Real Life is Better Than Fiction

Please help me welcome Fay Lamb to the blog today. She is guest posting about a Christmas memory that stands out in her mind, even after several years. My husband is the type of father Brad Paisley sings about in his song, “He Didn’t Have To Be.” Marc took my children, Corey and Ethan, into his heart at first sight. Marc was an only child. His mother’s reasoning is that he was such a good child she didn’t want to take the chance that a second child wouldn’t be as wonderful. I used to wave the comment off, but the truth is, she did raise a very good child to be a wonderful husband and father. Not only did Marc accept my children as his own, his mother and his father embraced them as grandchildren. From the first time they met, my boys called the senior Lambs Grandma and Grandpa. One of my favorite memories, and the lesson that came with it, is of our first Christmas together. We were all excited about our initial holiday season as a family. On Christmas morning, the kids

In my job as editor I get to meet some amazing people. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE helping people see their work in print through the small publisher that I work for (Pine Haven Press) when they have no chance of being published at a bigger, less personal publishing house. Don’t get me wrong; some of those publishing house do great things. However, many of them do not take authors who do not have a ready platform or a way of selling thousands of books right of the press. To me there is no greater joy than seeing an author hold their book in their hands for the first time. Many thought of it as an impossible dream.    That is why I want to bring to your attention one of the most recent books published by Pine Haven Press. Grandy’s Christmas Stories started years and years ago. It is just now printed for many others to enjoy. The author, Peggy Bennett, wrote a Christmas story to read to her children and grandchildren each year. This book is a compilation of those stories. Some of the stor

Read Chapter One here . Read Chapter Two Part One here .     Chapter Two Part Two By Ruth O'Neil Not wanting to dwell on that memory, I quickly continued on the winding path through the woods. A breeze swirled around me, chilling me to the bone. I snuggled deep into my coat and remembered how Grammie had once walked down this path on a windy day, holding our two small hands in her own. “Do you hear that?” she had asked. “I hear the leaves in the trees,” Lauren had answered. “That’s right. Do you know what they’re saying?” “Grammie,” I said, “trees don’t actually talk.” “Oh, but they do. They’re singing and praising God, their Creator.” “Grammie, that’s silly.” Even Lauren had a hard time believing it. “I’ll show you the verse that proves it when we get back to the house.” At the end of the path was the hill where we used to take Grammie and Gramps on picnics when they came to visit. In the winter months, we would sled down that same hill and exhaust

Chapter Two Part One By Ruth O'Neil I dumped the contents of the envelope onto the table and they fell out with a clunk. I pushed aside the papers and smaller envelope to discover a credit card and key. Instinctively, I knew what it opened, but just in case I hadn’t known, Grammie included a tag with “Home” written on it. The key was for the old farmhouse we had lived in before our parents moved to Boston when I was eight. All the locks used skeleton keys unlike many of today’s modern locks. I took a breath before unfolding the note then looked at Grammie’s familiar handwriting. Dear Gracie, They say, “home is where the heart is.” For this stop in your journey, I want you to go home. I hope you can find the child’s heart you left there. I think you will be surprised at what you discover. Love, Grammie P.S. I think there’s enough on the credit card for your whole trip’s expenses, as long as you don’t start dining at five-star restaurants! The three-acre plot we h

Christmas is often a time of tradition. I know in our family there are several traditions that we continue each year. This December I thought it would be fun if you shared your family traditions or funny family holiday mishaps. If you would like to be a part of the holiday blog, please let me know via the contact page.   Of course today starts the WIP and PNP The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt story. Tomorrow I will post the first part of my chapter as well as links to chapter 1. Tuesday I will post the second half of my chapter along with links to chapter 3. I invite you all to take part in this story by reading each day’s posts of chapters by some amazing writers.   Later this week I will have a guest post from a couple of writing friends and their Christmas memories.   December is a busy month, both off and online for me. Let’s take each moment to truly celebrate the birth of Christ. If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to my blog to receive notifications of new po

Have you ever come across that website that publishes awkward family pictures? Yes, some of them are hilarious, but I do have to wonder if some of them are doctored; some can't possibly be legitimate! I laugh at these pictures because I have a collection of my own family photo bombs. Some of them are posted in this blog for your viewing pleasure. (Disclaimer: You might want to empty your bladder first.) I was looking through some old photos the other day and came across a series of pictures of my brother and me during Christmas “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.” My mom thought it would be a good idea to get a shot of us looking through the Wish Book that she could use for our family Christmas card. Obviously, as you can see, there were no appropriate pictures. We couldn’t stop fooling around. Normal kids.      Those pictures reminded me of family pictures since then. I am so not photogenic! There are no good pictures of me. So when we have to take a family picture

I have worked with Write Integrity Press and Pix-N-Pens on a couple of book compilations. However, this one was THE MOST FUN EVER! Several  WIP and PNP authors wrote a chapter for a Christmas novella. There was a contest for a new author to add a chapter. The winner was announced as Marji Clubine. You can read the official announcement here http://writeintegrity.blogspot.com/2012/11/winner-of-christmas-tree-treasure-hunt.html Stay tuned for further announcements about this book and how you can read the story.

Just in case you don’t already know, “The Boy” is my son. I often share stories that concern him because he can be so entertaining. He is one of those unplanned surprises where I was glad God was in charge and not me. This story is typical for him. This past weekend at church our youth had an immersion. This is where the youth camp out and immerse themselves in the Word, studying one book of the Bible. The Boy connected with one of the adult leaders, Nathaniel, and he is now The Boy’s new best friend. All his talking about the immersion included Nathaniel.   When we were leaving church Sunday night, Nathaniel happened to be walking down the sidewalk. The Boy told me, “Slow down and roll down your window.” He pointed at Nathaniel, giving him the evil eye. I’m really not sure what that was about. The Boy is kind of scrawny looking and too goofy to be very threatening.    The rest of the ride home revolved around Nathaniel. Then The Boy commented on the rest of the family, who also

I just finished a three day canning marathon, thanks to my sister-in-law who brought me 6 crates of tomatoes and a bushel of green beans. I haven’t been able to do a lot of canning lately since I can’t have a garden. We live in the middle of the city and have more critters here than in the country. Groundhogs eat absolutely everything. Anyway, doing all that canning brought back a lot of memories of summer days when I was a child and would help my mother can tomatoes.    There was one time in particular that stands out in my mind. We had been working for a couple of days and our antique dining room table was full of beautifully canned tomatoes and spaghetti sauce…until the table leg broke allowing many of the jars to fall crashing to the floor, breaking and leave a huge mess. Tomatoes were everywhere! My mom screamed and then she ran crying to her bedroom. I cleaned up the mess knowing she was heartbroken over the loss of time, food, and money. When Dad came home from work I

The TV at our house has pretty much been on constantly since the Olympics began. I enjoy seeing the world come together just for fun – I wish it could happen outside of sports. The games are addicting to watch, even if what’s on isn’t my favorite sport. My favorites include volleyball and gymnastics. As I sit and watch the American women try to fulfill their dreams, I am reminded of dreams of young girls all across the world, even to a little town, that no one's ever heard of, called Jordan.   Every four years my sisters and I would watch the Olympic gymnastics and then go outside and try to emulate them. We were not successful. In the ‘80’s we watched Mary Lou Retton and she was the one we wanted to be like. We set up a 2x4 in the yard and pretended it to be our balance beam. We would perform all our tricks and then score each other to see who would get the gold medal. Well, you know the old saying, “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt!” One time in particular s

It’s graduation season! I’m excited about it this year as my second child finishes her high school career. She has definitely accomplished something and since I homeschool my kids, I feel that I have accomplished something as well.     One of our local radio stations recently had people call in with the story of the most meaningful gift you ever had ever received. Perhaps it was because graduation was on my mind, I immediately thought of my graduation present from my mother.  She and my grandmother had been out shopping and had just returned when I got home from school. My mother asked me to help get things out of the trunk. There was a surprise waiting there for me. She had bought me an electric typewriter.    Yes, I know, that’s no big deal these days, but it was to me then. Not only had my mom scrimped and saved to buy me a gift, that gift showed that she had faith in me and in my writing. She was supporting me. It was on that typewriter that I typed out the first article

It is said that the sense of smell is the greatest factor in bringing back memories. The other night my husband brought home a surprise for all of us – a pop-up camper. I sat and watched as he and our son put it up. When I entered the smell brought me back to my childhood. This camper smelled exactly the same as the camper my family had while I was growing up.    Sitting in that camper, pictures of memories came to my mind. Most just made me smile, but one made me laugh. On the way to one campsite we had a little problem. One of the wheels of the camper came off. I remember watching as the damaged tire rolled away. Dad pulled over and put on the spare tire before we continued on our journey. However, it wasn’t long before the other tire fell apart and we left the rubber alongside the road.  We didn’t have another spare and no place was open where we could get a new one. So…Dad kept driving to the campsite. The absence of that tire caused a horrible scraping noise and a firework

Anniversaries are a special time to reminisce and celebrate. This week I have two anniversaries. The first is my salvation birthday. Long ago, April 11, 1977, I sat on the couch with my mother and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. It was the Monday right after Easter and some things at church made me think. Mom patiently answered all my questions and led me to the Lord while my Dad and brother were at church and my baby sister was asleep nearby in her cradle. What a blessed time of year to get to know the Lord on a much more personal level! The other anniversary I celebrate this week is my wedding anniversary. Our story is very unusual. I was 13 at his high school graduation. When I went through the receiving line to shake hands with all the graduates, there was something electrical happening, or maybe it was spiritual.   Shortly after I turned 14 we started dating – not something I would suggest for most girls. By the time I was 16 we were engaged – again, not something

One of the joys of being a parent is that your kids get to embarrass you. I know for a fact that I embarrassed my parents on several occasions. Just to name a couple…   While we were visiting some Civil War sites that were absolutely full of people, I rather loudly and with a serious look on my face, asked my mom, “Was Grant a Confederate?”   Now this might not see so embarrassing to most parents, but you have to understand mine. My parents were great history buffs, involved in Civil War Skirmishing (which is similar to re-enacting only they shoot at targets not at each other), they worked with historical societies and local schools doing various Civil War programs. THEIR child most definitely should have known that Grant was NOT a Confederate since we ate and breathed the Civil War.   I believe it was on the same vacation where I caused my mom’s face to turn all shades of red for a second time. Due to some plumbing issues, one place we stopped to use the restroom, we were forced to

It’s birthday season around here. Many of us dread birthdays simply because we are getting older. Some people are stuck at 39 for way more than one year. What’s one way we can make birthdays seem not so bad? Convince our kids that we are younger than we really are. When my son was about four, I had him completely convinced that I was 22. He would proudly tell anyone that asked exactly how old I was. One year when my birthday fell on a Sunday, one of the leaders I was working with made a big deal out of it. He kept trying to guess my age. My son was sitting on the front row wildly waving his arm. “Do you know how old your mom is?” the leader asked him. Without batting an eyelash, my son responded, “22!” The leader burst out laughing. You see, all anyone who knew me had to do was a little math. Besides my four year old, I also had a nine year old and an 11 year old. I suppose 22 seemed a little ridiculous. But I had my son trained! Until… The following summer when the Cuzzie-

I recently had the “cuzzy-wuzzies” (that’s cousins for normal people) stay for a long weekend. They usually come and stay for a week every summer. However this past summer we decided to go on vacation together instead. Going through cousin-withdrawal and feeling as if they had missed out on something, they “needed” to come visit at another time. Even the 20, 17, and 15 year olds still look forward to visits without complaint. The younger cousins about wet their pants in anticipation. As soon as dates are set they begin planning everything that they want to do together. Our house may be full to overflowing when the cuzzy-wuzzies come, but I love every bit of the noise and the chaos. I love seeing their imaginations at work. I love seeing their innocence in a world polluted by so many negative things. One of the things they always enjoy doing is making movies. This is something they have done on their last several get-togethers. They make up scripts and costumes. If they are anywhere