The musical creativity of Stephan Oberhoff and the amazing kids from the LA School of the Arts. The stunning illustrations of Ukranian Ivan Kravets. My brilliant and full-of-life literary agent on the project, Jan Miller (who I absolutely adore). The talented, passionate and creative team at Loyola Press (under the fantastic leadership of Joellyn Cicciarelli). What a blessing it has been to collaborate with so many. Imagining a mom reading the story and being reminded of the beauty and strength and will of a woman - and the extraordinary noble cause and gift of mothering a child.Īnd imagining a child, reading the book, and hearing the shepherd whispering in his or her ear – that Christmas is their story. Imagining a dad, trying to keep a smile on his face through tough days, taking a moment reading the book to his kids - and remembering that almost everybody has felt like that shepherd, sitting on a cold mountain, wondering when things will turn around in his favor. Here’s a story that was in the “Chicago Tribune Doings”: Great for all the stores involved in the Shepherd’s Treasure Hunt. They left the final store with a special, signed parchment from the Shepherd Boy, a Shepherd’s ornament, and a bag of candy goodies. When they solved the code in the final destination - they learned the secret of Christmas. The Shepherd left clues at every store kids and families would travel on their quest - as they tried to uncover the encrypted code. The next morning, there’s a long line out the door of Village Charm – the first stop on the town treasure hunt. The Shepherd was leaving a rolled parchment that held the first clue of a Shepherd’s Treasure Hunt for the entire town. We thought, with so many families stuck at home with their kids dealing with all-thing Covid, what if you created a town event that got everyone outside in a Covid-safe environment, celebrating the story of Christmas - and accentuating the greatest attributes of a community?Īfter a week of all the kids/families in town were buzzing over Facebook/Instagram images of a “Bigfoot” roaming around La Grange - they captured an image of “The Shepherd” in a Ring door video - at Alison Kelly’s home, a prominent La Grangian. My brothers and sisters, Marty and Alison, and I created something for our home town of La Grange – an incredible family suburb on the west side of Chicago. May you look up at your sky on one of these Christmas nights, and may you find a bright light - that reminds you it’s time for all of us to dream. Even though they’re hundreds of millions of miles from each other on their own extraordinary journeys - they’re close enough to light up the sky for all of us to take in. Maybe I’ll see Saturn and Jupiter in each other’s path. As soon as I close up in a minute, I’m going to stand out in my backyard. Steve knew the best gift to give Father Conway - was a gift to his neighborhood family. The Shepherd’s Story a Christmas book about a young boy, down on his luck, who discovers the profound difference one person can have in the world. He said 2,000 gifts are showing up at his door - for every kid and family in his neighborhood. Steve told him he just sent a pallet of the same thing he got a lifetime ago. And there’s not a day that Steve doesn’t look in the mirror and remember the rudder at that pivotal moment in his life.Ī few weeks ago, Steve called his old parish priest, now in his eighties - who is still the beloved Pied Piper of the Boston neighborhoods.Įvery single day Father Conway is pricked with the profound hurt so many families are banging against with all-things Covid. On the edge of the other ocean, Steve is an extraordinary entrepreneurial success story - with an absolutely spectacular wife, three of the greatest kids, and a bazillion great buddies. He spent many a day making sure Steve believe in somebody… himself. He picked Steve out of the crowd - and knew there was something special. He was a high school Irish-Catholic full of spit in the churn of Boston, with about a nickel in his pocket and hanging with the wrong kind of trouble.Įnter Father Conway, his young parish priest.
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