A Flabbergasted Winner

Flabbergasted, Surprised and Astonished

Have you ever been totally astonished? Even flabbergasted? (That's one of those words that just sounds exactly like what it means. Love those kinds of words.) But back to being flabbergasted. I was last Wednesday when my book, Love Comes Home, won the Selah Book of the Year Award. 

My books have been in the running for prizes before. The Believer was a finalist for the Carol Awards given out by the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) group. The Outsider was a finalist for the ECPA Fiction Book of the Year and Angel Sister was up for RT Book Review Magazine's Inspirational Book of the Year once. Sort of one of those always a bridesmaid and never a bride situations. And so when I found out my book, Love Comes Home, was a finalist for a Selah Award in the Historical Romance Category, I was excited because it's great to even be a finalist, but I didn't expect to win. Not at all. 

However, I did decide to attend the banquet because the place where it was being held, Ridgecrest, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains looked like such a peaceful and beautiful place when I checked it out on the internet. And it was. A plus was that it's not all that far from my daughter's house in South Carolina. So going to the awards banquet in order to have a couple of days to unwind at Ridgecrest and then a visit with my daughter seemed a good idea. Not only would I have an excuse to dress up, I would enjoy seeing some writing friends I knew would be there. I could sit at my table and clap and be happy for the winners. 

I Won!!

Then amazingly enough Love Comes Home won the Selah Award for the Christian Historical Romance. That was a wow right there. But when they announced the Book of the Year and Love Comes Home won that too, that's when the wow went straight to flabbergasted. I couldn't believe it. But Eva Marie Everson, who was presenting the awards, had a plaque with my name engraved on it. And she gave it to me! I was smiling, with a few tears mixed in, all night. Felt just like I was at the Oscars or something. Well, maybe not exactly like that. But it was exciting and fun to have my book win. Oh, and Darrell and I also had a relaxing day enjoying the scenery and peace and quiet at Ridgecrest too.

Don't Forget About the Mother's Day Contest

One more week to get your entry in for my contest celebrating mothers. You can check out the prizes and details on my website Events Page. Some of you have been sending in stories about your mothers or special Mothers' Day stories. I appreciate all of you who enter and doubly appreciate you sharing a story. 

First here's one from Kim that made me smile.

My story about my mom isn’t from Mother’s Day, but rather my wedding day a few years ago. It’s my favorite mom story (and that says something because I have a lot!). My sisters and I helped mom pick out a new outfit for the wedding, she got her hair done at the same time I did, and I even gifted her with jewelry for the occasion. At the wedding and reception so many people told her that she looked great (and she did!), that she stopped me at one point and asked, “How bad do I normally look?” My mom has been gone nearly four years, but that story and many others make me smile when I want to cry.

Love that story, Kim. And here's one from Cam that seemed to fit Memorial Day weekend and did make me remember Mom. 

Your newsletter brought to mind my own mother’s battle with dementia...she passed away 5 years ago at the age of 95 no longer knowing her children. It was sad...she was a bright, up front, outgoing woman...who graduated from college at a time when women didn’t even consider going to college. She spent her life working as a teacher, and a secretary and, after retirement, volunteered so much that she won an award. She was a mother to be very proud of, and as I get older I realize that fact more and more. A dear uncle of mine told me once that after he lost his parents (my grandparents), never a day went by that he didn’t think of them.  And, oh, he was so right!

So...cherish the memories, remember the good days and always acknowledge that it’s ok to shed a few tears!

Thanks for the great advice, Cam. We do need to cherish the memories of our loved ones. And if your mother is still down here on earth with you, hug her and tell her how much you love her. 

Mothers, Feed Sack Dresses and Sparklers

"My mother taught me about the power of inspiration and courage, and she did it with a strength and a passion that I wish could be bottled." ~Cathy Fiorina

I know you were expecting more birthday stories to go along with my birthday giveaway. (Remember you can check out details here.) So the mother quote may have surprised you. But without our mothers, we couldn't have a birthday. Mothers and birthdays have an undeniable connection. Plus, our mothers may be the first to give us wonderful birthday celebrations.

One of the fun parts of these contests I have is hearing from you, my reading friends. Some of you have shared stories with me over and over in different contests, and I'm so grateful for that. The stories make me a winner every time I have one of these giveaways and I do hope you enjoy sharing your stories too. 

Sometimes a friend will share something more the way Ola did here when she sent me the above picture of her on her 7th birthday in a dress made by her mother. It's so pretty and you can see how Ola loved it. When I asked Ola if I could use her picture, she wrote me a little more about her mother. So many of you have shared about your mothers after I shared about mine in my newsletter. A good mother is a blessing and a gift and Ola had one of those good mothers. Here's what she told me about her.

"No, I don't mind if you share. That's one of my favorite pics of me. I wish I had one of the dresses my mama made me now. I would really love to have one made of feedsacks that she made. She was an amazing woman to raise 7 kids mostly by herself. She raised a big garden and canned it to feed us. She sewed, knitted, crocheted, quilted and made all sorts of dolls to sell. She went back to school and graduated from high school when she was 67 years old. She's been gone 10 years now and I still miss her but see her all around me."

Thanks for sharing about your mother, Ola. She does sound like an amazing woman and I'm sure she raised some amazing children. You also brought back memories of those feed sacks or flour sacks. I don't remember if I had dresses made from them, but I do remember others talking about those cotton sacks. The feed sacks I remember were gunny sacks and the flour companies switched over to paper bags. But here's a pattern I found on this blog, The Country Farmhome, all about those feed sack dresses and some interesting photos and history. Any of you remember these?

Sometimes our mothers have parties for us and sometimes we have parties for them. Here's Stefanie's story about how she tried to make her mother's birthday special, but sometimes great ideas need to be fine tuned a bit. Even so, mothers know how to take it in stride with a smile. 

"My birthday story is about my Mom. She was born on July 10 and loved the 4th of July. Well, one year I decided to put sparklers on her cake. Let's just say that there were quite a few burning in place of candles. We could not eat the cake because the metal sparklers had left a gritty, black soot on the frosting and the cake itself tasted like the sparklers smelled!!! But Mom, being who she was, loved it anyway!!! She has been gone 16 years and I miss her like it was today. Love you, Mom."

 

Thanks for sharing with us, Stefanie and warning us off those sparklers in place of candles. 

Hope if you haven't thrown your name into my drawing hat for the giveaway for gift cards and books, that you will. You can find out more about the prizes and how to enter on this post. As always, thanks for reading.

Mothers - Everybody has one

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there and to all the children who have or had good mothers! Is there any blessing to compare to a wonderful mother who loves you without reservation and yet knows you're not perfect so she's willing to invest some time and loving discipline on you? The greatest gift we can give our children is their independence, but sometimes it's hard watching them fly away from the nest where we've done our best to keep them safe and moderately happy. I don't think we should take upon our shoulders any other person's happiness. We can be happy together. We can be happy for them. We have to teach our kids how to find happiness on their own. They're not ever going to be satisfied with happiness we try to plant inside them. They have to grow their own.

And yet it is sometimes so hard to watch our babies try their wings and fly right into storms or take off following the wrong flight pattern. We know they need to veer to the left or right and if we were only with them, we could tell them that. But we can't follow them every day of their lives. We have to let them go and when we do, we see them making mistakes the same as they've done all their lives. The same as we've done all our lives. Mistakes and messing up are part of a human being's make-up. We wish they were something we could avoid. Something we could help our children avoid. But the obstacles of life trip all of us up at times. So what can we do when our children are old enough to be on their own? We can pray for them. We can share in their joys and their sorrows. We can keep on loving them just as much as we always have. We can hope they will grow strong in character and abilities. We can give them the benefit of our experience, but don't be surprised if they smile and pretend to listen while holding mental hands over their ears. We had to learn on our own, making some painful mistakes in the process and so do our children. But we always want to help them. That's what mamas do.

I did my speech at the Paul Sawyier Library. The place was nice. The library there is a great facility. I took prizes and trivia fun. The lady who invited me to come was super sweet and kind. Just one thing went wrong, everybody forgot to show up. The weather was lousy and I don't blame people for wanting to stay in where it was dry and warm. I did have a couple of friends show up, so they let me practice my speaking abilities on them. I guess I'd better wait until I'm more famous or have more friends before the next outing. Still we had fun and as with writing where every new story adds to our storytelling experience, every speaking opportunity adds to my speaking experience and maybe my speaking ability. I enjoy speaking to people, but I have remind myself that if the Lord wants me to do this along with my writing, He will open the doors. He's certainly been opening some doors for me with my writing.

It's wet and chilly here today. Yesterday was fantastic - warm and sunny. But today we're having locust winter. The locust trees are beautiful this year. In bloom big time. I have yet to catch a whiff of their sweet scent. I guess it's been too rainy. But I'm going to grab a bloom to smell before all the petals blow away on the wind.

Hope all of you have a great week. And thanks for being great mothers.