world-wide ministry of Compassion International. Here they are:

Jeanne Kethly Pepe' -- HAITI. Born 12/26/71, now graduated from the program and working professionally as a seamstress.

Melva -- SOUTH AMERICA. Her mother moved out of the program's area, taking Melva with her. As a result, we have no way to contact her. We still care about her and pray for her safety.

Phiona Katushabe -- UGANDA, AFRICA. Born 1986, exact date unknown. Phiona lives with her mother and helps in the kitchen, cleaning, and carrying water. She has one sibling. She is doing well in school, and likes attending Sunday school.

Vanessa Saavedra Sihuincho -- PERU, SOUTH AMERICA. Born 7/25/88. Vanessa lives with her father and mother and six siblings. Her father sometimes finds work as a laborer. When we first started sponsoring Vanessa, she suffered from psychological problems and temporary autism. A year later, her photograph showed a smiling, transformed little girl! Her favorite subject in school is math, and she enjoys art.

Homeschooling

COMING LATER IN THIS SECTION...links and info about homeschooling.

In the meantime, check out this compreshensive site: The Official Christian Homeschool Forum.

Church Life

While living in Washington state we were active members of Marysville Free Methodist Church under Pastor Vic Rodriguez, located on the corner of 67th Avenue and Grove Street in Marysville, Washington (U.S.A.).

After our move to Iowa, we found Oakland Church of the Nazarene, located at 3000 42nd Street N.E., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We enjoyed getting to know Pastor Paul Miller and his wife Kay. We made many dear friends there, as well. Then in December 2003, Pastor Paul and Kay left to serve as pastors in a church in Des Moines, closely followed in June 2004 by the resignation of the music director Pastor Jeff Carlson. At that time, we re-examined our family's needs.

Now that our boys are teens, we saw they needed a church with a bigger youth group with a focus on spiritual growth rather than the "busy-ness" of multiple activities that sometimes replaces spirituality. This longing led us to Antioch Christian Church located in Marion, Iowa, where we are enjoying the strong biblical teaching of Pastor John Sietz and the outstanding youth ministry.

Click here to read my devotional about going to church: "Why We Need Each Other."

Sign my guestbook View my guestbook

| Author's Bio | Contests | Sample Articles | Conference Classes | Quotes & Excerpts |

| Recommended Books & Videos | Ventriloquism for the Curious | Personal Page |

Home | Back to Top | Hot Links |

Click here to access family members' web pages.

Kimn Swenson Gollnick Send email.

Last revised March 2005

Best viewed with Netscape 2.0 or higher

Copyright information