Wendy & Her Mom

Here's a story from another reader who wanted to honor her mother. Here's Wendy:

"At 19 my mom found herself pregnant. She waited until Christmas to tell her parents, and I was born barely a month later. They welcomed me with open arms. We lived with my grandparents. I guess I need to add that during this time my mom helped to raise my Aunt's kids as well. She has 6 kids and had an abusive husband, so the kids always came to my mom for things. When I was only a few years old my grandfather learned he had cancer. He died when I was three. During his final days he wanted to die at home, so my mom and grandma took are care of him and allowed him to do that. She was only 23 when he passed away.

From then we lived just my mom, me and grandma. My grandmother couldn't work, due to health issues, and weight, so my mom worked to support us all. Plus to help care for my aunt's kids. My grandmother got sicker and towards the end of her life, she wanted to die at home, so my mom had to quit her job so she could be there with my grandmother and allow her that small gift. I turned 11 the day we buried my grandmother and my mom was going to be 31 in a few months. So by the age of 31 she had lost both parents, her main support system.

She never once got support from my biological father. She tried but back then, well child support wasn't as widely done as it is now. So we made do with what we could. There were times we went without lights, because it was either pay the bill or get food. There were times she worried we'd not have a place to live. We moved around a LOT. When a home was beginning to be too much for us to pay the rent we would move. During the time my grandmother was dying she promised her she'd go to school to be a nurse, so we struggled so she could do just that. I remember helping her study for tests. She got her LPN and decided to go to work rather than going on for her RN degree because we needed the money.

I can honestly say while she worried the times we did without would be some of my worst, I remember them fondly. We had fun. I got to play Little House on the Prairie. During it all she worked hard to make sure I knew she loved me, and while she could have made the choice to either never have me, or give me away she didn't. That took alot of guts especially in a small town during the 70s. She did a great job, she took care of me, she showed me that women could be anything and that while life sometimes doesn't go as we plan, there are hidden blessings in there. I'll admit that when my grandfather died she had a lot of anger towards God. But she always made sure I went to church, and that I knew she was angry but that didn't mean I should be. She has found her way back to God over the years and now I see her with a stronger relationship with him.

She married not long after I got married and over the years while we've remained mother and daughter we are also best friends. She is the strongest woman I know. I could tell you more but I think I might have said more than you wanted. I'm not sure. I know that my mom found herself a single mother without her parents by the age of 31. Her only sister was in her own situation and really offered us no help. She tried to help her sister's kids as often as she could and in anyway she could. At various times they all either nearly lived with us, or did in fact live with us. She never turned them away, no matter what they needed she tried to provide it.

We were all a team, my mom, me and my cousins. She really had only us and we had her. We made it. And she showed me that I could do anything and I'd always have her to support me. I'm very proud of my mom and I hope to be as strong as she is."


Thank you, Wendy, for sharing your mom's story. Her life is an inspiration.--Lyn

Book Monday-Cheryl Wyatt's Ready-Made Family

Today for Book Monday, I'm featuring another Love Inspired author, Cheryl Wyatt.

Ready-Made Family

April 2009-Steeple Hill Love Inspired--IN STORES NOW!

Wings of Refuge Series

Amelia North needs refuge, and finds it--in Refuge, Illinois. Stranded there after a car wreck, the single mother expects to be cold-shouldered. After all, she's already been rejected by her parents, her church and her daughter's father. Instead, she finds a town full of people with open hands and hearts…including pararescue jumper Ben Dillinger.

Ben wants to help Amelia and her daughter find safety and stability. Instead, he finds himself freefalling--right into love with the ready-made family.

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AUTHOR INFO/BIO:

Cheryl Wyatt's closest friends would never dream the mayhem she plots during announcements at church. An RN-turned-SAHM, joyful chaos rules her home, and she delights in the stealth moments God gives her to write. She's convinced that having been born on a Naval base on Valentine's Day destined her to write military romance. She stays active in her church and in her laundry room. Her debut novels (Books 1 and 2-Wings of Refuge Series-Steeple Hill) received Romantic Times Top Picks. In addition, her debut books received the honor of coming in at #1 and #4 on eHarlequins's Top Ten Most-Blogged-About-Books, lists which included several NYT Bestselling authors. Cheryl is currently serving as Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers. www.acfw.com

To receive her quarterly newsletter for updates on new releases and contests with GREAT prizes (think: free books, CDs, iPods, and a Kindle!), visit her Web site at www.cherylwyatt.com and sign up in the space provided. Cheryl respects your privacy and will not share your e-mail address with a third party.

Her current contest:

KINDLE CONTEST--NO FOOLIN!

Starting April Fool's day 2009 I'll be running a Kindle contest. Only my newsletter subscribers will be eligible for entry. To receive those quarterly newsletters as well as more information on the Kindle contest, visit www.cherylwyatt.com and sign up in the newsletter space provided. This is a double-opt-in feature and you will receive an e-mail prompting you to confirm that you wish to receive the newsletter. I respect your privacy and will not share your e-mail address with a third party. Winner will be announced on Independence Day 2009 on my newsletter and blog.

AUTHOR CONTACT INFO:

E-mail: cheryl@cherylwyatt.com

Web site: http://www.CherylWyatt.com

Cheryl's Blog: http://www.scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com

Though Ready-Made Family is part of Cheryl's Wings of Refuge Series, each story stands alone.

A Soldier's Promise and A Soldier's Family are still available at most online booksellers.

Look for Cheryl's upcoming Wings of Refuge books:

A Soldiers Reunion-June 2009

Soldier Daddy-October 2009

A Soldier's Devotion-January 2010

Home Sweet Hero (tentative title)-Spring 2010

Cynthia Hickey's Grandmother & The Endless Summer

Today a newer mystery author tells us about her best summer.
Here's Cynthia:


The summer I turned ten-years-old, my parents dropped me and my younger sisters off with my Grandmother in Arkansas. My father was in the army and we'd lived all over, not having time to get to know our relatives. I'd never been away from my parents before, and didn't know this woman I'd spend the next two months with.


The next day was Sunday. Grandma took me to my first church service. I cried through the entire thing, missing my parents, fiercely. My younger sisters went to Sunday School, but I suffered from great shyness and decided to stay next to Grandma while she fanned me with a paper fan that portrayed a picture of Jesus on it. Within a few days, engulfed with my Grandma's love, I realized I had the opportunity for the best summer of my life. Total and complete freedom. To a city girl, the country offered thousands of adventures. Surrounded by a multitude of cousins, we swam, rode horses, and hiked the woods. All that was required of us was to be home by supper, do the dishes afterwards, and dust Grandma's knickknacks on Saturday mornings.

My precious grandmother died several years ago. The little country church where the funeral service was held was so full, people were standing outside looking in the windows. Through these people's reminiscing, I received the opportunity to know my Grandma like I never had before. Although she'd raised eleven children of her own during the Great Depression, and lost one in an accident, her door was always open to anyone needing a warm meal. They'd grown their own food, sewed their own clothes, and even built their home with their own hands. Through it all, Grandma retained a firm faith in God, and a fierce love for family. I had only witnessed her love for family. These dedications only increased the respect I had for this simple woman.

I want to be like her when I grow up. With the church over-flowing with people I've touched.
The female characters in my novels are all caring, strong women.They may not realize their strength at the beginning, but come to realize where their true strength comes from during the course of the story. I often wonder whether I would have come to know the Lord if not for my Grandma's unwavering rule of attending church each Sunday. This firm belief in what is right is what I try to instill in each of my female characters.

In Candy-Coated Secrets, my heroine, Summer Meadows must rely on this same faith and strength in order to save not only her life, but the life of the man she loves."

Thanks, Cynthia
www.cynthiahickey.com

My great-grandmother Sadie Scott's Lesson

Not long ago, I began the story of my greatgrandmother Sadie (Sarah) Scott Baker's life.
(I tried to upload a vintage family photo but it was stubborn. I'll try again another day.)

Anyway, alone, she raised her three sons and daughter but not without great effort and difficulty. I'm sure you can understand the struggles of a single mother around the turn of the twentieth century. Years after her children were raised, her errant husband (whom you recall was 16 years older than she) came home to her. No social security then and he was too old to work. And of course, she let him come home since they were still married and she had a kind heart.

One morning when he was suffering the aches of old age, he watched her get dressed and begin breakfast. As she did so, she was singing.

He said, "I wish I could get up singing. How do you do that?"

And her response: "You could. You just get up and start singing."

I think that tells you a great deal of how my great-grandmother dealt with the challenges she met in her life.

I recall my own mother telling me this story. And more importantly living this story. There was always a lot of laughter in our home even in times of upheaval and sorrow.

My daughter came into my office a few months ago and told me she was having another migraine. (Unfortunately she inherited that from me.) And then she laughed. She said, "It's good you taught me to laugh through the pain."

So you see, Greatgrandma Sadie's life is still influencing others for good.
A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. Psalm 17:22

Maureen Lang and Bess

Today I have the pleasure of hosting Maureen Lang, a great Tyndale author who lives in my home county in Illinois, Lake County which on the east borders Lake Michigan. I had the opportunity to endorse Maureen's outstanding story, Oak Leaves.
A memorable and compelling story.

Please welcome Maureen Lang as she tells her story of a Strong Woman!


When Lyn presented the idea to post an article about a strong woman, I thought it would be so easy to introduce readers to one of the heroines from my books. After all, they’re supposed to be strong. If they don’t start out that way, hopefully by the end of the story they’ve grown into someone who’s faced and conquered more than they ever thought they could endure.

But instead I’d like to tell you about my grandmother—a real person rather than one of the make-believe people performing scenes in my head. Do you know what makes a person strong? As the Bible says, it’s testing by fire.

My grandmother came from good American stock. When I was young she told me her family had left Ireland so many years ago one ancestor or another had fought in the Revolutionary War. She also said one of her forebears had been a mail-order bride from Scotland, another story I’d like to explore some day.

My grandmother Elizabeth (Bess as she was called) was born in 1894. The first fire Bess faced was at the young age of seven. Her mother became sick with TB, and one day Bess’s father, a country pastor, dressed in his preaching suit even though it wasn’t Sunday. He told Bess to comb her hair and put on her best dress, too, so she could say good-by properly to her mother. After doing that (combing her hair the best her seven-year old hands could do), her father pressed two silver dollars into her little palm and then took Bess to her mother. She was already gone on to Heaven. It was Bess who put the coins on her eyes, to hold down the eyelids she was told.

Bess’s sixteen year old sister helped to care for her until a few months later when she, too, became ill with TB and died, leaving Bess with her father and brother. Not long after that, two women from her father’s church came for a grim visit: they told him it wasn’t proper for a young girl to be raised in a household of only men, and they’d found a school that would take in girls. And so at seven years old Bess was sent away, to be raised by Episcopalian nuns. She was to see her father and brother only on Sundays for family day.

Bess was well educated there and grew up to marry. As a young woman she lived through the Great War and the Great Depression, bore two boys and a girl. When her daughter was six years old she woke up to another day only to become ill in a matter of hours. My frantic grandmother took her little girl to the local hospital and after waiting and waiting for help, the doctor finally saw them. But Bess was told there was nothing they could do. Her daughter died soon after the doctors examined her, a victim of what she was told to be 7-hour pneumonia. Bess continued to hold her daughter, and the staff was so busy they left her there for many hours, until she cried herself to sleep. As the family story goes, that’s when my grandmother’s dark brown hair turned the pure white she had for the rest of her life.

Bess gave birth to a third son not long after that, but when a woman brought a paternity suit against Bess’s husband demanding he support her and his child, Bess divorced him despite social condemnation. She raised three rambunctious boys on her own, all of whom became hardworking and honest, responsible members of society. Each of them entered the armed forces and she watched them march off to fight in the Second World War. By then Bess had a choice of two men who wanted to marry her, and she chose a First World War veteran who worked as a fine tool blacksmith. But before they could be married he was recruited by Uncle Sam to go to the Panama Canal Zone to work on everything from medical to ship equipment aboard warships passing through the Canal. He reported for duty immediately and Bess soon followed—after a series of nasty shots and medical precautions against malaria. They were married by an American judge in Panama City. For four years they lived there, while one of her sons, my father, was taken Prisoner of War by the Japanese in the Philippines. Bess was given only scant knowledge of what he went through after that initial death march for the three and a half years of his captivity until the end of the war.

Bess and her husband made it back to the Midwest just in time to welcome him home after the camp he’d been held at in Mukden, Manchuria was liberated.

By the time I came along my grandmother was quite settled, still happily married to her retired blacksmith, and living near her three sons. Thinking back on my childhood I have few regrets, but one of them was that I never sat still long enough to listen to more of her stories. She died at age 89, having lived a full and interesting life, tested by the fires that made her strong.

Maureen

Maureen Lang is the author of several novels, including Pieces of Silver (a Christy Finalist) and The Oak Leaves (a Holt Award of Merit recipient). Her books are both historical and contemporary and always include an element of romance with the promise of a happy ending. Her newest book is titled My Sister Dilly, the story of two sisters who survive mistakes and guilt and find redemption after one sister makes a terrible mistake that sends her to prison. Readers can see a trailer about the book at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5impgRmCNCk

Maureen Lang www.maureenlang.com
http://maureenlang.blogspot.com/
Latest release: My Sister Dilly, Tyndale

The first post of the new blog

I love stories. I love to read them as well as write them.

I have waited to set up my own blog until I decided what I wanted to write about and read about.

I decided to write blog posts about what I love most Stories of Strong Women. My brand is Strong Women, Brave Stories because even though I write different types of novels, all of them have this in common.

I plan on blogging twice a week and Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will be inviting other authors of the different types of inspirational fiction to tell us about their own stories of strength, endurance and victory. And also about their strong heroines in their stories.

And I also ask that you share your own stories (without violating anyone's privacy. Please change names and places to hide identities. After all, everyone who surfs the Net are not nice people-you understand? )

But I would love you to share your own and your family's stories of strong women.

I just finished a manuscript and am doing my sorting and getting rid of clutter before the holiday season is upon us.

And I'll be starting another manuscript as soon as my house is "bustled" into shape.

So I will be starting regular postings the week before Thanksgiving--I hope.

Until then, I wish you a happy fall season.
Lyn