Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 173

Who's in your Manger?

I was going to write about the gift of the Magi or maybe something to do with the twelve days of Christmas, since it is the twelfth day of Christmas today. I went on-line to do some research and came across this story. Click on this link for the entire article. It is taken from the website of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New Rochelle, New York. 


In 1994, two Americans traveled to Russia to teach morals and ethics in prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments and a large orphanage. During the Christmas season, they shared the story of the first Christmas with the 100 orphans at the orphanage. Then they helped the children to recreate their own nativity scenes using scraps of fabric, cardboard and paper napkins.
One of the Americans watched as one six year old boy, Misha, finished his project and put two cloth babies in the manger. Through the translator he asked the young boy to explain why where there were two babies.
Misha accurately retold the story of Jesus birth until he got to the end of the story. This is what he had to say:
"And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay.   "I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn't, because I didn't have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift.   "So I asked Jesus, "If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?" And Jesus told me, "If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.""So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him---for always."
The volunteer who wrote this story went on to write:
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed.    The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him-FOR ALWAYS. I've learned that it's not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.

...Amid the Chaos

In the spring of 2011, my husband got a new job – a fulltime one with benefits. Yeah! But that meant that he wouldn’t be able to take off for a summer vacation. We had already made plans and it wasn’t until the week before that I cancelled our reservations and sought out something for myself to do that week. Just like the Green LakeChristian Writers Conference, I had known for years that the town just up the road from us held a School of the Arts each summer. This weeklong school offers courses in photography, painting, other visual arts, and writing. I had always thought about attending but it never worked out.


Low and behold the week I was off in July 2011 was the week in which the UW-Madison was hosting the annual School of the Arts in Rhinelander. I gave them a call and signed up for a class in marketing your writing.
There were not one but two other participants from my home town. One of them, Mark Gaedtke, had been writing a weekly column for our paper for years. I think that I knew he was working on compiling those columns into a book, but it wasn’t until that workshop that I really learned much about it.
Needless to say, when Mark’s book came out a few months back, I downloaded it onto my Kindle as soon as I was able. My husband fed my reading fix by buying the paperback version a few weeks later.
“Harold's Boys: Observations,Opinions, and Outright Lies from Amid the Chaos” is a wonderful book. It shares the many adventures and misadventures of growing up in rural America during a time when kids truly were innocent and naive, when kids had lots of siblings and one mom and one dad. I suppose I am biased, as this book is based in the town where I too grew up, but I think that anyone who was a kid during the sixties and seventies could relate to the many stores shared in this book. And it was all good clean fun. 




























“Harold’s Boy” is available on line at both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble . 

Clearing the thoughts

At Green Lake Christian Writers Conference last summer, one of the things our instructor encouraged us to do was to spend the first waking minutes writing the first thoughts that came to mind. That sure didn’t work for me; my first waking minutes are spent in a complete daze. But it was great to spend that week at the Conference spending ten or fifteen random minutes each day writing the first thing that came to mind. It is a good exercise to get the creative juices flowing.  
Unfortunately, that entire ten or fifteen minutes of random writing went right out the window as soon as I got home. With so many other things to write, who has time to write off the top of your head?

I think I need to try to reestablish that practice, if only as a form of journaling to clear the thoughts. And heaven knows, I need my thoughts cleared a lot. Just like Mary, our Green Lake instructor.   Whenever I am feeling down all I have to do is think of this picture of Mary and I start to laugh!

What are you driving?

“Writing is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L. Doctorow
Isn’t all of life that way, though? We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, we don’t know what is around the next curve. All we can do is keep going.
I joined yet another writing challenge, the Ultimate BlogChallenge. The goal is to post on your blog every single day the entire month of January. I have a tentative outline for all of those days, but it seems that things in my life keep changing, evolving. Just like the novel I had been trying to write (and have sadly neglected the last month and a half), I don’t know what’s around the corner. But I will keep driving this crazy car called “the aspiring writer”. We will see where I end up. 

Wow! Big News

I’ve been really trying hard to get some good solid goals established for writing in 2013. I even submitted a piece to a magazine last night. I keep telling myself that I have to get back to my novel. I tell myself I need to get going on all these other projects.
Then this afternoon I got a message on my cell phone from my publisher. He was so excited. He said something like, “Great news. I was just checking the best sellers’ lists and your book is number two on one of the lists. This is cause to celebrate. We don’t know how long it will be there, but this is definitely something to watch.”
I should not check my voice mail or my e-mail while I am at work. Sure, it is a company policy, but everyone does it – not that that makes it right. I won’t go there. But for me, getting a message that exciting, when I still have to work for another two hours, well, it makes it hard to focus.
So that’s really all I have right now. My brain is fried. No, not really. Actually my brain is bouncing all over the place. The marketer in me is saying that I really have to jump on this and use this little fact to publicize my book like crazy right now while I can. The rest of me says, can’t we just go to bed early for a change?
(And as I post this, the book has already slipped to number three. I am sure not cut out for this kind of stress. Good thing Dino will love me no matter how the book does.)

January 1, 2013

It is a good thing that the date and time show up in the lower right hand corner of my laptop. Otherwise I would never know. (At the clinic where I work, we are supposed to ask our Medicare patients if they know what day it is – I have to take their word for it.)
So here we are on January 1. A new year. I have been trying to get my thoughts on the New Year, write down some resolutions, you know, the usual stuff. But I still haven’t gotten my mind around 2012! I’m thinking that I should recap last year before plowing into this year.
If you have been following this blog, though, you are probably sick and tired of hearing about my big accomplishment of the year and of my life time – publishing a book. But have I shared my deep secrets about this? Since deciding in the third grade that I wanted to be a writer, I never thought I would write something considered non-fiction. 
I had all these stories in my head, romance and mystery and adventure and more romance. The thing is I can hardly stand to read romance, what makes me think I can write it? Yet, in the novel I am currently working on there is this couple who want to be romantic and I keep telling them to knock it off, their time will come. Funny how things turn out.
Anyway, so that is my big recap of the year. I like to keep my posts short because I only like to read other bloggers’ posts that are short. And of course I have to include a picture.  
I don't have any pictures of New Year's in my archives so here is Christmas 1967. I am on the left and my sister Pat is in the middle. I would have just turned six at the time, so wasn't writing too much yet. But you can tell by the look on my face that I am already formulating a story in my head. 

Is your tree out on the curb?

It is better to finish something than to start it.It is better to be gentle and patient than to be proud and impatient. (Ecclesiastes 7:8 Easy-to-Read Version)


A lot of people have told me that they have taken all their Christmas decorations down and have put them away until next year. “Yup,” they say, “We put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and take it down the day after Christmas.”
Not in my house. First of all, I can’t imagine getting any decorating done right after Thanksgiving. I tend to procrastinate about everything, so it does seem as though I just finished decorating. Plus, since going to a fake tree last year, what’s the hurry? It’s not shedding any needles.
In reality, though, now that Christmas Day has passed and the shopping and wrapping (and unwrapping) and Christmas cookie baking are over with, I just want to sit back and enjoy my house. I want to curl up in a blanket on the couch and gaze at the lights on the tree or study the snow falling in the snow globes. And mostly I just want to take a few breaths and reflect on the season.
Christmas isn’t over in one day. If we can decorate for Christmas a month early, why can’t we leave the decorations up all year? Or at least keep the season in our hearts all year. Instead of saying, “It’s a relief when Christmas is over” we should be saying “Christmas has just begun.”   Lord, God, forgive us when we forget the reason for the season. Thank You for sending Your Son in the form of an innocent baby. Let us keep Him in our hearts each and every day. Amen 

Good will to men

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men! I know. Christmas is over. Or is it? Maybe if we celebrated the spirit of Christmas everyday, we would have peace on earth. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christmas Day, 1864)

What did Mary say? What would you say?

 Then Mary said,
“I praise the Lord with all my heart. I am very happy because God is my Savior.I am not important, but he has shown his care for me, his lowly servant.From now until the end of time, people will remember how much God blessed me.Yes, the Powerful One has done great things for me.His name is very holy.He always gives mercy to those who worship him. He reached out his arm and showed his power. He scattered those who are proud and think great things about themselves. He brought down rulers from their thrones and raised up the humble people. He filled the hungry with good things, but he sent the rich away with nothing. God has helped Israel—the people he chose to serve him. He did not forget his promise to give us his mercy. He has done what he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.” Luke 1:46-55Easy-to-Read Version
After the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would be the mother of Jesus, the young woman hurried to see her cousin Elizabeth who also was pregnant. I can picture the two of them sharing their amazing stories and wondering why God had picked them. Mary finally praises God with the song above. I guess God knew what He was doing when He chose Mary. What would you have said to this news?

“Really, God? The masses might stone me for getting pregnant without being married. And you know I really can’t afford this right now. Joseph, my fiancé, just isn’t making that much money building furniture. Can you wait until the economy is better? And you know with Elizabeth getting pregnant in her old age, do you really think I should have a baby so close in age to hers? I really don’t want to take the attention away from her. And you know, God, I am awful young. A baby is just going to ruin my figure forever.”
Yup, we all have excuses, don’t we? Good thing Mary didn’t.  

The Last Thank You

If you have been reading my blog faithfully the last few weeks, you noticed that I have been dedicating each post to one of the people or groups who helped in any way to get my book to where it is. And where is that book? It will be released tomorrow! Yeah! And I couldn't have done it without all the support from so many of you.

Last night, I was going to write about the last person on my list. Well, that blog post didn't happen because I spent the night on the couch catching up on TV with that person.
To my husband, Himey, I wouldn't be where I am today without you, and I wouldn't even be the proud Momma of Dino the Wonder Dog. You are the wind beneath my wings.