Some Winners - A Few Stories - Fun for All

And the winners are... This is when the announcers always pause to heighten suspense. No suspense for my winners. I've already contacted them all by e-mail and they've all already responded with the books they want. Such fun that so many different titles were picked. It's sort of a smorgasbord of my books. Who knows? If I'd picked more winners (you all would have been fine with that, I'm sure), I might have given away one of all my recent titles. 

As always, I feel like the winner when I have one of these contests. That's because I get to hear from so many of you and also get to read the stories some of you shared. I didn't get very many homecoming stories, but the ones I did get were great. I've already shared some of them here and I'm sharing a couple more tonight. Here's one from Denise about reunion time homecomings. 

"As a little kid, I always enjoyed the family reunions. Little kids can play with each other, and their differences don't matter--it's not until we age that some people let the differences separate them, rather than embracing each other. My mom was raised Plain in Lancaster, PA, but she didn't stay Plain. As I aged, I realized I was the 'outsider' in the family. I was the one who dressed differently, had a television, didn't wear my hair up in a covering, etc... than my cousins. To the outside world, they were 'different,' but to them, I was the oddball.

And, then, the Appalachian side always seemed to look at me sideways--I'm a Yankee, after all! And that was back when Southern Living magazine was only available to Southern states, and Delaware counted as a Southern state--but I was still a Yankee!"

Thanks for sharing your reunion story, Denise. You got to experience several different worlds and I'm sure it made you stronger and more tolerant of others' differences as you grew up.

Last of all here's a story that proves even four-legged friends can have good homecomings. Alicia shares this sweet story. 

"Special family homecoming that comes to mind is when I was able to bring our little dachshund home from the animal emergency care. He stayed at 2 different places for a night at each, and we were so sad and worried. What a blessing when we were able to bring him back to his family. He is a rescue and had been mistreated prior to joining our family, so we were extra worried that he would feel abandoned." 

And now for the winners. Are you hearing the drumroll? The first place winner of my Love Comes Home Celebration giveaway is Chris from FL who picked the heart necklace and my new Rosey Corner book, Love Comes Home. Debbie from GA, the 2nd prize winner then gets the Forget-Me-Not Willow Tree figurine and she picked Love Comes Home too. Mary from Australia can't say she "never wins" anymore. She picked my first Heart of Hollyhill book, Scent of Lilacs to go with the Praying the Names of God Journal. 

The 5 winners of the blog contest here are as follows. LL of CA chose Small Town Girl. Karen C of OH wants Christmas at Harmony Hill. Melanie of TX is heading to Rosey Corner for the first time so she picked Angel Sister. Nancy L of SC wants to visit  Harmony Hill and read The Outsider, and Nancy W of IN wants The Believer. A fun mixture of my titles. I'm planning more giveaways here in the months to come. I've got a stack of autographed books from other authors and I'm ready to send some of them your way. So come back to see what you might win next. 

I do appreciate all of you who commented here and to those who shared stories or enjoyed the stories others shared. Some of you commented and had your name in the hat several times. Maybe I'll look back through the entries and see who entered the most and give an extra prize. Think I should? 

As always thanks for reading! 

 

What Do You Like about June?

                       

"Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June." ~Al Bernstein  What do you like about June? Summer starting? School out? Swimming pools filling up? Flowers blooming? Gardens growing? Family vacations? Bible School? So many things to love about June - that sweet time between spring and the hot days of July and August.  For me, the last few years, June has been a time to celebrate a new book out for readers. This year follows right along with Love Comes Home available in stores and on-line. Reviews are beginning to show up on some of the on-line book sites and in some of the book review magazines. That can be fun but also a little scary. I wrote the story and made it the best I could. Editors at the publishing company helped me polish and improve and gave the book a beautiful cover. And now I have to wait and see if readers are excited about going back to Rosey Corner to see what happened next.  One kind Amazon reviewer, Robin, wrote words I was glad to read about Love Comes Home. "I love visiting Rosey Corner. It has become like home. A sweet vacationing spot. These characters seem like family." That's what I want a reader to feel when they go with me to Rosey Corner or to Hollyhill or even my Harmony Hill Shaker village. Come take a trip with me back into storyland.  June also means I get to celebrate those new books by giving some things away. Some of you have already entered my Celebration Giveaway. If you haven't, you have until the end of June to enter to win one of these prizes along with one of my autographed books. The details are here. Plus I'm picking five winners here on my blog only contest to win a copy of one of my books (winners' choices). The way to get your name in that hat is to leave a comment on a blog post here in June with a way to contact you. Each new comment on a different post gets an additional entry. Or since some of you have had trouble commenting here, you can message me on my Facebook page or by e-mail, annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com, and say you want to enter the blog giveaway.  I love hearing from you and finding out what's going on in your world. So what do you love about June? P.S. I'm having my Hometown Book Launch this Sunday, June 29, at 2:30 p.m. at my hometown library here in Lawrenceburg, KY. Come on out and help me celebrate if you are in the area. We'll talk books and there will even be door prizes. Not quite like the ones above, but still fun. P.P.S. I'm never going away, am I? :) But wanted to remind you about the Goodreads giveaway for Love Comes Home. Still time to enter there if you are a Goodreads member. Now I'm going away - I promise. At least until next time. Keep reading!

What are Your Everyday Summertime Joys?

A       "An unthankful heart is like a finger trying to sift the sand for iron–it doesn’t discover God’s mercies. But a thankful heart, just like the magnet, sweeps through life’s circumstances and finds daily blessings from God.

                                                               ... Ellen Banks Elwell

In my recent newsletter I ended with a list of Everyday blessings. Some of you added your own simple but treasured blessings when you entered my Love Comes Home Book Celebration Giveaway (If you haven't entered, you still can. Check details at my website.)

So why not think about some more on this first week of summer. Here are some to start you off.

Summer Day Treasures and Blessings

•    Swinging on swings.
•    A cold glass of lemonade or sweet iced tea.
•    Running through sprinklers.
•    Watching the sunrise.
•    Ripe tomatoes out of the garden.
•    Butterflies and hummingbirds.
•    Blackberries hanging heaving on the vine.
•    Old Hymns (especially the memory of your mother or grandmother singing them in the kitchen while she's cooking supper.)
•    Hearing the smile in someone's voice on the phone. (Especially if it's your grandchild smiling.)

And here are a few simple blessings shared by some of you already: 

•  When one of the teenagers does something for you  without a motive/reason. (That might not be one of those EVERY day blessings, right, Denise? :))
•  A good book to read & a small project finished. (ELF)
•  A cat's purr 
•  A baby's laugh 
•  Young children's giggles (the last 3 from Ellen)

What would you add? This morning I can add looking at my little flower garden and being glad the neighbor dogs haven't decided to dig in it. And also the sound of the Bob White Quail. 

So many blessings, but I want to hear what you say too. And if you leave a comment (with a way to contact you) I'll pitch your name in my giveaway hat to perhaps win a copy of your choice of one of my books. I'm drawing for five winners on July 1. Remember each comment on a new post in June gets you another entry. (You must be 18 to enter and print copies for USA or Canada and e-books overseas.)

So what everyday blessing is making you smile today?