The Winners but the Biggest Winner - Me

Tonight I've finally got the winners of my Scent of Lilacs Celebration Giveaway. It wasn't easy, let me tell you. I pick the winners by random numbers. Each e-mail I get goes into a special folder and the sender gets numbered according to when I receive the e-mail. Well, imagine my extreme distress this a.m. when I click on that folder and it shows a number as to how many e-mails are stored there, but then instead of the messages coming up this little box comes up that says the folder is empty. All the other mail folders work fine. Messages pop right up. Panic time!! I thought I might have to wade through all my sent e-mails to try to figure out which of you had entered the contest. But then I tried my iPhone and wonder of wonders the messages came up in the folder on it. Not sure how or why that happened or why they don't show up on my desk computer or my laptop, but do on the phone, but I'm just glad they did. I'm going to tell you who won. Really, I promise I am! But first let's enjoy two more grandmother stories. 

Donna shares a wonderful story of how sometimes the Lord blesses us in the midst of troubling times when the last thing we're expecting are blessings. Here's her story -

 I have many stories I could tell of my grandmothers, but my greatest grandmother blessings I actually received as an adult.  Following a stroke (her granny's stroke), I helped my dad and my aunt care for my granny by staying 2-3 nights a week with her.  I would work all day in a classroom, drive a morning & afternoon bus route, then go to my granny's house, cook supper, and then do whatever granny needed, which most nights had to do with quilting. She couldn't cut fabric anymore, nor use her sewing machine, but she could still hand piece and quilt. So many times I would be so tired and not want to set up a new quilt top in the frames or cut out quilt squares & place in ziplock baggies so she wouldn't get confused. I didn't realize it at the time, but while I did these things for her, she was bestowing on me the blessings of knowing the stories of her life. She gave me the desire to write and share similar hardships, trials, faith, & love with others. Later at her bedside as she was going to sit at the feet of Jesus, I realized that she became an integral part of the woman I had become. 

Next Rosemary shares how an object can keep memories alive for us.  

"I would like to share a little story about my grandmother. Us kids 

 would go over to visit and she would give us slices of fresh homemade Portuguese bread, with butter on it and serve us little tea cups with tea in it. We would sit with her in her favorite chair which was in the kitchen. She had a large black iron stove that had the metal round tops that would come off. You must be able to picture the stove I am talking about; anyway, we would be warm and cozy. That same chair we sat on with her, my mom sat in it and would watch out the window to see if the bus was stopping to see if my dad was coming to visit, he was a sailor and stationed in Boston Massachusetts - 1951 ...  yep !!!  well, I sat with my grandmother in that chair, and I fed and rocked my granddaughter in that same chair, reupholstered, in 2003 and I still have that chair in my sitting room!!!  I love that chair and its memories!!!!

And I have loved the memories and stories of your grandmothers. I read every one of them, often with a smile and sometimes with a nod of the head that yes, I have felt some of the same things you felt. You have all been such a blessing to me that I am, without a doubt, the biggest winner tonight. Thank you! 

But there are a few of you who are also winners. Drum roll, please! The 1st place winner of the lilac Grandmother's Bible is Sharma D. of KY. The two 2nd place winners are Diane K. (not sure which state yet) and Rita W. of CA. They will get a grab bag book by a Christian author and their choice of one of my books. And Tawnya P. of  WI won't be able to say "I never win" any longer. She wins the lilac candle and her choice of one of my books. I've sent all of you winners e-mails and I'm waiting to hear back from you which books you are choosing as your prizes.

Now what memories should I ask you to share with me on my next Celebration giveaway? 

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.  ~From the television show The Wonder Years 

A Giveaway to Celebrate Scent of Lilacs & Grandmothers

Mom with one of her great-granddaughters

Every time I have a new book release or in the case of Scent of Lilacs re-released, I like celebrating with my reading friends. And what better way to celebrate than to give away some things?  

And what am I giving away?

Funny that you should ask since I was just about to tell you. A Grandmother’s Bible. Some of you may remember I did a giveaway with this Bible a couple of years ago, but so many people commented on really, really wanting to win it that I thought why not give another copy away? I’d been trying to think of something that would tie in with my book’s title, Scent of Lilacs. Maybe I should have hunted up a garden catalog and mailed the winner a lilac bush. That would have been neat, but then the winner might have lived in an apartment without a yard. With lilacs on my mind, I remembered that purple Grandmother’s Bible–a very lilac purple. Plus, in the story, Aunt Love is always trying to improve Jocie’s behavior by quoting Scripture to her. Not in a sweet, grandmotherly way, but verses from the Bible at any rate. 

So top prize in my new giveaway is a beautiful lilac leather-bound Bible (NIV) with all kinds of extras for grandmothers to help guide their grandchildren along the right paths in life. Two second place winners will get their choice of one of my books and a grab bag book by a different Christian author. And I haven’t forgotten those of you who say you never win. One by one, we’re changing that. If you tell me you never win when you send your entry, then I’ll enter you in a special drawing for a lilac scented candle and your choice of one of my books. To enter send me an e-mail from my website or leave a comment here. 

Since I’ve got two giveaways overlapping a bit here, you can leave that comment on this post and also scoot in at the last moment for an entry in my blog giveaway. Jocie on Hollyhill Book of the Strange will be shouting out the three winners of Scent of Lilac next Monday on her blog. Thanks to all of you who have made the month fun with your comments. Deadline for entering the new Scent of Lilacs celebration giveaway is midnight EST April 1, 2013. You must be eighteen to enter.

For fun, I invited you to tell me a grandmother story. You don’t have to in order to enter, and a bunch of you have loved telling me about your grandmothers. I haven’t gotten to read all your stories yet, but I will. Meanwhile, I have read a few to share with you tonight with the permission of the writers. So here goes.

First, can any of you top Mary’s grandmother in numbers? She says, “When my grandmother passed away I was one of 101 grandchildren and she also left 103 great-grandchildren. I had 3 more children after she passed and I have lost count of all the cousins and great cousins in the family now. We have started having a Cousin's Luncheon every month, and try to get different cousins to come each month. There are just too many of us to get all together at once.”

Now if they all showed up, they’d have to reserve the whole restaurant and make sure it was a big one. My dad used to look around the table when we all got together and tell Mom “Just look what we started,” and there were only three of us girls and seven grandchildren.

 

Grandmothers can be teachers too as they help us learn as we grow. That’s plain in this story from Jeanne.

“When I was growing up during my teenage years my mother opened a little dress shop and it seems like she was always at work.  We moved to be closer to her shop but since she worked long hours she just didn't feel like cooking when she got home and neither of my older sisters ever leaned how to cook.
My sister's were much older and I didn't like being alone at home so every day after school I would stop by my Gramma B’s little apartment for a "chat." As soon as I told her about "dinnertime" she told me not to worry that she'd teach me how to cook on her old coal stove - you know the kind - the ones that make the best cookies in the world!

During the days and weeks ahead she didn't teach me just how to cook. She also taught me that I had to learn how to do the things I needed to, as she said, "survive in this world." My Gramma taught me the important life lessons and she taught me to not only cook but to also sew. She taught me to be independent but to remember the importance of friends. Most important of all she taught me about tolerance, giving to others and helping those less fortunate. This was all taught me by a woman who had little in possessions or wealth. She taught me from the heart what was truly important in life.

Most of all she taught me to never think badly of others and I remember the day she inscribing in my bible - Never judge that ye be not judged -  and in parentheses after it "Always give everyone you meet a second chance."

I'm 65 now and I only hope that I am teaching my own grandchildren those important lessons as well and spending time in the kitchen with them teaching them how to bake.

That’s the way of grandmothers. Wisdom passed down from one generation to the next along with a lot of love. Some of those who’ve entered say they never had a grandmother, because of distance or death. But all of them have said how much they love being grandmothers now. For the last story this week, we hear from M.

When I was little my grandmother (knowing I liked chocolate) would take me grocery shopping with her. As we came to the checkout counter she would say, "I LOVE Hershey Bars but I couldn't possible eat a whole one. Would you share one with me?" Then she would open it, take one or two squares and hand me the rest. Eventually it dawned on me what she was doing. Even today when I see a Hershey Bar I think of her.  

I’m glad so many of you have loving memories to share with me. I’m looking forward to reading more of your grandmother stories in the days ahead. And if you haven’t entered, please do. Remember no story necessary to enter, but the stories are fun.

Also I’ll have a guest post on "Scattering Hope with a Smile" about Scent of Lilacs giving me "New Writing Hope." Leave a comment there on Jo's blog for another chance to win an autographed copy of Scent of Lilacs. I hope I'm not giving away so many books that nobody will have to buy one! :)

Thanks so much for reading and I hope these stories have made you remember how much you were loved by your grandmothers.