The Launch of Mega May, Reader Jane S tells her mother's story

Today--May 1st--is the start of MEGA May on this blog which celebrates strong women.

This month several readers have sent me stories of women they wanted to honor. Others sent me the names and addresses of women whom they wanted me to send a Mother's Day postcard.

During this month ONLY there will be messages five days each week. And also this is the ONLY month that I will be holding a drawing for a special gift basket of books from the authors who have posted stories and many of my books and goodies. (The basket is very similar to the one pictured to the right that I'm donating to Brenda Novak's Diabetes Auction.)

If you sent me a story to post or if you make a comment, you will have your name entered in the drawing. So be sure to make a comment at least once this month!

I hope you will reap blessings from reading the stories of more strong women this month. I'm looking forward to each one.--Lyn

"My Mother is a Strong Woman by Jane S.

My Mother turned 80 years old on New Years Day. She married at 16 to a 35 year old man, my father. He had lost his second wife to cancer. She was friends with his second wife. People said her marriage would not last but it lasted 36 years when my father died. My Mother had a hard life. My Dad had a nervous break-down early in their marriage before us five kids were born. So he worked as a junker to earn a living. He would haul away stuff other people did not want, clean out their sheds, barns, basements, whatever.

Our home was furnished with furniture other people would throw away. He would sort and sell newspapers, aluminum, copper, brass and whatever he could from the stuff others threw away. My Mom could not budget for us when we went to school because they never knew when they would have work and when they would not. However she would separate into envelopes what was needed each month as it came in to pay the telephone, electric, and for coal to heat the house. We had a wood burning cook stove and her and Dad would cut all the wood to heat the house with.

We had a coal stove in the living room. Sometimes when we have ice storms, I think coal and wood would be good because we never missed being warm without electricity. We grew up without inside plumbing. My Mother would have to take the chamber pots out and empty them every morning. She washed our clothes with a wringer wash machine and clothes were hung outside to dry. When it rained they were strung all over the house. She would heat water over a hot fire to wash the clothes in.

As kids we grew up learning how to make the lye soap she washed the clothes in. I have always told my two daughters (one is now 28 and the other is 22) that I knew how to survive because my Mother knew how to not let people walk all over her. She fought to get anything and everything she could to provide for us. My Dad became disabled when he had a stroke at 55 and my Mom had to fight for every dollar of assistance we got. I have had to use a lot of the skills she passed on as I am disabled myself now. I know first hand some of the hardships she endured to provide for us kids.

My daughter yesterday wrote me an email to tell me how she is finally learning how hard it was for me to provide for her the best clothes, food, and such growing up and she truly appreciates it now. My Mother is 80 years old and suffers from dementia. She is starting to have attacks and it saddens my heart to hear of the things my brother has to put up. We are at the point of praying God takes her home so she won't go downhill anymore. I am 58 years old and I learned how to survive during rough times from my Mother."

Thank you, Jane S, for sharing your mother's story. She certainly set an example of devotion for not only you but your daughters and all who have read her story here. Thanks again.

Lisa Lickel & Liberta

Today a fellow Wisconsin author will share her family story. Here's Lisa:

"Although I’m an historian and joined my father in family research, our stories never seemed quite so exciting: there’s the great-great-great aunt who was to have sailed on the Titanic, but broke her leg; there’s contracted brides, and the usual family upsets, but nothing drastic or far-reaching. It wasn’t until I moved to my old house and got involved in local Wisconsin history that I began to feel deeply what some of these women had endured. One family in particular has a history that I adore.

Liberta Klessig Jaehnig came to America as a young woman and married a neighborhood man, Ernst Klessig. Together they built a comfortable life in the middle of the nineteenth century. Liberta and Ernst owned and operated the Saxonia House, an inn where immigrants could get a foothold before settling. It was the local store, bar, post office for a time, dance hall, brewery, and meeting place for church and clubs until those groups could establish their own places. The Klessigs had four children, and then Ernst died suddenly.

Although I’m sure Liberta was a brave woman in her own right, it also took strength to reach out and ask for help – in the form of another neighbor who had left town years earlier for the California Gold Rush. Ernst Jaehnig returned to Fillmore and married the widow Klessig. The business became more of a private home and farm, and when Ernst Jaehnig passed on only ten years later, Liberta was able to manage with the help of her older children. I never cease to smile when I think of or visit her grave, where she lies in sight of her once lovely home, between Ernst and Ernst.


In my story, Healing Grace, Grace Runyon has also suffered deep personal losses. She, however, forgets in whom her strength lies and tries to run, ala the biblical Jonah. She learns that God not only knows our every thought, but also is there to meet us wherever we go. Like Liberta, Grace eventually comes to understand that bravery doesn’t always mean acting independently, and strength is best found in numbers, especially familiar people who care for you and want to see you succeed. Grace must use her special gift for God’s greater glory, just as we all must use our God-given special abilities to advance His kingdom."


About the author: Lisa Lickel lives and writes in Wisconsin, often drawing her stories out of Midwestern lore. She is the author of a cozy mystery, The Gold Standard, from Heartsong Presents: Mysteries; Healing Grace, a story of love and sacrifice, due out in May from Zumaya; and Meander Scar, an adventure of re-discovering home, coming in 2010; as well as numerous newspaper features, magazine articles, and radio drama. Visit her at http://lisalickel.com, and http://livingourfaithoutloud.blogspot.com.

Lisa, thanks for sharing such an inspiring story.

Victoria Bylin Reminds us of Rizpah's Unwavering Strength

When Victoria said she was going to write about Rizpah, I confess that I had forgotten this little known biblical, but strong woman. Here's Victoria:

Cassie O’Rourke is a single mother with a wayward son. She’s also the heroine of “Home Again,” my contribution to the Love Inspired Historical Mother’s Day anthology entitled In a Mother’s Arms. I loved writing about Cassie because she gave me the opportunity to work one of my favorite Bible stories into a book set in 1890 Colorado. Like Rizpah from the Old Testament, Cassie would do anything for her son. Even when he’s at his most unlovable, she fights for him.

Here’s Rizpah’s story: She gave Saul two sons. When Saul got in a war with the Gibeonites, it was left to David to make things right. For retribution, the Gibeonites asked for the death of seven of Saul’s sons. Rizpah’s two sons were in the lot. The Gibeonites put them to death and hung their bodies from trees. For five months, Rizpah stayed with the bodies of all seven men. Every minute of every day, she chased away the buzzards until David allowed a proper burial and she could lay her sons to rest.

Rizpah was a concubine, a woman at the beck and call of others. She didn’t have the social capital to see to the burial of her sons, but neither did she back down. She protected their bodies as best as she could. That’s what mother’s do. They fight for their children. They love them even when they’re damaged and broken.

I first heard the story Rizpah several years ago in church on Mother’s Day. Ever since, I’ve wanted to work it into a book. The opportunity came with this novella. Cassie has many challenges, among them a twelve-year-old son who throws rocks through windows. When he ends up jail, she comes face to face with Deputy Gabe Wyatt, the man she jilted fourteen years earlier.


I’m not spoiling anything if I tell you Cassie gets her “happily ever after” with Gabe. How they get there is the story, and Luke is a big part of what draws them together and pushes them apart. Anyone who’s ever dealt with a twelve-year-old boy will recognize the conflict. It’s my deepest hope that anyone who’s ever loved a child will also recognize the love.

Book Monday-Amy Wallace's Enduring Justice

Today an author new to me, Amy Wallace tells us about her latest book.

“If you love breath-stealing suspense, unforgettable characters, and remarkable spiritual depth in your fiction, Enduring Justice is a book to savor. Amy Wallace is at her best with this poignant, grace-filled addition to her deeply satisfying Defenders of Hope Series.” —CLAUDIA MAIR BURNEY, author of Wounded: A Love Story

ENDURING JUSTICE Secrets Can’t Last Forever
A PAINFUL PAST Hanna Kessler’s childhood secret has remained buried for over two decades. But when the dark shadows of her past threaten to destroy those she loves, Hanna must face the summer that changed her life and the man who still haunts her memories.

A RACIALLY-MOTIVATED KILLER As a Crimes Against Children FBI Agent, Michael Parker knows what it means to get knocked down. Difficult cases and broken relationships have plagued his entire year. But when the system fails and a white supremacist is set free, Michael’s drive for retribution eclipses all else.

A LIFE-ALTERING CHOICE A racist's well-planned assault forces Hanna and Michael to decide between executing vengeance and pursuing justice. The dividing line is the choice to heal. But when the attack turns personal, is justice enough?

Q and A with author Amy Wallace
Q. Where did the idea for the stories in the DEFENDERS OF HOPE series come from?
A. The Defenders of Hope series started with a literal dream about an FBI agent with a wounded heart and a mom on a dangerous quest for answers. That dream became the book Ransomed Dreams. During the research for Ransomed Dreams, I met with a federal agent and asked the question—what would happen if an FBI agent found out he had cancer? His answer became the second book, Healing Promises. And the third book in the series, Enduring Justice, grew out of a secret one of the characters, Hanna Kessler, struggles to keep hidden.

Q. One of the key themes running through Enduring Justice is racism, as Hanna’s love interest, FBI Agent Michael Parker, is investigating a white supremacist. Why is this topic near to your heart?
A. I grew up in the military and had friends of all skin colors and nationalities. One of my best friends was African American. We never talked about our skin color, but I remember one time she made a comment about how people treated her differently because of her skin. She wouldn’t explain. It wasn’t until years later after hearing some ugly words from extended family members about people of other skin colors that I started to understand racism still exists. And it breaks my heart. Through Hanna and Eve and Michael and Lee, I wanted to highlight some of the challenges I’ve learned about from friends of other nationalities and also to show that it’s not skin color that matters, it’s who we are on the inside. We truly can be color-blind.

Q. Where can readers learn more about you, Enduring Justice, and your other books?
A. I enjoy and value email from readers! So please visit me on the web at the Dark Chocolate Suspense site: www.amywallace.com and leave a note in the guestbook, drop me an email, or join the Dark Chocolate Suspense newsletter community:
http://www.amywallace.com/Newsletter.html.
Readers can also check out a very cool book format and read the first two chapters of Enduring Justice online: http://www.amywallace.com/ej_chapter.html

To purchase: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1601420145"


Thanks, Amy. Amy shared that this story comes from the shards of her once-broken heart.

Amy: "Fifteen years ago, God placed me in a safe place and used my future husband’s hands to hold me together while my heart shattered. David was the first person to hear about my being date raped when I was a teen. For five years I’d denied what happened or blamed myself. So when my walls of secrecy started to crumble, I felt alone and terrified.

But God met me there. He covered my shame with His grace and we started down the painful path of healing. Even though this isn’t the same circumstances as what Hanna Kessler faces in Enduring Justice, a lot of my personal story went into the writing. And while this subject may qualify this story as “gritty,” the focus is not on the past experiences, but on the healing an adult woman finds as she opens up to her family and the man she loves."

Thanks for sharing the story of your trial and strength, Amy. And your book sounds like an excellent read!--Lyn

Elizabeth Musser & God's promises

Today, I'm introducing an author who is new to me, Elizabeth Musser. I found her story so true for many of us. Here's Elizabeth:

"When I am Weak, I am strong I have never thought of myself as a strong woman. Strong-willed maybe, stubborn, yes, prideful, sure. But strong in the positive sense? Nope, not hypersensitive me. As a creative soul, I had struggled for most of my life with dark thoughts that often spiraled into despair. I often heard voices whispering You are a failure, you never do enough, guilty, guilty, guilty!
I loved Jesus, and I had seen His hand in my life in hundreds of ways since He called me to Himself when I was a child. But the dark thoughts and the voices came back. As a young wife, mother and missionary, I had a wonderful breakthrough in my spiritual life when God began revealing to me the concept of renewing my mind. When struggling with false guilt heaped on by the Accuser, I needed repent of those spiraling thoughts, call on Jesus and then replace the lies with the truth.
How thankful I am for the way the Lord brought more mature saints into my life to help me form what I call ‘a battle plan’. I learned through God’s Word what it meant to ‘take every thought captive’ and to ‘set my mind on things above’.
Practically, that meant I identified the things in my life that most often sent me spiraling into despair: comparison, desire to control, jealousy, worry. I began not only memorizing God’s Word, but meditating on it. I wrote out a list of things my husband could do when he saw me becoming ‘weak’. One of the most helpful was to suggest I go for a walk, to get out into nature with Jesus and let Him lift my eyes to the hills and to Him. God’s Word calmed the voices.
On my own, I will never be strong. I will still succumb to the voices. But I am NOT on my own. I love what Jesus said to Paul, concerning his thorn in the flesh. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” And Paul concludes, “Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me… for when I am weak, then I am strong." (II Corinthians 12:9-10, emphasis mine.) There is not a lot of room for pride when I see God using me in spite of myself. I know it is not because of me but because of His strength in me, and then, God gets the glory. How cool is that?


WORDS UNSPOKEN, Bethany House Publishers, c2009, available now Which voice will she listen to? Lissa Randall’s future was bright with academic promise until the tragic accident that brought her plans to a screeching halt. Eighteen months later, she still can’t get back behind the wheel, hearing subconscious whispers of Never good enough and All your fault. A casual recommendation to Ev McAllistair’s driving school sets in motion a cascade of events . . . until Lissa begins to wonder if maybe, just maybe, life isn’t as random as she’s thought. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, Words Unspoken introduces a cast of unforgettable characters who must choose whether to listen to voices that entice them towards greed, depression, and anger or to a still small voice that offers hope.

For more information about Elizabeth and her novels, please visit her website at www.elizabethmusser.com."

Thanks, Elizabeth. I often think of 2 Timothy 1:7--For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Virginia Smith and Her Grandmother, "Mono"

Today my friend Ginny shares special memories.

It’s hard to pick just one strong woman to write about, because I come from a family of them. We’re from the south, and southern women are known for their inner strength, well-hidden beneath a soft veneer. Remember Steel Magnolias? We stand firm. We don’t buckle in the face of adversity. And that was definitely true of my grandmother.

My grandmother was born in 1906, several months after her father’s death. She was the seventh daughter, and her mother named her after her father as a final act of remembrance – Bennie Virginia. (Yes, I was named after her.) Her mother never remarried, and with such a big family and no father around, you know they weren’t wealthy. My grandmother put herself through school, and then married. She gave birth to three boys – two of them survived. Then, when my father was nine, her husband died suddenly. The girl who grew up without a father became a widow without a father for her sons. She got a job as a teacher and worked hard to support them.

I called her Mono. The name came from an older cousin who couldn’t pronounce ‘Mother,’ as all the grown-ups were calling her. It stuck, even though I went through preadolescent agonies of embarrassment over the name when Mono was my fourth-grade math teacher. But she loved the silly name, so I couldn’t do anything about it. (I did try to call her Granny once, but she insisted, “Grannies are old ladies who sit in rocking chairs and knit. I’m not Granny – I’m Mono!”)

Some of my most cherished memories come from my times with Mono. Her house always smelled of cookies, and she prided herself on her secret fried chicken recipe (which she took to the grave with her!). She was a proper southern woman – don’t wear white or open-toed shoes after Labor Day, always wear a petticoat, male guests should only be entertained with an appropriate chaperone hovering nearby. I don’t ever remember Mono sitting me down to teach me the lessons I learned from her; instead, her life was her classroom. From her, I learned that difficulties are not reasons to stop striving; they are merely obstacles to be overcome. I learned to love fiercely and forever, as she did. I learned that the difference we make in life is not measured by a list of accomplishments, but by the number of lives we have touched.

That was evident at Mono’s funeral, when the mourners overflowed the funeral home. Many of them told us that Mono had taught three generations of their family, and had been the favorite teacher of them all. They’d smile and tell us their favorite memories of that grand old lady who’d lived to be ninety-six, then they’d file past the casket. The funeral spray on top had two ribbons – one said Mother. The other said Mono.

What does Mono have to do with my new book, Murder at Eagle Summit? Why, not a thing! The grandmother in this book is a funny old character, bur she bears very little resemblance to my Mono. On the other hand, now that I think about it, the heroine, Liz, is an awfully strong-willed woman. And in the course of the story, she learns that love—true love—is forever. So maybe Mono does show up in Murder at Eagle Summit after all. You be the judge!"

For more information about Virginia (Ginny) Smith

Stories with Humor and Heart

www.virginiasmith.org

Thanks, Ginny. Great story!

Book Monday-Leanna Ellis's Ruby Slippers

Leanna Ellis's latest novel. This sounds like fun!

Ruby’s Slippers:

Wizard of Oz meets Cinderella

When Dottie Meyers loses her ‘no place like home’ during a Kansas tornado, she wakes up to find a pair of ruby slippers left by her father who abandoned his family thirty years ago. With her sister hot on her trail to find the treasured ruby slippers, Dottie travels a yellow brick road with three friends to find her father. No wizard can solve her problems. Only the love of a heavenly father can heal her wounds and give her the desires of her heart.

There’s no place like … the heart for God’s healing touch.

Winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award, Leanna Ellis writes quirky women's fiction. When she’s not busy writing, taxiing her kids to and from dance and fencing, or taking the dogs in and out, then she’s contemplating some new weird plot.

Visit her website at http://leannaellis.com.

For a real treat, check out the trailer on the home Leanna's website.

Also http://www.leannaellis.com/rubysslippers.html and read the first chapter!