Family

From Our Table to Yours! Two Easy Thanksgiving Recipes

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I'd like to share a couple of our traditional family recipes with you. We use these at Christmas, too, and sometimes even in between. They are not that hard to make, and soooo yummy. This photo of our spread (below) was taken before the turkey made its appearance. ALSO--and this is very important--that glare you see on the front edge of the tablecloth is a reflection off my favorite meal-time stress-reducer. I buy two square yards of clear plastic/vinyl from Hobby Lobby and cover the real tablecloth with it. Kids spill? No problem! Buttery knife falls off the plate? No problem! I LOVE this stuff. Cheap. Worth it. Bravo. Now let's get cooking. Fluffy Cranberry Salad [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"988", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignright size-medium wp-image-1750", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"300", "height":"290", "alt":"cranberry salad"}}]] 3 cups fresh cranberries (one 12 oz bag might do it, but I usually buy two in case there are a lot of squishy berries to discard) 1/2 cup sugar 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained 2 cups miniature marshmallows 2 cups heavy whipping cream (1 pint) Chop cranberries in half. Yes, sit down at the table and chop each berry in half individually. We tried putting them through the grinder once to save time and the recipe was just not the same. Put on some nice Christmas music (I recommend Handel's Messiah or Charlie Brown's Christmas) and get comfy. Add next three ingredients to chopped berries. Chill overnight. Drain excess juice from the bowl. Whip the cream in a blender, adding sugar to taste. Fold in the whipped cream to the rest of the bowl. (Note: you may not want to add ALL the whipped cream to your salad. You will probably have some leftover to put on your pie later. :) ) Spinach Salad [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"989", "attributes":{"class":"media-image \u0026quot;alignright", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"300", "height":"238", "alt":"spinach salad"}}]] 10 oz. fresh spinach slices crisp bacon, crumbled 1 bunch sliced scallions (green onions) 1/4 lb. sliced, raw mushrooms. Don't use canned mushrooms, they're gross. Dressing: T. lemon juice 5 T. olive oil 3/4 t. salt 1/8 t. pepper 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 t. dry mustard 1/4 t. sugar 1 egg yolk Assemble salad. Mix and chill dressing. Pour dressing on salad just before serving. I won't even tell you to enjoy it because I know you will without being reminded to. It's drool-worthy. Truly. Happy, happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Anyone Can Do Freezer Meals: Here's How

"So Jocelyn," the television host boomed as she held a microphone under my chin at the International Christian Retail Show. It was my first TV appearance after the release of Wedded to War, and I was prepared to talk about the Civil War, nursing, the writing process, or almost any related topic. Instead, "I hear you do freezer meals, is that right?" Slight hesitation. "Yes, that's right." "Tell us about that!" The topic struck me as an odd one for the occasion, but I complied, much to my agent's amusement afterward. :) Since then, I've noticed a lot of fascination with freezer meals. Most people agree it sounds like a good idea--it saves you oodles of time, money, and sanity--but they stop short of doing it themselves because the task sounds so daunting. But listen. You can do it. Anyone can. Here are three different approaches to consider. 1. Easy Does It This is a great way for anyone to build up their freezer meals, but especially those who can't carve out a full day for meal preparations. When you make your own family dinner, double it. Eat one the day you prepare it, and freeze the other. Casseroles, etc., will save for about three months in the freezer. If it's just marinated meat, it can keep for up to six months. Use gallon size ziplock freezer bags, or tin or Gladware 8x8 dishes covered with tin foil. (I actually cover mine with three layers and then put it in a gallon ziplock.) I also do this with cookie dough. We'll bake half the batch, then I'll divide and freeze the rest of the dough to bake later. Label everything with date and cooking instructions. You may know exactly what to do, but if you give the meal to a new mom or someone recovering from surgery or broken limb, instructions will be handy. 2. Sweet and Simple Option number two: Join forces with nine or so other friends/acquaintances. Each of you commit to making a dinner entree times ten on your own time, in your own kitchens. Set a time and place and swap meals, so each of you end up with ten different meals for your freezer. Just determine who is making what ahead of time so there is a good variety. 3. Go the Distance It's time to roll up your sleeves! Find a friend or two and spend one full day prepping about 30 meals for each of you. This is the option I choose before I head into my writing cave for major projects. In fact, I just did this with my neighbor last Friday (time to start drafting Spy of Richmond!) so I have several tips still fresh in my mind to share. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"997", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"419", "height":"489", "alt":"SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES"}}]] Planning First, it makes sense to work with a friend whose family size is similar to yours. Choose a host kitchen for meal prep day. Counter space is king. Also, proximity to a grocery store may be a consideration--you just might find a grocery run necessary. Together, decide whether you want to prepare fewer meals in greater quantities (i.e. four batches of fifteen meals, so you each get two of the same) or more meals in fewer quantities (i.e. two batches of thirty meals). Preparing more of the same kind of meal simplifies the grocery shopping, but some find the extra effort worth it to have greater variety in the freezer. Choose your recipes. You can use your own, or consult special cookbooks such as Don't Panic, Dinner's In the Freezer, or browse any number of freezer meal recipes online. Check out these links or search Pinterest if you want more ideas. Just be sure to include a variety in your plan. You can shorten your meal prep day by choosing recipes that require fewer ingredients, and those that do not require you to pre-cook meat. Make your grocery list carefully. Indicate ounces next to jars and cans. When shopping, note that a 28-ounce can is not always cheaper than buying two 14-ounce cans. Be prepared to do lots of calculating in the aisles. To save money, consider substituting ground turkey for ground beef for some recipes, or go to a meat locker if you can. Buying a whole chicken is much cheaper than buying skinless boneless chicken breasts, but keep in mind it will take longer to get the meat off the bird. Wait as long as you can to do the shopping since you'll need most of your fridge/counter space for the groceries until the meal prep day. Save time on meal prep day by labeling your ziplock bags beforehand. Writing the date, meal, and cooking instructions on 60 bags (or 40, or 80, or whatever you decide) gets tedious. Consider making cookies or cookie dough to trade on meal prep day, too. I did this with a friend in November, and it was a big help to have Christmas cookies already done for the season! If you have kids, arrange for their care ahead of time, at least for part of the meal prep day. Or if they are old enough, put them on clean-up duty--washing dishes, rinsing cans and peeling off labels if you recycle, etc. Last week I took a Sharpie and labeled the top of every can I bought, which meant I didn't have to pick up each can to find what I was looking for a meal prep day. Also, if a little one comes along and takes all the labels off any cans when you're not looking, all is not lost. :) Decide what you'll eat on meal prep day for lunch and dinner. It has worked well for me to pack a sandwich for lunch (or have hubby bring us take-out), and have pizza for dinner, or just easy-to-eat things like string cheese, bananas, etc. DO NOT WASTE TIME making or cleaning up after your own lunch and dinner on meal prep day! If you are not the hostess, bring a laundry basket or two with you to help carry the meals home. Meal Prep Day Start as early as possible. Expect to work past dinner time. If you get done earlier, so much the better. Wear good shoes. You'll be standing all day. Use a food processor to chop, slice, shred. If you don't own one, but plan to do a lot of vegetable chopping, borrow or buy one. I have a 7-cup one and it works great. Wearing an apron protects your clothes but also gives you an instant towel for your hands. Bring an extra can opener. To cut down on eye-sting from onions the best solution I've used is to set up a standing fan to blow the vapors away. You could also wear a ski mask, which is what I did last week. Sorry, no photos. :) Choose a system for tackling your recipes. Once my friends and I each took a recipe to do all the way through. Last week my neighbor and I worked at stations until it was time to assemble. I was the Queen of the Food Processor and she was the Meat Maestro. (I definitely got the easier end of the deal.) Once those jobs were done, I added the cans to the bags, and she added the spices. Save time by not peeling your washed carrots before you chop them. No one will know. Consider putting your crock pots to work for you while you work. Last fall my friend and I had a roast cooking in each of our two crockpots. At the end of the day we shredded the meat and added sauce to make BBQ pulled pork. YUM. Wherever you're working, have a "garbage bowl" nearby so you're not frequently making trips to the kitchen trash can. Have plenty of rags or paper towels on hand. Spills happen. Have a few first aid items ready, such as band-aids and whatever burn ointment you prefer. Keep a sense of humor. Ask questions of each other to clarify who's doing what, what's been done, etc. If you have extra vegetables, chop them up and put them in a freezer bag to steam later as a side dish. If you are short on an ingredient, ask yourself: can I go without it? Does the hostess have it in her pantry? Can we substitute something else in its place? Can we add it to the recipe on the day we cook it? If the answer to all these questions is no, send a husband to the grocery store. :) Expect to smell like onions and peppers for at least a day after this. If you trust the seals on your freezer bags, lay them flat in your freezer and stack them. It saves space AND thawing time. Save out at least one meal for your family to eat the next day. I'm telling you, you will not feel like cooking quite yet! This "go the distance" brand of freezer meals does take Rocky Balboa-style stamina for one day, but it's so worth it. I now have 30 meals in my freezer, which means I have way more mental space for writing every day, or for playing Chutes and Ladders with my son at 4:30 in the afternoon. Also, the cost ended up being an average of $1.15 per serving, which is GREAT! Final tip: when you feel your energy lagging on meal prep day, pull up this blog post and play the following YouTube clip. You can do it!

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Family

freezer meals

Between Books: Life in the Green House

Hello dear friends! I know it's been so long since I've posted anything new--I have two good reasons for that. First, I was busy finishing the novel, Yankee in Atlanta (hooray!). Second, since I turned it in on Halloween, I've been so busy enjoying life with my family, I couldn't bear to sit at my computer for more than a few minutes at a time! I thought I'd give you a glimpse into our first week of "Mommy's done with her book!" Here's what we've been up to: [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"981", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-1724", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"574", "height":"574", "alt":"HS1 final"}}]] [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"982", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-1725", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"574", "height":"314", "alt":"HS2 final"}}]] [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"983", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-1734", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"574", "height":"314", "alt":"HS3 final2"}}]] [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"984", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-1727", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"574", "height":"574", "alt":"HS4 final"}}]] [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"985", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-1728", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"574", "height":"574", "alt":"HS5 final"}}]][[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"986", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-1729", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"574", "height":"574", "alt":"HS6 final"}}]] Pretty soon, I'll be diving into novel number four, Spy of Richmond. I'll be sitting at my computer for long stretches of time once again, and I'll most likely be chiming in on Facebook much more often because a writer gets lonely. :) But in the meantime, I am totally reveling in this time with my family. I hope that you and yours are getting ready for a meaningful Thanksgiving holiday, too! Tell me, what are you most thankful for this year?

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Family

No-Bake Energy Bites (Plus Widow of Gettysburg Excerpt)

*The following originally appeared at Author's Galley: Manuscripts and Wooden Spoons, Where Novelist Candace Calvert asks fellow writers that simmering question: What's Cooking? We begin with a behind the scenes look at my kitchen. My poor kitchen. It’s been feeling a little neglected these days, since I’m on deadline and the last thing I think about is making dinner. In fact, if I wasn’t already planning to try a new snack recipe today, I would have to take a picture of me pouring a bag of frozen P.F. Chang’s into the skillet and turning on my rice maker. Yep, that’s really what I’m doing for dinner tonight. So let me show you my kitchen. That’s our new coffee bar on the far wall. On the left is a stack of research books I need to return to the library. On the right, we are growing some things—and apparently letting others die a slow death. My four-year-old’s can of grass is doing very well! We have home-made menus under our vinyl tablecloth. During the summer, our kids get to order off the menu. But at night they eat whatever I put in front of them (in theory). The rest of our kitchen is below. I’ve also included a picture of our fridge, mostly because I love the note at the top left which says, “Mom, I will obey you every day. From Elsa Green.” I’m keeping track of that one. The Recipe Now for the recipe for No-Bake Energy Bites! (courtesy of www.gimmesomeoven.com) It’s easy! Because I’m on a deadline! (Also, these would be great for book clubs!) Here is what you need, along with a bowl and a spoon: Yes, I had been snacking on the chocolate chips already. It happens. 1 c. dry oatmeal ½ c. chocolate chips (for a healthier and less delicious version, use craisins instead. Or tofu. I don't care.) ½ c. peanut butter ½ c. ground flaxseed (I used whole flaxseed because that's what I had, and it worked fine, though I hear the ground stuff is better for you. Just FYI.) 1/3 c. honey 1 tsp. vanilla Mix it all together! You can roll these into balls or spread them in a pan and cut them. Either way, spraying a little Pam on your finger tips will help the process immensely. Now put them in the fridge to set. Enjoy! The Excerpt And now, here’s an excerpt from my latest release, Widow of Gettysburg. This scene takes place July 1, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (I chose this excerpt because Candace, who originally hosted this blog post, asked for a passage related to food. :) ) *** The shots were so faint in the distance, maybe Hettie was right. Maybe, if a battle was to be had indeed, it would move farther away, not closer. Bella smoothed her apron over her green checked skirt and went into the kitchen to start baking for Hettie and her girls. She hitched her thoughts to the task as she would a horse to its post, concentrating on the dusting of flour on her fingertips, the scraping of the wooden spoon against the sides of the bowl, the spicy scent of the cinnamon and raisins waiting to be mixed in. It was something her mother had taught her long ago. When your thoughts run away, focus on what your hands are doing instead, shut out everything else. It was good advice—slaves’ hands were rarely idle. Bella’s mouth tilted up. My hands are rarely idle now. At least the driver’s whip would not reach her here. If only her memories would stay as far away. Footsteps flew down the staircase over the kitchen, jerking Bella’s attention to the doorway until Hettie filled its frame. Truly, the lines around her eyes and mouth spoke of a woman much older than the woman’s twenty-six years. “Bella, come quickly.” It was a breath, spoken all at once, the kind that leaves no room for questioning. In one fluid movement, Bella dropped her spoon on the work table, wiped her hands on her apron, flicked her gaze to the window. “No don’t! Come away from the window at once.” It was a whisper now, and frantic. Hettie grabbed her arm then—something she had never done before—and pulled Bella forcefully out of the kitchen, down the servant’s stairs and into the cellar. “Stay here, at all costs, and don’t make a sound.” Hettie stood silhouetted in the doorway to the stairs, the light spilling over her shoulders from behind, the shadows hiding her face. “I will keep them away from you, I promise.” She left. A latch clicked from the other side. Bella was trapped. Again. ***

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Unglamorous: My Life Between the Facebook Posts

[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"771", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"125", "height":"193", "alt":"Widow cover 3 125"}}]]During the last couple of weeks, I learned that my first novel, Wedded to War is a Christy Award finalist in two categories as well as a Golden Scroll Award finalist, and my second novel, Widow of Gettysburg launched. These are newsworthy items, so yes, I've posted about it on Facebook, and received many congratulations. But just in case anyone mistakenly believes that my life is glamorous, I invite you to take a look at just one week in my shoes. This week. You might just find that is it SO ordinary you don't even get to the end of it! Ha! OK wait, let's back up to a week and a half ago, the official launch date of Widow of Gettysburg. Wednesday, May 1 4am: My four-year-old wakes up from a nightmare and asks to sleep in my bed. The answer is no. I take him back up to his bedroom and agree to stay with him until he settles down. 5am: "Is it morning time yet?" he says after an hour of trying to go back to sleep. I let him watch Stuart Little in my office while I catch up on some emails. 6:30am: My daughter wakes up and we begin our before-school routine. Elsa makes my coffee for me (Keurig), makes my bed, then asks, "Mom, is there anything I can help you with today?" She looks crushed when I tell her everything is under control but brightens again when I tell her to load the dishwasher. Ethan makes me another cup of coffee. Just as he should. ;) 8:35am: I take the kids to school and preschool. I'm back home and working by 8:50. 9:45am: I pick up Ethan from preschool for a dentist apt. 10:30am: We're done! Ethan was a total champ at the dentist, but he doesn't want to go back to school. I bring him home. 1:30pm: We pick up Elsa from school (every Wednesday she gets out early) and we truck on over to Grandma and Grandpa's house, as is our Wednesday tradition. 4:30pm: I am super tired from my 4am wake-up call, and have no idea what to do for dinner. There is an AWANA Fun Fair at church tonight, which the kids were looking forward to. Hotdogs, a bouncy house, etc. I was hoping to eat out the night of the book launch, but that is not what I had in mind. 5pm: I call my husband Rob. He suggests we go out for Mexican and he'll meet us there. Afterward, he'll take the kids to the Fun Fair for the activities, and I can drive home to relax. This is what we do, and it works beautifully. 7pm: I put away some laundry and notice something new on the easel outside the kids' bedroom. Elsa apparently made this to-do list last night. I had told her today was a special day. This explains her behavior before school today and makes me eager to hug and kiss her. :) 8:30pm: Rob and the kids arrive home, and both kids have face paint on. I spend half an hour scrubbing their faces clean before bed. 9pm: The kids are in bed, an hour late, but oh well. Rob and I watch something funny on Netflix. 10pm: Exhausted, I fall into bed. (Tomorrow's forecast, by the way: snow.) Fast forward to this week. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"677", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"124", "height":"179", "title":"BB-homefront-cover_125", "alt":""}}]]Monday: I wake up and smell something awful. Sewage is backed up into our basement again because our river has exceeded the flood stage. After taking the kids to school, I receive the news from the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association that the book I co-authored with Karen Whiting, Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front, is a Golden Scrolls Award finalist. I'm delighted. And then I put on some old shoes, put on a mask I found from our mold remediation times, and descend into the basement to push as much water/sewage as possible back down into the drain. "Just a few more days," I tell myself. The plumbers are coming on Thursday to put in a one-way valve. This should be the last time I have to do this. (Also the only time, since Rob usually does it.) That evening Rob and I attend a homeschool co-op meeting because we've decided to start homeschooling Elsa next year. After shopping their used curriculum sale, we have time before the meeting begins so we step out. On the way to Arby's, we notice a huge sign in front of the Toyota dealership. "Hail Damage! Save thousands!" WHAT? TERRIFIC! We are in the market for a mini-van, and get all excited about this. But we found no hail damage on the vehicles we would have been interested in. Bummer. After the homeschool meeting, I'm totally jazzed about this group and what they offer (which includes ZOO SCHOOL, by the way.) And then I think--oh man, I have two novel deadlines during the coming academic school year. How on earth... ? Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Tuesday: I'm up at 5am to work, but the Internet is not working. I make banana bread instead. (From a box, lest you be impressed. ha ha) When Rob wakes up, he fixes the Internet. Bravo! But it goes offline again soon after I take the kids to school. I troubleshoot, restart the computer, still no luck. I call the utilities company and they help me get it back online. Moments later I read an email sent the day before from Ethan's preschool. "Please send a sleeping bag along with your child for preschool on Tuesday, May 7, for a special camp-out activity." I stare at the screen. That's TODAY! It's 9:24. I call the preschool on my cell phone as I run downstairs to grab his sleeping bag. Voice mail. I jump in the car and drive to preschool, deliver the sleeping bag, and come home. In the afternoon, Ethan and I spend an hour digging up dandelions in the garden. It's not enough. How can I write a novel when my garden is a mess? I declare tonight "Green House Garden Night" and everyone helps me rake out dead leaves, dig up baby (unwanted) trees, and pull weeds. Wednesday: Elsa tells me, "Mrs. Nelson [school librarian] thinks you turned in Happy Pig Day to the wrong library." I promise to look into it. Ethan is upset that there are no cookies in the house. It's true, I have not baked in ages. I bake some gingersnaps at Grandma's house for him while he plays trains with Grandpa. I eat several. Elsa also informs me that since her birthday is Saturday, we MUST bring treats for her class on Friday. Lollipops or something. "Really? What about a healthy snack?" She shakes her head. "Azeem brought oranges for his birthday and no one was happy." Fine. Thursday: I go to the public library and see if I turned in Happy Pig Day. I didn't. This does not surprise me, but now we have no idea where the book is and must pay for it. Oh well. Back at home, the Internet goes down again. This time the utility company tells me my router is dead in the water. Must buy a new one. "All right," I think. "I don't need to be online all the time, I can wait until we get a new router, even if it's not until tomorrow." My mom picks up Ethan from preschool and plays with him for two hours so I can work. Yay Mom! After school, Elsa's teacher tells me she had "an accident." What? How is that possible? I don't even know. I think it was just an issue of not wiping thoroughly enough after using the restroom. "Mom," Elsa tells me, "The nurse wants you to bring my own wipes." Roger that. The plumbers call and postpone their work to the following Monday morning. Boo. Around 5pm I notice we have Internet again. Great! I check email and find two messages from my publicist, who had been trying to reach me for a live radio interview slot the next morning. "I'm in! Let's do it!" I tell her. I guess I did need to be connected this afternoon. At 5:35 a friend stops by to pick up three garbage bags full of kids' clothing we're donating to a garage sale. After dinner, we all go shopping for a new router, which Rob installs when we get home. Also, we take the kids to Toys R Us to spend some of their money on toys. We make them interact with the cashier, using eye contact and good manners. It takes some time, but no one else is in line behind us. Ethan gets a good lesson about wasting his money on that stupid game with the hook that is supposed to get a stuffed animal but rarely does. Elsa ends the day with: "It's Teacher Appreciation Week! It's our LAST CHANCE to appreciate Mrs. Moody! We HAVE to DO SOMETHING!" Face-palm. She's right. We have to do something. Friday: I send Elsa to school with: Wipes for the school nurse A note for the librarian about Happy Pig Day (since I couldn't find her in person yesterday) A bag of dum-dums to be distributed to her classmates at the end of the day. I promise to get a small gift for Mrs. Moody and bring it when I pick up her up at the end of the day. At 9:15am, I have the radio interview with Nicole O'Dell, and it's super fun. At 9:30am, I get the great idea to do a blog post about my real life, not just my Facebook post life. I look up (right now) and see I've spent 45 minutes on this post. I read it over, tighten it here and there, and still think it's pretty boring to anyone but my mother. I consider deleting the entire thing but cannot stand the thought that I have just wasted this much time. I'm going to publish this out of principle, and then I'm off to buy a present for Mrs. Moody. Soon after, I'll pick up Ethan and his friend for a little play date at our house. See? So not glamorous. This is my real life. And I love it. :) [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"693", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"638", "height":"336", "title":"Green_17_smaller_crop", "alt":""}}]]

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Family

Military Appreciation Month! A Story, A Give-away, and Practical Prayer

The month of May is Military Appreciation Month! And I sure do appreciate our military. Being a former military wife myself, I can relate to the challenges and joys our military families go through. But even now that we lead a civilian lifestyle, I will never stop appreciating the sacrifices the military makes for the rest of us. Do you have time for a little story? A couple of years ago I was working on Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front, and one evening after the kids were in bed, I interviewed a Gold Star father who had lost his precious son in Iraq. It was an emotional conversation, and though my heart strings were pulled tight, I held it together while I was on the phone. (If you want to read the stories that resulted from that phone call, you can read them in the book on days December 3-6.) After we hung up, I cleaned up my notes and then went to check on my sleeping children, as I normally do before I call it a night. When I saw my little girl, though, the dam around my heart burst and I could not help but weep. Because there she was, sleeping with a small U.S. flag in her arms. I don't know why she had gotten out of bed to find it and decided to sleep with it that night. But it struck me that so many parents have lost their children to war so that my own children can live free. Thank you, military families! [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"952", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"430", "height":"574", "alt":"100_3106"}}]] Book Give-Away and Sale [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"772", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft wp-image-900", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"140", "height":"218", "alt":"mwives nt cover_200"}}]]This coming Friday is Military Spouse Appreciation Day, specifically, so I am giving away two gift packages on the Faith Deployed blog! The first one contains both of my Faith Deployed books PLUS the new Military Wives' New Testament with Psalms & Proverbs, and the second gifts package includes Tour of Duty by Sara Horn, Heroes at Home by Ellie Kay, and Wounded Warrior, Wounded Home, by Marshele Carter Waddell and Dr. Kelly Orr. If you're a military wife, hop on over and enter the drawing! If you know a military wife, share the link with her so she can enter, too! Here's another cool thing going on in honor of Military Appreciation Month. Zondervan is running a special throughout the month of May. Buy one Military Wives’ New Testament with Psalms & Proverbs, get one FREE! Here’s how: Visit www.churchsource.com Add 2 copies to your cart, and enter promo code BD5W11 at checkout. How to Pray Even if we don't know any military personally, we can still pray for active duty members AND their spouses. Not sure what to pray for them, other than, "Keep them safe and encourage their hearts"? Well, I asked a military chaplain to give me a list of specific prayer requests for our service members, and I asked his wife to do the best internet casino same so we know how to pray for the spouses on the home front. In fact, I'm sharing these prayer requests in Book Fun Magazine this month, in an article I wrote that begins on page 77. To read it, visit the magazine, and then you can just flip pages on the way to page 77 (there are some great articles in there!) OR you can click on the search icon in the toolbar, type in "home front" and then click on the search result to go directly to the article. (There is also an excerpt from Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front there!) Happy Military Appreciation Month!

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My Big Promotion

[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"902", "attributes":{"class":"media-image size-medium wp-image-106", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"300", "height":"225", "title":"100_2546", "alt":""}}]] My kids, Ethan and Elsa, on July Fourth In the course of 24 hours, I lost one of my two major freelance writing/editing clients, and then decided to drop the other one as well. It made sense to drop out entirely, because my husband’s design studio (CutterAgent.com) is really taking off. He had been watching the kids in the morning for two days a week so I could write, but he could really use the extra 10 hours in the studio each week. So while my monthly income is now $0, we expect that Rob’s company will make up for that in the coming months. Still, it’s a big lifestyle change for me. I’ve been writing for these same two clients for the better part of ten years. Losing one and deciding to put an end to the other was a huge deal for me. But I really wasn’t holding life together very well anymore. In a nutshell, I have been pulled in too many different directions at once. I’ve been one stressed-out mama. I have been burning the candle at both ends for quite some time, and not taking care of myself at all. I’ve had no margin, no buffer zone. Now I do. In fact, the more I think about this big change in my life, the more I think, “Hey, I got a promotion!” And I’m serious. I did lose some predictable monthly income, but here’s what I gained instead: The ability to be more focused on the writing that I want to do, not just the writing that brings home the bacon. This means I have a little more time to dedicate to FaithDeployed.com, and to the online magazine of Christian Military Wives, which will launch Sept. 1. All those hours of work are on a volunteer basis, but it’s what I care about. I am blessed to be able to do what I love! Some breathing room in my poor little brain! I have literally been “on deadline” for seven years for one client or another, constantly. Now that I’m not, I have time to think more about managing my home, my family, my own food and finances. Space and time to actually enjoy my kids, and not to always be wondering if I can sneak online and get some work done while they play or watch TV. This is my daughter’s last year before Kindergarten, and I really do not want to let it fly by while chasing deadlines. Now, that won’t be a problem! Here’s how my big change affects my Faith Deployed blog readers/Facebook fans. I’m going to plug in all my blog posts for the week on the Sunday before the week begins. They will automatically go live each morning that I’ve scheduled them to do so. I will still try to get online and post a link on Facebook to the blog post like I’ve been doing for the last 13 months, but some days, I might just be too busy with my kids to get on the computer at the right time (what a switch that will be!). So now you know what’s going on- and if you really don’t want to miss a post, go ahead and subscribe to the blog feed. (The link is up in the right hand corner of www.faithdeployed.com.)

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