Well, I have good news and… a little delayed gratification. The good news is: I’ve applied for an unexpected grant opportunity to improve the Art Card Decks, and I’m hopeful about my chances. The delayed gratification news is: I need to wait a few more weeks to know exactly when I’ll launch my Art Card Deck campaign part 2. I’d planned on February, but with this big grant possibility, it’s entirely worth the wait!

Here’s the scoop: If I receive this financial support, I’ll be able to invest six months to write brief stories and insights to accompany each Art Card– to make the decks truly complete in the way I’ve always dreamed they could be. I’m so excited about this, and amazed it just might happen! The writing will help bring the images even more alive, since I know from experience that words and questions help many people to really enter an image and make meaning with it. It’s also likely true that written text will give the deck added value if later I can find an invitation to publish with a larger company. And finally, this writing project will bring two decades of my work full-circle, distilling in words what I’ve gained by living with, sharing, and learning from these images. Here I am getting a little teary-eyed about the possibility as I write this to you…

I’d planned to publish the decks without written materials, but now I might be able to create the booklets I’ve imagined would serve alongside the art. It will be a worthy challenge! I should find out by mid-April at the latest.

Although I’m itchy to get these Art Card Decks into your hands and mine, it won’t serve to skip this opportunity or to push ahead on a fundraising campaign without knowing whether the decks would include small resource booklets. So, the project is very much alive and might get even more vibrant in a few weeks. Or, if the grant does not come through, then I’ll move ahead with the original Art Card Deck fundraising campaign as planned in April– without stories, but full of vibrant art that we’re all so excited to use and enjoy. Grant or no grant, this is the year to publish and share these images!

Meanwhile, I will appreciate your prayers, good wishes, and encouragement as I wait with hope and trust. It’s a definite stretch emotionally and financially to delay the deck launch– and to trust your patience with the process. Yet my guidance is clear that this grant chance is worthy of the risks and delay. Spiritual timing is its own adventure, and we’re on that journey!

Thank you again for your support for this dream and your blessings as it changes and grows. I can hardly wait!

With joy, gratitude, and faith,
Melanie