Rachel Spangler's Blog, page 29

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 25 – Silent Night

Merry Christmas to you all!

I hope the day was filled with light and love for each of you.  Here at the Spangler house she presents are opened, food consumed, and the family hugged.  My little boy is fast asleep in his new Spiderman sleeping bag.  The long awaited day has come and now passed, bringing with it all the promised joy and wonder.

All that’s left is for us to sleep in this heavenly peace.

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 24 – O Holy Night

It’s Christmas Eve.  Our house is a buzz with excitement.  Food is being cooked and decorated and boxed and consumed.  The first gifts passed between Jackie and his Godbrother this morning.  We’re packing up presents for our celebration with Susie’s family this evening where there will be more food and more presents and more family.  Plus there’s the last minute preparations for tomorrow morning to think about.  Can’t forget cookies for Santa and oats for the reindeer.  It’ll be hustle and bustle right up to the point that we run out the door to church.

Then everything will change.

The world will slow, lights will dim, and we’ll all breathe deeply as the gradual realization of why we’re here begin to filter through.  This is what we’ve waited for, prepared for, and long anticipated. What starts as a subtle stirring at the first strains of Joy To The World, will grow into a full sense of  awe as one by one each person passes light from candle to candle and adds their voice to the final chorus of Silent Night.

The transition that occurs when we open ourselves to the communion of believers always seems magical to me, but of course its not.  It’s more than that.

It’s holy.

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 23 – I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Today’s song is one of my modern favorites.

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play

I’ve only known it a couple of years, and the first time I heard it, I fell to my knees and cried, the longing was so raw it shook me.

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 goodwill to men.

I certainly felt that way again in the last few weeks.  How could I sing about peace on earth these days? That question has suffocated us all this Advent.  And yet we’re still called to prepare our hearts, to open them, to make room for joy. But why?

Then rang the bells more loud and deep,

God is not dead nor does He sleep.

Even in the midst of pain and darkness, we find reasons to celebrate.  We still come together out of some need, some yearning bigger than anything going on in our individual lives.

 A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men

Such wishful thinking, the hint of something more to long for this Holiday season, something I desperately needed to connect to in this moment. It feels so timely to ache for peace with those around us, and around the world. Then I learned just tonight, that the songs lyrics are actually taken from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem called Christmas Bells which he wrote after his son killed in the Civil War.  These words, so fitting to my longing for God amid the chaos aren’t modern after all, a more than 150 years old. The pain may have been the same, but the conflict seems so distant now.

Then ringing singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day

In 1863 Wadsworths couldn’t have foreseen the end to the misery that engulfed his nation.  He couldn’t possibly have imagined what we’ve seen, not only an end to slavery, and the union restored, but voting rights for African Americans, desegregation, interracial marriage, and even a black president.  It’s so easy now to see what God was able to make out of even very worst of human suffering.

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth goodwill to men.

I marvel at that transition. Though far from complete, I see how much we’ve learned about our fellow man in that time.  Even more it leads me to question where we’re being led now.  What will our own grandchildren, and their grandchildren know about the the human race that we can’t even begin to imagine? How is God working toward peace right now? More importantly, how are we being called to become part of that peace?  These questions call to us all, throughout the ages, and on this very night.

Do you hear the bells they’re ringing? 

They’re like the angels singing

Open up your heart and hear them

Peace on earth, good will to men

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 22 – Come All Ye Faithful

We’re getting close.  Can you feel it now?  My shopping is finished.  The gifts are wrapped.  The work is complete.  I am now entering that wonderful stage where I get to enjoy the company of the people I love and the anticipation of the Holy Child.  It’s a wonderful time of year for so many reasons, but the foremost reason for me is my faith.  I feel it soar in these moments, as we gather to greet this coming joy.  I hope you too can feel the Spirit move in you today.

Come let us adore Him.

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 21 – Angels We have Heard on High

In years past we’ve been those annoying people who send long Christmas letters about everything we done over the last year.  The old folks in the family go crazy for them, I assume other folks just throw them away. Not everyone wants to hear about everything we did all year long, and well some of them are just illiterate.  No, I’m just kidding.  The Christmas letters have been fun, but they just seem so over done, and not the greatest as capturing the immense cuteness of my kid, so this year we decided to do something a little different.  In Lieu of a Christmas letter we made a video of our year in review and set it to music.  If you are so inclined to spend 3 minutes looking at pictures of my family, please feel free to do so.  If not, the song is still worth a listen.

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 20 – Celebrate Me Home

Today we travel.  It’s a prospect that fills me with both dread and excitement.  The 11 hour drive through barren  midwest landscapes is not  fun one, then there’s the prospect of sleeping in someone else’s bed for over a week, and there’s all the visits to make, and polite conversations with people I only vaguely remember that I have to look forward.  I feel the tension in my shoulders just thinking about it.

Then I push through the back door to my parents home, and the smell of home cooked food will overwhelm me.  My folks will be waiting in the kitchen and pull us in to a circle of hugs, snagging my sleeping son.  The lights on the tree will guide us too our room and we’ll awake to the sounds of my son playing with his grandparents.  Extended families will gather around too much food and too much wine.  Laugher and the sound of running children will fill every corner, until the beautiful golden light of Christmas Eve church services fill us with peace.

Suddenly the drive, and the work, and the awkwardness pale in comparison to my readiness to be home.

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 19 – This Christmas

So earlier today I posted a my entry in the chain of Next Big Thing blogs that have been going around.  I mentioned that Reba McEntire inspired my next book, Does She Love You.  The thing is Reba inspires a lot of things for me, and I think you dear blog readers should ready yourselves for hearing a lot more about that in the coming months.  However, for today, I hope each of you can find a little inspiration in this Reba song as you reflect on who and what you hope to be this Christmas.

The Next Big Thing – A Blog Hop Post

As part of ‘The Next Big Thing Blog Hop,” I was tagged by (Trailblazer Marianne K Martin http://redroom.com/member/marianne-k-martin) in her post last week. The purpose of this hop is to expose you to writers and works that perhaps you haven’t heard of, whether a new release or a Work in Progress (WIP). This is week 25.

According to the rules of the hop, I will be answering some questions (the same ones for every other blog hopper) about either my newest release or my WIP, and then at the bottom of the post I’ve listed authors who will do the same thing in their blogs next Wednesday, Dec 26.

Alright then – let’s get started!

What is the working title of your book?

Does She Love You is the title and that’s pretty well set in stone now.  It the first title I’ve ever selected before writing the book.  The others have all come very late, some of them at the last possible second.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Reba McEntire and Linda Davis have a duet called “Does He Love You?”  I loved that song as a kid.  There’s so much drama, so much story to it.  I wanted to take those themes and turn them in to something longer, something deeper, something gayer.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s a romance, but not a very traditional one.  It’s got a long journey to travel before it even gets to the girl-meets-the-right girl stages.  It’s darker than anything I’ve ever written, but also one of the most redemptive. And, it’s told from three different points of view instead of two, which adds another layer, but trust me, I will get you into traditional happy-ever-after potential eventually.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Annabelle was written with Laura Linney (think Simple Twist of Fate) in mind, Nick is based loosely on Alexis Hedison, and for Davis I was picturing a young Annette Benning, but I think Anne Hathaway could do it if she dyed her hair red.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Three women struggle through the act and aftermath of betrayal.

What is the longer synopsis of your book?

Annabelle Taylor has been in her ideal relationship with an adoring partner for thirteen years. Davis Chandler is jaded from years of bad luck with women, but she thinks she’s finally started dating the girl of her dreams. The only problem is they’re both in love with the same woman. Nic McCoy is living a double life that is about to come crashing down on all of them.

All three women are left trying to rebuild their lives in the wake of shocking realizations that leave them second-guessing everything about themselves and each other. As they struggle toward recovery, they each face life-altering questions about trust, redemption, and the possibility of finding love in the wake of betrayal.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It will be published by Bold Strokes Books in July of 2012.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

All told I worked on this one off and on for about 18 months, but I also edited LoveLife and Spanish Heart in that time, so Does She Love You didn’t get my full attention.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

As I mentioned above, the idea came from the Reba McEntire song, and I’d been wanting to write it for a while now, but I only intended to write it from Annabelle and Davis’s points of view with Nick serving as the villain.  It wasn’t until I heard KG McGregor speak at GCLS about going deep and not taking the easy way out that I knew I had to address Nick too. I didn’t have to love her, but I had to understand her, to let her be a real character, not just some evil symbol.  KG inspired me to challenge myself, and I hope I’ve lived up to the challenge.  I know the book is certainly stronger for it.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I think it’s something different within a very familiar genre, and I hope it’s a good kind of different.

Next Wednesday check out these author’s blogs to find out about their Next Big Thing:

My good friend and partner in crime Georgia Beers at www.Georgiabeers.com

And my sister-wife/Godbaby mama Sarah Gerkensmeyer at www.sarahgerkensmeyer.com

If you’re a fellow writer and would like to participate in this Blog Hop, please reach out to them and let them know!

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 18 – Hark The Herald Angels Sing

This song has been one of Jackson’s favorites ever since he saw Charlie Brown Christmas last year.  He started singing along with us a little bit last winter but this year he’s taken it up by himself as well.  I often hear him sing the song while he’s playing in his room  and it just melts my heart.  The bumbled lyrics and his high octave make it all the more endearing.

Here is his rendition, followed by one from Jennifer Knapp and Margaret Becker who incidentally have my favorite new Christmas CD out this year (Hymns of Christmas).

 

 

 

 

25 Songs of Christmas: Day 17 – We Need A Little Christmas

In last night’s blog I mentioned that we had our Christmas play at church yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and very healing to spend some time working with the kids on this project. I thought that maybe you guys could use a little bit of that cheer too, so I uploaded the video to share with you.

And in keeping with the uplifting theme here’s you song for today,