LEANN THIEMAN - How Did I Get Myself into This?

Q – You have credited your ‘rural roots’ for shaping your life. What was life like for LeAnne as a child?
LeAnn: I was blessed to grow up on a farm in Iowa with 7 brothers and sisters…and one bathroom! The “boys” worked the fields and the “girls” gardened and cooked and cleaned (and played!) a lot. While you might think that resulted in some double-standard stereotypes, it was counter balanced by a mom who went to night school and summer school to get her teaching degree at age 56. Dad supported her so lovingly. They taught me to love God and family, work hard, to help others, and that you can be and do what you set your heart and mind to.
Q – Tell us how you came to be involved in “Operation Baby-Lift.”
LeAnn: Our basement in Iowa City was the Iowa chapter headquarters of Friends of Children of Vietnam. Ten volunteers raised money and supplies to send to the war orphans…5 tons in 3 years! Then the National office asked if I would escort 6 babies back to their pre-assigned adoptive homes. Between the time I said yes and the time I landed in Saigon, bombs were dropping outside the city and President Ford had okayed Operation Babylift! We bought out 300 instead!
Q – You’ve written many stories and articles about your experiences and served as co-author for many books. Speak to us about these books. Which do you enjoy the most – writing or ‘story gathering?”
LeAnn: After I wrote my own book about my Operation Babylift adventure, This Must Be My Brother, I got writing fever! When my own story was in Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, I began to write everyone else’s stories which were printed in 10 more Chicken Soup books. That’s when Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen asked me to coauthor Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul with them. I was a full time professional speaker by then, so it was easy to collect 2000 stories to consider for the book! When that book hit the New York Times Best Seller list, the asked me to coauthor another…then another. Now I have written 10 Chicken Soup book with them. These are Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul, Second Dose and 8 more titles including Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's, Grandma's, Mother and Son, Father and Daughter, Christian Woman, Christian 2, Catholic, and Adopted Soul. I’ve also written my own book, delivering the message I share in my presentations, Balancing Life In Your War Zones, A Guide to Physical, Mental and Spiritual Health.
I love the gathering of the stories for Chicken Soup, as much as the rewriting of them. What a privilege to read thousands of true stories, told from the heart. I believe there is a lot of healing in the telling of a story and it is my honor to read them, then help others write them to be shared.
Q – What is next for LeAnn Thieman?
My mission in life is to inspire my colleagues in healthcare to sign on and stay on, and to help end the nursing shortage … no small task! So I will continue to reach them from my website , and to speak 30-40 times a year. I also have 2 more Chicken Soup books in the works. Since I speak on life balance, I will continue to try to practice that by spending time with my hubby of 39 years, my grandkids (who are the cutest and the smartest in the world!), riding my horse, hiking in my Rocky Mountains, and dancing to rock ‘n roll.