Just before the baby entered the world about six months ago, the nurses covered all the mirrors in the delivery room with sheets and dimmed the lights, like superstitious ancients. They piled pillows on the mother’s ripe stomach. All of this so that she wouldn’t see the girl-child when she emerged into the world. Continue reading “The Best Birthday Present”
I sat quietly, waiting for the funeral to start. The church was large, the auditorium spacious. Silence crept around the room, behind the flowers and under the seats.
In the midst of this peace, the ushers brought a man in a wheel chair to the aisle seat, perhaps four rows in front of me. He was gruff and unpleasant, mumbling about something. After the ushers kindly helped him into his seat, he looked around with a harumph and wanted to know what they were going to do if he had to go to the bathroom. A valid concern.
Continue reading “The Pastor and the Man in a Wheelchair”
When you push your body to the limit, spiritual lessons creep to the foreground. Whether it’s through the endurance of unasked for pain or voluntarily running a race, there is something about the body edging close to its limit that impacts the soul.
The thing I keep thinking back on regarding the Tough Mudder is how many of those obstacles were impossible to accomplish alone.
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Four of the guys who ran the Tough Mudder in our group sat side-by-side on the stage, and the silent crowd of three hundred people looked up at them, waiting. Continue reading “Influence, Grace, and The Tough Mudder”
When you think of the number 23, who comes to mind?
Most people with any exposure to the world of sports think of Michael Jordan. Perhaps the greatest basketball player to ever stick out his tongue, Jordan brought a certain level of fame to the previously obscure #23.
So as I watched Knox McCoy’s inductions into Awesometown lead up to the 23rd person, I assumed that Knox would use it as an opportunity to induct Michael Jordan, the personification of the number 23. But he didn’t go with Michael.
He went with me.
So head on over to Knox McCoy’s website today and check out my induction into Awesometown. First of all, he’s one of the funniest writers out there, and his I’m a devoted follower of his Bachelorette recaps (even though I don’t watch The Bachelorette – that’s how funny he is). This Awesometown interview is the most entertaining question and answer session I’ve ever been part of: it involves my new book, the Wizard of Oz, time machines, and taking on the persona of Magnum P.I. Seriously, check it out HERE.
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Want to win a free copy of My Amish Roots? Subscribe to my email list in the sidebar. Each Friday from now until Christmas, I’ll be giving out a free copy of my book to two randomly chosen subscribers. And, on the last Friday of December, I’ll randomly choose one subscriber who will win a copy of each of my four books.
“There is one purpose in writing that I can see, beyond simply doing it interestingly. It is the duty of the writer to lift up, to extend, to encourage.
“If the written word has contributed anything at all to our developing species and our half-developed culture, it is this: Great writing has been a staff to lean on, a mother to consult, a wisdom to pick up stumbling folly, a strength in weakness and a courage to support sick cowardice.
“And how any negative or despairing approach can pretend to be literature, I do not know.”
– John Steinbeck, “Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters”
Agree or disagree? Is the one purpose of writing to encourage, to lift up?
Friday night at 10pm, after we finished watching A Christmas Story, I walked over to Maile and asked her to choose two random numbers. She looked annoyed, but was gracious enough to choose 7 and 25. I went down the list of subscribers to my email list and -wham!-
This week’s winners of a free copy of My Amish Roots are Dawn Paolucci-Eckert and Rosanna Dawn. I’ll send you an email for your mailing address and send the books out on Monday. Congratulations! Stay tuned next Saturday for the next two winners.
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Want to win a free copy of My Amish Roots? Subscribe to my email list. Each Friday from now until Christmas, I’ll be giving out a free copy of my book to two randomly chosen subscribers. And, on the last Friday of December, I’ll randomly choose one subscriber who will win a copy of each of my four books.
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A huge thanks to the 25 folks this week who helped spread the word about my book this week through reviews, guest posts, and Q&As. They are all quality writers that you’ll want to follow, so if you have a chance look back through this week’s posts, click over to their sites, and have a gander at their mad skillz.
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Today, from 11am to 3pm, I’ll be selling My Amish Roots at the Gap Family Center’s Christmas Spectacular. Come on by for cookie decorating, gingerbread house making, and general merriment.
