Lyn Cote's Blog, page 62
December 3, 2013
Author Jessica Keller & FMSC
My guest today has also chosen to share her favorite charity, FMSC. Here’s Author Jessica Keller:
“The idea of a child somewhere in the world hungry and starving has always twisted my stomach into a knot–it’s a thought that’s kept me up at night and driven me to my knees in prayer. That passion drove me to researching organizations that help children in these situations. Many great charities exist, but I fell in love with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC).
FMSC is unique in that the organization
utilizes local volunteers to pack meals at one of their many distribution centers. My first time packing meals was life-changing. With one hour of work the group I was working with was able to pack enough meals to feed an orphanage for an entire year. As we loaded the boxes onto the pallet for shipment we prayed over the food and prayed blessings over the children it would feed.
When I first researched organizations to become involved in I was disappointed to find that all too often many of the dollars donated don’t actually reach the people in need. This is not the case with FMSC. They use donations so effectively that they’re able to feed one child for a year on $80. FMSC has received the highest 4-star rating from Charity Navigator (the nation’s toughest charity watchdog) eight years in a row. This is an achievement that FMSC shares with only 2% of charities in America.
In my short story “Mrs. Meyer’s Christmas Caller”
which is included in the Cup of Christmas Cheer collection, the main character, Jane, is an orphan much like the children that Feed My Starving Children strives to help. Jane has had a hard life, but she was lucky to have people in her life that loved and helped her along the way. Despite that, she still wonders about the reasons her mother gave her up all those years ago. Not knowing haunts her, so she finally tracks down her birth mother and shows up at her home on Christmas Eve.To learn more about FMSC:
December 1, 2013
Award-Winning and Best-Selling Author Linda Goodnight & HK2
My guest today RITA Award-Winning Author Linda Goodnight will share how she became interested in her favorite charity and all about her Christmas book! She’s even offering a book giveaway! Here’s Linda:
A TV Show
“Some years ago I saw a television program about the deplorable conditions in international orphanages, particularly the old Soviet Union. The experience so touched me that I wanted to support ministries that reached out to those children. One ministry, His Kids Too! grabbed my attention. Begun by one very strong, determined woman and her husband, HK2 collects and distributes humanitarian aid to thousands of orphans in Ukraine. The ministry also provides summer Bible camps, aid to shelters and widows, transitional living facilities for orphaned teens who age out with nowhere to go, medical assistance to the poor and elderly and much more, all through a grass-roots effort by the founder and director, Teresa Fillmon.
A One-Family Show or Charity
A few years ago, my oldest daughter had the opportunity to travel with Teresa to Ukraine. The conditions stunned and changed her. A couple of years later she again returned to teach and minister in the orphanages and attests to the fabulous work done by the selfless Teresa and her husband.
The fascinating thing about HK2 is there is no huge staff of workers. This is not a giant charity raking in millions with a large overhead and big administrative salaries. To this day, HK2 remains one woman and her family who rally a team of volunteers from churches and communities who want to make a difference. Next summer, my oldest Ukrainian daughter and I plan to be part of that team of volunteers to work in the Bible camps and distribute aid to the orphans and needy of Ukraine.
Sugarplum Homecoming
To purchase, click here. Sugarplum Homecoming (Whisper Falls)
How, you may ask, does this relate to the heroine in my latest book, Sugarplum Homecoming?
Here’s how: His Kids Too! gives young girls and women a chance, no matter their pasts. Many come from abusive, alcoholic situations and have lived on the streets. Lana, the heroine in Sugarplum Homecoming is no different. Ashamed of her bad girl past, she’s been on the streets. She’s struggled with alcoholism. But faced with the care of her niece, Lana must dig deep inside and find the strength to make a home for a needy child in the very place that brought her the greatest pain and shame. With the help of the Lord and the town “good guy”, Lana just might find her happy-ever-after.
Because I really want you to enjoy this warm, emotional Christmas story, I’m giving a copy away! Leave a comment for a chance to win Sugarplum Homecoming.“–Linda
November 26, 2013
The Movie the Son of God, Another by Roma Downey
Here’s the trailer for a new movie coming out February 28, 2014
I loved Roma in TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL.
I know I’ll go see this movie too.
And here’s a Christmas book for you.
A Story of Christmas and All of Us by Roma Downy and Mark Burnett. I have a copy of this hardback to giveaway. I think it would be excellent for a family with children.
BOOK DRAWING
See the question at the end and leave a comment to enter the drawing for the book.
To purchase, click cover.
QUESTION: Do you like to go to movies based on the Bible like this one? Why or why not?–Lyn
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November 23, 2013
Lyn Interviews Author Karen Kirst
November 19, 2013
Author Laura Abbot & an Independent Granddaughter
My guest today is author Laura Abbot who has written for Superromance and now for Love Inspired Historical. Today Laura shares about the Strongest Women she knows. Here’s Laura:
I am grateful to Lyn for showcasing strong women and the significant contributions they make as well as the examples they set. We are the richer for it!
My 22 year old Granddaughter
We often think of strong women as being those seasoned by years and experience. One of the strongest women I know, however, is my twenty-two year old granddaughter, Katie. In Into the Wilderness, my first book for Love Inspired Historical, Lily Kellogg, the heroine, had long fantasized about the glamorous life she would live in the big city, far removed from rural Kansas. Discovering that her ideal world was tarnished, Lily had to do some deep soul-searching and open herself to other opportunities.
To Be a Lawyer
Likewise, Katie had unswervingly set her sights upon becoming a lawyer, marrying, and working ultimately in the high-stress world of politics. Just as Lily’s dreams were altered by circumstances requiring openness to new possibilities, so Katie’s have been.
Just days before her nineteenth birthday
she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition for which stress is the ultimate enemy. Worried that she would never achieve her lofty ambitions or find a man willing to accept her limitations, she experienced a natural letdown. Yet hardly had the ink dried on her first prescription than her darling Andrew appeared, full of love for his remarkable Katie, whom he married in June of 2013.
Her career plans thwarted,
Katie prayed for enlightenment concerning a different path for her life, one involving service to others. After graduating from college in December, 2012, she took on a two-month assignment as a substitute teacher in the independent school where she had been a student, grades pre-K through12. True, God had shut one door, but consider the window He opened! Katie currently has a full-time position teaching ninth grade social studies at that same school and is striving to set an example of excellence and resilience for her students.
Life is full of twists and turns.
Lily Kellogg and Katie each experienced the challenge of forgoing long-cherished dreams. They are examples, though, of the fact that strong women not only adapt, they thrive!”–Laura
Author Laura Abbott & an Independent Granddaughter
My guest today is author Laura Abbot who has written for Superromance and now for Love Inspired Historical. Today Laura shares about the Strongest Women she knows. Here’s Laura:
I am grateful to Lyn for showcasing strong women and the significant contributions they make as well as the examples they set. We are the richer for it!
My 22 year old Granddaughter
We often think of strong women as being those seasoned by years and experience. One of the strongest women I know, however, is my twenty-two year old granddaughter, Katie. In Into the Wilderness, my first book for Love Inspired Historical, Lily Kellogg, the heroine, had long fantasized about the glamorous life she would live in the big city, far removed from rural Kansas. Discovering that her ideal world was tarnished, Lily had to do some deep soul-searching and open herself to other opportunities.
To Be a Lawyer
Likewise, Katie had unswervingly set her sights upon becoming a lawyer, marrying, and working ultimately in the high-stress world of politics. Just as Lily’s dreams were altered by circumstances requiring openness to new possibilities, so Katie’s have been.
Just days before her nineteenth birthday
she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition for which stress is the ultimate enemy. Worried that she would never achieve her lofty ambitions or find a man willing to accept her limitations, she experienced a natural letdown. Yet hardly had the ink dried on her first prescription than her darling Andrew appeared, full of love for his remarkable Katie, whom he married in June of 2013.
Her career plans thwarted,
Katie prayed for enlightenment concerning a different path for her life, one involving service to others. After graduating from college in December, 2012, she took on a two-month assignment as a substitute teacher in the independent school where she had been a student, grades pre-K through12. True, God had shut one door, but consider the window He opened! Katie currently has a full-time position teaching ninth grade social studies at that same school and is striving to set an example of excellence and resilience for her students.
Life is full of twists and turns.
Lily Kellogg and Katie each experienced the challenge of forgoing long-cherished dreams. They are examples, though, of the fact that strong women not only adapt, they thrive!”–Laura
November 17, 2013
Auhtor Bonnie Leon & The Journey of Eleven Moons
My guest today is Northwest author Bonnie Leon who shares her mother’s story. Here’s Bonnie.:
“For a lot of years, my mother was just Mom.
I loved stories about her youth and I’d witnessed her generosity and kindness, but I didn’t think much about her being special. It’s interesting how we can have a genuine heroic person in our lives and not know it . . . at least not until something happens to open our eyes.
Like Anna, in The Journey of Eleven Moons, my mother is part Aleut.
World War II was raging and she was just eighteen when she left her Alaskan home and headed for Seattle and adventure. She met a handsome sailor named Roy (my dad) and married him in 1946. They remained deeply in love up until his death in 1975. Mom remarried three years later and found another adventure with a man named Orville.Everyone called him Trigger.
I missed a lot of those years.
I married and moved away from home when I was nineteen and lived far from my mother most of my life. Distance didn’t diminish my love or admiration for her, but I didn’t know her the way I do now.
Needed a Heart Valve
In September 2011, at age eighty-seven, Mom was told she needed a heart valve replacement or she’d die. The valve had been damaged by a bad case of rheumatic fever when she was fifteen. The doctors had said she’d never live a normal life—they were wrong. Mom wasn’t going to hand over her life then and she wasn’t going to hand it over at age eighty-seven either. Surgery went well, though we weren’t prepared for the intense pain that followed. Evenso, Mom looked like she was on her way toward recovery.
Two weeks later, that changed
when a fiery red incision sent Mom to the ER. She had staph. Months of IV antibiotics and a wound-vac followed. The incision was opened and cleaned every other day. More than once we were convinced Mom was going home to heaven. But she still had a lot of good humor, thankfulness and optimism to share. After more than five months in rehab, Mom was finally well enough to go home.
And then the unthinkable happened.
Trigger died.Family gathered. We mourned and we fought for Mom. She’d been our strength for so long, now she needed us. It took only a few days for her to rally. She dug down and found strength and courage to do what she must.
Mom had to say farewell to her Washington home and move on to a new way of living here in Oregon. It hasn’t been easy. She never fully recovered from the surgery and staph infection. She lives in an assisted living home near me and every day is a challenge. But Mom rarely complains. Instead, she talks about how blessed she is and how thankful she is for the people in her life. And she tells me every day how much she loves me.
These days, Mom and I spend lots of time together.
We laugh and cry and pray. And now I really know my mother. Like Anna, in The Journey of Eleven Moons, Mom fought for life, unwilling to give up when most would. She’s a living example of what it means to be courageous. She’s shown me how to live, and her thankful heart reminds me how much I have to be thankful for.”–Bonnie
To purchase, click here. The Journey of Eleven Moons
Bonnie be found online at:
November 15, 2013
Coming Soon-NOAH, the movie
I’ve heard mixed reviews of this movie but from this trailer, it appears to be God-focused. Will you go to see it?–Lyn
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November 12, 2013
Author Penny Richards & Grandma Lang
My guest today is veteran author Penny Richards. She, Lenora Worth and I wrote a novella collection about a decade ago, Blessed Bouquets. Now she’s writing for Love Inspired’s Historical line. Here’s Penny:
“I appreciate Lyn asking me to be her guest. I actually come from a long line of strong women, including both of my grandmothers who had very different roles. I loved them both dearly but today I’d like to talk about Grandma Long, my mom’s mother.
She was part Sioux,
and brought much of her heritage with her when she married my grandfather, who was twenty years older than she and had teenage children. The first petroleum that was found in Fayette County Illinois was found on her dad’s property, and the William Henry Lilly field is still pumping. He bought all his kids a farm, and grandma did a man’s work while my grandpa worked for the highway department or the county as road commissioner.
Doing a Man’s Work
I remember her wearing men’s clothing and shoes as she tackled doing everything, from planting a garden and canning hundreds of jars of stuff for the winter, milking the cows and seeing to planting and harvesting the fields. Somehow she found time to have amazing flower gardens and even propagated her own new colors of iris. She didn’t have much education and her writing was pretty crude, but she loved to read and because of that, she never stopped learning. Besides her garden and orchard, she knew what wild things were good to eat, like dandelion, wild onion, dock and cattail roots. She was always pointing out things to us kids when we were with her.
Her way to “get away”
was to go fishing in the creek or to walk the plowed fields looking for arrowheads and other Indian artifacts. When she died, she had bushel baskets full. She didn’t have in indoor bathroom until I was grown. I never heard her complain. She was a woman who lived close to the earth, did what was needed to provide for her family and took her joy in small pleasures.
To Purchase, click cover.
Abby Gentry in WOLF CREEK WEDDING
has many of the same traits. She knows what is important and does whatever is necessary to provide for her family, even giving up her last links to her mother. Like Grandma Long, Abby takes great joy in reading, learning and teaching. She also knows how to make something pretty and memorable out of something as simple as pine boughs wild berries and a cup of hot cocoa. She knows that fun times are often impromptu and unexpected. Abby knows the importance of tradition and family and is determined to create both with her new husband, Caleb.
November 10, 2013
2014 & New Ideas for this Strong Women, Brave Stories Blog
is my theme as an author and this blog is dedicated to that concept.
True Stories
I really enjoy hosting other authors here. I’m always amazed at the wonderful true stories that guest authors reveal and how readers respond to these stories with their own real feelings and experiences. It is a pleasure and an emotional lift to me and I think, to you!
On November 30th, this blog will celebrate its 5th anniversary. It now has over a 1000 subscribers and 100-300 visitors drop by every week also.
Guest Authors, Books, Interviews & Reviews
You’ve become accustomed to each guest author sharing about her life and connecting her life to the story she has written. This year I also added the Interview format for a change of pace. Plus I have continued to post reviews of books I’ve enjoyed and think you might enjoy also.
I want to continue the brand of this blog with more stories of strong women but I also like to add something new each year.
Would you like to be Interviewed?
I was wondering if any of you subscribers or readers would like to be interviewed here. I’d like to ask a few questions about the books you have read and love and any wisdom you would like to share. Would you be interested? If so, please leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you in 2014 and schedule you for an interview.
Sequel to La Belle Christiane
Also in 2010, I share an original novel here, scene by scene. La Belle Christiane. I have a sequel to it, Lady Sarah, already written but in need of revising. I’m planning on posting some chapters next year for comment. I reallly appreciated the comments on Christiane I received. I think it made the book much stronger. I’d like the same feedback on Christiane’s daughter’s story. (If you missed La Belle Christiane, click Archived Free Read to find it.)
I’m looking forward to another rewarding year with this blog, its many guests, and the comments–Lyn
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