Pamela Tracy and Her Friend

Today another Love Inspired author Pamela Tracy is going to share a story about a special friend and her story of strength. Pamela has a Love Inpsired romance out this month, Daddy for Keeps. Drop by www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com for more info about this title or go to Pamela's website. Well--

here's Pamela!

"I’ve sat in front of my computer many a time making up stories, writing letters, doing interviews, writing blogs with a theme… Ah, blogs with a theme, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing today: some kind of blog.

Only this one is special.

It’s not about me.

It’s not about my books.

Today, I’m writing about my friend Sandra Lagesse. Sandra is a white-haired lady who I first more than a decade ago. I met her because of carpooling. See, I’m blessed to live in an area that has not one but two Romance Writers of America groups. There’s one in Glendale, where I used to live, and there’s one in Tempe, which is close to where I live now. When I first met Sandra, there was a carpooling group that would travel from Glendale to Tempe.

One evening, it wound up just Sandra and me. I didn’t know much about Sandra back then. I learned fast!

At that time, I was a thirty-something who drove way too fast and talked was too much. I was an elementary school teacher who didn’t make enough to live on. It was while we were driving home from the meeting that our friendship was sealed. See, I was busy talking way too much, and she was listening. We got on the subject of politics. At the time, Rose Moffort was in office. The puppet Madam was also enjoying a lot of exposure. I mentioned that I thought the governor and the puppet looked alike.

After Sandra stopped laughing, she reached in her purse and pulled out some pictures. Yup, Sandra’s maiden name was Moffort. Yup, she was related to Rose.

After I took my foot out of my mouth, we became great friends, the kind of friends that last.

The fact that Sandy’s father was married to a governor is not what makes Sandy great. Sandy is what makes Sandy great. See, Sandy is a writer. She’ll tell you the irony is that. She’s very dyslexic. Because of her dyslexia, she struggled in school – only in reading. Here’s proof. My book that hit the shelves this month, Daddy for Keeps, has a banker hero. Guess where I got my information. Sandy. This dyslexic child grew up to be a banker. And, although she’s retired now, she’s on many a board (mostly for historic markers) and she acts as an advisor.

Another thing that makes Sandy a hero is the love she and her late husband shared. Most of her friends really don’t know her late husband’s name. See, he was known by all of us as Honey. That’s right. She called her husband ‘honey’ so much that pretty soon he became Honey. Honey was a retired fireman. He didn’t want to retire, but he had polio. When I met Sandy, he was pretty much homebound, but not quite. Sandy’s day was get him up, take him to the gym (See, he was a great man and tried not to let his sickness get the best of him), take him to the doctor, and maybe they went out to lunch. You get the idea… The last few years of his life, he was completely homebound. And so was Sandy.

Sandy never stopped calling him Honey.

Right now, Sandy is dating my father-in-law.

Earlier, we talked about Sandy becoming a banker. Well, Sandy is also a budding romance writer. She’s a lot like Honey. She’s not going to let something like dyslexia stop her. She’s taken no short cuts. She reads, she writes, she critiques… and Sandy a writing outlet that no one else but she could fill. Sandy writes a history column for a local paper. From her childhood – think Governor Rose Moffort, a father who was a lawman while Arizona was a young state, and from her Godmother a rancher who helped build a cabin from scratch – Sandy knows the history of Arizona. Marshall Tucker move over!

I am in awe of all Sandy knows and does.

And the best that she does is friendship."

About Pamela Tracy:

Her website: www.pamelakayetracy.com

Pamela Tracy is a writer and teacher in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she lives with her husband and son. She was raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and started writing fiction while earning a BA in Journalism at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Her first novel, It Only Takes a Spark, was published in 1999. Since then she's published fifteen more writings in suspense, romantic comedy, and Christian inspiration romance. Her current book Daddy for Keeps is on shelves now. Fugitive Family will be available in August. Then, it's sequel hits the shelves in December - all from Steeple Hill Love Inspired.. Her 2007 release, Pursuit of Justice, was a RITA finalist and took second in the ACFW's Book of the Year contest for published authors. Broken Lullaby, a 2008 release is a RT Reviewers' Choice nominee.

Besides writing, teaching, and taking care of her family, Pam is often asked to speak at various writers' organizations in the Phoenix area. She belongs to Romance Writers of America and the American Christian Fiction Writers. She is president of the local ACFW chapter, Christian Writers of the West.

Thanks a lot, Pamela!

My friend Irene Brand--Her Heroine and Her Own Strength

Today Irene Brand, one of my dear writing friends, is my guest. She has a new book and a life story to share with you.

Here's Irene:

Kennedy Blaine, heroine of Love Find You in VALENTINE, Nebraska, is a strong woman. Life’s circumstances gave her no choice. An only child, at Kennedy twenty-six, loses both of her parents. She is alienated from her other relatives because of an age-old feud between her maternal and paternal families. Added to this, Kennedy inherits a multi-million dollar fortune.

While most might think that this inheritance would be a boon to a successful and happy future, for Kennedy that wasn’t the case. Her inheritance includes the Circle Cross, a family ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska. In the process of settling her father’s estate, Kennedy travels to Nebraska. There she encounters situations that call into use the strength and determination she’s inherited from her forbears.

Although Kennedy didn’t suspect that she had an enemy in the world, suddenly she becomes the victim of harassment. Is it designed to scare her away from the Circle Cross or does it have another more dangerous purpose? And most distressful of all, for the first time in her life, Kennedy is tempted to give her heart away – to Derek Sterling, the manager of the Circle Cross. And Derek has no intention of marrying anyone. Only her strength sustains Kennedy when at last she finds something that money can’t buy.

Kennedy is one in a long list of my heroines, all of whom have displayed notable strength. I couldn’t write about a heroine who wasn’t strong, and I attribute this to the fact that I consider myself a strong woman. Perhaps there’s a difference in being strong and strong-willed, but in my life I’ve dared to do many things that took strength. I take no personal credit because, in my own right, I’m a very weak person. However, all of my life I’ve been sustained by the strong hand of God. In many endeavors, He’s given me the strength to take the first step and has walked with me every step of the way.

I grew up on a farm in rural West Virginia. My education started in a one-room school when I was four-years-old. Due to double-promotion, at the age of fifteen, I graduated from high school, the first of my family to do so. That isn’t as easy as it sounds. We lived sixteen miles from the nearest high school, and the closest bus route was almost three miles from our home. We didn’t have an automobile. During my four years, I walked each day to the bus route. During the winter months, I left home before daylight and didn’t get home until after dark. Still, I had a high attendance record. I didn’t graduate with high honors, but after my ninth-grade-year, I was on the Honor Roll all of the time.

Because of monetary issues, my age and a fifty-mile-distance from a college, higher education wasn’t an option. I found a job soon after I was sixteen, eventually married, and after being out of high school for several years, I started to college. This also took strength. We still lived fifty miles from a college or university, and we had only one car. I drove back and forth to college alone. But with sacrifices from both my husband and me, I graduated 4 ½ years later with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, (French and Social Studies), holding a 3.82 GPA. I started teaching and taught for 23 years at a local Junior High School. Going to school during the summer, I was awarded my Master’s Degree in History 4 years later with a 4.00 GPA.

During this time, I had never forgotten my childhood call to become a writer. After I earned my MA degree in 1970 I told myself, “You are now a writer.” I started writing, submitting manuscripts and attending writers’ conference, but my first books weren’t published until 1984. Only the strength provided by God kept my dream alive during those disappointing years.

From the time I became a Christian until now, I’ve always considered that God had priority on my life, and I’ve attempted to put His work first. I’m still active in our local Baptist church, where I became a member when I was eleven-years-old and was teaching a class of my peers by the time I was fifteen. I’ve taught in our church since that time. To list the things I’m doing/have done through the local fellowship of Believers would take the glory away from God and focus on me, so sufficient to say that I’m still actively serving in the church.

As for affinity with a strong biblical character, I’ve always considered myself a “Martha.” She was a “doer,” and so am I. She was strong enough to carry the burdens of her family, which I have done. However, there are characteristics of Martha that I don’t admire, and I often like to think that I’m a mixture of Martha and Priscilla. Although we don’t find much in the Bible about Priscilla helping to establish the early church, there is enough information to indicate that she was a strong and brave woman. This is exemplified in her many journeys throughout the Roman Empire with her husband, Aquila, as they supported the Apostle Paul.

Priscilla was a friend and encourager, which I try to be. In her book, Women of the Bible, Frances Vander Velde wrote, “Priscilla’s home was devout and peaceful, a place to which Christians gladly came and where they shared great spiritual experiences. Priscilla was no half-way or part time Christian. She was consistently energetic and loyal in the work of the Lord all her life long.”

God leading, I pray those words will someday be my epitaph.

Many thanks, Irene! To find out more about Irene's latest book, LOVE FINDS YOU IN VALENTINE, NEBRASKA, drop by her website http://www.IreneBrand.com and view her book trailer. You can also buy the book from her site. Thanks again, Irene, for telling us so candidly of how you faced life's challenges and achieved your dreams with God's help.

My great-grandmother Sadie Scott

Today, I'm going to tell you one of the stories about my mother's grandmother. At 16, she married a Great Lakes captain, Matthew Baker. He was twice her age and something of a playboy. Her parents disowned her for disgracing the family. (Not too much of that now-days, but a lot before "reality and tell-all talk shows.)

She bore him 4 children: 3 sons and a daughter. He piloted primarily the pleasure crafts of the rich on Lake Michigan and he kept moving his family from the WI, IL shore to the western MI shore over and over.

Finally, when my grandfather was around 4th grade, Matthew decided once again that he would move his family from Kenosha WI to Michigan again. Sadie said, "No." But invited him to stop by whenever he was in town. (Not much divorce in those days, but people did separate.) It was in late summer that this took place. This was before child support and welfare of any kind so she and her children were on their own to prepare for the coming winter.

She began sewing for the ladies of the town and her boys scrounged around and picked berries and nuts. The walnuts they picked proved to be the staple of their diet through that first long winter. And my grandfather never went back to school. He went to work to help support the family.

This all happened over 100 years ago and it's painful to recall how hard life could be. And still, this harshness didn't blunt Sadie's sense of humor or zest for life. More about that another time!

Do you have any memorable stories about women in your family? If you'd like to share them, email me on my website http://www.LynCote.net Click the Meet Lyn page for contact info.
I'd love to tell your family's stories!

Margaret Daley and her Mom

Today, Margaret Daley, a multi-published inspirational author, shares the story of her very special mom:

Margaret Daley:

Catherine David

As I thought about writing this blog and talking about a woman who was brave, I immediately thought about my mother. In fact, no one else came to mind except her. She’s been dead for over eight years now and I miss her every day. But I’m comforted by the knowledge that she touched so many people’s lives.

After my father died when I was twelve, she moved us to Mississippi so she could be nearer her family. There were three of us and she always was there for my two brothers and me. She’d taught nursing in Kentucky where we had lived. When we arrived in Biloxi, she went to work as a nurse. She filled several different positions in various hospitals over the years and even taught nursing at the junior college on the coast.

One year she was a school nurse for the Biloxi School District. That was the year Camille, a hurricane with winds over two hundred miles an hour, struck the coast and destroyed a lot of my hometown. She spent hours helping people get back on their feet as a nurse and friend. When something had to be done, my mother was at the front of the line volunteering to do it.

When she would talk about one of her patients dying, you would have thought it was her best friend. That was the way she was. She felt deeply another’s pain and was there to help the person get better. She was a caregiver and a deeply religious woman whose faith in the Lord never wavered through loss, illness and destruction (more than Hurricane Camille wrecked havoc on the coast where she lived).

When my mother retired from being Director of Nursing at Biloxi Regional Medical Center, the Board of Directors said:

Catherine David has been an inspiration to the nursing profession. She was a moving force and leader in the establishment of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Coastwide. She had shown genuine concern for the welfare of the patients and has demonstrated support and concern for physicians, employees and people of the community.

That was my mother, a caring, loving, concerned Christian. I miss you every day, Mom.

Blessings,

Margaret Daley

What Sarah Saw, Love Inspired Suspense, January 2009

http://www.margaretdaley.com

http://margaretdaley.blogspot.com

Oops! I forgot to blog on Thursday!

What can I say? I had a busy day--did lunch with a friend and when we got to the restaurant, they had no power. And it was 10 below so off to another restaurant. Then I had to go to the library--with very overdue books--and then to the post office. And in the evening, I spoke to my local church's "Bookies" club.

So writing about strong women slipped my mind--though I think I was doing a pretty good impression of one.

I gave myself a full length down coat with hood for Christmas. And I'm so glad I did.

Pretty soon I'm going to be sending out a notice to readers who belong to my Lyn_Cote_to_Readers egroup.

May is going to be my MEGA month on this blog.

I have lined up several of my friends and fine writers of Love Inspired romances to guest.

But since May is Mother's Day month, I will be asking women to send me their stories of strong women in their family. And if they want me to proofread and spruce them up for posting, I'll be happy to do that.

Also I will be offering to send a Mother's Day postcard to someone you love if you let me know by a deadline (which I will set up).

And finally, I plan on having a SUPER-DUPER bunch of goodies and books to giveaway in a drawing of those who post a story or comment in May.

So I might have forgotten to post on Thursday, but I have been busy!

And wasn't it wonderful that the plane landed safely in the Hudson River?

Kudos to the brave and excellent captain!

I'll try to remember to blog next Tuesday!
Lyn

I'm a Cheese-Head by default

As you know from the pine needles and cone at the top of my blog, I live in the far north woods of Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers are the state's favorite team. And we are called cheese-heads.

I am not a fan of any sport really, not anti, just not IN to sports. But I am IN TO FEEDING THE HUNGRY. This came from a friend who belongs to my state romance writers chapter.

Stacey Joy Netzel is my strong woman for the day. Compassion to others comes from strength and is an expression of strength!

Here's what Stacey said:

"If any of you not familiar with the Campbell's Chunky Click For Cans campaign, here's the deal. Go to

http://www.clickforcans.com/

and click for the Green Bay Packers every day. And you will help some WI food pantry's get up to 18,000 cans of Campbell's Soup. And you can click or VOTE every day, YAY!!

The Packer's made this "soup" playoff thanks to the fans, but going by the weekly totals, we'll have a real challenge in the Superbowl against the Buffalo Bills.

So, let us all spread the word and click every day to win this one!

Since Campbell's started this Click For Cans, Green Bay has won every year (4 or 5 years, I think.)"

Thanks for letting me know, Stacey!

So if you'd like to help the hungry in Wisconsin, please drop by and vote. It costs nothing and they don't ask for any identification, etc to vote. So please help the hungry.
Lyn

The Christmas Menagerie

The last time I posted, I was telling about my mom and how animals were drawn to her.
But this is the best story yet!

When I was in college, I came home for Christmas break. And I walked into a "once in a lifetime holiday."

My mother had taken in a stray dog and had advertised in the newspaper to find its owners. She had also taken in a litter of 5 kittens that someone had said they were going to drown. She put an ad in the paper to find homes for them too. And she had taken in a cat which was in the garage because its owner (who had also said he was going to kill the kittens) said it was feral, savage.

My little sister had a pair of pet gerbils. So that means in my parent's small two-bedroom house, we had a stray dog, 5 kittens, 2 gerbils and a "feral" cat. The phone kept ringing with people who wanted to see if the dog was theirs. Also people called asking for the kittens for Christmas gifts for their children. And I got the job of feeding the feral cat which I thought was really not that wild.

That should have been enough, right? No, the coup de grace came when my stepdad went out in the backyard and found a stray parakeet. Yes, that's right. A stray parakeet. He brought it in and my mom sent me down into the basement for the bird cage she always kept for such visitors.

As I watched her place the very friendly and appreciative parakeet in the cage, I said, "Mom, only you would get a stray parakeet for Christmas. On the stray animal grapevine, your house must be marked as an 'easy touch.'"

The owners came for the dog. All the kittens went to good homes. The "wild" cat was brought into the house where he lived another friendly and peaceful 19 years--however, he did finally "get" the parakeet by the time I came home for summer.

Strength comes out in many ways. And one way is the ability to show active compassion. Animals were drawn to my mother because they sensed that she only wanted the best for them. I'm happy to report that she was as kind to people in need as she was to animals in need.

Do you have any family stories of pets and how they have been loved?

I have more, but that's enough for today.

Hope you're having a safe and healthy new year.
Lyn

Gayle Roper and when our dreams die

Today, I'm pleased to feature a longtime writing friend, Gayle Roper. Gayle is going to tell us first about the heroine she is writing about now. And then I'm going to let you know about her current release, FATAL DEDUCTIONS.


Here's Gayle Roper:

"Dinah, my heroine in the as yet unpublished book Lost and Found, is a young woman who has waited her whole adult life for the chance to meet the right man and have a family. She has a full life in the mean time, but she reaches thirty single, only to suffer a total hysterectomy.

She’s devastated. God has taken her dream of being a mother from her. She has what she calls her Hannah moments, times of deep despair like Hannah experienced in I Samuel 1.

Hannah, deeply mourning her childless state, goes to the temple and weeps before the Lord. “I am a woman deeply troubled,” she tells Eli the priest. “I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

God honors Hannah’s heart cry, and she gives birth to Samuel, the great priest of God.

But what if God doesn’t answer your prayer? What if there is no Samuel for you? What if, like Dinah—and like me—there will never be children of your body? What if that dream is dead, beyond resurrection?

There are many other dreams that we hold dear, that we cherish and talk to God about, good things, fine things, things that would honor Him, things that would allow us to serve Him, things that never happen in spite of our pleadings and our tears. A husband’s salvation. Higher education. A specific career. Financial freedom. A child’s restoration.

As I told a young friend who yearned for children but was unable to have any, “You can either stay mad at God the rest of your life because He ‘stole’ your dream, or you can agree with Him that He has the right to call the shots and look for other ways to have a rich life.”

Question: which takes more faith?

-To be a Hannah and have the joy of God granting your dream?

-To be a Dinah and learn to trust Him in spite of lost dreams?

To be Dinah requires looking beyond one’s dreams to alternatives. In the case of my husband and me, our alternative to my surgical sterility was adoption. Our two boys are now grown men with families of their own. Looking back, we see the hand of God in the death of our dream. Where would our boys have been without growing up in a Christian home? Who might they have married? What might they have done without the guidance of the Lord?

When your dream dies, trust God through the pain. Trust God to bring good out of bad. Trust God to give you an alternative that is rich in its own way, richer really because He gave it."


Thanks, Gayle. Accepting that God has different plans than our own is one of the hardest challenge for a Christian. I will look forward to inviting you back to tell us about Dinah in Lost and Found and which fortunate publisher she ends up with. GRIN.

Now about Gayle's latest release with Multnomah, a trade paperback Fatal Deductions.

Blurb:
Libby Keating finds herself temporarily sharing a beautiful but tiny historic home in Philadelphia with her estranged identical twin. Less than 24 hours after her arrival, Libby trips over a dead body on the front stoop. As the murder mystery unfolds—with the aid of crossword puzzles the reader is encouraged to do—so does Libby's back story, which includes a series of traumatic events that ruined her adolescence. Good Christian friends including her new neighbor, the handsome Drew Canfield, support her as she finds a way to love her enemies while standing up to them.

Rave Reviews:

"Roper's dialogue and character development are spot-on, which is no small feat, considering that Libby's world is peopled with everyone from elderly patricians to two-bit gangsters…a pleasure from start to finish." - Publishers Weekly

Drop by www.GayleRoper.com and click on Standalone Novels. You can purchase this suspense novel right there.

Gayle, thanks again for posting!
Lyn