Singing for the soldier

Each and every day, you're on my heart and mind," Kimberly Shumaker wrote, and she went on:

"Where there was darkness, you let in sunshine."

You know, that almost could be the lyrics of a song.

Well, fact is, they are the lyrics of a song.

It's titled "A Soldier's Hymn."

Kimberly wrote the lyrics, someone in Nashville, Tenn., put them to music, and the song has been recorded.

Kimberly has written lyrics for other songs, too. She sent one set to the Oak Ridge Boys, one of whom wrote her back. He couldn't promise her anything, but he was interested in her lyrics, he said.

Kimberly and her husband, Steve, live in Ellendale, N.D. They moved to Ellendale from Indiana in 1997 to attend Trinity Bible College. They have four children, ages 23, 21, 17 and 15. The youngest two are still at home.

Steve is dealing with kidney failure and is unable to work. That leaves it to Kimberly to be the family breadwinner.

She's been doing home health care, but that, she says, "probably will go by the wayside" if another venture she's started takes off.

It's called The Quill. It's a writing referral business. Through it, she helps people build artist portfolios and lines them up with appropriate professionals in the area who can help them further their careers.

Then, when she has time (which may not be much, given the hours she puts in giving home health care, working on her new business, raising her children and caring for Steve), she writes poetry and song lyrics.

Many of her writings involve the military, for good reason.

Her husband is a Navy veteran and her father was in the Air Force. Also, she's been told her great-grandfather, who lived in southern Indiana and in Kentucky, fought in the Civil War.

She's proud of the people in her family who served in the military, and she seeks to support them, at least in part, through her writing.

Steve sings the praises of his music-loving wife - and of women in general.

"I am amazed by the impact women are having in the world today," he writes. Thanks to them, he says, "Wonderful things are taking place in the midst of chaos," and Kimberly is a shining example of this.

"She always has been a caring, loving and spirited girl," he says. So it's no surprise, he says, that she went into home health care right after she graduated from high school in 1981.

Nor is it any surprise, he says, that she turns out poems and lyrics honoring the military, including lyrics such as those of "A Soldier's Hymn," of which the chorus concludes:

"Each and every day, my prayers, they go out for you

"That with every day's blessings, all may feel His peace, too."

If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, N.D. 58107; fax it to 241-5487; or e-mail blind@forumcomm.com