Local Oklahoma Author Makes National Children's Bereavement List

Jewel Sample, a local Oklahoma author of a children's book entitled "Flying Hugs and Kisses" has been placed on the National SIDS/Infant Death Resource Center list. The book was written after Jewel and her family experience the death of a grand child from SIDS.

Flying Hugs and Kisses is about five children who creatively take on roles of support toward each other while showing their individual feelings about the death of their baby brother. This sensitive story of grief recovery is a great resource for parents to use to help their children understand and affirm their experience of the loss of a brother or sister.

Jewel Sample has a Master of Science degree in Family Relations and Child Development from Oklahoma State University. She and her husband, Chuck are the parents of three sons and grandparents of thirteen children. One grandchild died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It is her hope this story gives insight into a family’s creative support and courage to move forward in the midst of their grief.

"Flying Hugs and Kisses" is available for purchase on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com

Visit the National SIDS/Infant Death Resource Center for more information and other resources.

October will be SIDS Awareness Month!

Fall Forum Annual Conference

Celebrating the Past, Launching the Future

The Annual Fall Legislative Forum on Children's Issues is a two-day working conference where advocates across the state of Oklahoma gather to examine the current course of Oklahoma's young people, share ideas, and develop a legislative agenda to create positive change.

October 10-11, 2006

Nigh University Center

University of Central Oklahoma - Edmond

Featured Speakers include:

• Dr. Harold Hodgkinson, demographer from the Institute for Education Leadership, will discuss how population trends will affect health care and education policies in Oklahoma's next hundred years.

• Kathy Gebhardt, Director of Children's Voices in Colorado, will share her perspective on the TABOR experiment in Colorado.

• Capt. John Herrington, (USN) is the first Native American to fly and walk in space and is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Born in Wetumka, Oklahoma, Herrington has logged in 330 hours in space.

Register On-line

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