Category: Author

2/24/2026 5 Comments

555) Her faith was as big as the oceans ~ In loving memory of Jennie G. Buhs

This story is dedicated to the life and memory of Jennie Buhs - a dear family friend, who is now with God and Jesus in Heaven above.

February 17th was a different sort of day for me. My day was completely out of routine. And I try to live by routine, so it didn’t take me long to quickly notice that my day was totally out of order.

First, I painted the above canvas. This painting is unique to me because I now paint almost exclusively in watercolor. And the above image is an extremely large (3 foot by four foot) canvas in acrylic paint. We even had to rearrange the house a bit so I could paint what you see above here.

As someone who loves the ocean, I really enjoy painting ocean scenes, in any medium, in any size, and I never tire of it. This painting took all day, and I was absolutely over the moon excited with how it turned out. And compared to my much smaller watercolor paintings I have all over my art studio, this ocean was simply enormous.

Secondly, February 17th was a different sort of day because of my Bible reading for the day, and my experience while reading the Bible on that particular day.

For 2026, I had set a goal to read the entire Bible in a year. I felt a strong calling to do this. I’ve read the Bible before, but never cover-to-cover, and never every single page. I’m reading it as part of a group Bible study, and I’ve never done anything like this before either. I must say I love it.

Being more than fifty days in, I would say it has been a very rewarding venture thus far. I have read every single assignment, I have read every single day, and I already feel so much closer to God. I didn’t even know I could feel closer to God until this undertaking.

Since the beginning on page one of Genesis back at the beginning of the year, I’ve now settled into a nice routine. I usually read my Bible before it’s bright and early, first thing in the morning, and well before the sun comes up. Rarely, once in a great while, I’ve had to deviate from that plan, due to a particular day’s happenings. February 17th was one of those days - due to me being absolutely and totally engrossed in this painting most of my entire day. And before that I had taken a very long walk alongside the Atlantic Ocean.

So on February 17th, just after I completed the above painting, I sat down at this rare time for me to read the Bible - in the middle of the late afternoon, before dinner.

February 17th also happened to be a very special day for my reading assignment, as on that day I found myself reading about Jesus being crucified. Considering it has been many years since I last read this story, there was much that I had forgotten about the details surrounding the crucifixion.

I found myself reading about the death of Jesus. And I read about the surrounding events that took place while Jesus was on the cross…

I read in Matthew 27:51-54 ESV - here the Bible states:

‘And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” ‘

As I read this page in the Bible during that late afternoon, I gasped. I was in awe. I had to re-read this section. And then I had to read it once again. How did I never know this part of the crucifixion story? Did I know, and simply forget? It had been so many years. Many bodies of saints were raised…

It was at this point in time that, while contemplating my Bible reading, I looked up at my new ocean wave painting that was drying quickly right in front me on my easel. I gazed at the ocean waters, and I thought of Jennie Buhs, a dear and great family friend.

I had been thinking about her a lot lately. She was suffering so greatly.

Jennie G. Buhs - born 1955, of Illinois - had cancer. She was in great pain, and her body was failing her. I found myself thinking of her continually, top of mind, and I was very worried. I didn’t want her to be in so much pain.

Jennie’s time on this Earth was coming to an end, and she was going up to Heaven.

As I read those important words of the Bible, and as I stared at my brand new ocean and thought of Jennie, it was at this time on the afternoon of February 17th that Jennie went up to Heaven to be the Lord. I didn’t know that at the time though.

Later that same evening on February 17th, I was informed of her passing, and that it took place in the afternoon, and I was given the time of her passing. Exactly when I was reading about Jesus dying, and the saints rising. Exactly when I looked at my new ocean waves, and I thought of the lovely and dear Jennie Buhs.

When my mom told me the news that evening, I was devastated, but equally shocked. I was thinking of her as she passed on from this world. “Bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.” It was truly one of those God moments - that no one on Earth can ever explain.

So as our hearts were all broken on February 17, 2026, Jennie made her way straight up to Heaven. And she’s telling us it will all be ok. We know this because her faith was so grand. Her faith was as big as the oceans.

Jennie was someone I knew most of my whole life. Jennie and her husband had two children, and her daughter is a wonderful friend. Jennie’s husband and my father worked together, and her daughter and I shared a similar sport - ice skating. I ice skated for many years, and Jennie’s daughter and I spent much time on the ice together. As Jennie’s daughter and I grew up together, our parents also became wonderful friends. So Jennie was someone I knew from very early in my childhood, onward.

As I was growing up and time passed, one random evening when I was a teenager, I got in a terrible, nasty car accident. I had to go to the hospital. I was young, scared, and confused. I was fine, my collar bone was not fine. The car was broken.

To this day, I remember being so cold in the hospital. I was so confused, and so cold. I remember coming home from the hospital, and going into my bedroom, crying. Actually, I didn’t drive for a very long time after that. My mind was really and thoroughly confused.

But I remember coming home to beautiful flowers, and a card filled with prayers - from Jennie Buhs.

I was sixteen years old, and it was the first time that I remember Jennie praying for me. I say that because, at that time, I had no idea that over the coming years she would go on to pray for me many, many other times.

I’ll always and forever remember being upset with what had happened to the family car, sitting on my bedroom floor, looking at my beautiful flowers from Jennie Buhs, and her card filled with prayers.

That was when I was a teenager. I then grew up, went to college, and got married. And then I started working. I had two jobs after college before I got sick. It was a very normal and lovely existence. Just work, home, hubby, and we had a cat at the time.

But then I got sick, and ended up in great pain. And I was very confused about being sick. Why was I in so much pain? I’ve been sick ever since, living in chronic pain for way too many years now.

There were so many years of doctors, tests, scary treatments I didn't want to do, and awful medicines I didn’t want to take. But I did. I did everything I was told to.

And then, when nothing got better, there were much longer trips to different hospitals.

During all of this time, Jennie prayed for me.

I spent most of my time in bed, completely unable to live any kind of life. I lost a lot during this time, but that’s ok.

At one point, there was a very dark period when I spent a bit of time in the hospital. It was during the Christmas holiday season, and I was very, very sad. There was a Christmas Tree down in the courtyard outside my hospital window. Except I couldn’t see it from where I laid in bed. I love Christmas. The entire situation was extremely difficult.

I came home from the hospital well before Christmas. I did not come home because they fixed me. I came home when they could not fix me.

It was simply an awful, confusing time. I was sad, and I felt defeated.

But when we arrived home - my husband gathered the mail. I sat down on the couch as my husband began cooking dinner for us. And I opened the mail.

And would you believe that I came home to prayers, once again, from Jennie Buhs.

This was so many years after she sent me those prayers that I read while sitting on my bedroom floor when I was a teenager. As I sat on my couch under a blanket reading these new prayers, I immediately thought of those very old prayers from her, so many years ago.

I held this piece of mail in my hand, and I kept these new prayers very close to me - and I was very, very confused. I did not understand why any of this was happening. But I understood just enough to keep her prayers close to my heart.

Why did I have to live my life in so much pain?

I knew God. But Jennie knew Him more at this time, and her faith was so strong. Somehow, deep in my heart, I knew at that time that if Jennie was praying for me, those prayers definitely found their way all the way up to Heaven. You see, Jennie had great connections with Jesus, she always had a direct line. Her faith was always so strong. In fact, her faith was grand… it was as big and as strong as the magnificent oceans on this beautiful planet Earth.

So I kept her prayers close to me, and close to my confused heart.

And Jennie believed in me - so much.

At a time when I was so confused and in so much terrible pain, Jennie had so much faith in me.

I’ll never, ever forget how much faith Jennie had in me.

But even that wasn’t the end of her faith and belief in me.

Some more years passed, and after visiting every hospital under the sun, my husband and I decided to move to Florida. That was when God saved my life. And I attended the Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Clinic. My life changed forever. I am still a patient to this day.

And I still live in the same chronic pain, but God is now truly with me every step of the way. As I started a brand new way of life, very foreign to me at the time, God guided me, and helped me navigate. During all this time, still in so much pain, I remember receiving cards, and prayers, from Jennie Buhs.

But would you believe she still wasn’t done praying for me yet?!

It was at this point in time that I started painting. Art started as a distraction from the pain. Mayo Clinic taught me cognitive behavioral therapy. And Mayo Clinic taught me how to get out of my own head, and how to continually distract myself. This pain was not going away, and I had to figure out how to live with it.

And I did learn how to live with it. Mayo Clinic gave me so many tools to get through my day. Painting was simply one of those tools that I discovered. I never imagined I would become an artist and paint every day.

It was then around this time, as I was growing as an artist, that I found out the terrible news that Jennie Buhs got diagnosed with cancer. She then had cancer for way too many years. It broke my heart. I prayed for her. I prayed for her a lot. Jennie, who had sent me so many, many prayers, through the course of so many years, was now in this terrible pain. And my heart ached for her.

It hurt my heart to hear of every update.

Yet Jennie remained strong and faithful to God and Jesus, during the entire time.

Jennie went through a very long battle with cancer. And as Jennie continued living with the cancer, she did something that absolutely amazed me!

Jennie held a Bible Study group at her home. My mom became a member. Jennie’s faith was so strong, even in the face of a cancer battle, that she was still leading people to a life closer to Jesus. As she faced that awful cancer, she still helped bring people closer to God.

It was entirely because of this Bible Study group that I was connected with the future author of ‘The Adventures of Mrs. Breadsticks’ - and after our connection, I became the illustrator for the book. Jennie believed in me, the author believed in me, and a dream came true for me - I became a children’s book illustrator.

And Jennie was so excited for us that we produced this book together! I remember telling Jennie that it was all because of her that the author and illustrator found each other, and that therefore it was entirely because of her that this book came into fruition in the way that it did.

And Jennie’s response was that it was God who brought us all together.

More time passed.

And after that, would you believe that even then, Jennie did not stop her support and prayers for me?

After that first book was published, it was because of that accomplishment that I went ahead finally with another dream of mine, to write and illustrate my own children’s book. So, as soon as ‘The Adventures of Mrs. Breadsticks' went to print, I went full steam ahead on my own children’s book.

I worked day and night on it, for months and months on end. I only was able to accomplish this because of the first book. I told myself that if I could illustrate a thirty two page children’s book, never having done that before in my life - that I could write, and illustrate, one of my very own.

After much good blood, sweat, and tears, my own book was published in 2025. Looking back, I have no idea how I had the strength to do that.

‘Genevieve’s Journey Through Jacksonville’ takes place on the shores and horizon of the Atlantic Ocean, traveling all the way into the inland swamplands of wild Florida. It’s about friendship, and nature, and my dog Genevieve is the main character. It’s filled with original watercolor illustrations, and I’m so happy with how it turned out.

As it went to print, I immediately thought to myself, I desperately want to publish yet another book. I felt so much determination to continue. Should I? I thought to myself… And, all the doubt and hesitation entered my mind once again. How could I possibly keep going?

It was at this time that Jennie Buhs reached out to me. Even though she was terribly sick, and in pain. She told me that she read my book, and she loved the story of friendship. She told me to continue writing and illustrating. And she told me that it was a gift that God has shared with me.

I’ll never forget that.

And I won’t stop.

No matter how hard life is, and how difficult life gets, I won’t stop. In fact, I have endless stories in my head. I could publish children’s books the rest of my life, and never produce all the stories I want to share with the world. The list of stories I have inside me is as big as the ocean. I’ll never, ever accomplish all that I want to. But that doesn’t mean I should stop.

So, I won’t stop writing. And I won’t stop illustrating.

There’s so much to share with this beautiful world.

And as I work, I’ll think of Jennie. And when things get really hard, and when life gets really difficult, or when the pain gets even worse, I’ll have to remember and really soak in all the prayers she sent my way over the course of so very many years. As I don’t know a life on Earth without Jennie Buhs’ prayers in it.

I’ll have to remember all her words of encouragement.

For some reason, Jennie continually believed in me, just as she supported me with prayer, during so many of my life’s hardest moments.

Jennie had so much faith in God above. Her faith was as big as the oceans. So big, that when God looked down on her from Heaven as she lived her life, He could see her as clearly as could spot all the magnificent oceans.

And now, just as the saints rose out of their tombs in Matthew 27:51-54, Jennie went up there to be with God in that very same moment. She is up there with Him right now, and with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

And she is most definitely, one hundred percent, looking down on all of us as a guardian angel.

So for those who knew and loved Jennie Buhs when she was on this Earth with us, and if you miss her dearly on this day. Simply have faith. Grow in your faith. Listen and look for Jesus in life’s darkest moments, and in life’s everyday moments as well.

Anticipate the birds singing each morning. Follow the light as the sun rises every day. Observe the rain dripping into a puddle. Feel the wind on your skin as it blows across the land. See the leaves as they rustle above your head.

And lastly, watch the beauty and strength of the ocean waves as they crash ashore. Let your faith grow as big as the oceans. And Jennie will always see you clearly from Heaven. She’ll be with you forever, as she watches over you from above.~

Obituary - Jennie G. Buhs:
https://www.kurtzmemorialchapel.com/obituaries/jennie-buhs

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1/21/2025 0 Comments

426) Meeting Mrs. Breadsticks - Why Saying Yes Changed My Life

Embarking on a new endeavor.

~ And why saying yes can change your life too:

I’ve read a lot in the past about saying no, and when to say no, for self-care purposes. There are seemingly infinite self-help articles, blogs, books, and videos, all about teaching you to learn to say no.

Whether its saying no to helping an acquaintance move, driving someone to the airport that you really don’t have the time or desire to drive them to, saying no to a night out when you just want to curl up under a blanket and watch a movie, or saying no to taking on a new project that you can’t wrap your brain around at this point in time.

I think, and this is just my very generalized opinion, that humans for the most part no longer have a problem with learning how to say no, and saying so declaratively. I think all those self-care books have done the job they’ve set out to do… and then some. Today, there seems to be absolutely no problems with saying no. You can just say NO, and move on with your life. No big deal.

But what about saying yes? What about learning to say yes to something that you would normally just say no to in response?

Over two years ago now, I was asked to illustrate a children’s book - it was my first children’s book as an artist. And now, looking back on this decision over two years later, I know that saying yes to this project was truly one of the best decisions of my life.

I said yes to this project sight unseen. Simply meaning, I didn’t know the author (Mary S. Holden) at the time. Now, we’re dear friends - of course! But at the time, it began purely as a business transaction. A business transaction that meant the whole world to me. It was faith that told me to say yes. I desperately wanted the project, but didn’t know if the project wanted me.

By saying yes, I embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. I created thirty two pages of illustrations, and helped bring the author’s lovely characters to life. It was such a pleasure, and an honor, and I’m so glad that Mary said yes, to me, as well.

I never dreamed I could become so attached to fictional characters. I never imagined that there would come a day in my life where I would wake up in the morning, grab my cup of coffee, and want to immediately check on my new friends - all hanging out in my art studio. I would run into my studio and say hello to them, to greet the new day ahead. And I would wonder… what should Mrs. Breadsticks wear today? That anticipatory part of the routine… was the most exciting part of the entire process for me.

But there was another joyous part of this project that was the best of all. It was in the culmination, and ripple effect of decisions, that saying yes sparked in my life. It was how by saying yes to this project, my life was, once again, completely transformed.

Once I said yes to Mrs. Breadsticks, there were an abundance of yes’ that came into my life. I said yes to so many things after that initial yes. A simple change - my studio setup changed (over and over) until I found just the right feng shui arrangement for best work flow. My daily routine changed entirely. My exercise changed. My art changed. My YouTube channel changed immensely. All of this change, in so many ways - too many to mention here.

In fact, my art changed so much after the book - which was illustrated completely in acrylic - that I’m almost exclusively working in a new medium right now.

I’ve just spent over a full year working in watercolor - something I was too scared, and much too timid, shy and fearful, to try - before my experience of painting Mrs. Breadsticks.

And now, watercolor is my life. It’s a dream. And my paintings are so different. And I’m in love with the process of creating art, even more than I ever thought I could be. I even wrote my own children’s book during the course of last year, 2024, and illustrated the entire book (in watercolor) - which will be released this spring exclusively on Amazon.

Another fact, I've been so intensely busy living this post-Mrs. Breadsticks life, that I have been too preoccupied to even publish a blog post and post this story until today - many, many months after the book's formal publication date. It actually took me getting seriously ill with pneumonia and bronchitis during the end of 2024 and into practically the whole month of January 2025, to really slow me down, and ‘make’ the time in my schedule to publish a dedicated blog post on my own website on this matter.

I am also happy to report I’m on the mend, quickly now, and improving every day. So, naturally, I’m getting this story out into the world this day, before I become ‘too well’ and too busy, once again to tell you all about how Mrs. Breadsticks changed my life.

Years from now, I know that I will always remain grateful for Mrs. Breadsticks coming into my life, and for the author asking me to complete this project. Because Mary S. Holden is the singular reason this all happened. But just the same, I know that I will always be grateful - to myself - for having the courage to say yes to Mrs. Breadsticks. Because saying yes did change my life. And saying yes can change your life too.~

*If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Adventures of Mrs. Breadsticks, you can do so right via the link below - as I did give myself enough time last year to make a dedicated landing page for my book publications. You’ll see some coloring books and notebooks for sale as well. But either way, I’d love for you to reach out to me via my YouTube Channel and let me know - what step are you taking today to pursue all your dreams?

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/@christinepieper
Books:
https://www.christinesfloridiandreams.com/books.html

Completed project.

Book Proposal.

Overjoyed.

Staff Meeting - Author, Illustrator, and a character.

~Book Launch Livestream on Amelia Island~

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555) Her faith was as big as the oceans ~ In loving memory of Jennie G. Buhs

426) Meeting Mrs. Breadsticks - Why Saying Yes Changed My Life

~Book Launch Livestream on Amelia Island~

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