Intentional Giving - #1

One of my goals for this year is to be more intentional with my giving.  I want to be able to share what I have with people and organizations I feel passionately about and believe in what they are doing.  I will be giving to organizations who use their money wisely and don't contribute the funds into other organizations in which I do not support.  In an effort to be accountable for this, I plan on blogging about 24 of these opportunities.  I want to share opportunities that may encourage you to give or make you think outside the box on options for helping out your neighbors near and far.  I realize that in the grand scheme of life in the United States and even more so in the grand scheme of life on planet Earth I am blessed.  I have the privilege of working in an industry that provides me with a paycheck that I feel should be shared.  My life goals are not to be a millionaire, but to be able to provide for myself and give above and beyond what the standard is.  So without further gibberish, here's the first of my 24 opportunities.

I love kids!  I don't have any of my own nor am I in a position in my life where I want or need a kid.  However, my friends are having them left and right and I LOVE IT!  But I also have friends who are adding to their families through adoption.  And let me tell you, knowing someone who is adopting will change your life.  The first intentional donation I am making for this year is to the Bring Will Home fund.  I met Peter and Tanya through my church and their passion for orphans and adoptions is almost contagious.  Spend any time around them and you will be changed: you may not want to adopt but you'll want to help someone adopt.  So I would challenge you to this: find someone you know who is adopting and help them out.  Whether it is through contributing items to a yard sale fundraiser they are having or just skipping that $5 latte and giving that money to them, you will be blessed, they will be blessed, and a family-less child will be blessed.  And if you don't know anyone who is adopting, but you want to help someone out in this way check out Peter and Tanya's journey here.  I'm sure once they are done fundraising they'll also know more families who are working their way toward adoption and every penny counts.

A Tale of Two Country Mice

This morning I got up at 6:15 and knowing I had a lot to do, decided to get started on my day.  I made my coffee and a bowl of oatmeal and sat down at the dining room table to get some work done.  I was hitting send on an email when I saw a mouse dart next to me along the baseboards and go into a corner behind some bags.  I thought "Great, there are mice in the house (again*.)"  So I go into the kitchen to see if I can see the mouse in the corner or if there's a hole in the baseboards that it went into.  The reason I do this is because I have some poison I could stick in the hole then some stuff to seal the hole.

Now that I am relocated to the kitchen looking into the dining room, I see nothing.  Of course.  And that's when #2 darts out from under the stove and heads toward the refrigerator.  Right. Next. To. My. Foot.  I screamed.  And ran to the living room and called my dad.  He's the only person I knew who would be awake around 7 in the morning so it seemed logical.  And he laughed at me.  I knew he would, but I still needed to talk to someone for I feared I was nearing heart-attack status.  I mean a mouse just ran Right. Next. To. My. Foot. And I was wearing houseshoes.  Like those are going to protect my toes.

So while I'm standing in the big living room talking to my dad mouse #2 runs AT ME.  I am not even kidding.  So I screamed.  And I said "It's running around, it's running around."  My dad (ever the intelligent one) says "Are you talking to me?"  "YES!  Who the heck else would I be talking to?"  Um, for those of you who are confused, I don't make it a habit of talking to mice who are running at me.  So the mice turns and runs into the computer desk (which was slightly funny) and then runs onto the hearth where I quit following it.

At this point, I wrap up the conversation with my dad and go take a shower.  Because if there's one thing I know, if have a heart attack and die due to these mice, I don't want to smell when Britt** gets here for the body.

* For those of you who don't know me in real life, we had a mouse infestation in the garage and house at my grandparents this fall and dealt with it for the better part of a week trying to get cracks and holes sealed and replacing seals along doors.  We thought it was under control.  It is not.

** The people who own the funeral home are friends of the family so yes, we are on a first name basis with them.

P.S. It's over an hour later and my blood pressure is still elevated.  I know this because I normally have low to normal blood pressure and at this moment I can FEEL it pumping through my veins.  I've earned a second dose of caffeine today because I know once I calm down I'm going to be exhausted.

Lots of Love

A couple of years ago my niece grew her hair out and donated it to "Lots" of Love.  That was how she understood us saying Locks of Love.  Those who know me IRL also know that I have been growing my hair out.  What started of as more of something that was a burden (finding someone who can cut my hair the way I like it is hard, especially with the natural wave it enjoys) turned into me also growing my hair out.  My philosphy on this was "Why not?"  I mean let's think about this.  I'm in my early 30s, I am physically well, and I can grow my hair out.  Some child out there is young, not physically well, and has no hair.  Why wouldn't I became the bigger question.  So I grew it.  And grew it.  And grew it some more.  My hair is really think, yet appears thin.  So it was a lot of hair on my head.  And I am not a girly girl, so out came the hot rollers if I needed it to have any body or style.  And for the first time in my life I had long hair.  Wowsers, what a difference long hair is.  Flashback a couple of weeks ago and I decided to go in for a trim.  Just for kicks and giggles I had the lady measure my hair.  When she said it was long enough to donate and I wouldn't be bald as a result, I finally decided it was ok.  And this is what I'll be sending in to "Lots" of Love to help someone who otherwise would not have hair.

Note: If I pull out the curl, it measures over 12 inches.  Wowsers!

Also, there is no after picture.  If you know me IRL you know I don't do well with having my picture made.  So you'll just have to wait until I'm felling "worldly pretty" and then I'll see what I can do.

Dangerous Mercy - A Book Review

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Dangerous Mercy David C. Cook (October 1, 2011) by Kathy Herman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Suspense novelist Kathy Herman is very much at home in the Christian book industry, having worked five years on staff at the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and eleven years at Better Books Christian Center in Tyler, Texas, as product buyer/manager for the children’s department, and eventually as director of human resources.

She has conducted numerous educational seminars on children’s books at CBA Conventions in the U.S. and Canada, served a preliminary judge for the Gold Medallion Book Awards of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association , and worked as an independent product/marketing consultant to the CBA market.

Since her first novel, Tested by Fire, debuted in 2001 as a CBA national bestseller, she's added sixteen more titles to her credit, including four bestsellers: All Things Hidden, The Real Enemy, The Last Word, and The Right Call.

Kathy's husband Paul is her manager and most ardent supporter, and the former manager of the LifeWay Christian Store in Tyler, Texas. They have three grown children, five almost-perfect grandchildren, a cat named Samantha. They enjoy cruising, deep sea fishing, and birdwatching—sometimes incorporating these hobbies into one big adventure.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. —Matthew 5:7

When eighty-five-year-old Adele Woodmore moves to Les Barbes to be near the Broussards—and her namesake, their daughter—she wants nothing more than a comfortable, quiet life. Employing men from Father Vince’s halfway house for the homeless to do odd jobs and landscaping, she delights in the casual conversation she has with them, the fledgling friendships, and the idea that she is helping them get back on their feet.

A series of murders in Les Barbes has cast a pall over the town and, in fact, one of Adele’s handymen becomes a person of interest to the police. But Adele cares for these young men, she knows them, and continues to show them kindness in spite of her friends’ concern. And then one day a murderer walks through Adele’s defenses, sits down at her kitchen table...and they begin to talk...

If you would like to read the first chapter of Dangerous Mercy, go HERE.

Naomi's Gift - A Book Review

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Naomi's Gift Zondervan (September 12, 2011) by Amy Clipston

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

From Amy:
A native of New Jersey, I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I often joke that my fiction writing “career” began in elementary school as I wrote and shared silly stories with a close friend.

In 1991, I graduated from high school, and my parents and I moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. My father retired, and my mother went to work full-time. I attended Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, and I graduated with a degree in communications. I met my husband, Joe, during my senior year in college, a few days after my father had a massive stroke. Joe and I clicked instantly, and after a couple of months we started dating. We married four years later.

After graduating from VWC, I took a summer job with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, which turned into an eleven-year career. I worked in the Public Affairs Office for four years and then moved into Planning as a writer/editor.

One day while surfing the Internet for a professional editor’s group, I accidentally found a local fiction writing group, Chesapeake Romance Writers. I attended a meeting and I met writers in all stages of their careers. The group helped me realize that I did want to be an author, and it was my dream to see my name on the cover of one of my novels. Through Chesapeake Romance Writers, I learned how to plot, write, and edit a novel, and I also learned how to pursue an agent. I signed with Mary Sue Seymour at the Seymour Agency in 2006, shortly before Joe and I moved my parents and our sons to North Carolina.

My dream came true when I sold my first book in 2007. Holding my first book, A Gift of Grace, in my hands was exhilarating and surreal.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Take a trip to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where you'll meet the women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Lancaster County. As each woman's story unfolds, you will share in her heartaches, trials, joys, dreams ... and secrets. You'll discover how the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle can clash with the 'English' way of life---and the decisions and consequences that follow. Most importantly, you will be encouraged by the hope and faith of these women, and the importance they place on their families. Naomi's Gift re-introduces twenty-four-year-old Naomi King, who has been burned twice by love and has all but given up on marriage and children. As Christmas approaches---a time of family, faith, and hope for many others---Naomi is more certain than ever her life will be spent as an old maid, helping with the family's quilting business and taking care of her eight siblings. Then she meets Caleb, a young widower with a 7-year-old daughter, and her world is once again turned upside-down. Naomi's story of romantic trial and error and youthful insecurities has universal appeal. Author Amy Clipston artfully paints a panorama of simple lives full of complex relationships, and she carefully explores cultural differences and human similarities, with inspirational results. Naomi's Gift includes all the details of Amish life that Clipston's fans enjoy, while delivering the compelling stories and strong characters that continue to draw legions of new readers.

If you'd like to read the first chapter of Naomi's Gift, go HERE.

Why the Internet Drives Me Crazy

Note: This is a rant.  This is my blog so I have the right to rant.  You have been warned.


You want to know one of my biggest peeves about this thing we call the World Wide Web?  I thought so.  It's when I click on a webpage and have then click on subsequent webpages to read the whole article or list.  NEWSFLASH: That's why God allowed the invention of the bullet list.  Let's take a note of how beautiful this works.  Imagine the article title is "The First Five Books of the Bible."  You click over on the webpage and expect to see the following:

1. Genesis 
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

Isn't that nice?  A list of the books of the Bible in one place.  But no, that's not how the WWW works.  You have to click into the article for them to further describe what you'll be seeing.  It's a list of the first five books of the Bible in case you were confused and the title didn't accurately describe what was in the article.  Then you click and are taken to 1. Genesis.  Then you click next and it takes you to 2. Exodus.  Enough already!  Just put the list on one page.  It's the internet.  It's not like it's print and you need to save space.  Or if you're designing your webpages that way because of all the mobile devises accessing your side, give me the option to click one button to read it all in one place.  Some news sites do this, but rarely if ever the lists. Drives. Me. Nuts. 

Rant over.  I feel somewhat better now.

Here's to Friends - A Book Review

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Here’s to Friends David C. Cook (September 1, 2011) by Melody Carlson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Over the years, Melody Carlson has worn many hats, from pre-school teacher to youth counselor to political activist to senior editor. But most of all, she loves to write! Currently she freelances from her home. In the past eight years, she has published over ninety books for children, teens, and adults--with sales totaling more than two million and many titles appearing on the ECPA Bestsellers List. Several of her books have been finalists for, and winners of, various writing awards. And her "Diary of a Teenage Girl" series has received great reviews and a large box of fan mail.

She has two grown sons and lives in Central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. They enjoy skiing, hiking, gardening, camping and biking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Once upon a time in a little town on the Oregon coast lived four Lindas—all in the same first-grade classroom. So they decided to go by their middle names. And form a club. And be friends forever.

Decades later, they're all back home in Clifden and reinventing their lives, but the holidays bring a whole new set of challenges. Abby’s new B&B is getting bad reviews and husband Paul is acting strange. Still grieving for her mom, Caroline is remodeling the family home, but boyfriend Mitch keeps pressuring her to go away with him. Artist Marley, distracted by a friend's family drama (and a touch of jealousy), can't find her creative groove. And Janie’s drug-addicted daughter has just appeared up on her doorstep! When a long-planned New Year's cruise turns into a bumpy ride, they learn once again that, in your fifties, friends aren’t just for fun—they're a necessity!

If you would like to read the first chapter of Here’s to Friends, go HERE.