Merry Christmas to one and all!
Look for opportunities to give the gift of love to those around you, and may you and yours be blessed in the new year.
The date was May 5th, 1992, a Tuesday. I was finishing up my seventh grade year of middle school in Ohio, and was riding home with my mom and siblings in our family van, most likely from one of my or my sibling’s many afterschool extracurricular activities. I proceeded to spend the long ride to our house out in the country my preferred way to pass the time—by drawing.
Pulling a sheet of notebook paper from my backpack, I grabbed a pencil and began to sketch out a most unlikely creation: a simple cartoon of a friendly, smiling parrot stretching out his wing, clinging to an umbrella, and exclaiming, “Okay—I’m Ready! Come Rain on My Parade!” I traced my pencil lines with a felt-tip marker and proudly signed and dated it, knowing I had just created something special.
This was the very first incarnation of Herby the Parrot, 21 years ago. Why a parrot? Well, I’m not really sure. I’ve always been fascinated by birds, and our family had a few parakeets as pets over the years, but from the beginning Herby has always had a life of his own. I continued to draw dozens of Herby cartoons over the next several years, even dabbling throughout my college years and beyond. I had always wanted to do something more with my cartoons, but never quite settled on exactly what.
Nearly 20 years later, I decided to finally give Herby the attention he deserves. Over the past year and a half, I’ve worked on developing a book of Herby’s cartoons, especially designed for children (particularly third- to fifth- graders), that entertains, encourages, and educates them with important life lessons and positive character values. If you haven’t had a chance yet, check out my book Herby Gets a Life and grab copies to share with the children and children-at-heart in your life!
At 21 years, Herby is finally coming of age. And he has so much further to go!
Have a good Memorial Day weekend remembering those who died defending our country and all those who have touched our lives and are no longer with us, whether we knew them personally or not. Many have gone before us and sacrificed much so that we can enjoy a better life.
My new book, Herby Gets a Life, has been released and is now available to order! This book is a collection of Herby’s cartoons along with his thoughts and encouragements on life and positive life values. It is perfect for third- to fifth- graders, but can be enjoyed by everyone. Click here to order my book on Amazon.com and then tell your friends!
And if you haven’t already, “Like” Herby on Facebook! Herby also has his own brand-new website, HerbyTheParrot.com, which is under construction but will be expanded as time goes on.
Thank you for joining in on this adventure with me. Please forward and share this news with your friends. I hope you and your loved ones enjoy the work I’ve done in creating this book and are encouraged by the powerful messages it contains.
So what have I been up to? And why haven’t I been posting new cartoons?
Herby the Parrot and I are excited to announce that we have been busy working on Herby’s very first book! Published by Imagine! Books and appropriately titled Herby Gets a Life, this is a collection of Herby’s cartoons along with his thoughts and encouragements on life and positive life values. It’s all cleverly formatted and geared for third- to fifth- graders, though we’re rather sure it will be enjoyed both by children and children-at-heart alike.
Now that the cat’s out of the bag (hopefully it will leave poor Herby alone), we hope you are excited as much as we are to see Herby’s adventures come alive in book form. Go to Herby the Parrot’s brand-new Facebook page and “Like” him! And stay tuned for more updates and how you can get ahold of a copy of Herby’s very first book, scheduled to be released in mid-March!
There are many things that we don’t know all the answers to, or that cannot be proven with our five senses, and that must be believed instead. No one can see love for example, but we can believe that love exists and that it is good to love other people. We can believe that it is better to do good things and share love with people rather than doing evil. Herby encourages his friends to believe in the miracle of Christmas even if it is something that happened a long time ago and takes faith to believe.
How can you know that something is true or worth believing even if you can’t prove it with your five senses? What are some things that you can’t see or prove but can still believe are true?
When we believe something is true even when we can’t see or prove it, it is called faith. Faith doesn’t have to be blind or irrational—we can believe something because we have a good reason to believe it is true, such as that you are an amazing person with a good purpose for your life, or that God exists and came to earth as a baby 2,000 years ago to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. Sometimes though it might not even seem to be true or it may be harder to believe because other people don’t believe it. But this doesn’t mean it is untrue and not worth believing. Have faith even if you can’t always see or prove it, because there are some things you have to “just believe.”
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