Do - Overs

It's rare that we have do-overs in life. One of the many reasons I enjoyed teaching was it could feel that way. As each new school year began, I had a chance to apply the things I'd learned from the previous year and hopefully make things better, more interesting, and more exciting for my students, so they would learn more.

Of course, in my Christian faith, God offers forgiveness and a chance to start over, too. His grace is truly amazing, and I never cease to be awed by it. Jesus died on a cross that we might have that forgiveness through His sacrifice, because we could never be good enough to make any sort of restitution on our own. It's the ultimate do-over, because we can have a whole new life.

People view the beginning of a new year many different ways. Some party it in, some make resolutions, and some watch in on television. This year, why don't you treat the start of 2016 as a new beginning, a chance to correct the problems you see in your life. Make your family relationships stronger, readjust you priorities to what's really important, and make 2016 the best year you've ever had!

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Belted Cattle

When I first noticed belted cattle, I thought they looked more like some of the hogs my dad used to raise. But these breeds are actually old ones, and they're becoming popular again. Two of the better known belted bovines are the Belted Galloway from southwestern Scotland and the Dutch Lakenvelder from Holland. 

The Galloways adapted to the poor grassland of the uplands and the windswept moors. These cattle have high quality marbled beef and are usually raised for their meat, although they can also provide milk. In America they have the nickname of "Oreo cows," due to their color. 

The Dutch Lakenvelders are probably the oldest of the two and were highly sought after and admired by most people from royalty and noblemen to the the common farmer. They can be traced back to the original belted breed. They began to flourish in Holland in the mid-1700's. P.T. Barnum used them for exhibition. This breed is usually raised as dairy cattle. They can be black or reddish brown with the white band, but their hides are smoother than that of the Galloway.

My father used to raise a few head of cattle. In fact, he saved the money from their sales to put me through college. My son-in-law now farms on the side and has a small herd. Neither of them have ever had a belted breed, but I find them interesting. As you drive through a farm area, you may want to look for them.

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When Weather Is Subjective

Have you ever thought about how relative the weather, especially temperatures, can be? It all depends on what we get used to. I went to college at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, located in the Appalachian Mountains and the Blue Ridge. The climate zone there resembles parts of New England or Canada more than it does the South, where it's located. When I graduated and moved down the mountain, I didn't wear a coat at all for two winters, because they seemed so warm to me.

Leah experiences some of the same things in my novel, Sown in Dark Soil.  When she gets to the mountain farm, she can't believe Granny Em complains about the summer heat, when Leah thinks it's cool enough and quite comfortable, because she's been used to living on a southern plantation to the southeast. By Uprooted by War, the third book, Leah has become accustomed to the place, and she agrees with Granny Em. However, Leah's sister, Ivy, and the former slave, Moses, nearly freeze their first winter there.

Until I went to the Philippines to teach for a semester in a school for missionaries' children, I thought North Carolina could be warm and muggy. Spending Thanksgiving and the first part of December in their climate made it hard for me to get into a holiday mood. It wasn't what I had been used to. India was also extremely hot and humid the summer I spent there. New Mexico was so much drier than anywhere else I had lived that my skin didn't like it. However, before I left, I had adjusted. Despite the changes, I love to explore new places and stay there long enough to get to know the place - weather and all.

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500 Blogs

This blog today marks a milestone, my 500th blog. I have written and posted a blog daily for 500 days. There have been challenges along the way, but I have learned a lot, too. Surprisingly, I have had few problems with writing the blogs. It's coming up with the photos and illustrations that's presented the biggest hurdle, and I think they are crucial to an interesting blog. Most of us are visual people.

If I had all my photos taken through the years transferred to the computer, the problem would be solved, but when I wrote for magazines, most of them preferred transparencies (slides) at that time. Therefore, most of my past photography is in this format. I have to be very careful of copyright infringement if I pull a illustration from the web. There are sites that allow this, but often their subjects are limited.

To date, I've had viewers from 28 different countries. The top ten, with the highest first is: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Russia, France, Brazil, Germany, Ukraine, Portugal, and Ireland.
I've built a base of followers, until I am getting to the point I don't have to do as much reposting as I once did. This has taken a lot of time, and I've enjoyed freeing up more time for working on my novels. 2015 has been an exciting year, and I look forward to seeing what 2016 will bring.

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The Prince of Peace

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:13-14).

The angels that appeared to announce the birth of the Messiah told of the peace He brought. In the life He lived and the sacrifices He made to restore our relationship with God, Jesus certainly demonstrated good will and peace.


"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus' birth and said He would be The Prince of Peace. When we look through history and around us today, we could ask, "Where is the peace?"

"For he [Christ] is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14a)

It can be inside each of us, if we accept Christ as our Savior and turn our lives over to Him. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit helps us understand and find this peace. And it's a peace that passes all understanding, because it doesn't depend on circumstances. Nothing else compares. Once you experience it, you'll never be satisfied without it. It comes from a deep, personal relationship with our Lord. He is our peace!

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you" (John 14:27).

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Book Proposal for The History Press

Some of you may remember my dilemma of whether or not to send a requested book proposal to The History Press. Their editor in New England had seen my blogs and referred me to the editor in my area to write a history book for them. 

Although I majored in and taught history, my first writing love is Christian novels. I knew how much time it would take to do the research and write a non-fiction book, and I didn't know if I wanted to carve that chunk of time out of the writing I'm doing now. In addition, I wondered if this is what God wanted me to do. I received no clear-cut answers. Finally, a Christian friend suggested that I do the proposal and pray that God either closed or opened the way, according to his will, and this is what I did.

After I wrote and submitted the proposal, the editor told me I would hear back from him in three days or a week at the most. Three weeks later, I received a kind letter saying that they were impressed with my writing and my platform, but he felt my proposal was too broad. He suggested I narrow the scope to something like "Arts and Crafts in the Blue Ridge."

My proposal had been on "Traditional Blue Ridge Culture," where arts and crafts was one of the chapters. I honestly think my proposal would have wider appeal, especially in the gift shops and tourist stops I planned to market in. I love arts and crafts and could write such a book, but as a writer, historian, or reader, I would prefer a book that covered all the basics of life in the Blue Ridge, not just one niche. This is a subject I know well, because it's my culture and the one I wrote about in my first published series, Appalachian Roots.

However, given the way this evolved, I'm considering the rejection of the first proposal as a closed door. I don't think it's something I need to commit to at this point. Perhaps sometime in the future that will change. For now, I'm excited to be writing my novels. I'm in the process of publishing the third one in the Appalachian Roots Series, Uprooted by War, and one set in Pennsylvania in 1739, When Winter is Past. This and the new series I'm writing set in early New Mexico will keep me plenty busy for a while.

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Home for Christmas

As many of you know, I love to travel. I've been to around 40 other countries and all 50 of the United States. So far, all my novels have been set in a place where I have lived, at least for a short time. But, in all my travels, I've always managed to be home for Christmas.

The first time that I was away from home around the holidays was when I did mission work in the southern Philippines. For the fall semester, I taught English at Mindanao International Christian Academy, a high school established to educate Bible translators' children. I was in Davao for Thanksgiving, and a missionary family there graciously invited me to share in their traditional Thanksgiving meal. What a blessing this was! However, the semester ended, I managed to get everything graded and all my grades turned in, and make it home just before Christmas. My son living in Tennessee and my daughter met me at the airport in Charlotte - another great blessing!

The year that Jim and I spent teaching Bible translators' children at Oaxaca Christian School, we were able to fly home for Christmas, although we had driven down there. The school had a long Christmas break, and we enjoyed the trip. I'd had a grandson born that October, and I hadn't seen him yet, so that made our return even more special.

HERE'S WISHING YOU AND YOURS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND MAY YOU MAKE WHEREVER YOU ARE FOR CHRISTMAS HOME !

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