Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 453

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—Nov. 14, 1942: British and Americans launch offensive from Algeria toward Tunisia. New song in Top Ten: “There Will Never Be Another You.”

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—Nov. 13, 1942: In Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Rear Adm. Daniel Callaghan & Rear Adm. Norman Scott are killed. Cruiser USS Juneau sunk in Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, all five Sullivan brothers are killed.

Hope Chronicles - Giveaway Winners!

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for The Hope Chronicles last week. The blog hop featured journal entries from 5 historical romance authors. Our desire was to bring you lasting hope through these letters, grounded in the hope of our Lord that does not disappoint, and written from the fictional viewpoints of each book’s heroine. We’re so thankful for each of you who joined the event.

To read more about the project and the one-of-a-kind, hand-inscribed Hope Chronicles journal, which bounced from state to state until all five of us had spent some time with it, click here. To read the blog posts with the journal entries, click each author's name below.

And now the winners!

The grand prize winner of the journal containing handwritten entries from all five authors is...Becky Guinn!

Monday, November 5th: Regina Jennings (Heroine: Rosa Garner, Sixty Acres and a Bride) - The winner is...Wendy Newcomb!

Tuesday, November 6th: Joanne Bischof (Heroine: Lonnie Sawyer, Be Still My Soul) -
The winner is...Karen K.!

Wednesday, November 7th: Amanda Dykes (Heroine: Georgianna Wentworth, Upon the Waters) - The winner is...Elizabeth Jorgensen!

Thursday, November 8th: Karen Barnett (Heroine: Abby Fischer, Shaken) - The winner is Jenny ("jennyjenjen")!

Friday, November 9th: Sarah Sundin  (Heroine: Mellie Blake, With Every Letter) - The winner is Becky Guinn! Yes, a double winner!

All winners are being notified by e-mail.

Thank you for participating in the Hope Chronicles and for spreading the good news of hope!

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—Nov. 12, 1942: US Ninth AF formed in Egypt under Lt. Gen. Lewis Brereton. Morocco and Algeria are in Allied hands (770 Americans and 240 British killed in Torch landings). Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond CA launches Liberty Ship SS Robert E. Peary 4 days after keel is laid, a wartime record.

Thoughts on This Veterans Day

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the First World War came to an end.

The Armistice was signed for the War to End All Wars, but peace was built on a shoddy foundation, and war returned, nastier than ever. The end of the Second World War brought the United Nations and the promise of rational negotiation and eternal peace. Instead the nuclear era introduced the tense decades of the Cold War, flaring up in brutal regional wars in Korea, Vietnam, and throughout Africa and Central and South America. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall brought optimism for a peaceful, democratic world. This was shattered by the terrorist tactics of a new enemy without borders to attack or a government to negotiate with. A cowardly enemy that cheers when children blow up children or when unarmed soldiers are murdered on their home base.

The human heart yearns for peace but is drawn to war. We can argue about it and say it shouldn't be this way, but it is.

That's why our armed services are vital. Our veterans have repelled the forces of Fascism, Totalitarianism, and Communism, and for this we owe them our eternal gratitude. Our active servicemen and servicewomen are currently fighting the forces of Terrorism, and for this we owe them our active support and appreciation.

On this 11th day of the 11th month, we thank the members of our armed services, past and present, for protecting our lives, our homes, and our freedom. May God bless you in your efforts.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—Nov. 11, 1942: Allied and French forces cease fire in North Africa at 0700. Germans occupy Vichy France in response to French surrender in North Africa. British Eighth Army enters Libya, pushing Germans out of Egypt. Three Air Evacuation Squadrons are activated at Bowman Field, KY.

Today in World War II History

Oran, Algeria. Source: National Archives70 Years Ago—Nov. 10, 1942: US takes Oran, Algeria and Mehdia, Morocco. Movie premiere of Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour. Australians force Japanese out of Oivi, New Guinea.

Hope Chronicles: Mellie Blake

Welcome to the final day of The Hope Chronicles.

The Hope Chronicles is a blog hop and journal between 5 historical romance authors. Our desire is to bring you lasting hope through these letters, grounded in the hope of our Lord that does not disappoint, and written from the fictional viewpoints of each book’s heroine. We’re so glad to have you join the event. Each day this week, a new Hope Chronicles post will go live, complete with a journal entry and a new giveaway for that blog post.

To read more about the project and enter to win the one-of-a-kind, hand-inscribed Hope Chronicles journal, which bounced from state to state until all five of us had spent some time with it, click here.
To find your way to the other four blog posts and enter each of the five Hope Chronicles prize bundle giveaways, read on! We have a list for you at the bottom of this post.

Today's entry comes from Lt. Mellie Blake, US Army Nurse Corps, written on February 22, 1943 from Oran, Algeria, where she has just landed in order to serve as a flight nurse for wounded Allied soldiers in North Africa. Mellie is the heroine of my most recent novel, With Every Letter (Revell, September 2012), Book 1 in the Wings of the Nightingale series.



Anna at workHere is a copy of Mellie's entry in the Hope Chronicles journal and the nightingale drawn in the journal by my talented daughter, Anna...

The Greater Hope: Mellie's Letter

Dear Papa,

My heart sings with the joy of hope fulfilled, muted by the tension of hope deferred. Today I received a letter from the Red Cross stating you are alive but in a Japanese prison camp for civilians at Santo Tomas in the Philippines.

At last I can write you! However, the Japanese allow only a paltry twenty-four words in the body of the letter, so I’ll express the rest of my thoughts on these pages instead.

Over a year has passed since the Japanese invaded the Philippines, and even longer since you persuaded me to return stateside. If only I’d convinced you to join me, but I know my botanist father would never leave when his favorite flowers are in bloom.


Flight nurses in training at the School of Air Evacuation
Bowman Field, KentuckyWe’ve always been a pair, and I hate the thought of you alone. I wish I could relieve your worries. I am doing well. As we discussed, I joined the Army Nurse Corps. Recently I became a flight nurse, an exciting new profession that combines my call to nursing with my love of adventure. When you named me Philomela, meaning “nightingale,” did you know one day I’d truly bring mercy on wing?

While I wish they could have sent my squadron west to the Pacific, closer to you, we sailed east to the Mediterranean. The Americans and British landed in Morocco and Algeria in November and are now fighting the Germans in Tunisia. Yesterday we landed in Oran, Algeria. You would love the hibiscus and bougainvillea.

For the past year I’ve lived in dread for you, scarcely overcome by hope. With no word about your safety, I faced the possibility of a life alone. But God provided others to comfort and encourage me.

Two of the nurses in my squadron, Georgie and Rose, have become such dear friends. I also correspond anonymously with an Army engineer I’ve nicknamed Ernest. He and I have much in common, things we can share in the freedom of anonymity. He’s a good man, Papa, and you needn’t worry about broken hearts. Anonymity is too precious for each of us.

I don’t know what conditions you face in Santo Tomas, whether you’re getting enough food or how you’re treated. But I pray for you constantly.

I pray the Americans will invade the Philippines soon, and you’ll come home safe and healthy and whole. This hope may or may not be attained.

While the possibility of not seeing you again on this earth grieves me, I cling to the greater hope.

No matter what the Japanese do, no matter what disease and deprivation do, no matter what shells and bombs do, nothing can strip away this hope.

No matter what, you and I will be united in heaven forever with our beloved Savior! The joy I experienced today is nothing compared to the joy of that glorious day!

Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” Oh, Papa, this is so true. Despite our hardship and separation, we are blessed when we trust in Him.

These are evil days, ruled by evil men, but “Thou art my hope in the day of evil” (Jeremiah 17:17).

The Lord is present in our separation, comfort in your suffering, and strength in my weakness. He is Father to me and the truest friend in loneliness. That is the hope no enemy can kill.

My dear Papa, while I rejoice in the news that you live, I rejoice more deeply knowing you share this strength-giving hope.

As I finish this letter—never to be mailed—but one day, I pray, to be shared in your presence—I sing one of your favorite hymns, “The Solid Rock.” [Public Domain]

You cannot hear my voice, but the Lord will carry the message to your heart…

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In ev’ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way.
He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand—
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

With all my love,
From your little nightingale,
Mellie



Mellie's prize bundle:
A signed copy of With Every Letter Handmade "Mellie's First Aid Kit" stocked with Band-Aids, antibiotic ointment, hand sanitizer, and - for true emergencies - Starbucks Via coffeeStash Moroccan Mint Green Tea, to commemorate Mellie's time in North AfricaBlank note cards decorated with exotic flowers and a pen to write your own letters"Bon Voyage" sticky notes for Mellie's adventure-loving, globe-trotting natureAnne Taintor Vintage Dark Chocolate with the logo: "Whoever said laughter is the best medicine had clearly never tasted chocolate."To enter to win Mellie's prize bundle, please leave a comment below, including your email address in the following format: sarah[at]sarahsundin[dot]com. Since Mellie gleaned hope from her new friends and from music, if you'd like, share about a song or about a friend or family member who has brought hope to you. To place extra entries please share links on Facebook and/or Tweet with the hashtag #hopechronicles…then comment again to tell us about it. No Purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Must be 18 or older and a resident of the U.S. or Canada to enter. By entering, entrant agrees to these terms and releases giveaway sponsor from any and all liability.

To enter to win the Hope Chronicles journal, please visit the Hope Chronicles page.

Winners for the journal and for each of the individual prize bundles will be drawn at 12 noon Pacific time, November 12, 2012.Winner will be notified via e-mail shortly thereafter and announced on this blog.

To go back and read the other Hope Chronicles entries and register to win those prize packs, check out the links below.

Monday, November 5th: Regina Jennings (Heroine: Rosa Garner, Sixty Acres and a Bride)
Tuesday, November 6th: Joanne Bischof (Heroine: Lonnie Sawyer, Be Still My Soul)
Wednesday, November 7th: Amanda Dykes (Heroine: Georgianna Wentworth, Upon the Waters)
Thursday, November 8th: Karen Barnett (Heroine: Abby Fischer, Shaken)
Friday, November 9th: Sarah Sundin (Heroine: Mellie Blake, With Every Letter)

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—Nov. 9, 1942: Germans force Danish King Christian to appoint pro-Nazi Erik Scavenius as prime minister. German planes transport troops to El Aouina Airfield, in French Tunisia to combat Allied landings in Algeria. Stars and Stripes first published as a daily newspaper for overseas American servicemen.

Hope Chronicles - Day Four

The Hope Chronicles is a blog hop and journal between 5 historical romance authors. Our desire is to bring you lasting hope through these letters, grounded in the hope of our Lord that does not disappoint, and written from the fictional viewpoints of each book’s heroine. We’re so glad to have you join the event. Each day this week, a new Hope Chronicles post will go live, complete with a journal entry and a new giveaway for that blog post.

To read more about the project and enter to win the one-of-a-kind, hand-inscribed Hope Chronicles journal, which bounced from state to state until all five of us had spent some time with it, click here.

Today's entry in the Hope Chronicles comes from author Karen Barnett and her heroine Abby Fischer from Shaken . To read Abby's words of hope and enter to win Abby's prize bundle, please visit Karen Barnett's blog.