Lisa Carter's Blog, page 6

Cover Reveal—The Christmas Baby

The Christmas Baby is my favorite Love Inspired cover yet. I hope you’ll join Anna and Ryan for a romantic Christmas adventure on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

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For more behind-the-scenes inspiration from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

Let’s Go Caroling—O Come All Ye Faithful

For more behind-the-scenes inspiration from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

Beach Santa Fun

You better watch out, you better not cry. You better not pout, I’m telling you why—

Santa Claws is coming to a beach near you.

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For more behind-the-scenes inspiration from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

A Holly Jolly Beach-inspired Christmas

Here are some photos that inspired my Christmas-by-the-sea story,

The Christmas Baby.

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For more behind-the-scenes inspiration from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

Preparing Our Hearts for Christmas—a 6 minute #video

This song was my inspiration while writing The Christmas Baby. I hope you will take this opportunity to worship with me through the thought-provoking words of this song.

It is my prayer that as you prepare for this Christmas season of His advent that you will make your heart His Bethlehem. And that His love will truly be born in you.

Time for a Hot Chocolate Break—30 second sleigh ride

For more behind-the-scenes inspiration videos from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

Christmas Cookie #Recipe—Polvorones

 

Also called Mexican wedding cookies—this is the Christmas cookie Anna brought to her “surprise” baby shower—

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Servings: 41/2 dozen cookies


 Ingredients:
• 6 oz. whole pecan halves
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. Place the pecans in single layer on cookie  sheet. Put pecans in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

2. Allow pecans to cool to room temperature. Process pecans in a food processor until the pecans are finely ground. In a large bowl, add the flour, salt and cinnamon. Stir in pecans and combine.

3. With a mixer cream the butter and 1 cup of sugar. Add the vanilla and the flour mixture and mix until well blended.

4. Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into small ball for each cookie. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly brown. When the cookies cool completely, roll in the powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

For more behind-the-scenes recipes from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

Christmas Cookie #Recipe—Chinese Almond Cookies

The cookies Evy brought to the Christmas cookie swap—

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Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon water



Directions:

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Beat in egg and almond extract.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add gradually to creamed mixture.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with fork. Sprinkle with almonds.
Beat egg white and water in a small bowl. Brush glaze over cookies.
Bake cookies at 325 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until edges/bottoms are lightly browned.
Cool 2 minutes before removing cookies from sheet to wire racks.

Yield: 5 dozen

Enjoy!

For more behind-the-scenes recipes from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

Why I Wrote The Christmas Baby

Sometimes we find love. And sometimes like an unexpected gift, love finds us.

I have always been struck by the great faith shown by Joseph of Nazareth. At how far his love was willing to go in obedience to God and in love for the Child who was not his own.

The story of Bethlehem cannot be properly appreciated without also understanding Calvary. Bethlehem and Calvary are not two different stories—but one story with intertwining threads. And this is God’s story of love for you and for me.

In writing this novel I was forced to ask myself, how far was I willing to go for love? What would I sacrifice? What would I risk?

To risk much for love, like Anna, I have to be willing to come to the end of my pride and self-sufficiency if I am to discover God’s best, often unexpected, gifts for me. Like Ryan, I, too, have grappled with what this kind of love will cost me.[image error]

Sometimes I lacked the courage to love this way. The price of obedience too hard. The cost of laying down my plans too high. The death of self too painful.

But love is a choice. An unconditional love with no expectation of return demands courage. My prayer—like Ryan’s—is for God’s love to be born in me so that I might love the way God loves us. And to persevere in loving, despite knowing the outcome may never be what I long for most—but trusting God anyway.

How far is your love willing to go? How far was God’s love willing to go for us? All the way from heaven to the manger to the cross.

Why? Because God is a good father. His Son sees you and I as worth the pain, worth the grief and worth the cross. In His ultimate heroic sacrifice of love, we find our Bethlehem. It is not a something we have earned, but a gift of unfathomable grace.

Bethlehem and Calvary — the greatest love story. God’s love story for all mankind when He chose to make our heart His home. Love is calling, and I pray you will answer love’s call.

I hope you will enjoy The Christmas Baby.

For more behind-the-scenes inspiration from The Christmas Baby, visit Pinterest.

Civil Air Patrol, World War Two & the ESVA

We, the many, owe so much to the few. There was an almost forgotten time ago when German u boats prowled off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Only those living on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Outer Banks of North Carolina understood how precarious was our freedom.

Nightly, they watched in horror as the u boats sank freighters and passenger ships. The Civil Air Patrol, with bases from Florida to New Jersey, was established to locate the German wolf pack and target them before they could target Allied shipping. The CAP kept watch over the coastline until sabotage and invasion was no longer a threat, breaking the backbone of Nazi aggression in the Americas.

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When the late Billy Davis of ESVA took my husband on a quick side trip to see an old World War 2 airstrip, the idea for The Bachelor’s Unexpected Family was born.

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For more behind the scene inspiration from The Bachelor’s Unexpected Family, visit Pinterest.