F.A.I.T.H. post today: Our Ministry Starts at Home

Last Saturday I attended GA Romance Writer's monthly chapter meeting. My husband had a day planned with my daughter, but they were still watching cartoons as I emerged from the bedroom. With my makeup complete, my toenail polish touched up, I walked out of the bedroom feeling confident in my long, funky skirt and strappy sandals.

My husband stopped playing with our daughter and sent me "the look".

This is one of those looks that means he has an opinion about my outfit or hair. I know if I ask him his opinion, he will give it to me, whether I like it or not. If I ask him, "Does this make me look fat?" He'll give me an honest answer.

So, I wanted to know what was on his mind. Because the skirt had gotten a little tight around the hips. (It's only been TWO years since my daughter was born. I'm still working on getting my figure back! Or getting a better one!)

Anyway, my defenses had tightened. "What?".
"Nothing," he replied.
As usual, I had to pull it out of him. "What is it?" I asked with more impatience in my tone.
"You look pretty," he said.

That shut me up.
I smiled. "Well...Thank you," and then I walked off to get my purse, feeling all giddy and proud of him, of myself...

But he wasn't finished. "Why do I always get the old housewife look?"

Today I'm blogging on F.A.I.T.H.
Click over there to see what I said to my husband :)

Snitch by Rene Gutteridge

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
SNITCH(The Occupational Hazards)
(WaterBrook Press May 15, 2007)
by
Rene Gutteridge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Rene Gutteridge is the author of several novels, including Ghost Writer (Bethany House Publishers) The Boo Series (WaterBrook Press) and the Storm Series, (Tyndale House Publishers. She will release three novels in 2006: Storm Surge (Tyndale) My Life as a Doormat (WestBow Press, Women of Faith)Occupational Hazards Book #1: Scoop (WaterBrook Press).

She has also been published over thirty times as a playwright, best known for her Christian comedy sketches. She studied screenwriting under a Mass Communications degree, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Oklahoma City University, and earned the "Excellence in Mass Communication" award. She served as the full-time Director of Drama for First United Methodist Church for five years before leaving to stay home and write. She enjoys instructing at writer's conferences and in college classrooms. She lives with her husband, Sean, a musician, and their children in Oklahoma City.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Old School meets New School meets Homeschool
Just shy of retirement and a well-earned pension, Las Vegas Police Department Sergeant Ron Yeager's definition of "active duty" involves shifting his bad leg into a more comfortable position. But when he's requested from his mind-numbing desk job to head an undercover auto theft task force, the former narcotics officer determines to prove he's still got the right stuff.

That is...until he meets his unlikely team of officers.

As Yeager soon finds out, not all the crazies are on the street. An undercover rookie, the audaciously honest Mackenzie "Mack" Hazard sends Yeager's blood pressure skyrocketing by wearing her faith like an ever-present badge. Then there's Jesse Lunden, a maverick undercover officer who refuses to learn anything from an old guy with a cane. Can this tangle of egos and eccentrics be trained into a lean, mean, crime-fighting machine...even while they are being drawn into something much bigger and more dangerous than anyone imagined?In her trademark style, Rene Gutteridge blends zany, original characters, sincere faith, and surprising plot twists into one hilariously addictive read.

"Snitch is an engaging crime novel, balanced between sheer whimsy and genuine human drama."
....CHRIS WELL, author of Tribulation House

"A wonderful, fully developed ensemble cast makes Snitch an entertaining, engaging read. Rene's flair for a comedic, well-turned phrase shines here. Snitch is worth snatching."
...SUSAN MEISSNER, author of Widows and Orphans

Defiant Heart by Tracey Bateman

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Defiant Heart
(Avon Inspire May 8, 2007)
by
Tracey Bateman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tracey Bateman lives in Missouri with her husband and four children. Their rural home provides a wonderful atmosphere for a writer's imagination to grow and produce characters, plots, and settings.In 1994, with three children to raise, she and her husband agreed that she should go to college and earn a degree. In a freshman English class, her love for writing was rekindled, and she wrote a short story that she later turned into a book.Her college career was cut short with the news of their fourth baby's impending arrival, but the seeds of hope for a writing career had already taken root. Over the next several years she wrote, exchanged ideas with critique partners, studied the craft of writing, and eventually all the hard work paid off. She currently has over twenty-five books published in a variety of genres.

Tracey Bateman believes completely that God has big plans for his Kids and that all things are possible to anyone who will put their hope and trust in God!believes completely that God has big plans for his Kids and that all things are possible to anyone who will put their hope and trust in God!


ABOUT THE BOOK:
Will Fannie be able to keep her family...and her heart, safe and find a new life on the frontier?Book One of the Westward Hearts series, orphans Fannie Caldwell and her two young siblings have spent the last three years as indentured servants under a cruel master. Desperately wanting a better life for her brother and sister, Fannie devises a plan to secretly join a wagon train heading west.Her plan immediately runs into trouble when the handsome yet bullheaded wagon master Blake Tanner refuses to allow an unmarried woman on the train.But Fannie's determined...she'll escape and go west with or without help!As life on the trail tests everyone's endurance and faith, Fannie soon realizes the perils of being a single woman on the frontier. Witnessing Fannie fending off one scare after another, Blake slowly recognizes how much he cares for this alluring young woman.

Will Blake sacrifice his own dreams and guide Fannie to safety?

Or will Fannie's stubborn independence keep her from finding true love?

I'm rambling today on F.A.I.T.H.

Orchard of Hope by Ann Gabhart

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing



ORCHARD OF HOPE


(Revell March 1, 2007)


by



Ann Gabhart

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ann H. Gabhart has published a number of adult and young adult novels with several different publishers. The author of The Scent of Lilacs, Ann and her husband live a mile from where she was born in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. She is active in her country church, and her husband sings bass in a southern gospel quartet.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Nothing will be the same after the summer of 1964.Drought has gripped the quiet Kentucky town of Hollyhill, and the town seems as if it is holding its breath--waiting. Jocie Brooke is nervous about starting high school. Her sister Tabitha is experiencing the weariness of waiting for a new baby. Her father David is feeling the timidity of those first steps toward true love. All of these pivotal steps in life are awaiting the Brooke family.

Into this cloud of tense anticipation, a black family from Chicago, the Hearndons move here to plant an orchard outside of town. Fresh off the Freedom Train, Myra Hearndon is sensitive to what the color of her skin may mean in a Southern town. Her family will have to contend with more than the dry ground and blazing sun as they try to create their ORCHARD OF HOPE.

Jocie finds herself befriending a boy that some townspeople shun. Due to unspoken racial lines in this southern town, the presence of these newcomers sparks a smoldering fire of unrest that will change Hollyhill..and Jocie...forever.In this close-knit community, everything is about to change.Let this riveting novel take you along to experience unexpected love, new life, and renewed faith amid life's trials.

Happy Mother's Day

Check out F.A.I.T.H. ~ We've got a winner for our Mother's Day Contest!

Maybe Heaven has a window

I am still in the new phase of being a mom. I'm growing as Downey grows, learning new things about what it means to be a mother as she moves through all the milestones in her life. . .

Now, come on over to F.A.I.T.H. to read the rest

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