Author Cara Putman & The All-Expense Paid Vacation to the World's Largest Kitty Litter Box

My guest today is Author Cara Putman. Here's Cara:

"My Mom – A Woman of Strength

I’ve always admired my mom. She homeschooled us kids as soon as it was legal – in the days when it was still very weird. She has always poured Christ’s love into others through homeschool groups, crisis pregnancy centers, church ministries and so much more.

But in 1990, I saw her strength in a whole new light. In August, my dad and his National Guard unit were at their two-week summer training when Iraq invaded Kuwait. At that time, I wondered if he’d even get to come home before being shipped overseas. He did.

It wasn’t until Thanksgiving week that his unit got called to active status. On three days notice, Mom went from a busy woman helping with our restaurants, homeschooling, community involvement, and more to a woman who’s husband was shipping to a war zone. Her support system was gone, and unlike when he served in Vietnam, she was left with four children and all her responsibilities plus much of the load Dad had borne for our stores.

That Christmas I got a stack of boxes from the nicest store at the Mall because Mom didn’t have time to shop in a dozen places like she usually would. My Dad’s unit shipped home in April – just in time for Easter. I barely recognized the man with the tan and mustache.

That six months was a challenge for each of us. Phone calls were so rare. Email barely existed. And regular letters were what we had to rely on for most of our communications. I remember making jokes about Dad’s all-expense paid vacation to the kitty liter box of the world in an effort to keep from crying when people would ask about him.

We all cope in different ways. But that period gave me a great respect for all the military families that are left behind when their loved one deploys. And it also revealed just how strong my Mom is."--Cara Putman

Here's Cara's latest book. What a fantastic cover!

Hollywood 1942. When attorney Audra Schaeffer's sister disappears, Audra flies to Hollywood to find her but instead must identify her body. Determined to bring the killer to justice, Audra takes a job with the second Hollywood Victory Caravan. Together with Robert Garfield and other stars, she crisscrosses the southern United States in a campaign to sell war bonds. When two other women are found dead on the train, Audra knows the deaths are tied to that of her sister. Could the killer be the man with whom she's falling in love?

About the Author

Stars in the Night is CARA PUTMAN's ninth novel and tenth book. An attorney and sometimes lecturer at a Big Ten University, Cara lives in Indiana with her husband and three children. http://www.caraputman.com

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Author Cara Putman & Stronger than I Knew

My guest today, Author Cara Putman, is so young and perky that sometimes I have to blink to be sure she's real. But she is. We just saw each other at a Christian booksellers Convention, the ICRS in St Louis and had a great time reconnecting. I even got to meet her cute dh! When I visited Cara's website, her first sentence let me know that she and I are on the same wavelength. Her first sentence?

Do you know how strong you are?

Here's Cara's touching story:

"Stronger than I knew…

I’ve always thought of myself as fairly strong…easy to do when I was homeschooled at a time when it was considered very odd. Then there’s starting college at 16 and taking junior classes as an 18-year-old holding my own against grad students. Or moving to D.C. as a twenty-year-old who didn’t know anyone.

All my life I’ve lived in a way that requires strength, but it’s stemmed from a deep sense of who I am and who God is.

I got married, had a career, went to law school, started a family, moved to a new community, and on and on. I’m sure y’all can relate, too.

Then my life got tipped on its head.

For some of you this wouldn’t be a big deal. But for me, it rocked my world. Made me question everything I’d built my life on. Question what I believed and why. You see, after a period of struggling to get pregnant with our third child, I got pregnant then went in for my first appointment at eleven weeks, and something was wrong.

Everybody has a what-if. That deep seated fear that they can’t even whisper to anyone else for fear it will come true. For me, it’s always been the fear that something would happen to one of my children. What if they got sick? What if God-forbid they died?

Then in January 2007 I had a miscarriage. It was horrific. The reality of my deepest fears. A child I’d never meet this side of heaven yet dearly loved had died. In my case, I had to have surgery and then explain to my two small children that Mommy was okay but the baby they’d been so excited about was in heaven.

And my world rocked on its axis. You see, neither of our families had much experience with miscarriage. So I felt incredibly, utterly alone. How do you explain to others what is happening and why you are such a wreck when you have no framework for the pain?

Oh, the struggles. The pain. The questions.

You see, I tend to wrestle with God. Where others except and move on, I question, beg, and scream.

But you know what? Through it all God was there. He understands what it’s like to lose a child. He understands the questions. And even when it felt like He was silent, I still knew He collected everyone of my tears.

And through the struggle I learned through some important truths. My faith is as strong as I thought – probably stronger thanks to my questions. I do believe everything I’ve claimed. But I’ve also learned that in my weakness He can be strong. Much stronger in me. And that as I question, my faith grows stronger.

My challenge to you: Don’t run from the crises in your life. Instead fall against God, and let Him build your strength in Him. And watch Him turn your tragedies into good – as only He can."--Cara C. Putman

Here's her latest book, Stars in the Night. Isn't the cover gorgeous?

Could the man Audra loves be her sister's Murderer?

During WWII, attorney Audra Shaeffer travels with the second Hollywood
Victory Caravan ­ but she's more interested in solving her sisters murder
than selling war bonds. When two people on the train are found dead,
including the ex-wife of handsome star Robert Garfield, Audra starts to
wonder if Robert's affectionate overtures are setting her up to be his next
victim.


Stars in the Night is Cara Putman's ninth novel and eleventh book. An
attorney and sometimes lecturer at a Big Ten university, Cara lives in
Indiana with her husband and three children. She can be found online at her
website (http://www.caraputman.com), facebook, twitter, and shoutlife.
Also visit her blog http://carasmusings.blogspot.com/