For the past week, I've only been checking e-mail messages once a day. I haven't blogged. I haven't tweeted. Okay, I've Facebooked, a little. But here are some things I've learned.
1. INFORMATION OVERLOAD is a very real condition. I just diagnosed myself with it.
2. In aforementioned condition, one feels compelled to comment on various blogs, share helpful blogposts on twitter, and basically...OVERSHARE. I'm learning to relish my new-found mysteriousness. Not everyone needs to know what I think about everything. Otherwise, they'd be coming over to my blog to find me, right?
3. On the above note, I realized that I need to unload many of the blogs I've signed up for. Many of these people do not realize I exist, or acknowledge me when I bop over to their blogs. Nothing personal, but I love following a handful of bloggers who really make me think. You know who you are (and many of you, but not all, are in my sidebar list of Lurk-a-liscious bloggers).
4. Platform-building is necessary, but I'm still learning how to do it. Since I have no book to plug yet, I'm still putting out feelers for what you beloved blog-readers like to read. I'd love to share my book with you (please reference the OVERSHARING phenomenon above), but while I'm waiting for a publisher, I'm trying to give you some helpful and hopefully entertaining info over here. Forgive me if I miss the mark half the time, but I have the coolest group of blog readers ever, and I appreciate you!
5. Too much of a good thing is a BAD THING. Yes, I need to check e-mail to make sure that publishers aren't in a bidding war over my manuscript, or to keep up with my personal messages from writing peeps and friends. But burying myself in online commenting/tweeting/e-mail checking only feeds my writerly angst. If I go outside and water my garden, I get more ideas for my next book. And I'm a nicer person to be around, to boot.
Bottom line: Sometimes, a writer has to kind of unplug. We can't afford to be complete hermits, that's a given. But a little web-mysteriousness is kind of cool. Although I can't guarantee that if you post a really hot-button topic, I won't give my two cents' worth...at least in that once-a-day computer time I'm allotting myself.
****Do you have to limit your online time? Or do you feel platform-building is a full-time job?****
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Faith and Family Friday--Guest Blogger HEATHER HARRIS On Feeding your Chickens Right
Today, we conclude our two-part series on raising chickens! Heather "HippyHomesteader" Harris will explain what to feed those cheepy, egg-laying machines.
Again, you can find Heather at:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/homesteadhippy/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/
Twitter: twitter.com/homesteadhippy
Food for a free ranging chicken is pretty easy, they go and scratch up what they need 90% of the time. You will still need to provide some supplementation, but it'll be much less.
For those who are penned in all the time, feed costs will be higher. Commercial feed costs about $12 a 50lb bag in my area, and it lasts my "free ranging" flock of 10 about two months right now. You can also make your own feed, and there are recipes all over the internet on how to do that, but for me a lot of the ingredients had too high a cost to justify doing that more than once.
Of course, in the winter, when worms, bugs, and other goodies are in shorter supply, feed costs go up universally.
Water is a must at all times. If a chicken is without water for even 12 hours, it can throw off their laying of eggs by up to two whole weeks! A rainbarrel with an automatic waterer is nice for free range girls, and a heated water bowl works great in the winter.
OR, you can use an old ice cream pail or an old pot. Chickens really don't need the fancy-schmancy water bowls. For chicks, we add a couple of pennies at the bottom of the bowl or
water dish. They see the bright shiny coins, and try to peck at it.
Thus, they really get a feel for where their water is.
And, lastly...think of lighting. Chickens need about 12 hours of
daylight to keep on laying eggs. In the summer, that is usually no
problem. But, in the winter when the days are shorter in length,
adding a small 40-watt bulb on a timer in their coop can add the
needed hours of "daylight" to keep them laying. I know some chicken keepers that do not do this, as they want their hens to have the "winter off," and say it's healthier for them. Maybe, but for me personally, I like to eat in the winter, too...so if they are getting feed, I need eggs from them. I haven't had any birds die early or get sick from doing this, either.
Having chickens can be loads of fun, and they are so relaxing to watch. I like to get a chair in the evenings, as the sun is going down, and tune into some serious poultry therapy. They are social birds, and can even "bond" with their owners, making them one of the most fun pets I have ever had.
****Many thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Heather! I didn't realize chickens needed 12 hours of daylight to lay! Any questions or comments on chicken-raisin'? Fire away!****
Again, you can find Heather at:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/homesteadhippy/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/
Twitter: twitter.com/homesteadhippy
Food for a free ranging chicken is pretty easy, they go and scratch up what they need 90% of the time. You will still need to provide some supplementation, but it'll be much less.
For those who are penned in all the time, feed costs will be higher. Commercial feed costs about $12 a 50lb bag in my area, and it lasts my "free ranging" flock of 10 about two months right now. You can also make your own feed, and there are recipes all over the internet on how to do that, but for me a lot of the ingredients had too high a cost to justify doing that more than once.
Of course, in the winter, when worms, bugs, and other goodies are in shorter supply, feed costs go up universally.
OR, you can use an old ice cream pail or an old pot. Chickens really don't need the fancy-schmancy water bowls. For chicks, we add a couple of pennies at the bottom of the bowl or
water dish. They see the bright shiny coins, and try to peck at it.
Thus, they really get a feel for where their water is.
And, lastly...think of lighting. Chickens need about 12 hours of
daylight to keep on laying eggs. In the summer, that is usually no
problem. But, in the winter when the days are shorter in length,
adding a small 40-watt bulb on a timer in their coop can add the
needed hours of "daylight" to keep them laying. I know some chicken keepers that do not do this, as they want their hens to have the "winter off," and say it's healthier for them. Maybe, but for me personally, I like to eat in the winter, too...so if they are getting feed, I need eggs from them. I haven't had any birds die early or get sick from doing this, either.
Having chickens can be loads of fun, and they are so relaxing to watch. I like to get a chair in the evenings, as the sun is going down, and tune into some serious poultry therapy. They are social birds, and can even "bond" with their owners, making them one of the most fun pets I have ever had.
****Many thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Heather! I didn't realize chickens needed 12 hours of daylight to lay! Any questions or comments on chicken-raisin'? Fire away!****
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Newbie Writing Mistakes Monday--Aim for a Target
 |
| Artwork from http://shadzofgray.com/new_page_1.htm |
After watching a couple episodes of Top Shot with my kiddos, I realized a couple of things.
One, since I can't even hold a virtual gun steady in my video game playing, I have to admit I will never become the world-revered sniper I had hoped to be. The guys and gals on Top Shot are so well-qualified, they can even hit the target with tomahawks and blowdarts. Now, that's saying something.
And two, (you knew it was coming!) as writers, we have to have a target audience lined up and ready to foist our novels upon.
Newbie novelists wonder Who is my audience? I know when I started out, I felt my books could transcend
What age is your protagonist? That's the audience you're reaching. This is why Twilight is categorized as Young Adult, even though plenty, if not even more adult
If you intersperse scenes from someone's childhood with their adult years, you have to focus on the here and now--how old is your protagonist now? I think that's a good clue as to which audience it will hit.
However, The Notebook is an example of a book that targeted both young and older couples, since the main couple is both young and old in the book. I don't know how Nicholas Sparks proposed that book, but hey, he's Nicholas Sparks, and he can probably do just about anything he wants to (except dystopian sci-fi, perhaps).
We also have to have a target genre. Especially for our very important query letter, we have to figure out what category our break-in book needs to fall into, so that agent can read it and know it's a niche that has openings.
This can be tricky. I think I've mentioned before that when I was entering contests filled with YA, dystopian or steampunk novels, I seriously thought about categorizing my plain-old historical fiction entry "Iron-Age Steamy Punk." I did not succumb to this desire, by the way.
Yes, your book may have elements from all over the place. It may be a sci-fi historical Amish fiction novel. I would just recommend you pick one main category and the rest will be self-explanatory with your query. So maybe sci-fi, then tack on the age range you're shooting for, like old-age sci-fi. (My kind of sci-fi, I think.)
Hope this has helped you zero in on your target. Agents will appreciate your thoroughness in figuring out the best fit and audience for your book for them. And a good agent will tell if you've misidentified your audience or genre.
So go out and hit your target!
****Have you had trouble identifying your audience or genre? What steps did you take to figure it out?****
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Faith and Family Friday--Guest Blogger HEATHER HARRIS on Getting Started with Chickens
I'm so excited to have my guest blogger this Friday and the next! I know many of you are branching into homesteading, given our precarious economy. Since we're hoping to get into raising some chickens ourselves, I knew I had to ask my friend "Heather HippyHomesteader" (aka Heather Harris) how to go about it!
You can find Heather at:
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/homesteadhippy/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/
Twitter: twitter.com/homesteadhippy
Let's get started! Here's Heather!
They are egg laying machines! Not the most personable
birds in our yard, though. If you want a nice roasted bird after
their laying life is over (usually 4-5 years) then a dual purpose bird
is a good choice. OurRhode Island Reds have been a good choice for that.
They are friendly, and easy to bond with as well. My seven-year old can
easily pick them up and "pet" them, and they don't seem to mind (or they
have given up on trying to get away from him...). Some other good breeds
of chickens that fall into dual purpose include: Black Australorps; Lt. Brahmas;
Dark Cornish; Black and White Giants; Buff and White Orpingtons; New
Hampshire, Rhode Island Reds, Barred, White, Partridge, Buff
Rocks;Delaware, Sussex, Turkens; White, Silver Laced, & Columbian
Wyandottes, Red Star and Black Star.
And, of course, if you want a fast-growing bird that you can get a
5-10 pound dinner from, then I suggest you look into a Cornish cross.
They take approximately 8-10 weeks to get to "market weight," will eat
you out of house and home if given the chance, and will be very tasty when
you are done.
And, finally, if you just want some attractiveness and fun to add to
your yard, ornamental chickens are great for that! Most are "bantam"
sized, which basically means they are 1/2 the size of other chickens
and their eggs are 1/2 the size. If you don't mind using 2 banty eggs
for each regular egg in a recipe, bantam chickens are great! Our
family favorites included:
They were fun to watch, and have a unique personality all their own. Of course, you
can eat these birds when the time comes, but the amount of meat you
will get is going to be very small. Think "chicken soup" or "chicken
and noodles" type of dinner.
Once you decide what type of birds you want to get, then you have the
all-important question of:
Where are they going to live? Chickens need very
little in the way of furniture, kitchens, or bathrooms, really. A nice
two-story stucco with an open dining area would suit them just fine.
JUST KIDDING! They really only need a few things: a place to get out
of the weather, a place for dust baths, a place to lay their eggs, and
a safe place to roost away from predators. All this can be achieved
very easily and quite cheaply, if you want. You will want to decide
if you will keep them in one place (coop) or if you want to move them around the yard (tractor).
Since we have used both, I'll give you what I think
are advantages and disadvantages of each.
With the tractors, you have to move the birds on a regular basis.
Chickens can easily destroy an area of vegetation with little effort.
And, since they still will take their dust baths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_bath), they will dig holes in their area to dust themselves off with. You may end
up with tons of "ankle breakers" all over your yard if you don't
quickly fill the holes in. The advantages of this type of home is
that as you move the birds, you will have your lawn automatically
fertilized and mowed for you. You can move the tractor to wherever
you want the birds to chow on the grass. Cleaning the roosting area
can be much easier, and much simpler. The drawbacks are: you have to
move them around daily, or you risk having bare patches in your yard
when the chickens dig up all the grass. If you are where you get a
lot of snow in the winter, digging out your tractor on a regular basis
can be quite the hassle. If you don't move it, you will get lots of
muddy manure, and your chickens can get
"bumble foot" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblefoot_%28infection%29).
Then, you have the permanent coop. We converted an old metal shed
into ours. Simple enough. But, the drawbacks are: where the "runs"
for the chickens are will most likely never see grass again, the
manure builds up a lot (maybe because we don't notice it until it's
almost as tall as me) and takes more effort to clean up. However, not
having to move them around daily is definitely a plus. Their food and
water is in the same place all the time and they have become nearly
effortless in raising.
Speaking of runs, you will also need to decide if your birds will free
range during the day or be penned up. Free ranging basically means
they get to go where they want to, finding all sorts of yummy bugs,
worms and seeds all over the place. You'll just want to make sure
they stay out of trouble, your garden, and your neighbor's flowers. Some
people find that their free range birds lay their eggs all over the
place, but ours have been "trained" to lay in the nesting boxes in the
coop. What we did was keep them penned up until they got used to it,
and free ranging for them isn't a problem. They go back to the
nesting boxes daily, deposit their eggs, and it's back outside for
them. They have the whole yard (minus the garden area) to find
delectables, and they don't take out the grass as quickly. Of course,
we had to fence in our yard completely, and there is a series of fences
inside our yard to keep them away from the garden and out of certain
places.
You can also make runs or pens for your chickens. PVC pipe and a bit
of chicken wire are great for this! Then, you can add space to where
your chickens can roam, all the while keeping them where you want them
only. The only drawback to this idea is if you run out of penning
room, they will destroy the grass quickly and only have bare dirt to
scratch at. Still better than being locked up inside all the time.
Runs can also be added to tractors to expand the roaming area for your
birds, and PVC pipe is easily moved around. We did this for a while,
and use the PVC pipe pens still for our meat birds each year.
(Most chicken photos taken from the http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com website.)
****Thanks so much for the info, Heather! Looking forward to next week, when you blog about feed for your chickens. How about you, readers? I know some of you have chickens--please share any helpful tips you've learned along the way for newbies like me! Or feel free to ask Heather some questions below!****
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/homesteadhippy/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/
Twitter: twitter.com/homesteadhippy
Let's get started! Here's Heather!
HH--So, you decided that you want to plunge into the exciting world of
owning some backyard chickens? Perhaps you like the idea of fresh
eggs just a few steps away, or you are short on entertainment.
Whatever the reason, raising chickens does require some forethought
and planning. I mean, BEFORE you run to the local farm supply store
and fall in love with two inches of soft, fuzzy cheeping things!
While I am by no means an expert on all things that cheep, I will
share with you what I wish we had known before plunging into this
adventure.
First, what will you do with the chickens when they are done
laying? I know that sounds terrible to think of the end of
laying? I know that sounds terrible to think of the end of
their lives before you even get them, but it's important. Chickens
come in a wide variety of breeds and uses, like layer, dual-purpose,
and meat. A bird that is classified as a "layer" only will give you
lots of eggs each year, eat less feed, and be nearly useless for
roasting. Some prime examples that I have had of these types are white
leghorns.
leghorns.
 |
| White Leghorn |
birds in our yard, though. If you want a nice roasted bird after
their laying life is over (usually 4-5 years) then a dual purpose bird
is a good choice. Our
 |
| Rhode Island Reds |
Dark Cornish; Black and White Giants; Buff and White Orpingtons; New
Hampshire, Rhode Island Reds, Barred, White, Partridge, Buff
Rocks;Delaware, Sussex, Turkens; White, Silver Laced, & Columbian
Wyandottes, Red Star and Black Star.
And, of course, if you want a fast-growing bird that you can get a
5-10 pound dinner from, then I suggest you look into a
 |
| Cornish cross |
They take approximately 8-10 weeks to get to "market weight," will eat
you out of house and home if given the chance, and will be very tasty when
you are done.
And, finally, if you just want some attractiveness and fun to add to
your yard, ornamental chickens are great for that! Most are "bantam"
sized, which basically means they are 1/2 the size of other chickens
and their eggs are 1/2 the size. If you don't mind using 2 banty eggs
for each regular egg in a recipe, bantam chickens are great! Our
family favorites included:
 |
| Silkie |
 |
| Polish Hen |
can eat these birds when the time comes, but the amount of meat you
will get is going to be very small. Think "chicken soup" or "chicken
and noodles" type of dinner.
Once you decide what type of birds you want to get, then you have the
all-important question of:
Where are they going to live? Chickens need very
little in the way of furniture, kitchens, or bathrooms, really. A nice
two-story stucco with an open dining area would suit them just fine.
JUST KIDDING! They really only need a few things: a place to get out
of the weather, a place for dust baths, a place to lay their eggs, and
a safe place to roost away from predators. All this can be achieved
very easily and quite cheaply, if you want. You will want to decide
if you will keep them in one place
 |
| Coop |
 |
| Chicken Tractor |
are advantages and disadvantages of each.
With the tractors, you have to move the birds on a regular basis.
Chickens can easily destroy an area of vegetation with little effort.
And, since they still will take their
up with tons of "ankle breakers" all over your yard if you don't
quickly fill the holes in. The advantages of this type of home is
that as you move the birds, you will have your lawn automatically
fertilized and mowed for you. You can move the tractor to wherever
you want the birds to chow on the grass. Cleaning the roosting area
can be much easier, and much simpler. The drawbacks are: you have to
move them around daily, or you risk having bare patches in your yard
when the chickens dig up all the grass. If you are where you get a
lot of snow in the winter, digging out your tractor on a regular basis
can be quite the hassle. If you don't move it, you will get lots of
muddy manure, and your chickens can get
Then, you have the permanent coop. We converted an old metal shed
into ours. Simple enough. But, the drawbacks are: where the "runs"
for the chickens are will most likely never see grass again, the
manure builds up a lot (maybe because we don't notice it until it's
almost as tall as me) and takes more effort to clean up. However, not
having to move them around daily is definitely a plus. Their food and
water is in the same place all the time and they have become nearly
effortless in raising.
Speaking of runs, you will also need to decide if your birds will free
range during the day or be penned up. Free ranging basically means
they get to go where they want to, finding all sorts of yummy bugs,
worms and seeds all over the place. You'll just want to make sure
they stay out of trouble, your garden, and your neighbor's flowers. Some
people find that their free range birds lay their eggs all over the
place, but ours have been "trained" to lay in the nesting boxes in the
coop. What we did was keep them penned up until they got used to it,
and free ranging for them isn't a problem. They go back to the
nesting boxes daily, deposit their eggs, and it's back outside for
them. They have the whole yard (minus the garden area) to find
delectables, and they don't take out the grass as quickly. Of course,
we had to fence in our yard completely, and there is a series of fences
inside our yard to keep them away from the garden and out of certain
places.
You can also make runs or pens for your chickens. PVC pipe and a bit
of chicken wire are great for this! Then, you can add space to where
your chickens can roam, all the while keeping them where you want them
only. The only drawback to this idea is if you run out of penning
room, they will destroy the grass quickly and only have bare dirt to
scratch at. Still better than being locked up inside all the time.
Runs can also be added to tractors to expand the roaming area for your
birds, and PVC pipe is easily moved around. We did this for a while,
and use the PVC pipe pens still for our meat birds each year.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Guest Blogger--MICHELLE GRIEP--Top Five Reasons to Admire a Viking
I want to give a super-warm welcome to my Viking-loving writer compadre, Michelle Griep. We love swapping Viking photos and lore with each other. This woman knows her Vikings, my friends.
Michelle's
book, UNDERCURRENT, is about a professor gal who time-travels back to Viking times. But you'll read more about that below. Meanwhile, here's a link to her blog, which never fails to make me
smile, if not laugh outright: http://writerofftheleash.blogspot.com/. It's always a great resource of writer info...come to think of it, it's going on my list of lurk-a-liscious blogs on the right!
Now, here's Michelle, with some reasons we can look up to those plundering Norsemen...
Top 5 Reasons
to Admire a Viking
Guest Blog by Michelle Griep
I live
in the land of 10,000 lakes and 10 gazillion Scandinavians. And I’m one of
them. How much do you know about those sea-faring barbarians? There’s a lot to
love about this people group—sans lutefisk, that is…
1. Sweet
Texting Skills
The
Viking alphabet, the Futhark, is a series of straight lines. Super easy to
carve into a stick, a skull, what-have-you. Much of their communication has
been unearthed by archeologists, down to shopping lists, threats, and love
notes.
2.
Viking Men Put Metrosexuals to Shame
Contrary
to popular belief, Vikings were a meticulously clean and well-dressed people
group. Unlike the English, they didn’t hold any ridiculous superstitions about
bathing opening the door to demon possession. Once a week they soaked in their
bubble bath and daily combed out their hair. Clothing was bright and
fashionable, often incorporating imported silks and furs.
3. Debt
Free Living
These
people paid their debts and paid them fast—or were kicked out of the country.
Everything had a monetary value, even a life. If you killed someone, you had to
reimburse the deceased’s family (called wergild).
4. CEO
Determination
They
knew what they wanted and went after it. Gold and silver, mostly, though land
was high on their list as well. And if a Viking showed up on your doorstep,
you’d probably better cooperate. They employed ruthless practices such as the
‘blood eagle’ (I won’t go into detail to spare the squeamish at heart, but
let’s just say this activity involved surgical skill, bone cracking, and organ
removal).
5.
Packers Suck
Enough
said.
Now that
your appetite is whetted for big, beefy Vikings, there’s a book you really
shouldn’t pass up. Take a trip back in time and experience these wild and
winsome people in UNDERCURRENT…
People go missing every day. Many meet with foul play, some leave the social grid by choice, but others are never accounted for. Such is
the fate of successful linguistics professor Cassie Larson. She leads a life
her undergrad students hope to attain, until she tumbles into the North Sea and
is sucked into a swirling vortex…and a different century.
Alarik, son of a Viking chieftain, is blamed for a
murder he didn’t commit—or did he? He can’t remember. On the run, saving a
half-drowned foreign woman wasn’t in his plans.
Ragnar is a converted pagan shunned by many but
determined to prove his Cousin Alarik’s innocence. He didn’t count on falling
in love with Cassie or the deadly presence of evil that threatens his village
in Alarik’s absence.
UNDERCURRENT…dare
to be swept away. Available now at Amazon or Risen Books.
****Thanks so much, Michelle, you brighten up my life! Anyone have any Viking questions for Michelle or me? We love nothing more than discussing the Norsemen!****
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Wildflowers from Winter Bloghop--A Move of Obedience
Today, I'm joining in a Wildflowers from Winter bloghop, the brainchild of my writer friend, Katie Ganshert. Her blog link is here: http://katieganshert.com/blog/. Katie's debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter, illustrates how the toughest winters in our lives can produce the most beautiful wildflowers. I just won Katie's book and have already read about 1/4th of it! Here's a photo (sorry, Katie, I covered your first name, I was too excited!).
.Today, we're all sharing about a winter time in our lives, when everything looked bleak, and then God brought some wildflowers from it. Even when we least expected it.
I wanted to talk about a time in our family's life when we had to obey God, even when the stakes were high.
We'd been happily settled near my husband's family in beautiful upstate New York for six years. I'd given birth to two of my babies there. Our kiddos were growing up just down the road from their grandparents and great-grandparents. But something wasn't quite right.
My husband was depressed. His job wasn't the right fit. But we couldn't figure out why. He worked with strong Christians, he had a great boss, he excelled at his work. So what was the problem?
For at least two years, I'd been taking my husband's depression to the Lord (The Power of a Praying Wife, by Stormie O'Martian, helped me know how to pray for my husband). Finally, God threw open a door. Wide open! He made it clear this was the right job for my hubby.
Only problem was, it was eleven hours away, in Virginia.
Have you ever felt torn in two? I did. Even though we both knew my hubby would be perfect for this job, it would mean leaving family and friends behind. I know some people probably thought we were crazy for even considering it.
However, we'd been praying the prayer of Jabez (don't pray this unless you're serious!), and we knew this was God's way of increasing our "territory" for the Lord.
So, for months, I grieved. I grieved the family cookouts we would miss. I grieved my children's height marks on the doorframe in our house. I grieved my close friendships--friends who had prayed me through difficult times. I grieved the distance that would come between us and my mother and father-in-law, who were truly like my second set of parents.
Nevertheless, we obeyed and moved. I didn't even pray for new friends, because I didn't care. This move was for my husband. I dealt with the fallout for my kids--the late-night bawling for their "Me-ma." I dealt with my own fallout--I had to give my dog away because he had no room to run. I was in a suburb, where neighbors see your every move and the stars are blurred by city lights.
But the strangest thing started happening. God began pouring out His blessings. He had seen our obedience.
We were invited to an awesome church, where our kids started making wonderful friends.
I found a mom's Bible study, and started making friends of my own.
My husband loved his job--and yes, he made friends, too!
And we even had nice neighbors! They treat our kids like their own grandchildren.
And now, six years later, God wants us to obey again.
We're packing up to move right now.
We're leaving our church family--the body of believers who has always been there for us.
We're all saying goodbye to some of our closest friends.
Our kids have to leave a great Christian school and a wonderful homeschool co-op, both of which have helped them mature so much.
But guess what? When God shows us what to do, we'd rather obey than sit around, wondering what could have been. We know He will provide. This takes faith, because my hubby doesn't even have a job locked in yet.
People might think we're crazy.
But we know that, like the song says, "Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe."
Our kids have watched us put God first, no matter how outrageous that might be. And, we just know that on the other side of this move (closer to my parents this time), there will be a whole FIELD of wildflowers from winter!
****Thanks for doing this bloghop, Katie! Do share--has God ever asked you to obey when it seemed too much to bear? Has he ever brought good from a bad situation in your life?****
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
AND the Winner IS....
Thank you all SOOO much for participating in my giveaway! As I put all the names in the drawing, I was just so THANKFUL for each and every one of you. I truly wish you could all win the book!
But there is a winner! And the winner of a signed copy of SUBMERGED by Dani Pettrey is TC AVEY!
TC, please send me your address at vikingmoma@gmail.com!
And thank you all again for your participation. I hope you enjoy my upcoming blogposts--in fact, I have one ready to go tomorrow for Katie Ganshert's Wildflowers from Winter bloghop! See you then!
--Heather
But there is a winner! And the winner of a signed copy of SUBMERGED by Dani Pettrey is TC AVEY!
TC, please send me your address at vikingmoma@gmail.com!
And thank you all again for your participation. I hope you enjoy my upcoming blogposts--in fact, I have one ready to go tomorrow for Katie Ganshert's Wildflowers from Winter bloghop! See you then!
--Heather
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