Cara C. Putman's Blog, page 76

Never Say No: Breathing Life into Our Kids

Parenting is a tough job.

Each child is different. Each has a different calling. Different temperament. Different personality.

That means there isn’t one cookie cutter that will work for parenting each child. Because of that, I am always looking for tools that will equip me to better parent the children God has entrusted to me. One of my heart’s cries has been to not stand in the way of what God wants to do with my kids. At the same time I must partner with Him to channel them and mold them.

That’s where Never Say No comes in. It’s written by Mark and Jan Foreman, parents of Jon and Tim of Switchfoot. It’s their story of raising kids who are creative and chasing the dream God’s given them. But one of the most powerful challenges comes in the first pages of the book: Never say no, because you’re kids will stop asking. One yes is so powerful. Never say no to what they think God is telling them. And never say no to playing dress-up — um, ouch! I’m pretty good at the first, not so good at the second.

Never Say No has challenged me to say yes more than I say no. I want kids who want to be with me, who have a deep, meaningful relationship with me. I also want my kids to believe they can do anything God has called them to do. So if saying yes to a few more things along the way will help, I’m in. After all there will be many things I will say no to: tattoos, piercings, etc. But there are so many more I can say yes to.

If you are looking for a conversational, easy-to-read, yet challenging book that will help you in your parenting, Never Say No may be just the book for your library.

Never Say No (David C. Cook, May 2015)

The question Mark and Jan Foreman are most often asked is: How did you raise your kids?

Mark and Jan Foreman’s adult sons Jon and Tim Foreman of Switchfoot have influenced their world not only by a successful music career but also through their positive impact on communities around the globe. The Foreman parents instilled in their sons a belief that they could make a difference by living beyond themselves.

This powerful book gives readers an inside look at the process. It begins with both parent and child finding their identity in God. It then explores practical ways to encourage holistic learning while cultivating specific gifts, nurturing creativity in a media-saturated culture, and balancing structure with individual choice. Never Say No inspires readers to raise children to live in the wonder of life by loving others well. Parents will find encouragement for their own parenting journey as they guide their kids to live out God’s purpose in radical ways.

Fiction Friday: A Love Like Ours

A Love Like Ours is the perfect romance. A wounded hero. A heroine who just wants to help him. Horse racing. The heat of love. Horses. A great cast of secondary characters. Did I mention horses?

Looking for perfect #Romance? @Cara_putman suggests @BeckyWadeWriter A Love Like Yours. #amreading
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This is a book that I adored. Lyndie just wants to help her childhood friend — not an easy task when he’s deeply wounded by what he experienced as a Marine in Iraq. He begrudgingly hires her to exercise his thoroughbreds. Neither knows what to expect of the other, but Lyndie believes Jake can be more than he currently is. The pages of the story wander through the ins and outs, ups and downs of two people learning to see each other as they are. The question is whether fear will keep them apart. Fear and the belief that they aren’t worthy of each other. At the same time, Lyndie struggles to not lose her heart to a man separated from God by the past’s events.

These characters swept into my world and I didn’t want to leave theirs. This romance is going on my keeper shelf. It’s that good!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Former Marine Jake Porter has far deeper scars than the one that marks his face. He struggles with symptoms of PTSD, lives a solitary life, and avoids relationships.

When Lyndie James, Jake’s childhood best friend, lands back in Holley, Texas, Jake cautiously hires her to exercise his Thoroughbreds. Lyndie is tender-hearted, fiercely determined, and afraid of nothing, just like she was as a child. Jake pairs her with Silver Leaf, a horse full of promise but lacking in results, hoping she can solve the mystery of the stallion’s reluctance to run.

Though Jake and Lyndie have grown into very different adults, the bond that existed during their childhood still ties them together. Against Jake’s will, Lyndie’s sparkling, optimistic personality begins to tear down the walls he’s built around his heart. A glimmer of the hope he’d thought he’d lost returns, but fears and regrets still plagamaue him. Will Jake ever be able to love Lyndie like she deserves, or is his heart too shattered to mend?

Purchase a copy here. Learn more at Becky’s website.

A Love Like Ours (Bethany House, May 2015)

4 Ideas for Transmitting Faith

One of my goals as a homeschooling momma is to transmit my faith to my kids. I want them to have a personal relationship with Christ from a young age. But I also understand they can’t ride on my coattails, or my husband’s or their grandparents, or aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  You get the picture.

Transmitting #faith to your kids have you stymied? @cara_putman shares 4 tips.
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So I long for them to catch sight of who Jesus is so they can spend the rest of their lives chasing Him and His will for their lives.

Here are a few things I do to try to cultivate that.

1) Most school days start with Bible reading. I found if we didn’t do it at the beginning, it often got lost. So a couple years ago we switched to doing it first thing. I’m so glad that very simple change worked!

2) Read the Bible so the kids know what it says. Right now, we’re reading the Story. It’s a stripped down version of the Bible, meaning it focuses on the story, the history, without the prophecies, law, etc. As a result, it’s not the full Bible, but it’s giving them great context to how it all fits together. Next year, we’ll expand on that by reading the whole Bible, but this is working very well for us. 

3) Transmit how faith works in your life. I’m always talking about how God opens doors. The times I turn to Him for strength. I let the kids see me doing Bible study. I share how much I need Him to live life. We talk about how hard it must be to live life apart from Him. The key is it’s a natural, on-going part of our lives.

4) Encourage them when you see them seeking God on their own. If you notice they’re reading the Bible, ask what God is showing them. Place a value on time spent with God. Incorporate the need for them to seek God on their own. I’ve always talked about how they can be anything God calls them to be. Apart from Him life doesn’t work as well.

These are just a few of the things we do. What about you? How are you transmitting faith? What worked in your family (whether you were the child or the parent)?

Confessions of a Book Addict

I have a confession to make. 

I am a book addict.

There is absolutely nothing recovering about it.

I adore the feel of books, the smell of books, bookshelves overloaded with books. I LOVE BOOKS.

In many ways, it’s why I became an author. My favorite authors as a teen (no offense, Janette Oke, Michael Phillips, Bodie Thoene, and Frank Peretti) simply could not keep up with my voracious, all-consuming appetite. I read too fast. I inhaled books in hours rather than days. It got so bad that the small Christian bookstore owner would see me walk in and grab the publishers’ catalogs and shoot them across the table to me.

I’m a book addict. Any others out there? #amreading #chrisfic
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I would salivate over the new, yet to be released books…much as I do to this day.

If I bought the first book in the series, I had to buy them all…though I did peter out on the House of Winslow series about book 35.

I was faithful to tried and true authors, purchasing each new book just as soon as I could, yet open to trying new authors.

I read across genres…but never really developed a taste for science fiction. My apologies to all those who adore that genre.

My TBR pile is ever growing. It seems a book is added the moment (or a bit before!) another is pulled off. It towers and shivers its way into boxes. 

My lending library rivals many public and church libraries. My friends adore me for it. And when I’m done, I donate most of the books to church libraries so that others can enjoy my friends. Even so, my bookshelves threaten to buckle from their burden of books.

I. Adore. Books.

Always have, always will.

Thus said, the unrepentant book addict.

Oh, and have I mentioned I’m raising a future generation of book addicts?

(Please tell me I’m not alone. Are there any other book addicts here?)

Fiction Friday: No Place to Hide

Yesterday I was over at Inspired by Life & Fiction confessing that I am a book addict. (I started by typing was a book addict,” and then corrected it — I will always adore books!). So it is perfectly fitting that today I’m talking about Lynette Eason’s new book: No Place to Hide.

Love #RomanticSuspense? The try @lynetteeason new book No Place to Hide. A page turner @cara_putman…
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No Place to Hide is the third book in a series but stands very well on its own. In it two childhood friends get thrown together on the run for their lives as the nation believes they are terrorists. Through multiple points of view, the action ramps up, consistently cork-screwing tighter and tighter as Jackie and Ian try to find out who is behind the actual terrorist threat before they are captured … or killed.

The plot inNo Place to Hide is interesting and one that kept me coming back. If you like suspense that has romance playing a strong secondary role, then this is a book you will love. It’s a classic someone-saw-something-they-shouldn’t-have-and-now-bad-people-are-after-them-and-they’re-not-sure-why. The chase is intense, the fight scenes vivid but not overwhleming, and the why the bad guys are so close realistic. The bad guys aren’t hidden but some of the supporting folks stand in the shadows adding to the puzzle of how the book will unfold.

Characters from earlier books play low-key supporting roles, but it’s always fun to see them again if you’ve read the books. Lynette’s books are similar to Irene Hannon and Dee Henderson. They are perfect for readers who love a good mystery/suspense with strong romance threads. If this is your perfect book equation, then you should check out No Place to Hide.

Discovering Joy in the Moments

 

 

 

Joy is such a powerful and misunderstood word.

(I may not be as creative as some of my friends here on The GROVE, but I wanted to share my heart )

So often we think JOY means I’ll be HAPPY. Such different words. Websters says that JOY is “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight.” Dictionary.com defines Happy as “delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing; or characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy.”

Both definitions make me smile. What else is a gal to do when confronted with JOY and Happy?

Can #joy invade our lives? @cara_putman explores the tension at @TheGROVEStory.
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You’ve probably heard (like me) that JOY is that undergirding decision to find joy regardless of our circumstances, while Happy is an emotion that comes and goes.

You can read the rest of this post at The GROVE.

Perfect for Historical Fans: To Win Her Favor

Tamera Alexander is one of my favorite historical authors. Her novels set in Reconstruction Nashville are sweeping and consuming. To Win Her Favor, her latest novel, is a perfect addition. (You can preorder the Kindle version for $4.99 until the 12th, so snap To Win Her Favor up while you can at that price!)

In To Win Her Favor, Maggie Linden finds herself married to Cullen McGarth as the only way to save her family’s storied farm and keep her amazing thoroughbred. Cullen has left Ireland and England behind, only to be confronted with intense prejudice in genteel post Civil War Nashville. The two have to choose whether they can make their marriage more than a business arrangement.

The thread of prejudice and running from the past while someone else wants to embrace a different past brings a poignant tone to the book. There’s also something so compelling about learning to love two characters who have to choose whether to love.

The book is also filled with action, twists, turns, and enough mystery and hard choice to make it an absolutely compelling read. This is a book I will read again

All in all, this book is perfect for those who love a rich, sweeping historical, with equal parts history and romance.

Love #Historical Romance? Then @Cara_Putman suggests @tameraAlexander To Win Her Favor.
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ABOUT THE BOOK

To Win Her Favor (Zondervan, May 2015)

A gifted rider in a world where ladies never race, Maggie Linden is determined that her horse will become a champion. But the one man who could help her has vowed to stay away from thoroughbred racing forever.

An Irishman far from home, Cullen McGrath left a once prosperous life in England because of a horse racing scandal that nearly ruined him. He’s come to Nashville for a fresh start, hoping to buy land and begin farming, all while determined to stay as far away from thoroughbred racing as possible. But starting over proves harder than he’d wagered, especially when Maggie Linden’s father makes him an offer he shouldn’t accept yet cannot possibly refuse.

Maggie is certain that her mare, Bourbon Belle, can take the top purse in the inaugural Peyton Stakes, the richest race ever run in America. Maggie only needs the chance to prove it. To give her that chance—and to save Linden Downs from being sold to the highest bidder—Maggie’s father, aging, yet wily as ever, makes a barter. His agreement includes one tiny, troublesome detail—Maggie must marry a man she’s never met. A man she never would have chosen for herself. Learn more at Tamera’s site. Or purchase a copy here.

TAMERA ALEXANDER

Tamera Alexander is a best-selling novelist whose deeply drawn characters, thought-provoking plots, and poignant prose resonate with readers. Having lived in Colorado for seventeen years, she and her husband now make their home in Nashville Tennessee, along with their two adult children who live near by. And don’t forget Jack, their precious–and precocious–silky terrier.

Book Friday: Heart Sisters

Today I’m thrilled to introduce you to my friend Natalie Chamber Snapp’s brand new book Heart Sisters. Be sure to read to the end because I’m giving one copy away. You’ll want a chance to read this!

Let’s have an honest moment.

Yeah, I know. Those are soooo rare around here.

But seriously, if you’ve been a woman for long (like since birth!) you’ve had the opportunity to be burned by friendships. There may be a part of your heart that is leery of letting other women know you deeply. Yet, you may also have a deep knowing in your soul that you need heart sisters. Women who get you. Women who have earned the right to challenge your stupidity. Women who will cry when you cry.

That’s exactly why Natalie wrote this book. She knows the pain of burned friendships. She also knows the joy of risking and discovering deep friendships.

As I read this book I was reminded of all the times in my life it was easier to have guy friends. And of the deep, sweet grace of the women God brought into my life. Joy in college. Amy, Kelly, and Carrie in D.C. Kim and Katie in the neighborhood. Stephanie, Beth, Sue, and more at church. Then there are all of my writing sisters who know me deeply and love me anyway.

Friends, there is nothing like the richness that comes into life when you are known and loved anyway. This book is a great way to develop that in your life or intentionally study to add it in. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter are a great aid to dig deeper on your own or with a group. At the same time, this book reads like a quick chat over coffee or iced tea with a friend who’s learned a few things along the journey of this life.

Heart Sisters is for women who want to both be and have better friends and want a helpful guide to take them through the process.

Author Natalie Chambers Snapp uses her own and others’ stories of successes and failures to illustrate what she has learned about girlfriend relationships. Healthy boundaries, honesty, tact, sharing, and agape love all play a part in being and maintaining a circle of close confidants. She also deals with the inevitable challenges that face many relationships including how to handle conflict; life changes like a new baby, move or divorce; and when it is right to “break-up” with your friend.

Discussion questions, space to journal, photos, and quick interviews of healthy female friendships are included within each chapter.

“Each chapter has great exploratory questions at the end, to help readers dig deeper, and become the kind of friend they ultimately want to have.” —CBA Retailers + Resources

Natalie Chamber Snapp is first and foremost a follower of Jesus, then wife to Jason, and mom to one spunky daughter and two spirited sons with a crazy amount of energy. Choosing to follow Jesus at 27, Natalie is passionate about sharing the grace, mercy, and truth of God’s love. She lives in the Midwest with her crew and tries to keep it simple by writing about the faith found in the everyday mundane. The outpourings of her heart can be found at www.nataliesnapp.com in the fleeting moments between being a wife and mother. She is also a contributing writer for The Mothers of Boys Society, the Whatever Girls Ministry and Group Publishing.

Learn more and purchase a copy at the Abingdon site.

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5 Tips to Tailor Social Media

Social Media.

I know…I’m cringing with you.

There is so much pressure on writers to have an ever-growing social media presence. If you want to have a writing career, whether as a traditionally published author or one who publishes your own books, you have to become comfortable telling the world about them. After all, a book isn’t really a book until it’s read.

Have a love/hate relationship w/ #SocialMedia? @cara_putman shares 5 #tips to harness it.
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Because it is part of the writing life, here are five tips to hopefully remove some of the angst from building your social media presence.

1) Get to know the platforms. There are so many different social media outlets available, take the time to explore them. Not every outlet will be one that you enjoy. That’s okay. For every platform you aren’t fond of, there will be another one, two or three that you love. So play around. Try them out. See what you like.

2) Pick one or two to focus on.  You can’t be an expert on all formats, but you can develop skills in a few. Take it slow. You eat an elephant one bite at a time after all. So focus on Twitter until you figure out how it works for you. Then try Facebook. Maybe you’ll decide Pinterest is your sweet spot. Could it be Goodreads? You’ll never know which one is a good fit for you until you get on a platform and take it for a spin. Invest a few months in it and see how it develops.

3) Realize each Social Media Platform has its own system. What works on Twitter does not work on Facebook and vice versa. So you will need to invest some research and time into what will work for you on each. Some good sources of information to get you started include: Social Media Examiner, Author Media, The Marketing Nutz, and Edie Melson. There are many more resources out there, but if you start with these three, you can begin to develop your strategy.

4) Strategy? I don’t need no stinking strategy! Well, actually you do. I’ll admit on my blog, I don’t always look like I have a strategy, but I do. It’s buried in there. One day a week I try to post on parenting/homeschooling. Wednesday are faith days. And Fridays are fiction/book days to coincide with the weekend. On social media, my strategy is to provide a ray of hope in a dark world. This could be through quotes, pictures with Bible verses, questions for engagement, etc. But I decided a long time ago that selling books is why I’m on social media, but it is not the only or even primary reason. Prayerfully evaluating and altering why I’m on social media helps on the days I really don’t want to be.

So can I be efficient? Are there ways to funnel content from one to the other? Yes! Experts debate about whether it’s a good thing to do, but it can save you some precious time. Which leads me to…

5) Maximize Your Limited Time with Tools. There are many great tools that can help you feed content to your social media presence so that you aren’t constantly needing to be online. You might choose to be, but you won’t need to be. There is a difference. Rather than recreate it, I have a post that gives you five of my favorite tools to maximize social media. You can read it here.

Do you have a social media presence? Which is your favorite application?

 

5 Verses to Encourage

Today I am so grateful for all that God has seen me through — as yet another journey ends. Graduation is the 15th, but the work of the MBA is behind me! WOOT!

Some days we all need a little #encouragement for the journey. @cara_putman shares 5 verses.
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So to celebrate, here are five verses that I hope will encourage you. Four I designed, one was designed by one of the awesome GROVE ladies. I bet you can figure out which one. My prayer is that each of these verses would encourage you today. And feel free to share them so they can encourage others.