Guest Post - Sandy Seiber

Visiting Washington, D.C. # 1 - Plants

I’m still slowly writing my next book. Two houses to clean out after the death of my 100-year-old mother-in-law and a graduate credit I’m working on has infringed on my time.

The college course through Learner’s Edge has been a blast. I had to spend eleven hours visiting sites in Washington, D.C. and write a journal including some educational ideas on how to use them. I met two wonderful ladies on the bus and am going back to Washington soon with one of them.

There are many planted walkways and special gardens near the Smithsonian Mall. If you love plants or are teaching about them, I suggest a trip to Washington. Check out the United States Botanical Garden website before you plan your trip and print out a map of the gardens.

Here is a shortened version of part of my trip and my corresponding activities.

***

Walking down Seventh Street from the National Archives Building near the Smithsonian Mall, I found heart-leafed aster. Love nest sundew, I spotted in the garden beside the conservatory among the other carnivorous plants. Downy pagoda-plant nestled beyond the bridge in the same garden. What beautiful names for plants!

----Learn some genera before you go and see if you can find one or two species of each genus.

---- Alphabetize your list to make them easier to find.

----Take a notebook and write down your favorites.

---- Take pictures of your favorites.

----Think about planning a garden of your own as you walk. You can tell if it will grow in your region by the information on the placard beside each plant.

----After your visit, match the pictures to the names in your notebook. Look up the names online if you can’t remember which is which.

----Draw a picture of your planned garden.

----Look up prices online and find out how much it would cost.

----Order your plants, fertilizer, and a pair of garden gloves next spring.

----Get to work!

Guest Post - David Stearman

God’s Original*

Psalm 33:25--He fashions their hearts individually.

I got to thinking about our individuality today. Snowflakes, leaves, human voices. It started when a friend of mine, an intelligent, multi-talented model whose image graces the covers of several of my books, texted me about passing her GED. She’d never been able to graduate from high school due to extenuating family challenges, though you’d never know this, since she’s so well-read, self-educated, and accomplished.

Our texts went like this:

Her: I passed my GED with flying colors!

Me: Of course you did. You’re smart.

Her: I am an overachiever with low self esteem. So I surprised myself! Lol

Me: You have no reason, on any level, for having low self esteem. You’re gifted and exceptional. But it’s often the people like that who have low self-esteem, simply because they’re different. Normal people don’t do special things.

Me: Dang. That was good. I should blog it.

Her: Thank you!

Her: Blog it!

So here I am, blogging it. ‘Cause face it; you’re abnormal, right? Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. Of course you are, because you’re an original creation of God.

Snowflakes. Leaves. Human voices…

You were born with your own unique face, personality, and set of talents. Yet you feel inadequate when you compare your own unique characteristics with others’. “She’s taller than me, more petite; better at math, better at English, skinnier, more shapely,” whatever.

…but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise (2 Corinthians 10:12)

It’s impossible to compare the quality of two original paintings created by the same artist. Though Monet painted both Water Lilies and Sunrise, they can never be measured against each other for superlatives. One’s not better than the other; they’re just different. Like you and me.

God, the master Artist, created each of us individually.

For you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written; the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139: 13-16)

But God not only created us individually, He also created us as individuals. So you’re not normal, and neither am I. There is no normal, there’s only you, me, and all those other weirdos, each of us with his or her own special beauty, significance and purpose. So be yourself and be proud of it. You’re God’s original.

Today’s prayer: God, today I’m gonna be me. I won’t try to imitate anyone else, for you gave me my own, beautiful individuality. I’ll walk tall in it and be proud of who I am: a unique creation of God.

*The above post is an excerpt from David’s 90-day devotional “Encouragement Explosion--90 Days of Uplift,” available from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Encouragement-Explosion-90-Days-Uplift-ebook/dp/B00FRHXE68, as well as from Barnes, Noble, KoboBooks, and other fine online retailers.     

Guest Post - Christine Lindsay

A WOMAN’S WORK IS NEVER DONE…or…THE PRICE OF SUCCESS AS A WRITER

by Christine Lindsay

Is it possible that some of us writers are workaholics because we like it?

At the start of my fifties I began my long-desired writing and speaking career. While things were challenging, God gave me the strength to rise to that challenge, and I thoroughly enjoyed reaching those long-sought-after goals.

OH MY, I FELT FULFILLED. I WAS WOMAN. HEAR ME ROAR…AND ALL THAT STUFF. 

But fifteen years after the fact, I also discovered that it was hard to shoehorn leisure time into my schedule. When was the last time I relaxed, took a day off? Sometimes months would go by.

AND THE BIGGER COST:

This past spring it dawned on me that my dear husband was suffering from loneliness due to my extremely busy schedule. The wrongness of this hit me between the eyes.

Around the same time I ran into two different sets of women. Six of one and half a dozen of the other, you might say.

The first group warmly reminisced about the wonderful holidays they had camping with their husbands over the years. The other group shared that quite recently their husbands had passed away, unexpectedly, suddenly, and all these dear husbands were around the age of sixty.

My husband was sixty.

A GOD-INSPIRED SOLUTION

On the way home from that speaking trip the question echoed in my mind. What am I waiting for? That week we purchased a brand new, little travel trailer. My husband didn’t take much convincing.

On our first trip in July we drove through the majestic Canadian Rockies, and at the summit of Roger’s Pass I noticed a large artillery gun. I asked my husband why on earth that was there, and he explained that avalanche control experts shot artillery shells into the snowcaps to trigger avalanches. They did this to control the snows from building too high and thick and thereby causing a fatal avalanche.

WHAT I LEARNED DRIVING THROUGH THE ROCKIES

I mulled this over and compared that to the changes I was making in my life. My marriage had to come first, even at the expense of my writing and speaking ministry. So, like the avalanche control experts, I chose to cut back on my writing so I could spend more togetherness time with my husband.

My little Christmas novelette Heavenly Haven is the culmination of that thinking. I hope and pray that my characters, Jack and Shaina, will inspire you to keep your priorities in line as well.

Heavenly Haven by Christine Lindsay

Avalanches happen to other people, not us. Marital problems happen to other people, not us, especially nine days before Christmas. At least that’s what Jack and Shaina Burke thought. Married for ten years, avalanche control expert Jack, and Shaina, only wanted to celebrate their December anniversary in a romantic way, until the shifting snows on the mountain bring havoc tumbling down upon them.

Heavenly Haven is available as an Ebook on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Kobo.

About the author:

Christine Lindsay is an Irish-born writer, proud of the fact that she was once patted on the head by Prince Philip when she was a baby. Her great grandfather, and her grandfather—yes father and son—were both riveters on the building of the Titanic. Tongue in cheek, Christine states that as a family they accept no responsibility for the sinking of that great ship.

It was stories of her ancestors who served in the British Cavalry in Colonial India that inspired her historical series Twilight of the British Raj of which Book 1 Shadowed in Silk has won several awards, and Book 2 Captured by Moonlight. Christine is currently writing the final installment of that series called Veiled at Midnight to be released August 2014.

Also coming out February 2014 is Londonderry Dreaming, a romance novella set in Londonderry Northern Ireland, not far from Christine’s birthplace.

Her newest release a short Christmas story, Heavenly Haven, has just been released as an Ebook Oct. 15, 2013.

Christine makes her home in British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada with her husband and their grown up family. Her cat Scottie is chief editor on all Christine’s books.

Christine Lindsay would love to connect with you on her website www.ChristineLindsay.com, or drop by her blog for inspiration www.ChristineLindsay.org or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest

Guest Post - Sheila LaGrand

Making Peace with Christmas

Blog post by Sheila Seiler Lagrand, author at http://sheilalagrand.com

In my strident youth I was a Christmas militant. I railed against the displays of candy canes and chocolate snowmen lurking about the bags of Halloween candy. I fumed as tinsel mingled with the harvest cornucopia in some kind of mall marketing miscegenation. I averted my eyes when neighbors’ Christmas lights brightened the street before we had celebrated Thanksgiving.

Not this year. Maybe it’s because I’m not as young as I used to be. Maybe it’s because the grandchild count has risen to nine—which means more gifts, more wrapping, more time to dream up selections that say I love you. Maybe it’s because I’m traveling across an ocean to spend Christmas with my daughter, her Navy-Chief husband, and their children on Guam. For all these reasons, I have overcome my Christmas-season-snobbery. Never again, Lord help me, will I judge the mom scooping up the latest Legos in October.

And never again will I jam all the gift-choosing, making, ordering, or buying into the precious few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a legalistic maneuver all along, I see now, not a decision born of grace and joy. And what is more important at Christmastime than grace and joy? As I consider it today, I can’t even remember why I thought it was such an achievement to exhaust myself by squeezing every bit of preparation into a few short weeks.

After all these hard-line years, it’s been deliciously daring to choose gifts in October, to be laying in stores of red-and-green tissue during the first crisp days of autumn. Once I committed to changing my approach, and my attitude, about the Christmas schedule, I reaped an unexpected bonus: The rejoicing heart, the sense of blessedness as I reflect on the priceless gift of our Savior, the real key elements to the Christmas season, they kicked in early, too. Instead of three or four weeks of an overflowing heart, I’ve enjoyed the jubilation since late October.

I understand better now the friend who sings carols in March, the heart-sister who displays a Christmas tree all year long. I’ve been cheating myself out of a heap of exultation. So if we cross paths at the beach next summer, please don’t be surprised if I greet you with a hearty “Merry Christmas!”

Guest Post - Kathy Bruins

Eradicate the Evil

by Kathy Bruins

Every time I hear of a teen missing, I pray they do not become a victim of a growing evil called human trafficking. While this term refers to both sex and labor trafficking, the commercial sex industry is growing so fast and could surpass the drug dealing industry. You see, while a drug can be used only once, a human being can be used over and over making a lot of money for pimps.

Today, I received notice that Attorney General Bill Shuette presented a 63-page report on human trafficking in Michigan, and stating what legislative laws need to be changed to protect the victims, especially children, from being treated as criminals rather than the victims they are. The “johns” are not getting penalized much from their actions, while they are driving up the demand for commercial sex. This is wrong. It's imperative to change these laws so that children will not be sold, kidnapped, or lured into a horror far beyond their imaginations.

This journey in discovering the issue of human trafficking began a couple of years ago when I was requested to write an article on it and its connection to Southwest Michigan. I never have heard anything about it before, so was unsure of what I would find. My eyes were open to a world that is secretive and deceptive. In my research and article writing of the topic, I have received numerous emails from survivors thanking me for shining the light on this darkness. I met with a few survivors and was heartbroken hearing their stories. These people are not from Third World countries (although this is a huge problem around the world as well), but they could be living across the street.

One organization that is taking on the fight for human rights for the victims is Women At Risk, International (W.A.R., Inc.) which is lead by Becky McDonald. I have learned so much from her and am always touched by how she talks about these women in her life that she loves like daughters. She travels the world to help women and children out who are in abusive situations. She understands the different cultures having been raised in a foreign country. She remembers a grade school friend who was forced to drink acid because she wouldn't marry the man her father chose for her. These atrocities happen every day. Instead of getting overwhelmed and thinking there's nothing you can do, I have good news, there is something everybody can do to fight human trafficking.

I have been involved in the awareness aspect for the last couple of years, but recently have been moved to do more. I am meeting with a survivor to write her story that will show God's goodness even in the darkest times. I will be taking a First Responder Training to learn how to spot what may be human trafficking and what to do about it.

Some simpler things that can be done are as follows:

• Learn more about it. Awareness is key.
• Pray for the victims.
• Support victims by buying their jewelry, scarves, etc. from boutiques and parties that sell their merchandise.
• Support legislation that will demolish human trafficking by writing your state and government officials. There are letters already formatted for your use on the website of Polaris Project.

One thing I ask of you: Do not shut your eyes and ears to this evil. I believe God is calling His people to become involved and do something … anything. God hears the cries of His children, and I believe He has said, “Enough!”

Guest Post - Big Jim Williams

When I was a kid going to Saturday matinees in California for 12 cents I loved watching western movies, whether it was Hoppy, Gene, Roy, or John Wayne heading the bad guys off at the pass. It wasn’t just the action I enjoyed but it was the fact that any conflict between the rustlers and the sheriff would end in about two hours with the good guys winning. I loved that. That is what I now often find missing in our society and in the movies, television, and in books. The good guys don’t always win and the bad guys often get the applause and seem to be loved and honored. Society seems upside down. Not right. The bank robbers, land grabbers and gunslingers may be more interesting to read about, especially when they’re caught, jailed or hanged, but I still want the good guys to win. That’s one of the many reasons I love writing westerns, because in my computer the good guys are right and eventually win. They bring a bit of sanity into the Old West where my wandering writing mind wants to live. And maybe, just maybe, I lived back there too as a mountain man, an Oregon Trail pioneer, a wrangler pushing cattle up the Chisholm Trail with Charlie Goodnight, or a man with a gun on his hip and a badge on his chest. There is right in this world, and I try to find justice, even though I may wander through mountains and deserts to get there in my tales. I’m a new hand in the High Noon Press bunkhouse. I’ve written Westerns for many magazines , including Western Horseman, The Livestock (Texas) Weekly, The Cardroom Poker News, Rope and Wire, Frontier Tales, Sniplits, and other publications. Now I’m looking forward to having my Western novel appear under the High Noon Press brand. I still have things to do to tuck all the characters, actions and thoughts into the pages, but the story will unfold with guns, action, cattle drives, wild women and men, and twists, turns, and people you’ll love and hate. But keep an eye on the good guys, because they just may win after all the dust and gun smoke settles.

I’m still sorry those 12-cent Saturday matinees are gone, because that era not only had cowboys and Indians, there was also 5 cent popcorn, a movie newsreel, cartoon, previews, the B western, and the main feature. To me the main feature was always the B western, with the modest but strong, tall, shoot-straight, “Ah, shucks, ma’am,” movie hero winning the day.

More about my cattle drive novel the next time.

--Western author Big Jim Williams

Guest Post - Travis Perry

I'm an aspiring interstellar dictator...er, I mean, "writer," who's produced a bit of military non-fiction, loves science fiction and fantasy short stories, especially those with a Christian twist, and has contributed to several collections of them, most notably Aquasynthesis (2011) and Avenir Eclectia (2012). I co-authored The Crystal Portal (2011) with Mike Lynch, having written the tale first and then getting help from Mike for serious editorial changes, including reordering the story from start to finish and a climactic scene originally written by Mr. Lynch. I get more and more fun out of editing (perish the thought), and am rather full of oddball speculations (though I'm trying hard to get empty, please see http://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/ ).

Probably because of our past working together, Mike emailed me and asked if I'd be interested in writing a story for his series. I read "No Revolution is Too Big" and liked it, especially the character Stelfson, but I had no idea what I wanted to write to contribute to the series. Finally, after racking my brain for a while, the title of Mike's tale itself inspired my story, since I simply took the idea of a "big revolution" and turned it on its head for my tale, "No Revolution Too Small."

I also happen to be a father of six who is also an Army Reserve officer who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, so you really would think I'd write more military stuff than I do, though a bit of my military knowledge is reflected in my portrayal of the Defense Controllers in "No Revolution Too Small"...