About
Anina Swan

I live in a small community in the Sierra Nevadas, a serene place where my husband and I raised our three children. Now the kids are raising families of their own but we still enjoy soccer games, fly fishing, snowmobiling, and hiking together.

In mid-2000, I decided to turn my writing interests into a commitment to the writing craft. And although I focused on fiction, I reconsidered after attending a college reunion where one of my professor’s asked me, “What happened?”  His surprising question was in reference to our family’s personal tragedy being victims of crime as publicized in the local newspapers. 

I asked my husband if he was ready to share our story in hopes others might be helped. He said, “Yes.”

My webpage is designed to encourage others and their families who have experienced similar crises, to reach for hope, that healing from the pain and injury that threatens to pin us down from enjoying life ahead, is attainable. My website also provides resources that may help with your healing journey.

My hope is that others who read, Alligator in the Ocean, or visit my website, will find the resources to heal and be inspired to prevent crimes against children.

When the crimes were uncovered, my only prayer was that we would all heal from the wounds that, at the time, seemed impossible to overcome. Each day that followed brought with it a new obstacle I needed to address. The challenges of my circumstance often took me to the depths of despair and many times in the privacy of my own grief, I prepared to give up. But God showed me another way.

I thought about the simple truths of my faith which I embraced during childhood where each night my mother prayed with me—believing in a loving God that knows me by name, to comfort, to guide and never leave me. As a result I found the strength to persevere as the ugly mess of the details began to unfold.

I felt peace and strength as healing happened with amazing friends who listened when we needed to talk, family who prayed, skilled detectives and authorities committed to fighting crimes against children, a caring counselor that worked beyond the walls of his office, and a husband that didn’t give up on me.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11: 1)