Our Thanksgiving

Hi, all! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Mr. Incredible was on call Thanksgiving week. That means that he needs to be able to respond to emergency calls within 30 minutes. Which meant that there was no way we would be able to travel for the holiday.

Last year, he was on call for Thanksgiving, and the children and I left him at home while we went to family events 1 1/2 hours away. I didn't like leaving him alone one bit and decided that my holidays would be spent with my beloved in the future.

Since my little sister, Sarah, was due to have her baby Thanksgiving week, she suggested that my family have Thanksgiving at my house, which is almost halfway between her home and the town where the majority of my family lives. Everyone thought that was a great idea, and that's what we did.

Sarah had her daughter on Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving. So she and Joe weren't even able to come to the get-together they had suggested. But everyone else made it, including a family that Mr. Incredible and I have become good friends with.

My family asked me to create the menu and just tell them what to bring. In the end, each family was requested to bring something to drink, a side dish, and a dessert. I made the turkey, pork loin, dressing, salad, butter beans, collards, gravy, and Tres Leches cake. Although we had 24 people, we had more than enough food, and it was all delicious.

After eating (and taking a little time for the food to digest a bit), we loaded up and traveled about a minute down the road to a park/sports complex. There, the kids played on the playground while Mr. Incredible and our friend played tennis. I think everyone had a lot of fun.

All in all, I'd have to say this was one of the nicest Thanksgivings I can remember.

What did you do for Thanksgiving?

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Blog Tour: The Swiss Courier

*This book was provided for review by the Litfuse Publicity Group.

Bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, unfaltering faith, suspense, unexpected plot developments, historical adventure - all are found within the pages of Mike Yorkey and Tricia Goyer's fantastic collaborative historical novel, The Swiss Courier.

The recent release of the movie Valkyrie has made many of us aware of the most famous but failed assassination attempt on Hitler's life. The Swiss Courier is set in the time directly following that attempt. The Nazi's were scrutinizing everyone in minute detail, trying to discover if more traitors lurked among them.

This scrutiny brought to light the Jewish heritage of a German scientist hard at work on the nuclear fission project. He is unaware of his precarious situation until the SS come to take him away.

In Switzerland, a young lady with a talent for safecracking is called upon to assist her government ... or is she? She must keep both her wits and her faith about her as she seeks to determine who is friend and who is foe.

An undercover band of men and women loyal to the resistance, a young farmer in love with the heroine, a selfish operative ... all play a role in this thrilling story.

If you like historical and/or well-written fiction, I'd highly recommend you read The Swiss Courier. You'll find it hard to put down until you have read the final plot twist, and you will come away with a new respect for the courage and selflessness of those who fought against the Nazis, whether in the official army or in the underground resistance.

About the authors:
Tricia Goyer is the author of several books, including Night Song and Dawn of a Thousand Nights, both past winners of the ACFW's Book of the Year Award for Long Historical Romance. Goyer lives with her family in Montana. To find out more visit her website: www.triciagoyer.com

Mike Yorkey is the author or coauthor of dozens of books, including the bestselling Every Man's Battle series. Married to a Swiss native, Yorkey lived in Switzerland for 18 months. He and his family currently reside in California.To find out more visit his website: www.MikeYorkey.com

BUY THE BOOK! Available at Amazon.com

Want to know what other bloggers are saying? Visit the official blog tour post.

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Blog Tour: Lost Mission by Athol Dickson

Prior to receiving my book* for this blog tour, I had not heard of Athol Dickson.  To be honest, I am not very familiar with contemporary authors, generally preferring the classics by authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and the like.  That is one thing I really like about being part of the Litfuse blogger program - being exposed to new-to-me authors.  But I digress.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Lost Mission.  If you read Christian fiction, you know that many of the books that fit in that genre are what I call "fluff" literature  and are poorly written with sketchy character development and thin plot lines.

Mr. Dickson's book was the complete opposite.  His writing showed an excellent grasp of the English language yet was not pretentious. The story was a gripping tale, not a dry text to wade through.  You do not need a master's degree in English to read his novel with comprehension and enjoyment.

The characters were complex, human, and compelling.  Their emotions and the motives behind their actions were completely believable.  All the characters made both good and bad choices - just like in real life.  And as in real life, their actions had consequences that affected people other than themselves.

The plot, too, was detailed and multi-faceted.  The novel alternates between the story of a Catholic mission founded centuries earlier (hence the title) and the present-day story of several individuals whose lives become intertwined.  While that may sound confusing, I found that the alternating story lines kept me intrigued as to what would happen next and why.

Here's the official info about the book and its author.

About the book:
What haunting legacy awaits deep beneath the barrios and wealthy enclaves of Southern California?

A billionaire driven mad by grief.

A pastor in love with the wrong woman.

An illegal immigrant desperate to feed his family.

Only Lupe de la Garza can save them from the ancient evil lurking in a lost mission's ruins, but it will take an act of faith beyond all human power.

An idyllic Spanish mission collapses in the eighteenth century atop the supernatural evidence of a shocking crime. Twelve generations later the ground is opened up, the forgotten ruins are disturbed, and rich and poor alike confront the onslaught of resurging hell on earth. Caught up in the catastrophe are...

• A humble shopkeeper compelled to leave her tiny village deep in Mexico to preach in America
• A minister wracked with guilt for loving the wrong woman
  An unimaginably wealthy man, blinded to the consequences of his grand plans
• A devoted father and husband driven to a horrible discovery that changes everything

Will the evil that destroyed the Misión de Santa Dolores rise to overwhelm them? Or will they beat back the terrible desires that led to the mission's good Franciscan founder's standing in the midst of flames ignited by his enemies and friends alike more than two centuries ago?
From the high Sierra Madre mountains to the harsh Sonoran desert, from the privileged world of millionaire moguls to the impoverished immigrants who serve them, Athol Dickson once again weaves a gripping story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the abiding possibility of miracles.

About the author:
Athol Dickson is an award-winning author of several novels. His Christy Award-winning novel River Rising was name one of the "Top Ten Christian Novel of 2006" by Booklist magazine. He lives in California with his wife. Find out more about Athol and his books by visiting his website.

BUY THE BOOK!
It's available for purchase through Amazon.com.

Did you love the book?
Leave your review on Amazon.com, too!

Contest!
Tweet this and be entered to win signed copies of Athol’s award winning books:

Tweet 4 words that describe Athol Dickson’s #LostMission along with this link: http://tr.im/BPD1

Or

Athol Dickson’s redemptive tale #LostMission is a MUST read! Gripping story about mistakes and miracles!  http://tr.im/BPD1

(To be clear – to be entered into the contest your tweet must have these 2 elements 1. Athol Dickson’s #LostMission 2. this link: http://tr.im/BPD1).

Blog Tour: See what other bloggers are saying!

*This book was provided for review by the Litfuse Publicity Group.

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Blog Tour: The Great Christmas Bowl

You know, I'm feeling really sheepish about this post. I was supposed to publish it October 2nd, and I simply forgot! Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed this book. Which is why I'm publishing this post now.

The Great Chirstmas Bowl by Susan May Warren is the perfect holiday story to remind us that Christmas is a time for giving, not just for getting. Marianne, a mom with a nearly-empty nest, has planned the perfect Christmas. But things don't go as planned.

After reluctantly becoming the high school's mascot and her church's hospitality chairwoman, Marianne goes on an oft-times hilarious journey that twists and turns in unexpected ways. In the end, everyone involved rediscovers exactly what Christmas is about. I promise that the ending will leave you with a lump in your throat if not tears in your eyes.

Visit the blog tour post to find out what other bloggers thought about this book.

About The Great Christmas Bowl:
Marianne Wallace is focused on two things this holiday season: planning the greatest family Christmas ever and cheering on her youngest son’s team in their bid for the state championship.

Disaster strikes when the team loses their mascot-the Trout. Is it going too far to ask her to don the costume? So what if her husband has also volunteered her to organize the church Christmas tea.

When football playoffs start ramping up, the Christmas tea starts falling apart. Then, one by one her children tell her they can’t come home for Christmas.
As life starts to unravel, will Marianne remember the true meaning of the holidays?

About Susan:
Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of twenty-four novels with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill. A four-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Book of the Year. Her larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!) A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at www.susanmaywarren.com

Link to Buy the Book:
Available at Christian Book.com

The Great Christmas Bowl website: http://thegreatchristmasbowl.blogspot.com/
The website features a note from the author, fun updates from Big Lake Gazette, info on how to host your own Great Christmas Bowl Tea to benefit a local ministry or charity and a fun Recipe Exchange contest!

CONTEST: Be a part of the Great Christmas Bowl recipe exchange!
Susan loves getting recipes from friends, and sharing the delicious cookies, soups, breads and other fun fixings that go with celebrating the Christmas season. More than that, she loves the crazy stories about favorite Christmases – serious, touching, funny…whatever. Find the recipe contest here: http://thegreatchristmasbowl.blogspot.com/2009/07/recipe-exchange.html

Will you share your story and recipe with Susan and the readers of the Great Christmas Bowl? She will post your story and recipe on the FRONT PAGE of the Great Christmas Bowl website, and send you a link when it goes up so you can tell all your friends. Then, at the Great Christmas Bowl party (December 5th, 10am, online! Details TBA) she’ll make the entire cookbook available for download!

For every recipe/story you submit (up to 3), you will be entered in a drawing to receive one of SMW’s collections (Noble Legacy, Team Hope, Heirs of Anton, Deep Haven Series, Josey series, or THE ADVANCED COPY of Sons of Thunder – Susie’s brand new epic World War 2 novel, due out in January 2010!)

Go – run, get your recipe, then come back here and click on the link below to share your Christmas memories!

DISCLOSURE: I received a free copy of this book for review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for my review, and my review was not influenced by my receiving the book for free.

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Life in the Fast Lane

I'm on my lunch break (from homeschooling - I haven't gone to work) and thought I'd drop in a quick update.

Since my last post, Mr. Incredible and I took our 10-year anniversary trip to the Pigeon Forge, TN area and had a fabulous time. I found a great deal on cabins through Sunset Cottage. We got three nights for the price of two. Even with cleaning fees and taxes, the cost averaged out to $88/night. Because of this, we were able to have a wonderful little cabin to ourselves from Thursday through Sunday.

We also went to Dollywood for two days. Again, I was able to get a great deal through the cabin rental company. Adult 2-day tickets can be purchased through their office for fifteen cents less than the regular cost of a 1-day ticket. It was nice not to have to cram everything into one day.

By the way, if you are planning to go to Dollywood in the near future, I highly recommend Sha-Kon-Oh-Hey!, the new show. It was entertaining and quite well done for a theme park show. You can expect to see and hear plenty of singing, gymnastics, and even some flying.

    

Two short weeks after that, I started homeschooling the girls again. I thought those first two weeks were going to kill me.  Buddy Bear was bewildered those first two weeks, wondering why his playmates had abandoned him, Pookie was in tears nearly every day saying that her work was too hard and she couldn't do it (not true at all), and Miss Muffet and Baby Bear suddenly decided that their little brother was a bother to their after-school playtime. Yikes! Thankfully, we've all gotten into a routine, and our days are going much more smoothly now. If only I could stick to my schedule... . But I'm sure that will come in time, too.

       

Buddy Bear had his birthday in June, and I think he grows more adorable every day, although I must say he doesn't always act as adorable as he looks.  We're working on getting him to stop biting, pulling hair, pinching, and hitting.  Lovely.

I'm still running my business.  I've had to scale back my scheduled design time considerably, and I am still working on adjusting my estimation of how much time it will take to complete projects now.  I'm doing okay, but I get very stressed out when I get behind.  Then I pull a late-night working session (or two) to try to catch up and get back on track.

So that's what has been keeping me busy.  My time is not my own anymore. :)  But I will still try to pop in here for an update every now and then.

How have you been doing?

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A Beautiful Surprise

It's a good thing that flowers aren't at the top of my "Favorite Gifts to Receive" list. Don't get me wrong - I like getting flowers, but I'm okay with not getting them, too.

Which, as I stated before, is a good thing because the last time Mr. Incredible gave me flowers was 4 days before he proposed to me. 10 years ago.

The last time, that is, until Saturday night when he surprised me by giving me a dozen roses for absolutely no reason. What a nice surprise! It definitely said, "I love you."

I think I've about photographed the poor flowers to death, using my early anniversary present (which I absolutely LOVE). I'll probably hang them upside down to dry tonight. I still have the dried roses from 10years ago. I arranged them in a crystal basket I have, and I love them as much now as I did when I first received them.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Saturday's roses. I know the first one is blurry and the second one makes it appear that I live in a crooked house, but I still like it them.

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Giving and Receiving

*This was originally written on March 26, 2009, but it languished in my drafts folder until I found it today.*

The kids and I had an interesting trip to Wal-Mart after church last night. We had the unexpected opportunity to both give and receive.

I needed to pick up just a few items, including milk. We made our way to the back of the store for the milk first (that's Mr. Incredible's way of shopping that has become ingrained in me). When we got to the dairy section, the only other people there were three men who looked like Muslims. They had the long robes, the beards, and the brimless caps.

I must admit that I was thinking about how different they were and about the potential for them to be the "bad guys." But I reminded myself that for the most part, people are just people. So when I made eye contact with one of the men, I smiled, said hello, and asked how he was doing. After exchanging pleasantries, we all moved on with our shopping.

When I had picked up the last item we needed, the girls asked if they could go look at the cakes. Being in no particular hurry, I agreed, and they happily ran ahead of me to the cakes.

As it turns out, the three men were shopping in that section, too. The same man I had spoken with previously remarked about how excited the girls were. I replied that they always loved looking at the cakes. He asked if them if they liked a particular cake. Then he saw the cupcakes and asked me if they liked them. Of course they do.

Next, he asked Miss Muffet which cupcakes she liked - white or black. I told him that she doesn't like chocolate, although her sisters do. He then proceeded to pick up two containers of cupcakes, one vanilla and one chocolate. He gave them to me and also gave me the money to pay for them, saying that they were for the children.

I was quite surprised, of course, but thanked him most sincerely and told the girls that he had just bought them the cupcakes. They thanked him, too, and we once again parted ways.

A few moments later, I was checking out when Pookie Bear tugged at my sleeve. She pointed to an elderly lady in the express lane near us and urgently whispered something. I didn't catch what she said and asked her to repeat it. She asked me if she could help the lady carry her groceries.

I was hesitant (what if the lady thought we were bothering her and said no or got irritated?), but after repeated requests on Pookie's part, I reluctantly acquiesced.

When we approached the lady with our offer, she was greatly surprised but gladly agreed to accept our help. Each of the girls volunteered to take a bag, leaving the lady with nothing to do but take us to her vehicle. She commented that no one had ever done that for her, and I told her that it was my daughter's idea.

When we got the groceries situation in her vehicle, she thanked us, and we walked on to our vehicle. All of the girls were very happy that they had been able to help someone else. I was rather thoughtful, thinking how often I fail to see the people beside me who could use my help and marveling at the tender, thoughtful heart of my daughter.

I pray that I will set a better example for my children and not only tell but also SHOW them what it means to be thoughtful and helpful.

It was an unusual trip as trips to the store normally go, but I was blessed by the gift that was given to us and the one that we were able to give.

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