Book is published--twice!!

          My  book has been published and is available on Amazon.com and Kindle.  I've been receiving a lot of great comments from friends--congratulations and sharing on their own FB pages, and I want to say thanks.  People, publishing today is not that hard.  Get your work together, write, and then go to CreateSpace.com.  The challenge isn't writing or publishing now, it's promoting.  Please pray for me in this area.  It's not something that I feel comfortable doing, but I truly feel that God has called me to write this book, and now that it's written, I need to make sure that it gets out to those that are meant to read it and be blessed by it.  If you're interested, you can buy it in print for $12.99 or from Kindle for $6.99.  It's also available on the Kindle library (I didn't even know that existed!) You can borrow it for free for 14 days. 

       I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for being my friends and encouraging me in this venture.  If it weren't for you--especially YOU, Rosalie--I wouldn't be nearly as confident in my abilities as a writer.  God bless you all!

New year, new start

I just looked back on my post from 2012--December 30.  It was full of remembered sorrow--a husband and a son lost for 20 years, but lovingly remembered and still in my heart.  So much has happened since that day last year--actually, so much has happened since July!  Last year, there was still the pain of loss and the pain of incomplete business.  This year, it's all different.  I'm accomplishing my dreams, and it feels wonderful!

To be honest, I don't remember all that much about the beginning of the year.  I know that I decided to start blogging again, and that went well.  I still am not sure why more people don't read my blog, but I know that I will eventually figure it out, so I'm not worried.  As I continued in the year, I decided to go to California over the summer.  It started as a trip with Emily to visit my sister, but that was postponed due to my new niece's arrival.  Nina--what a beautiful name!  After that, we decided to travel up the coast to Oregon.  I miss the  beach; it's lifegiving to me.  Everything was set and ready, but then my son and daughter both tried out for "Annie" and were given parts, so a coastal vacation turned into a time in Greenville (what would end up being the LAST time in Greenville, though none of us knew it).  We enjoyed each other and had fun.  I didn't get to see the play, but I did get to sit in on a rehearsal, so I felt good about that.

When I came home, there was an invitation to join a writer's group in town--Tucson Christian Writer's Group.  I decided to give it a try, along with a lot of other things.  The other things didn't click, but the writer's group certainly did.  I brought one of my portraits with me to read, and it was very warmly received.  More importantly, the guest writer, Kris Tualla, gave a talk on self-publication.  I could hear a door opening in my mind, and I immediately started getting my portraits in a publishable format.

School began with many changes.  I am now teaching Spanish 1 and 2, and that has started me writing for first year as well as second.  I took a bunch of my stories and made an SSR book for 2nd-3rd year.  I realized, too, that I can use that book for my own classes, so that's a really good thing.

As the year progressed, I got up my nerve and asked Adam Colwell to edit my book.  That worked out well, too, and my book, Biblical Portraits, will soon be available for sale.  I'm excited to see a long-held dream finally come to fruition.

I hope all of you have a great 2014.  I'm looking forward to finding out what my future holds.  I'm once again thinking about relocating, but I'm not at all sure that God sees it the same way.  As always, it's in  HIS hands.  Amen!

Advent reading from my new book :)

Wow, what happened to the time?  Look away for a second, and it's Advent! School is out in a few weeks, and then the long trek to California to visit.

Since we are waiting for the birth of the Savior, I thought I'd share a reading from my book "Biblical Portraits", coming soon to a e-reader near you!  This one is called "Advent"

Advent

Reflection on our Lord's coming

We started out together

Walking hand in hand

In love with the Father of Love

Surrounded by all good things

And in perfect peace.

We wanted for nothing,

For everything was provided us

By One who loved us more than we could possibly imagine.

You know how the story goes.

The snake, the fruit, the disobedience,

The betrayal of trust...

Our lives would never be the same,

And our hearts would forever need to be filled

In ways that we could not even begin to imagine.

We tried so many different things,

Countless aids to ease the hurt,

Yet all we did was intensify the pain,

Cause the loneliness to overwhelm us,

So that the darkness seemed to be all-encompassing.

Yet, somehow, we knew that there was an answer

Somewhere

A beacon was shining in the night

Somewhere

A lantern lifted high,

Dispelling the darkness,

Somewhere.

We did not know how

Or even if

We were to search for it.

Maybe it would seek us out

Find us in our grief

Our pain

Our loneliness

The hideous blackness of our being

The opaqueness in which we lived.

And so we wait

Caught in the void between hope and despair

And even without being aware of it,

We pray.

O you who caused the light to shine all around us

Who permitted us to walk hand in hand with you

Who chose us as your children

Who desired our companionship

Who did nothing to lose our love

And everything to merit our respect,

Come unto us

Dwell once again among us.

Cause us to see your light blaring in the darkness

So that we can finally come home.

Help requested re Joseph

I'm asking for your help.  As I said earlier, I'm gathering together material for my first book of portraits--based on the life of Christ.  I came across this example--Joseph.  Could someone please read it for me and tell me how I should finish it?  Should I cut it in half and expand the end of one and the beginning of the other?  I want to include the idea of putting her away, but I'm not sure it belongs here.  Please comment here or on FB and let me know what you think.

Joseph: 

I love her so much.  What is that to them, now?  Look at her, so absorbed in that baby.  How is it that this has happened to me? 

            From the moment I first saw Mary, I knew that she was the only one for me.   I had always thought that I would live life alone, and I was content with that.  I liked being alone.  My thoughts were my own; my life was mine to rule.  I answered to no one.  Yes, it did get a little lonely from time to time, but even that was nice, in a way.  I could revel in the solitude, the silence, and the sense of pervasive stillness that filled my life.  And if I did ever feel the need for companionship, there were always my brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins...every one of them with a family of their own--loud, raucous, stridently breaking up the early morning stillness with their bickering, their banter, their hilarity.  I would find myself heading for home after a very short time, content once more with my solitary state.

            And then I saw her.  She had always been in the periphery of my vision, so to speak, a quiet little thing--quiet, but not shy.  She seemed to be all eyes, to the point that the other children left her to her own devices.  There was something almost unnatural about her, about the way that she just looked, as if she were keeping the events around her in some sort of ledger inside herself.  As she grew to be of marriageable age, this trait proved to make her somewhat less than desirable to the young suitors of Nazareth.  To the average man, this was not a woman to be favored.  Too much looking and too little talking were disconcerting to them.   But to me...I loved her the more for her silence.  She did not prattle on about inconsequential affairs, but when she did speak, her words spoke volumes.

We loved to speak of He who is to come, Messiah--of the prophecies in all their confusion.  It was our favorite game.  How would he appear?  Would he be triumphant king or suffering servant?  Or could these conflicting descriptions somehow all apply to the same person?  How could that be?

And now—this servant king is suckling on Mary’s breast.  Fully human, he cries when he is hungry, wet or cold.  His cries reach into my innermost being.  I never realized how much I could love someone who is not my own.

What will be our future?  Should I announce him as my son?  But he is not my son.  Should I put myself in danger of being called a naïve fool or worse by telling the truth—he is God?  I only have to look at Mary to know that she is not concerned about this.  Not in the slightest.  What secrets is she keeping?  I know that she will keep them until the end of time.