50 Years and Counting

We had a big day yesterday celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. It's actually not for a couple more days, but we're hoping to make it. Whether we do or not - and no one is promised tomorrow - we had a great time celebrating family and love yesterday. 

It was a little hard for me to look this fifty year milestone in the face because gosh, that has to mean I'm old. I'm imagining some of you out there counting up in your head to figure out how old I must be. Sometimes I have to think twice about that myself!

Today is the oldest you've ever been and the youngest you'll ever be again. ~Eleanor Roosevelt 

But whatever my age, just look at the beautiful family I now have. We take up a lot of space out in the yard to have our picture snapped even with one of my sweet granddaughters unable to be there yesterday to be part of the picture. (Missed you, Ashley.) And the family will just grow more and more as the grandchildren get older and find their special someones and start having their own families. That's the way life is supposed to be. Lived well and with love and with hope for the future.

Live your life and forget your age. ~Norman Vincent Peale



My dad used to look around when my sisters and I came home with our young families for Sunday dinner and tell my mother, "Just look what we started." And each generation can do that. Look at where an individual family starts and then at all the branches that shoot off from that one couple. 



My beautiful grandchildren make my extra years more than worthwhile. I am so blessed.   

Grandchildren are the crown of grandparents, and parents are the glory of their children. ~Proverbs 17:6 (Gods Word translation)

And I am also blessed to have been given the desire of my heart in regard to my work. That is, writing stories. Age doesn't really matter there because in our minds we can be whatever age is best for the moment or the story. Here are a couple of quotes that give me encouragement for the stories I have yet to imagine and the goals I have yet to reach. 

First Tinkerbell, the wise little fairy in Peter Pan:

   Laughter is timeless.
      Imagination has no age.
         Dreams are forever.

Then C.S. Lewis:

      "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

Thanks for reading. And have you celebrated a big milestone in your life? 

September Means a Birthday Giveaway

September is my birthday month and as I've told you all before, I love birthdays. I've just quit counting them up. Not enough fingers and toes to count on for that. :) I'd have to call the fire department if I had a cake with candles. But if you don't count them, then you can consider Satchel Paige's question. "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" So, what do you think is the perfect age? 25? 35? 55? Or maybe the perfect age is whatever age you actually are.

I just sent out a newsletter with all the details, so if you're on my newsletter list, you may have already entered. (If you want to be on my newsletter list, just let me know.) I've gotten lots of e-mails, but since I had surgery yesterday, I haven't started going through them yet. The surgery went well. I'm sore, but the surgeon thought everything looked good. They will run more lab test to be sure they got all the cancer and I will have to have some followup treatments after I heal for a while. I do appreciate all your prayers and sweet concern. After I tell you about the Birthday Contest, I'll tell you another story, I think you'll like. But first the contest.

I do enjoy having birthdays and it's even more fun when I celebrate getting older by giving something away to my reading friends. This time I thought and thought and came up with nothing exciting to give away - well, other than my books. :) Then I remembered how green always fits. So 1st prize in my Birthday Giveaway is a $50 gift card to the winner's favorite online book place (Amazon, B&N, or Christianbook.com). Plus the winner gets his or her choice of one of my books. Two 2nd place winners will get a $25 gift card and their choice of one of my autographed books.

How to enter? It's easy. Just send me a message. You can send me a message from my website or leave a comment on a post here on my blog in September with a way to contact you. That's very important for without the contact info, I can't get in touch with you should you be one of the lucky winners. Comments on blog posts don't automatically include your return address. Deadline to enter is September 30 at midnight EST. You must be 18 to enter. For fun and for a bonus additional entry, you can tell me a birthday story. It can be about your birthday or someone else's birthday. You don't have to share a story to enter - any kind of message will do - but I enjoy reading your stories when you want to share one with me. I sometimes share a few of them forward here on my blog but I won't without your permission.

Now for the other story. Last night after my surgery, I was missing Mom. The other times I've had surgeries, Mom was always there for me, helping me with whatever needed to be done, sympathizing with me, loving me. Moms are just good at that. So I was missing her and when I went to bed, I was thinking about her and it was as though I felt a hand gently caressing my hand. It only lasted a minute, but I couldn't help thinking that Mom had reached down a little comfort to me. Just writing this today brought tears, but it was good.

Thanks for reading.