Meet the Lionhearted Family:

MOOK, LUKE, AND PADDY DOG, TOO

The lionhearted Kat and Gary, her mate of forty-seven years, live in a hundred year old home located near a zoo.

Kat is employed as a medical billing specialist and a freelance author.

Forced to retire because of his battle with Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP), Gary took on the role of housekeeper and gardener. He is constantly remodeling or building something and he rides a Bianchi bicycle to build his strength.

Kat and Gary own one smart Border Collie, Paddy dog.

TOGETHER 50 YEARS

A few people get confused when I write about husband—but that is who he is, husband, my Luke, Duke, Honey, Sweetie, father to my children, grandfather to our six grandchildren, master to Paddy.

Husband and I go back a long way, back to the year I turned ten. That year my parents bought a home near a church. Two single ladies, Hannah and Magdelena volunteered to pick up my sisters, brother and me for Sunday School. In June the volunteers picked us up for Daily Vacation Bible School.

That first day during recess I sat on a merry-go-round and fell in love with the VBS recreation director. That strong, handsome young man with a few hairs under his nose pushed that merry go round like the wind. I found out later he was thirteen.

It did take awhile to convince the young man that God and I had plans, but when I turned seventeen Gary and I did marry.

A nickname or two

Back then he called me Tinker Bell and I called him Gary. Over the years we’ve called each other a lot of nicknames—most of them nice—some of them different.

ENTER PMP

Since Pseudomyxoma Peritonei, a rare cancer entered our world in 2002 we have added a few more nicknames to the list.

Dr. Brian Loggie from Creighton University Medical Center calls husband the Ole Curmudgeon. I call Gary my Lance Armstrong Wannabe, a story found in Soul Matters for Men.

Kat the Lionhearted

Me, well I’m the designated caregiver. I’m husband’s Mook, his freelance author, chief cook, lover and best friend.

I believe in God’s divine plan. All those years ago I felt God placed me on the merry-go-round and turned my heart to mush over that young man. Our fifty years as friends and buddies have not all been easy, but along our journey we have learned to trust God with the complex difficulties.

Read a bit of our roaring romantic adventure.

PROVERBS 28:1

“The righteous are as bold as a lion.”