Jillian Hart & Janet Tronstad, Real and Believable, Just Like Their Books!

Authors Show True Colors, Personalities Bright Like Their
Stories

Even though it was on the cool side in Spokane this May, there was no damper on the rendezvous that induced online friends from all over the country plus Australia to attend.  Last weekend eleven women gathered and stayed in a local hotel to enjoy an Author, Writer, and Reader Retreat.

The attendees were also honored to share some delightful party times at the home of Author, Jillian Hart and with Author/Co-Hostess, Janet Tronstad.  Now…have you ever heard authors give a partial reading of a new work in an intimate group, a book before it is published?   That is exactly what Jill and Janet gave their admirers in their own voices.  The character’s personalities took hold in the “windmills of the minds” of the ardent listeners.

One of the highlights of the time together, was the arrival of a special online friend from Australia, that we call Ausjenny!  She is an avid reader, especially of Jill and Janet’s books.  Most of the group met on “Goodreads” or the “Harlequin/Love Inspired Community Forum“.

The Davenport Hotel, downtown Spokane, served Tea and Lunch to the group in the Safari Room on  Monday afternoon.  Guests enjoyed a nice array of specialty foods and desserts.  Many photos were taken during the last scheduled event to take home to reminisce.  Two husbands attended the Tea, and one husband attended all the other functions as well.  How nice that the group got to put a real face to each name during the visits as well as gaining a feel for each personality.

If you would like to visit these authors online, check out Goodreads.com

Go to Groups, then “Janet Tronstad-Dry Creek Stories”and also look for category “Jillian’s Corner”!

So It’s Going To Be Mother’s Day

My MAMA, Blanche Holland Young

I stopped by her senior cottage almost arriving to her room, to see if she was ready to go to a Mother’s Celebration yesterday there at the Assisted Living. The staff said she had already pushed herself in the wheel chair over to another building and might be either sitting out in the courtyard or may have gone inside. I couldn’t find her anywhere. I went back to her room and there she was, so fragile, so pale, but a smile formed on her light lips. I asked her if I could help her put on a little dab of rosy lipstick and she said she didn’t have any. I opened the mirrored shelf in the bathroom and lifted the 3 lipsticks and picked out the lightest color and took it to her. She put on a smidgen and rubbed her lips together. We were ready to go now to see what was planned for the residents from about 55 -95. They were providing a flower to plant in large pots in the courtyard for mothers. Only a few showed up, and a dripping plant was quickly plopped from her hand to my hand as my mother began to become anxious that the sun would cause her to have a stroke. I planted it for her in the pot closest to her own building and we went inside to cool down. We shared some fruit punch and I calmed her. Two nights ago she had fallen from her bed to the floor trying to transfer to go to the bathroom in the dark. She now seems to think people are just waiting around for her to die . I told her I hadn’t heard anything like that and passed it off as a joke. She is 95 1/2, although she can’t remember her last birthday party in December or how old she is on most days.  She doesn’t have Alzheimer s, just old age dementia and memory loss. It wasn’t that long ago that she handled her own med dosing. It wasn’t that long ago that she was racing with her 3-wheel walker with brakes bounding down and around in circles on the courtyard sidewalk. That was then. Now I look for pictures that we can color or use colored markers, for the woman who used to be an artist, a seamstress, a Sunday School Teacher, a medical secretary, and who used to cut her own lawn. Only a shadow of herself, I long for the woman she was when I was a little girl, that made me special dresses, even a little girl wedding dress, and a twirly skirt with red tomatoes dancing on white polished cotton. She can’t find her nail polish, I find it and place it where she can find it later and loosen the tops for her. The air-conditioner is on and she feels cool.  She doesn’t understand why it is on.  I tell her it is 85-90 degrees outside.  She says, “But it isn’t inside”.  She tells me she appreciates me and loves me so much. I remember fights and misunderstandings over the years. I remember she accused me of stealing from her. I comb her waves around her face. She says I am all she needs and that I remember everything. She will not be here much longer. But today she is. And what she said to me, was all I needed to hear. Happy Mother’s Day, Mama, Blanche, I love you, too.

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WRITERS HELPING WRITERS

ACFW=American Christian Fiction Writers

What a great bunch of writers, published authors, editors, marketers, readers,+!  Not the only way to learn to write, but “My Book Therapy” and this group can be your choice.  Sisters and Brothers of the “craft” gently seek to help you succeed to write and publish that book or books you were called to finish.

Mary A Young Robinson

Why not look up Susie May Warren at “MBT” at www.acfw.com.  She is a vivacious writer who chooses other great writers to join her in teaching the craft.  Because she already knows the stress one can shoulder with deadlines, word count, and character voices, she has found a way to bring fun into the class with giggles and waves!

Along with this great organization, are the state chapters.  Look for a group in your town and state for critique groups, conferences, and classes.  Through these people you will meet other writer and authors like you, agents, and publishers.  You will learn more about Independent Publishing and Traditional Publishing.

You will enjoy the social aspect and making lifelong friends.  What better way to learn to write?

1969-2013 Friendship Lasts a Lifetime!

Cynthia Ann Thompson and Mary Ann Young (Robinson)

Cindy and Mary
May 2012

“Just You and I”

It was providence that brought a petite bright green-eyed 18-year-old originally from Illinois to Waverly, Tennessee to connect with a tall brunette from Madison, Tennessee, when they met at Austin Peay State University.  It was summer of 1969 and both Cindy and Mary had applied for the CWSP for summer work before they started the Fall semester of their Freshman year of college.  In June, both girls moved into Sevier Hall on campus for 2 months, then another dorm for 1 month, before moving into Harned Hall, the 3-story Freshman Dormitory.  Mary’s first job was in the Campus Bookstore in the Student Center and then she transferred to Student Secretary in the Industrial Arts/Technology Department working for Dr. Bibb.  He and his wife became special friends to Mary and she thought of them many times over the years.  Cindy worked as a Student Secretary in Administration for the Dean.  She attended Austin Peay for most of her education, finishing later in NY.  Mary  moved from Nashville to Oregon in 1974, then lived in NC, AZ ending up for over 20 years in the city of and also above the foothills of Boise, ID.  Cindy lived for many years in NY, shortly in NC, now enjoying a beautiful area of Georgia.  Mary feels blessed to have so many friends scattered over the country, but will always have a special place in her heart for “Cindy”…”It was nice to be able to sing at her Cowboy/Western wedding out in the country last May, “Just You and I”.

“REASONABLE DOUBT”

Reasonable Doubt (The Mahoney Sisters, #1) by Tracey Bateman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who doesn’t like a story with hope about a couple that once loved each other and might get back together at another time in their lives? Justin wanted to marry Keri, but his family moved him away. He was still a teenager and his life moved in a different direction. Keri, crushed by not hearing from her teen love, became a policewoman and never married. Fifteen years later, Justin shows up in his old hometown, widowed, and a parent of twin boys. Keri hears that he is a suspect in his wife’s murder. Justin wants to explain about some of his life decisions and have Keri forgive him. She isn’t sure she can trust him or if she can be around him without crying! In a great story, Keri reveals inside troubles besides just loving Justin. Read this book and find out what is really eating at Keri and why she isn’t married.

View all my reviews

 

Lakeview Protector (The Lakeview Series, #7)

Lakeview Protector

This story introduced me to another new great writer with LI! She is Shirlee McCoy. Her characters were believable and Jasmine sure had legitimate feelings I thought, about starting a new life and love. A pastor out of control, that runs his own life and that of others, and then even goes as far as murder to cover his sins, can exist even in a real world. However, this man’s salvation is of real question here in this particular story. His sin influenced another man in his congregation to do wrong while mistreating his own family members. There never seemed to be any repentance or conviction. Eli is almost too good to be true, but I liked him; a true gentleman. Eli was the perfect warm and true man for Jasmine! The older woman ( the mother-in-law of Jasmine), rounded out the story with her attitudes and personality. She certainly grows spiritually during the story as well. A great read with a touch of sadness, but a joyful ending!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW With Janet Thompson, Now Idaho Based

Janet Thompson

Thank you, Janet, for agreeing to answer a few questions from our readers in the community.  We can see the compassion you have for women as they go through various trials in their life.  I read your book and I saw your heart.  Now this takes us to the first question posed:

(1) Janet, what inspired you to write a book about living with a stay-at-home husband?
Dear God, He’s Home! is the third in a “Dear God,” series. The first two are Dear God, It’s Cancer: A Companion Guide for Women on the Breast Cancer Journey and Dear God, Why Can’t I Have a Baby? A Companion Guide for Couples on the Infertility Journey. Each of the “Dear God” books mentor women who are on a journey that I’ve been on myself. I know the loneliness and need for support and understanding that isn’t always available, so I write to mentor and encourage these women. The best compliment is when someone tells me it was if I was sitting right beside her as she read my books.

In Dear God, He’s Home!, I chronicle the difficulties and joys my husband and I encountered during the various seasons of him being a stay-at-home man: multiple layoffs, illness, disability, and now, retirement. I understand the strain on a marriage of a husband suddenly being home 24/7, regardless of the reason. As in all of my books, I offer various perspectives from other women who are willing to share their stories to help others going through something similar.

(2) Tell us a little about your research. How did you encounter other wives with stay-at-home husbands? What struck you about their experiences?
Whenever I mention the title of this book, wives smirk with raised eyebrows and knowingly remark, “Boy, do I have a story for you!” “I need this book.” “I know someone who could use this book.” Or “I’m going to need this book soon, write fast!”
When I sent out an email or Facebook request for stories of women with a husband home due to retirement, illness, disability, out of work, home office, the military . . . whatever reason…the stories flowed into my inbox and my ears.
I noticed that whatever circumstances brought a husband home, most couples admit they didn’t prepare for a time of being together 24/7!

(3) What would you say is the most common struggle wives have with their stay-at-home man? What is the most common struggle that husbands have as a result of becoming a stay-at-home man?
Regardless of the reason for this season, wives of stay-at-home men experience similar difficulties, hardships, and blessings. The specific circumstances might be different, but the heart issues are the same.

The struggle I heard most often from wives with a stay-at-home man: he’s invading “my space.” They recount the loss of my home, my space, my privacy, my domain, my downtime, a place to call my own. As if that weren’t enough, looking for something to do with all his newfound free time, the husband may decide to rearrange her routine, her kitchen—her life! One wife lamented that her CEO retired husband was “organizing” her kitchen and alphabetizing her spices. Another wife compared it to her going into his office, sitting in his chair, and rearranging his desk for him—“naught.”

The wife may also feel like her work load is increasing while his is decreasing, especially if she is still working or has to go back to work to support the family. The dismal prospect of him expecting lunch every day was lamented by the majority of wives.
At the same time, the stay-at-home husband is now trying to find his space in what used to be her space and that can lead to crowded space. Military families call this the “reentry phase” or reintegration—fitting back into “normal” home life and society. In Called To Serve, Lt. Col. Tony and Penny Monetti, who are endorsers of Dear God, He’s Home!, quote one returning solider who said he felt like “a background wall in his own home.” An apt word picture for any stay-at-home man.  The home balance of authority feels off kilter when a husband is home.

(4) Speaking of military, how can your book help women whose husbands are returning from deployment?
Military wives would be good mentors to every woman with a stay-at-home husband because they experience the reintegration process every time their husband returns home from deployment. The wife has been in charge while her husband is gone and they both have to figure out how to transition him back into the home schedule and activities, and she has to relinquish responsibilities taken over in his absence. The chapter topics and Mentoring Moments in the book offer encouragement and ideas for dealing with specific issues.

Dear God, He’s Home! shares stories from military wives and their coping tips, which are often applicable to every wife with a stay-at home man. For example, Kathryn shared: “In talking to many military wives, one of the biggest challenges of a loved one returning home is meeting him right where he’s at and adjusting to the “new normal.” Every woman with a stay-at-home man experiences a “new normal.”

Also in the “Sanity Tools” section of the book there is a section dedicated to support for military couples.

(5) How can readers benefit from the examples and advice you offer?
I include stories and scenarios from a variety of perspectives, not just my own so that the reader will surely find an example and situation she can identify with. Everyone sharing in the book, including my husband and myself, are open, vulnerable, sometimes raw, and often humorous.

I don’t want the reader to only rely on my suggestions and advice. Each chapter includes “God’s Love Letter to You,” which is paraphrased and personalized Scripture, and “Let’s Pray” where I pray with the reader. There’s also space for her to write her own “Dear God,” and practical application tips are provided in the Sanity Tools section.

My husband has been a stay-at-home man numerous times during our marriage and I understand the stress it puts on a relationship. Couples like us and those who share their stories in the book, who have experienced and survived the stay-at-home transition, can reach out to offer seasoned encouragement, tips, and prayer for couples currently going through it.

(6) Who is your biggest supporter in your writing?
I dedicated this book to my stay-at-home man, Dave, who selflessly allows me to write and speak vulnerably and honestly about our messes and our miracles in sharing our story. I call him the “hero” of the book, but he laughingly refers to himself as “the sacrificial lamb.” He wrote the Epilogue and I think the way he signed it gives a window into the kind of support I have from him: Janet’s encourager, cheerleader, loving and devoted –stay-at-home man, Dave.

(7) What is your passion and why?
Mentoring is truly a passion, a purpose, and a mission that God put on my heart when I first went into ministry 18 years ago. After graduating from seminary, I asked God to use me in the business world where I had spent most of my career and was familiar and comfortable, rather than in women’s ministry where I had no experience. But as He often does, God put me in a ministry where I would have to depend completely on Him in starting the Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry; and He soon gave me a heart for women and the issues we all deal with in everyday life. My passion is to help women learn to: Share Life’s Experiences and God’s Faithfulness. That’s my “tag line” and what I try to do in my books and speaking.

All my books have a theme of mentoring from experiences that others and I have encountered with the goal of offering hope, help, and encouragement to the reader. For example, I also wrote Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter (I had one), and the subtitle of that book is Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents.

My passion and mission is to help other women learn how to use the good, the bad, the ugly life experiences to reach out and help another woman going through similar circumstances. It always helps to know we’re not alone and someone else has survived what we’re going through now.

Read a snippet of Dear God, He’s Home! A Woman’s Guide to Her Stay-at-Home Man.
To Purchase: Available at all bookstores, online bookstores such as Amazon, and signed at Janet’s website store.

Janet and her husband now live near Boise, Idaho.  Please check out her site for conferences and other speaker events close to you!  Janet’s professional website is womantowomanmentoring.com.

SUNSCREENS…Can You Trust Them?

Sunscreen?

Many folks still don’t know that sunlight is good for you, that it is a wonderful source of vitamin D. That said, you don’t want to overexpose your skin to too much sunlight, lest you wind up with a painful sunburn. Then again, you could get a painful burn simply by using sunscreen, believe it or not, despite its purpose to the contrary.

That’s what happened to Brett Sigworth of Stow, Massachusetts. He tells CBS/Boston that after applying Banana Boat Sport Performance spray-on sunscreen before barbecuing, his body literally caught fire.

“I sprayed on the spray-on sunscreen, and then rubbed it on for a few seconds. I walked over to my grill, took one of the holders to move some of the charcoal briquettes around and all of a sudden it just went up my arm,” he said.

Flames spread from there.

“I went into complete panic mode and screamed. I’ve never experienced pain like that in my life,” he said.

There is a warning label, but is it too vague?

Mike Adams, Health Ranger says:

You will not be able to pronounce most of the chemicals found in the ingredients list. That’s because most sunscreen products are formulated with cancer-causing fragrance chemicals, parabens, harsh alcohols, toxic chemical solvents and petroleum oils. A typical sunscreen product is actually a chemical assault on your body. That’s why research shows that using sunscreen actually causes more cancer than it prevents (http://www.naturalnews.com/023317_skin_chemicals_products.html).

Dr. Mercola of Mercola.com says about his Natural Sunscreen with Green Tea:

Each active ingredient in this outstanding 100% natural sunscreen has been carefully chosen to specifically protect and nourish your skin. These are:

Titanium Dioxide & Zinc Oxide:

These two active ingredients in Natural Sunscreen are natural minerals. Minerals that actually come from clay and beach sand deposits. This means, they are not harsh, synthetically-produced chemicals you’ll often find in popular brands.

Zinc oxide has been used all over the world for over 75 years as a safe sunscreen to help prevent excessive sun exposure.

Unlike chemical sunscreens that absorb ultraviolet light, nature provides us with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, two remarkable ingredients that remain on your skin to reflect and scatter away both UVA and UVB rays from your body, by forming a physical barrier, without irritating or clogging pores.

I, Mary, read that after about 15-20 minutes of sun, your skin is through making Vitamin D.  At that time, you may find your skin looking a little pink.  This is when the best sun screen is covering your body with light clothing.  If you are like me, you enjoy the feel of the sun and getting a tan, but there  is always a risk of sun skin cancers years later from too much sun exposure and burning.  Learning from the Filipinos, Coconut Oil can be used for the skin for tanning and moisturizing…and I love it for that and many other reasons!

More Rights To Protect. Do You Like To Hike?

President NAPgA

Are you an outdoors person?  Do you hike?  Many people who do heavy-duty outdoor hiking and climbing have found that carrying 50-100 on their backs is just too much.  And, many now own Pack Goats as their companion and helper.  So why is the government trying to stop these people with born, raised, and bonded pack goats (not fielded, pastured, farmed or milked) from taking them into the forests?  Larry Robinson, President of NAPgA, North American Pack Goat Association says:

The North American Pack Goat Association’s (NAPgA) Troubles in the Winds

In November of 2011, the Shoshone National Forest summarily closed the Wind River Range to pack goats. Ostensibly, it was because they represented a threat to the Bighorn Sheep (BHS) there. Prior to the closure, the NAPgA Land Use committee presented the Shoshone NF with 12 ‘Best Management Practices‘ that we had formulated to give the NF managers assurance that we could not be a threat to the BHS.

In spite of these efforts, on November 2011, the lion’s share of the Wind River Range was closed to goats. During the Fall of 2012 and during the public comment period, we did a 2000+ mailing attempting to write the Shoshone NF opposing the elimination of goats from the forest.

So, nothing to do but wait for the FEIS, expected October 2013, right? After all this is a one-time issue, confined to Wyoming isn’t it?? Sadly, not remotely!

Subsequent to the end of the Shoshone NF public comment period, I became aware that the Inyo NF had reinstated a closure to goats similar to the Winds. Radar is now tuned to long-range. More research indicates that Wallow-Whitman in Oregon is also redoing their forest plan and the operative statement in their plan is, “No pack goats in BHS habitat, or adjacent to BHS habitat. So the reality begins to coalesce that this is not by any stretch of the imagination a limited action, and there is most assuredly an agenda to eliminate goats from the forests period.

Further research indicates that 8 other forest agencies have been instructed to re-accomplish their forest plans. It is time for everyone to put his or her antennas up to full height. It may be goats now, but they will eventually come with the lance for your particular ‘ox’!

He Authored “Ben Hur” and died on this Day in February, 1905

On this day, February l5, l905, Lewis Wallace, the author of Ben Hur, died. Lew left behind him a lifetime of political and military accomplishments. The world, however, remembers him chiefly as the author of the novel Ben Hur, which he subtitled, “a tale of the Christ.”

Lew Wallace was born in 1827, the son of an Indiana governor. As a young man he served in the United States’ war with Mexico. After the war, he studied law, set up a law practice, and served in the Indiana State Senate.

When the Civil War broke out, he immediately re-enlisted and rose to the rank of Major General. In 1864, he fought–and lost–the Battle of Monocacy, but he held his position long enough to allow union defenders to reach Washington, D.C., preventing its capture by Confederate general Jubal Early. After the war, Lew served on the court martial that tried Lincoln’s assassins.

Lew was inspired to write novels after reading Prescott’s Conquest of Mexico. His first novel, The Fair God, was about those events. His second novel, Ben Hur, was conceived after sitting on a train, listening spellbound for two hours, while the agnostic Colonel Robert Ingersoll, poured out “a medley of argument, eloquence, wit, satire, audacity, irreverence, poetry, brilliant antitheses, and pungent excoriation of believers in God, Christ, and Heaven, the like of which I had never heard.”

Until then, Lew had been indifferent to the claims of religion (although he loved the story of the wise men and had begun a tale about them). “… Yet here was I now moved as never before, and by what? The most outright denials of all human knowledge of God, Christ, Heaven… Was the Colonel right? What had I on which to answer yes or no? He had made me ashamed of my ignorance: and then–here is the unexpected of the affair–as I walked on in the cool darkness, I was aroused for the first time in my life to the importance of religion… I thought of the manuscript in my desk. Its closing scene was the child Christ in the cave by Bethlehem: why not go on with the story down to the crucifixion? That would make a book, and compel me to study everything of pertinency; after which, possibly, I would be possessed of opinions of real value.

“It only remains to say that I did as resolved, with results–first, the book Ben Hur, and second, a conviction amounting to absolute belief in God and the Divinity of Christ.”

While governor of New Mexico, Lew wrote his dramatic story. Though never a member of a church, he became the best selling religious author of his day. Ben Hur sold 300,000 copies within ten years, and was translated into dozens of languages, including Arabic and Chinese.

The year after Ben Hur was published in 1880, Wallace began a four-year term as U.S. ambassador to Turkey, where he cultivated very good relations with the Sultan. The last years of his life Wallace spent as a public lecturer. Today his statue stands in the Capitol building at Washington, representing the State of Indiana.

Bibliography:

1. Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2. Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes. 1907.
3. General Lew Wallace Study and Museum. http://www.ben-hur.com/
4. Morsberger, Robert E. and Morsberger, Katherine M. Lew Wallace: Militant Romantic. McGraw Hill, 1980.
5. Wallace, Lew. The Illustrated Ben-Hur. Bonanza, 1978.
6. “Wallace, Lewis.” Encyclopedia Americana. Chicago: American Corp., 1954.

Last updated June, 2007