Now in the future if I feel  I have a good written and illustrated children’s book, how do I get it published?

Check out this faq for an overview: https://www.scbwi.org/boards/index.php?action=faq;sa=show;faqid=8

Cristen, if you haven't done so yet, reach out to your SCBWI region's Illustrator Coordinator to find out about illustrator events.

Christen, you've received a lot of great advice. I would also send your postcard to magazines--it is much easier to break into the magazine market than the book world and you can slowly build your portfolio with both published and unpublished work. You can check out several magazines at the library and see which children's magazines you like, study them for content and style, and then send postcards to the AD. Good luck!

Hi Christen,

It's possible the person you're emailing attended this weekend's winter conference. Give them a couple more days to get back to you.

Think of your postcard as a professional marketing tool. You are selling yourself and your art, therefore, you want to sound confident even when you aren't. I'll let Chris Tripp advise on better wording since I'm not an artist. My point is to have you get into that business mindset as the postcard is a business tool for when you're ready. Meanwhile, happy learning.

Christen, posting great pic book friendly new artwork on twitter and other SM is certainly a good idea to get your work out there but never sit and wait for an AD (Art Director) to find you. There are, world wide, millions of Illustrators looking for the same book opportunity
An AD might like an Illustration of your's they see but it can be forgotten about in tomorrows bombardment of SM art. Send them physical postcards of new art, as often as is possible (every 3 months if you can) Find and follow AD's on twitter, ED's (Editors) too, of PB's (Picture Books). Now, don't pop art on every tweet an AD or ED makes, that will annoy them (there's a fine line between persistence and pest But they occasionally put out calls for art samples and if you are following them, you can add yours to the line up. Be ready to play the long game in Publishing, it's almost never fast as we'd like.
Also, take advantage (if you aren't already) of what your chapter and ALL the other Chapters offer. You can spend a day going through the events they are hosting, not just in EPA but all over the Globe. In person was/is the very best but on-line has made it possible to "travel" to any event.
I'm seeing 3 that might interest you, in your region.  2 coming up this month are, "peer critique night" and "zoom into PB's" (looks like they may be monthly offerings ? and they are free)  The other, mid march, has a small charge but features a well known  Literary Agent (who was an AD with Abrams) The event is called "finding your story as an Illustrator"
I see there is a pay for opportunity to have an individual critique from him (also a second Agent listed) (15min) but you'd want to be sure your work is it's very best & it and you are ready for something like that. A professional critique is an amazing opportunity but can be hard on even the most seasoned of us. There's a lot of "thick skin building" needed in our industry but if you go in with the attitude of wanting to learn from the critisisum, not be praised, it goes a long way
https://epa.scbwi.org/events/