Faith, family, friends... miracles... God bless!
|
I'm Heidi Paulson, author of Dependence Day. Thanks for stopping by! It is my hope and prayer that God will bless you today.
The most common question I seem to hear is "Where did you ever find the time to write a book?" About 6 years after my husband was injured during a car stop, God really started to seriously lay this idea on my heart. I wrestled with Him for quite awhile with the "Why me?" and "Who wants to read about our troubles?....... everyone has troubles of their own." and then I moved on to "Ok, when the kids are grown up and I have more time." God let me do this for 6-8 months, then He got serious and I found myself snowed in at a hotel in Toronto for 3 days. Half of the book came out that weekend. About a year later I was talking to a publisher. Another year later and here we are. God is at work. I don't know where He's taking this, but we're on board with wherever He calls us to be... and that's an awesome place to be! Thanks for being here with us! 
Dependence Day - finalist in the 2012 Indie Author Excellence Awards - Inspiration category
Dependence Day has passed a complete theological review by a LifeWay editor prior to being published by Westbow Press. |
  Visiting with Senator Daines about the Putting First Responders First Bill
As of 2017, Heidi & Ladd started making headway advocating for legislation on behalf of critically injured law enforcement officers and first responders regarding PTSD acknowledgement and treatment, traumatic brain injury, long term disability benefits, clarification of tax status on benefits, breaking up the backlog of PSOB benefits, and other important issues facing critically injured/permanently disabled first responders. Along the way, we've continued to meet with amazing heroes, reinforcing the need for this advocacy and raising awareness of their specific needs. It has been an honor to represent wounded heroes, and to fight for them in Washington DC at the national level as well as at the state and local level.
The primary goal of our legislative efforts has been to close loopholes and set a minimum standard of care for officers who are permanently disabled while serving their communities across the country. We were honored to work closely with Senator Grassley's office and many others to help pass the Protecting America's First Responders Act in 2021, and were finally able to gain passage of Putting First Responders First with Senator Daines and Representative Norman in 2022. In 2025 we helped pass state legislation in Montana helping line of duty disabled law enforcement and firefighters, as well as families of the fallen. It is our hope that Montana's extension of their disabled Veteran property tax benefit for those injured or killed while serving and protecting at home will be a model that can serve as precedent for other states. What an honor to live in a country where we can be a part of a process to make a real difference in the lives of others through these and many other pieces of legislation. While progress has been made, there is still much work to do. 
Heidi has served as a founding board member and VP of the wounded officer division for How 2 Love Our Cops. Now, as an advisory team member Heidi continues to expand her network of industry professionals, associations, officers and spouses in order to assist law enforcement families facing life after a critical line of duty injury. This work continues to be the catalyst for H2LOC's VOWS (Veterans Of the War on our Streets) retreat for injured officers and spouses, a program that has taken some setbacks, but she hopes to get going again in the future.
Heidi recently put together H2LOC's Hospital Trauma Guide to help spouses and family members of critical injured officers manage contacts, medical records, appointments and resources when a line of duty critical injury happens. 
Thank you to all who participated in our Wives Behind the Badge fundraiser! WBTB helps support wives and families of law enforcement officers who are out there every day doing what is more often than not a very thankless job. Our readers helped by purchasing 28 books that qualified for the fundraiser. Thank you to those who helped us!
Copies of Dependence Day sold in events through the fourth quarter of 2011 helped C.O.P.S, an organization that assists families of police officers killed in the line of duty. In 2011 alone, 164 officers were killed in the line of duty, while many others were injured and disabled while selflessly serving our communities. Our readers helped by purchasing 27 books that qualified for the fundraiser. Thank you to those who helped us help them help families! God bless!
|
