Meet 'Uncle Jesus'

COEUR d'ALENE - Shawn Kingsley has been to her mountaintop.

She found it overlooking the St. Maries River one day, while eating a granola bar with her dog next to her.

It was there, Kingsley said, that she knew what God wanted her to do in the years to come. She would write. And she would write about Jesus. That he was real, that he was the son of God, and that he was an uncle.

Wait a minute. An uncle?

"I started thinking about the person Jesus must have been," the Coeur d'Alene woman said. "It's documented he was an uncle."

It was that determination that led her to write "Uncle Jesus."

The children's book was recently released nationwide by Tate Publishing and Enterprises. It tells the tale of Leah, daughter of Jesus' brother, James, "as she learns of the incredible sacrifice that her uncle and Savior made."

It's a mix of fiction with non-fiction biblical fact, she said, told from a little girl's point of view, in order to bring children and adults to the Lord.

Uncle Jesus was inspired by Galatians 1:19 and Matthew 13:55-56, which Kingsley said verify that Mary and Joseph had more children after Jesus. She said James and his wife also had children, making Jesus "Uncle Jesus."

While most beginning authors send out scores of manuscripts, Kingsley submitted her idea for an Uncle Jesus series to Tate - and only Tate.

"I wanted to see what happened," she said.

She was told to expect a response in six to nine weeks.

Nine weeks went by.

Then 10.

"I thought, 'There it goes,'" she said, and was about to go the self-published route.

On Nov. 3, her oldest daughter's birthday, the phone rang. Tate wanted to publish Uncle Jesus.

"I was thrilled," Kingsley wrote.

Tate Publishing accepts only 3 percent of the thousands of manuscripts that are sent to it each year.

"I was one of the fortunate ones," Kingsley wrote.

She said Tate invests a minimum of $20,000 into printing and marketing, and assigned her a publicist as well.

Kingsley said she has spent the last year and a half working on Uncle Jesus, a four-part series with illustrations. There's also a musical she has written to go along with it and hopes to have performed locally.

If there's one message she wants readers to take away from her first published book, it's this:

"Jesus was real. He was real every day," she said. "They can know him."

Strong faith

Shawn Harpole, the daughter of Mike Harpole and Deborah, grew up in a home that was between St. Maries and Harrison and attended Kootenai Junior-Senior High School. Her parents were Christians and attended the Nazarene church in St. Maries.

"My brother and I were very grounded in faith," Shawn said.

She wanted to be a veterinarian, and studied science and math. Instead, the summer after graduating from high school, she met Dave Kingsley. They got married, started a family and Shawn became a full-time mom. When both girls were in school full time in 2009, she looked at her life and asked herself, what's next?

"I wasn't clear in what direction God wanted me to go so I did some soul searching," she wrote. "I hiked all the peaks around our St. Maries home - everything I could see I hiked."

"I just totally focused on God and was all ears as to what he wanted me to do in the years to come," she said.

It's her faith that has helped the 35-year-old Kingsley endure five heart surgeries since she was 22.

It was then, when daughter Alexis was 10 months old, she passed out after feeling light-headed. Tests found she had an extremely low heart rate and she was sent to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

"They flew me out, it dropped so far," she said.

Within days, she underwent an operation and a pacemaker was implanted. She has lived with it since. Her most recent surgery a few weeks ago came after she had pneumonia.

"When my left lung swelled up, it put a rib against the clavicle and snapped the pacer lead that goes from the heart to the pacemaker," Kingsley said. "I was actually living without the pacemaker. They were really scratching their heads about that."

A sixth surgery might be necessary soon to be sure her second pacemaker is operating correctly.

No worries.

Kingsley takes the threat of more surgeries in stride.

She said because of her heart condition, she couldn't have a job outside her house near Canfield Mountain, where she lives with husband Dave and their two daughters, Alexis and Gracie. The family attends Family Life Center, where Shawn performs with the worship team and teaches Sunday school.

Being an author is an ideal way to work at home, watch after her family and share her faith.

"This has fit into our lives just perfect I can still be a mom, I can still do the things I love," she said. "I'm so thankful to be alive now. I have a great life with my husband and our girls."

Uncle Jesus is $10.99 and is available through bookstores and from the publisher at www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore.