Celebration Prizes and More Flower Stories

Do you like entering contests? Have you ever won anything? I'm imagining a lot of you shaking your heads. That's why I have that "never win" drawing in my Celebration Contests. Somebody who says they never win has to be a winner. This time it was Brandy from TX. I'm hoping she doesn't have neighbors who don't like wind chimes. Texas probably has plenty of wind to make those chimes sing. She picked my book Scent of Lilacs. The first place winner was Dorothy from FL. She got her roses today and says she's enjoying them so much that she is carrying them from room to room so she can see them wherever she has to be in the house, doing chores or relaxing and reading. Soon she'll get to relax with my book, Small Town Girl. Pam from KS picked Words Spoken True and instead of one of the grab bag books, she gets Small Town Girl. The grab bag books are Laura Frantz's The Colonel's Lady and The Trouble with Cowboys by Denise Hunter. Then I sent Theresa from IA Scent of Lilacs, just because. It's my party and I'll give away an extra book if I want to. :) (Do you remember that song from back when? It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. Well, it's my party and I'll smile if I want to and I want to.)
 
How about another couple of flower stories? I still have a few I think you will enjoy. Lisa actually left this as a comment here, but I loved the story and wanted to be sure you all got to read it.  

"My favorite flower story was told to me by my grandfather. Every time he visited his dad's grave he would take one single rose. He once told me his reason for this. He said when he was a little boy and he had worked out in the fields all day with his dad that at the end of the day his dad gave him a rose picked from the rosebush in the yard. My great grandpa told my pa, 'This is for a hard day's work, son. I'm proud of you.' My grandpa never forgot that and it meant so much to him, he just wanted to always return the favor."  

But you know sometimes we miss the boat on sending flowers. We might only send them when something bad has happened or we're in trouble. At least that's been Anna's experience. She's got some good thoughts here. Maybe we need to think about those ordinary days when we can brighten a life with flowers.


"Unfortunately, now when I receive flowers (I can think of four times in the last nine years of marriage), they have been 'I'm sorry' tulips, 'I blamed you for something I did' roses, or 'oops, I forgot to pick up our daughter from school' mixed spring flower blends. Receiving flowers just for the sake of receiving flowers sounds so wonderful. No drama attached or hurt feelings or kids with angry faces. Simply a day-brightening collection of some of God's beauty."

So guys and gals, take note. Sometimes a person needs a flower just because even when it's not a birthday or an apology. And sometimes a bouquet can be a lovely way to say thank you. Mildred tells a story about when she was a teacher and a student wanted to say thank you in a special way. 

  "As a teacher, one often receives a 'thank you' gift or note at the end of the school year. One that I especially remember was a bouquet of hand-picked flowers, including some dandelions, with a note attached that said, 'I did a good deed in your honor, I picked up all the trash on our street.' Many other gifts have been forgotten but this one stays with me and I have been retired several years.

( We had talked about not cluttering up the environment with our trash.)"

What a great memory, Mildred. Thanks for sharing it with us. And thank all of you again for your wonderful stories. I hope you've enjoyed the ones I was able to share forward as much as I did. A new contest will be coming your way in September.  

 Thanks for reading!

And the Winners Are

Aack! It's not Sunday. I'm late! A person should not put the end of her giveaway contest on the same day she has a deadline for her current work in progress and on a day when she has to sit with her mother!! I made those mistakes and then the kids came out and picked blackberries. Now, you have to help the grandkids pick blackberries. Life's too short to pass up those kind of fun times. 

At any rate, the hours yesterday slid away from me. I missed my deadline for the book submission by a couple of hours, but I figured my editor wouldn't notice until the sun came up this morning. I burned a bunch of midnight oil and probably slept through trying to edit the last three chapters, but I read through them - I think. Thank goodness, Mom slept well last night, but then this morning we had all the Monday chores. Baths and hair fixing and laundry. She's feeling rotten now and is lying down. 

So now that I've made a few thousand excuses (not quite, but I probably could keep going if you want to hear them!), I picked the numbers by Random.org. Each of the e-mails and comment entries that came in to my Small Town Girl Celebration contest are numbered and put in a special folder. Then after I get the random number from a random number generator, I find the saved entry and send out an e-mail to the winners. Those e-mails have already gone out, so if you didn't get one, maybe next time! Drum roll please. 

Dorothy B is the 1st prize winner. As soon as I hear from her and find out where to send those two dozen roses and one of my books, she'll get her prize. Pam K is the 2nd prize winner. She gets her choice of one of my books plus 3 grab bag titles from my Christian fiction collection. And Brandy B from Texas can't say she never wins anymore. She wins the wind chimes and her choice of one of my books. Then I nearly always pick an extra winner "just because." This time I picked Theresa H. Her e-mail so touched my heart when she told me about her son sending her flowers for her anniversary after her husband died and then how she lost him too after already losing another son. I shared her story on one of the flower story blogs. 

I have a few more flower stories to share and still plan to let you enjoy those with me. But today I'm just going to share one. This story touched my heart too. Well, to be honest, a lot of your flower stories had me blinking away tears or smiling. I thank you so much for sharing slices of your lives with me. I do so appreciate all of you and the fun we can have with stories.

The story today comes from Judy. 

"After my husband passed away from a brain tumor I told God that I would never marry again.  We had just celebrated our 8 year anniversary two days before he died.  I could never live through caring for and watching another husband die.  Bob was only 44 when he passed away.

Little did I know that God had other plans for me.  When John, my adult Sunday school teacher, asked me if I would like to see a movie with him, I told him that I would go under one condition that we'd only be friends.  I wanted a big brother type person and nothing else.  He quickly agreed.  A couple of days after we saw a movie I came home to find a bouquet of flowers in a beautiful vase sitting on my front porch.  The card was signed, from your big Brother! 

John and I have been married 9 1/2 years!  (Never second guess God!)"

What a blessing all your stories have been to me! Stay tuned for at least one more post of flower stories in the next week or so. And thank you for your patience with me. I really didn't intend to be late with the winners. Thanks to all of you who entered. It made the contest fun and made me the biggest winner of all because I got to read all your stories. And for those of you who didn't win this time - maybe next time. I'll be having another celebration for Christmas at Harmony Hill, my Shaker Christmas novella due out in September. Oh, and if you live near me here in Kentucky, I'm having a Hometown Booklaunch this Sunday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m. at the Anderson County Public Library in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Come on down. I'm planning door prizes along with talking about my books! 

"Thinking of You" Flower Stories

Ten more days to throw your name in my giveaway hat if you haven't already done so. You might win two dozen roses, or if you are one of those people who "never win anything," you can tell me that and be in a drawing for a beautiful wind chime. I'm thinking about throwing MY name in that hat. Just kidding, but it wouldn't matter if I did because I'm one of those never win people. LOL. Also giving away copies of my books to the three prize winners along with some other Christian fiction books. See all the details on my website News & Event Page. Deadline for entering is midnight EST on July 13, 2013. Enter by sending me an e-mail or leave a comment here with a way to reach you should you win.

I took a little break from my flower stories to share my St. Louis trip with you, but I've got a few more great stories to share. These aren't particularly romantic - more the "I'm thinking of you and I want to do something to make you feel better" flowers. First let's see what Nancy has to tell us. 

"You asked for stories about unexpected flowers from the garden being shared. Just last week that happened to me. My sister-in-law came by my home while my husband and I were out celebrating our anniversary. She left a bouquet of hydrangeas from her garden along with a card and 2 pieces of homemade banana cake as a little 'thinking of you' token for our anniversary. And it made it all the more special because she just lost her husband of 37 years (my brother) after a brief (but devastating) bout with an inoperable brain tumor through which we all suffered together. This was her first venturing 'out and away' from home - so she told me later she found it empowering. So that bouquet meant so much to me in so many ways. Thanks for letting me share that little story - and I know my telling or wording of the story didn't do it justice."


I think you told it just fine, Nancy. Thanks for sharing with us and prayers coming out to you and your sister-in-law. 

Dawn tells of a time when her friends came through for her.

"One of my favorite bouquet stories is the year that my three friends all had boyfriends for Valentine’s Day and I didn’t and my friends sent me flowers!!!"

Dawn does go on to say she loves those dandelion bouquets from her 3 year old grandsons. Dandelion from kids ranked high in the best surprise bouquet memories. :)

Linda tells this story.

"I was once surprised by a beautiful bouquet of flowers by my husband's boss...my husband travels a lot for business and had to be out of town on my birthday. I was ok with it as we could celebrate anytime but his boss felt so bad so he sent me flowers!"

Now that's some boss! 

Theresa shares a story that might bring tears to your eyes. It did mine. 

"I was surprised by flowers on what would have been my 31^st wedding anniversary. My husband had died just three months earlier at the age of 56. My youngest son who was only 24 gave me a bouquet of flowers because he said Dad wasn’t here this year to continue the tradition which went back over 50 years with my in-laws. It was a flower for every year of marriage. He kept it up but he died at 34 just six days after the 10^th anniversary of his father’s death on the day which would have been my oldest son’s 46^th birthday. He died while in the Navy at age 19. It comforts me to know they’re together and I will see them again one day."

  
So sorry you've lost so much, Theresa, but it's clear that your memories are filled with loving moments. 

Last Misty shared a story that can make us smile. She was smiling all the way home that day. 

"One day I had a friend leave flowers all over my car while I was at work. When I got to my car that night I saw all these pretty blooms all over it!! I had been having a tough time and he thought this would cheer me up! And yes, it definitely did!! Still one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me!"

Being a practical girl, I asked Misty if she had to clean the flowers off her car before she could drive it. Inquiring minds want to know! :) Here's her answer. "Actually, I did have to clean off the flowers in order to drive home! But it was great!! I didn’t mind at all! I was actually laughing the whole time I was getting the flowers picked off." 

Hope you enjoyed these flower stories. I have a few more that will make a blog appearance before the end of the contest. If you have a flower story you'd like to share, I'd love to hear it. (Or read it.) 

Oh, and here's another chance to win a copy of Small Town Girl. Jay Tanner, the guy in the story who is a definite charmer, is trying to charm readers in an interview on Margaret Daley's blog. Leave a comment there to have a chance to win my book or one of the other books she's featuring this week. The character interviews are always fun. I've never done a guy character before, but Jay was a good one for the first. As I said, he's a charmer and he charmed me while I was writing his story.  

Hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July!