A Full House, An Overflowing Heart

Currently my community of RiverChurch friends/family are participating in our latest LoveGave event by painting Mary Ford Elementary school in North Chucktown.  I however, have to work during the day.  I wish I had the luxury of unlimited vacation days, but I pretty much know on January 1 of each year where my whole allotment of vacation days will go.  So I'm signed up at night to work with my community.  However, during the day, while working my regular full time job, 8 different children between the ages of 4 months and 6 years will step through my doors.  Yep.  You read that right.  8 kids.  In my house.  The only kid normally in my house has 4 legs and looks like a shrunken sheep dog right now.  So what have I done?  I've borrowed, begged, and stopped just short of stealing.  If you walked in right now you would see:

1 high chair, 1 bumbo, 2 pack and plays, a bouncy seat and a swing.  In the back of my SUV are a toddler stroller and an infant stroller.  I have formula and baby food. Bottles and spoons.  In 2 1/2 days this week I've fed 5 bottles and a jar and a half of infant food.  Changed multiple diapers and wiped even more snotty noses.  More than 10 naps have been taken and 800 questions asked.  (Did you know a 3 year old can ask 15 times for a banana in less than 15 seconds?  Where is the Guiness Book of World Records when you need them?)  And these moms pick their kids up and go home and do even more than that.  My hats are off to you all!

But more than all the things that are filling my house are the memories that are filling my heart and mind.  The grins I get from the 4 and 6 month old, the snuggles from the 3 year olds and the joy from the fun stuff I can do with the 6 year old when all the calm has settled.  I am thankful I can give Cah-son a banana or a cookie or some chocolate milk.  I can watch the 6 year old mature and share and collaborate on her artwork with the smaller kids and not scream "It's MINE!"  I observed the 13 month old loving on the 6 month old and the 3 year old big sister being protective by saying "Don't hurt my baby sister."

So my schedule and my house are very full.  But my heart is overflowing.  

Tea for Two

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Tea For Two Harvest House Publishers (April 1, 2011) by Trish Perry

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A word from our Author: I started writing short stories—pretty bad ones. And I started taking creative writing courses to round out my degree. So I was in classes full of people just like me—lousy writers. But we were learning!

Then the Lord led me to a local writers' group, Capital Christian Writers, and the contacts and friends I made through CCW enriched my personal life and my writing life more than I can measure. Through CCW and through reading just about every book and magazine ever published by Writer's Digest, I started catching on. Now I'm writing full time and man oh man do I love it.

Before the writing began, I worked for attorneys in Washington, D. C. I worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission. And I was a stockbroker. A horrible stockbroker. How do people do that? Take responsibility for other people's financial futures? Yikes. I'm perfectly happy to take responsibility for the amount of time any one person wants to spend reading my books. If you enjoy the experience, then know that we both enjoyed it together. I love that about books.

In the midst of all that fretting over other people's money and writing about other people's lives, I racked up a few personal experiences myself. Some good, some bad, but all part of God's plan. Now I'm an empty nester living in Northern Virginia. My brilliantly funny son is in college. I have a savvy, gorgeous grown daughter, a charming son-in-law, and an amazing grandson.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Zack Cooper tries his best to raise his children, but he's losing his grip on them in their teen years. They've both had scrapes with the local law.

Tea Shop owner Milly Jewel has the perfect woman in mind to help Zack. Counselor Tina Milano meets weekly at the tea shop with her women's group. Milly encourages Zack and Tina to work together to draw the teens back before they get in even hotter water. Milly never thought things might heat up between Zack and Tina. Or did she?

Tina's connections with the Middleburg police department prove a mixed blessing for Zack and his kids. Both her best friend and old boyfriend are officers on the force.

And when Tina's women's group gets wind of her personal pursuits and clashes, they want to help. The group's meetings at the tea shop take on a slightly different flavor. Tina wonders who, exactly, is counseling whom.

Although heroine Tina Milano and her women's group are mentioned in The Perfect Blend (the first book in this series), Tea for Two is where we meet her and hero Zack Cooper. I knew I would write this book while I wrote the first, so it was fun to plant a passing mention of Zack and Tina while I wrote Steph's story in The Perfect Blend. By the time I was able to write Tina and Zack's story, I was eager to unfold their lives, conflicts, and love. I hope readers will be eager to experience what happens to them!

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

Best. Date. Ever.

The Thunderbirds are in town this week and are spending their afternoons rehearsing for the air show this weekend.  I am less than 5 miles from the Air Force Base (the way the "Thunderbird" flies...heehee) so I have a nice viewing each day of there practices.

Seeing them reminds me of the best date I ever went on.  It was the Summer before my senior year of high school and my boyfriend at the time was going to an air show in the Tri-Cities area with his sister and brother-in-law.  They told him I could come and so I went, not knowing what to expect.  I LOVED IT!  There is just something about watching airplanes flying at fast speeds, in close proximity to one another in the coolest formations that just makes me happy.  That was 15 years, 4 boyfriends, and several dates ago and still ranks as the best one ever.

I don't have any pictures from that day, but the memories are still with me.  Down to the Pizza Inn we ate when it was all over.  You didn't really think I'd be so focused on the date that I would forget the food did you?

Wolves Among Us - Book Review

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Wolves Among Us David C. Cook; New edition (April 1, 2011) by Ginger Garrett

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ginger Garrett is the author of the Chronicles of the Scribes series (In the Shadow of Lions, In the Arms of Immortals, In the Eyes of Eternity), Dark Hour, and Beauty Secrets of the Bible. Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther was recognized as one of the top five novels of 2006 by the ECPA.

Focusing on ancient women's history, Ginger creates novels and nonfiction resources that explore the lives of historical women. A frequent media guest and television host, Ginger has been interviewed by Fox News, Billy Graham's The Hour of Decision, The Harvest Show, 104.7 The Fish Atlanta, and many other outlets.

A graduate of Southern Methodist University with a degree in Theater, she is passionate about creating art from history. Ginger resides in Georgia with her husband and three children.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This richly imagined tale takes readers to a tiny German town in the time of “the burnings,” when pious and heretic alike became victims of witch-hunting zealots. When a double murder stirs up festering fears, the village priest sends for help. But the charismatic Inquisitor who answers the call brings a deadly mix of spiritual fervor and self-deceptive evil. Under his influence, village fear, guilt, and suspicion of women take a deadly turn. In the midst of this nightmare, a doubting priest and an unloved wife—a secret friend of the recently martyred William Tyndale—somehow manage to hear another Voice…and discover the power of love over fear.

Dinfoil, Germany, 1538. In a little town on the edge of the Black Forest, a double murder stirs up festering fears. A lonely woman despairs of pleasing her husband and wonders why other women shun her. An overworked sheriff struggles to hold the town—and himself—together. A priest begins to doubt the power of the words he shares daily with his flock. And the charismatic Inquisitor who arrives to help—with a filthy witch in a cage as an object lesson—brings his own mix of lofty ideals and treacherous evil. Under his influence, ordinary village fears and resentments take a deadly turn. Terror mounts. Dark deeds come to light. And men and women alike discover not only what they are capable of, but who they are…and what it means to grapple for grace.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Wolves Among Us, go HERE