BookWorthy Chats with Jennifer Bleakly

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Valerie – Welcome to Bookworthy. Today we're talking with author and speaker Jennifer Bleakly. For Jennifer is an animal lover and animals are a love language for her and hope is her passion. Both influence her latest book, More Paw-verbs for Kids, 30 More Heartwarming Stories About Boys, Girls, and Their Pets. Welcome to Bookworthy Jennifer.

Jen -Thank you so much for having me. It's so good to be with you.

Valerie- It is a pleasure. Now since animals play a large part in your books, we want our question of the week to be, what is the name of your first pet?

Jen -That feel like that's a complicated answer because I feel like I had various degrees of first pets, but my first ever pet, which is in, I can't remember if it's in more proverbs or proverbs for kids, but his name was Georgie and he was a grasshopper. And I loved that grasshopper with all my heart and soul. I wanted a pet so badly, but my parents have horrible allergies or my mom had horrible allergies. And so an animal with fur was off the table. So I poured all of my love, my six-year-old love into a grasshopper named Georgie that I had for three whole days. I loved him well in those three days.

Valerie -That is amazing. I can seriously like picture that in my head because I have a kid that he will just collect any rolly poly, any critter. And I think we found a gecko in our pantry at one point. He was like, mom, can I keep him? I have a gecko upstairs, which is a pet, which is allowed, but the wild one's not so much. Those don't last quite as long.

Jen - Yeah, I will say my heartbreak over losing Georgie after three days, he lived in a Barbie house. was a whole, God bless my parents, but I was so heartbroken that they let me get a bunny that we kept outside. So I went from Georgie to Sandy the bunny. So.

Valerie -Too sweet. Well, Jennifer, tell us a little bit about your book, More Proverbs for Kids.

Jen -I used to tell people I was an accidental author of course, God sovereignty. I can see in hindsight how he had his hand in this all along, but I went to school to be a counselor. I worked as a grief counselor for a couple of years, moved from Florida to North Carolina and I just stayed home with my kids for a little bit, loved reading books to them and being with them. They went off to school, that annoying habit children have of growing up and, you

know, doing their own lives, whatever. So I was looking for something to do and I went to a therapy ranch thinking maybe I could volunteer, use my counseling degree in some way. And I met a blind horse who completely changed my life. I was mesmerized by this blind horse who was helping people see hope. It ignited a dormant passion of mine, which is writing. And I always loved writing just as a hobby. Ended up writing about the horse's story just to share with some family and friends. And fast forward many years, I now write stories, true animal stories that help people see hope through the animals God scattered all over our planet. And my second book was Paw-Verbs. My first book, Joey, was about the blind horse. And as I was writing that, I just became so fascinated with the ways that God provides for people through animals and captivated with the lessons that we can learn from animals. And a verse I found when writing Joey was Job 12:7, which says, "the animals and they will teach you." And so that's what I set out to do. And that became a devotional called Paw-Verbs. And then we did Paw-Verbs for a dog lover's heart. Which really resonated with our dog lovers and then paw verbs for cat lovers because kids are my people. I initially thought Joey would be a children's book. I was a counselor for children, so my heart was always to write for kids. And so Tindale asked if I would write paw verbs for kids. And I think I don't know that I've been more excited about anything other than getting married and having children. So I loved getting to share the concept of proverbs with children. So it's really a collection of true animal stories that feature real animals and real kids and teach a lesson that aligns with the book of Proverbs, hence the title paw-verbs. And so it combines animal lessons with God's word and just invites kids to pause and ponder who God is.

Valerie- I love that. I was at Romans one 20 says, you know, all creation kind of speaks of God. And I, I'm always been an animal lover and God has always spoken to me through nature. And I've seen my kids connect more with God when we talk about animals or when the dog gets a hold of said animal or we rescued bunnies. You know, there was one, was it two summers ago? I think there was a nest of bunnies that my dogs found that I got to rehabilitate them for... Like, Everywhere!

Jen - So there's, yes, there's lessons everywhere. Some are a little messier and harder to spin, but there's lessons everywhere.

Valerie -Well, I love how your book really engages kids in their already love of animals. I think kids just even little grasshoppers, you know, animal kids just have this love for nature and the love for anything smaller than them, I think. So I love how your story did that. How did you collect all the stories for these books?

Jen -You know, it really is me just kind of training myself to pay attention. If there's one thing people will talk to you about is their animal stories. And so, you know, just being willing to listen, I have a great little tribe, I call it a positive community online. And so asking people to share stories there, remembering some of my stories, I have a large extended family. And so I feel like I'm just constantly mining for stories and I have a nice file on my computer that's just stories that I someday want to use and plug in somewhere. So yeah, it's amazing. If you just ask people, do you have a pet? Have you ever learned anything from your pet? Like two hours later, you have, you know, 15 stories to take with you.

Valerie -Somehow it is easier to talk about your pets than it is about your own self sometimes. Jennifer, what do you hope kids to kind of walk away from with these books?

Jen -You know, obviously my goal is like the book of Proverbs is the wisdom literature. you know, little, little, used to call it nuggets of wisdom when we would teach, my husband and I were teaching a kids like Sunday school class. And at the end, I'd always be like, okay, let's do our nugget of wisdom. And then they would get a little Hershey nugget when they were able to like consolidate everything into a little nugget. So trying to create a book with just a lot of little nuggets of wisdom. And then I also did try to draw from my counseling background just to deal with some harder subjects, but doing so with an animal friend, which is far less threatening and inviting the child to see maybe their loneliness or see their grief or see their fear with that animal friend beside them. tried to kind of do a little bit of both, you know, incorporating the spiritual aspects and the counseling aspects and both of those go together so beautifully in kid appropriate language and with a lot of adorable animal photos.

Valerie There are a lot of adorable photos and I love how it's not just dogs and cats, but I I what I think at the first book you had a guinea pig on the cover and then some lizards and you know, it's like you're, you know, no crickets. I don't think I can't, I can't remember if there was a cricket. No praying mantises.

Jen -You know, no crickets. Georgie, I think was the only insect. I have randomly like two awesome ladybug stories that we'll see. There's, there's fish in the book. yeah, the gecko. I can't remember if this one has an iguana, a bearded dragon makes an appearance. So we try to cover horses, goats, you know. Yes.

Valerie -The wide variety of pets that tend to end up in our homes, right? When we have kids, you never know what they're going to bring home for sure. Well, Jane, you told us a little bit about your writing journey, but did you always want to be an author?

Jen -You know, I always loved writing. And so that's one thing I've paid attention to and shared with my own kids. And I'll tell any children that are listening is really pay attention to the breadcrumbs that God sprinkles in your life. I feel like he gives us these little breadcrumbs. And if we're paying attention, it's usually like in hindsight, we see the breadcrumbs, but I had always loved writing and I loved writing cards and letters to family and friends. This is gonna sound terrible, but that made them cry. Like I love touching their heart, not in a bad way, like

in a way that touched their heart. There was something so intriguing to me, like something I would write, like a thought I had that I wrote would touch someone's heart. I just thought that was normal and everybody was like that, but then discovering that that was something that God gave me. And so I never saw myself using that in any kind of professional ability. And then those that read Joey, that first book, I mean, there are some gut wrenching scenes in there. It's a beautiful story, but it's a hard story. so kind of pulling that back out and then the counseling, so much of counseling is listening to people's stories and being able to help them see like that thread of grace and redemption in their story. So how God wove that together and that passion. And then as I'm collecting animal stories, I'm listening, you know, I'm using a lot of those same skills. So I didn't know I always wanted to be an author, but I knew I always loved writing and I loved reading and I loved getting lost in a story. And then eventually writing my own story and getting lost in that.

Valerie -It's different type of last, but it's lots of fun, right?

Jen - Yes, yes, very much so. You just kind of give yourself over to what God is. I like to think of myself as an author, as a faucet. It's not about the faucet. The faucet is just the conduit. And so it's just coming to God with open hands and a blank screen and just asking him to pour through me onto that screen. So I really view it as an act of worship.

Valerie -That's amazing. And I love what you said about, you know, breadcrumbs. I tell my own kids that they're always like, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. It's like, don't think about a what, you you want to be just look at how you're geared. Look at how God made you. What brings you joy? What do you naturally do? You know, in your every day, I've got a kid that I think at kindergarten or no, was the summer before he was starting kindergarten. And he just like, mom, give me some math problems. And I'm just like, okay. So he was just asking for math problems because his mind functions that way. He's very analytical, very numbers driven. And I was like, Hey, bud, you keep working on that. Keep, you know noticing what God has talented you with, gifted you with, so that it doesn't matter what the job is or where in the world it is, but God has geared you a certain way and that is just beautiful how he does that. And like you said, sprinkles it in our lives. I can look back at my own life and be like, writing stories and listening to people, you know, is definitely part of my story too. And I can see it in little bits throughout my life. So very neat.

Jen -Yeah. Yeah. And it's cool to look back and see that. I know as someone looking forward, it can feel overwhelming and scary. So I think just that rest that God will get you where he wants you to be. It might be a surreptitious way there. I have like the weirdest resume ever for being an author, but you know, he'll get you there.

Valerie -That's right. It's about the journey just as much as the destination, right? Too fun. Well, Jen, what's been one of the most impactful books in your life other than the Bible?

Jen -Thank you for that disclaimer. I was like, how do you answer that and not say the Bible?

Honestly, one of the most, I think foundational books for me, and again, didn't realize it at the time, but Charlotte's Web. I mean, that was one of the first books I remember, like the chapter book reading. My parents helped me read it. But that book, the personification of the animals, seeing them with personalities and seeing so much of myself and both Wilbur and Charlotte. that was the first book I got lost in, the first book I cried in. So I think that's where some of that came from, is like, what is happening to me with this book? And so yeah, I kind of laugh now. Like I think I imprinted on Charlotte's web as far as like, want to do that. I want to write those kinds of stories.

Valerie -That's sweet. That's always like one of those first books that really hit kids right where they're at because animals and we always think animals have a personality of their own and I think their own thoughts, which they do in some part and it's just kind of neat to see it. And I think Charlotte's Web is kind of one of those first books that kids really connect with and like, yeah. I could totally see myself as Wilbur, as Charlotte, as all the other little characters in there too. I can't remember the rat's name, Templeton.

Jen -Yeah, I know, I need to go back and reread that. I just remember I was such a shy, quiet, anxious little kid. And so I think it was just so, there's something so comforting about being on this journey with Wilbur and his friendship with Charlotte. And there's just something my little heart resonated to in that. yes.

Valerie - And I know that that self discovery to find that you're more than just a piece of ham on Christmas. Well, Jennifer, tell us a little bit about, I guess, one of the first stories in this book. can't remember. I really loved your introduction where you talked about which animal was it? Your cat Sugar. Can you tell us a little bit about Sugar?

 Jen - Yes, so like I said, my pet journey kind of came in different stages. So Georgie and then I had my rabbit Sandy and that was a lovely relationship until I went to feed Sandy one day and ran across a rattlesnake and that scared me to death. so then Sandy was let go and lived a life and made many, many descendants. So Sandy's living fine and my aunt or her descendants are living fine on my aunt's farm. But then my best friend moved away and left us their outdoor cat, Sugar. And so I loved Sugar with all my heart and it was a sweet thing to have Because sugar, there are so many facets of that, which is beautiful and all with like an outdoor cat and how kind of God. But, and so yeah, my friends had moved away. I was struggling with that, but I had this cat. And so I would just go outside and I would, I would sit and talk to sugar. And over time I realized like I was talking to sugar, but I was also kind of talking to God. And then I became then it kind of morphed into I was talking to God while Sugar was sitting next to me. And so was a really sweet little progresion. But I can still remember just going outside. grew

up in St. Petersburg, Florida, and I would just go outside and sit in the sun. And as like I said, a shy little girl that struggled so much to talk to humans, especially, you know, those with any kind of authority. I was a chatterbox with my parents, but then put me around anybody else and it was just, I would shut down. So I got to practice like talking to another living thing with sugar. And I got to experience talking to God and what it felt like to have the presence of an animal walk with me while I was in the presence of God. And, and so I look back and I am so grateful for that little cat that maybe my mom didn't love because she had a habit of killing squirrels and then putting their trophy tails behind the dryer in the garage. my mom wasn't quite as much of a fan of sugar. But I adored that cat and I feel like God put that cat in my life for a specific reason and a specific season, not to run. But it was a really sweet relationship.

Valerie -I love how animals can do that. They can kind of speak to our souls a little better than people can sometimes, but just because that's true.

Jen -Yeah. Yes, yes, yeah. They can feel safer. You know, don't have to worry about, they going to think what I said was stupid? Like they're, and that's, that's one reason I think animals are so good at pointing our hearts to God ultimately is because they don't see the mask. They don't see the pretense. They don't judge us. They're just, they're there and they want to be with us. And so much of that just as a reflection of God. And so I love that at their best, not granted, not all animals are able to do that, but at their best, I think God can use animals to point our hearts to him.

Valerie- I agree. think what was it? was, we have an eyelash crested gecko at our house and my son wanted a gecko and I'm like, I've never had one. Sure. Well, you have to clean out the terrarium every so often. Well, we had cleaned out the terrarium, got the lizard back in its place I had an event that evening. And so my husband was in charge of making sure my seven-year-old fed the gecko and got him back in his terrarium. Well, I come home the next day or, you know, the terrarium is wide open, and we can't find the thing. And I'm just like, okay, Lord, which lesson is this going to be? But it ended up being a really sweet moment for me and d my son, just because I was like, Hey, bud, have torn your room apart. We have looked everywhere. The, in sadly, was prayer was our last resort, which shouldn't be, but it was a good teaching moment for me too. But it was like, so we were like, Lord, you know where he is. I mean, it's the size of, he was the size of my thumb. think it was little. And so I was like, you know where it is. You know. If we'll find it, you know, it just kind of sitting up this prayer like,

okay, Lord, what do we do next? And, but the, next morning after we prayed, he went to sleep and the next morning come to find out the gecko had hidden in a like vent in the terrarium that he wasn't supposed to get into. And I was like, so it was neat to just kind of turn around and talk to myself. was like, look, God protected the lizard. He was safe in his terrarium the entire time. He was never scared. He was never worried. He was safe. just to, just to kind of bring that into my son and you could kind of just see the lights just turn on like, is a real thing. And it was just really sweet how this lost lizard was a big part of just kind of teaching my son about God and about prayer and reminding myself about those truths too.

Jen -Wow. Yeah, absolutely. you know, ironically, I think it might be the first proverb for kids. There's a story about a lost gecko. It's called Where's Pluto? So there you go. You guys are not alone. Wow.

Valerie -We're not alone. Too fun. Well, Jennifer, what can we expect next from you?

Jen -So I have the two children's books and then I also just released a devotional, animal themed devotional based on the book of Psalms, which honestly Psalms has probably been the most impactful book for me. It's the book of the Bible I go to the most, especially when foundations seem to shake beneath me. And so I had always wanted to write a devotional in

the Psalms and I'm so grateful to get to do that. And so that's called pause, P-A-W-S, in his presence. And it was just kind of born from me literally needing to do that just in a really difficult season of life and just crying out to God to let me just pause in his presence. And as I prayed that, I was like, that'd make a good book title, but we'll come back to that when I'm not in the middle of an emotional crisis. And so that book just came out and so now I'm practicing what I preached in that book. I'm pausing a little bit in his presence. I've written nine books in eight years and I'm so grateful for each and every one and also grateful to just take a beat and kind of refill the tank a little bit, refill the well and just sit in God's presence and be so grateful for these books that exist. I did because I can't sit still for too long. I did write a children's curriculum over the summer that kind of goes with the proverbs for kids. And it's just if churches or kids groups wanted to do like a two hour event for the animal lovers in their church, for the kiddos, just kind of inviting children to spend a little bit of time just looking to the animals and asking what you know, God wants to teach them through it. So that was something that was so fun. I got my start writing as a curriculum writer, so it was fun to put that hat back on and just dream up an event like that. So that's on my website, that's free for anybody that wants it, and that's been a fun little side passion project.

Valerie - Very fun. Well, I'll make sure to have that link in our descriptions. Now, where can people find out more about you and your books?

Jen -Yeah, so usually if you just write the word, Paw-verbs, into anything, like you'll get back to me. yeah, Jen Blakely on social media. My website is jenniferblakely and it's B-L-E-A-K-L-E-Y dot com. And you can find me there or by just seriously typing in the word, Poverbs, and you'll get me.

Valerie- Well, thank you so much for sharing your book and your passion with us today, Jennifer.

Jen- Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Valerie -It's my pleasure. And thank you guys for joining Jennifer and me on this episode of the Bookworthy Podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we discussed and let us know in the comments what was the name of your first pet. Be sure to like and subscribe to discover more great books together.

Happy reading!