Peering Through Life's Window

    A Warm Welcome to Regina Andrews Celebrate the holiday and enjoy a giveaway with Light a Christmas Candle or Reflections of the Heart.   Regina will give away an eCopy of either Light a Christmas Candle or Reflections of the Heart to two winners, who can decide which one they want. To enter to win one of the two books leave a comment and an email address and join the Rafflecopter contest below.  Hi Regina, thanks for sharing your thoughts about traveling and your books. We Are All Travelers The Christmas season is one that is always filled with hope, excitement, and most of all anticipation. It is also a time when many travel to meet their loved ones and to be reunited with family. In thinking about Christmas and the theme of traveling, the voyage of the Holy Family comes to my mind instantly. They had to travel long hours, day and night, over rugged terrain to finally find a stable where the baby could be born.  And all through his life, Jesus seemed to ...

  A Warm Welcome to Kim Williams Kim will give away a paper (U.S. Residents) OR eBook copy of Among the Crepe Myrtles (book one in her Letters to Layton series). Winner chooses the format. To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below. Hi Kim, Lots of writers were avid readers as children. How about you? If so, what did you read. Yes! I enjoyed reading the classics. I realize now that most were versions for children until I got older. I used my allowance to buy the Companion Library or Illustrated Classic versions at Kmart. One of my favorites was Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates . I had a crush on Hans. I also enjoyed Heidi. I was born in Germany, so I imagined myself being her. Those books became a part of my classroom library when I began teaching sixth grade. I read to my students and found new favorites such as Across Five Aprils, A Wrinkle in Time, Old Yeller, and more. When I moved to teaching high school literature, I returned to the classics.  Why ...

  A Warm Welcome to Penelope Marzec Penelope will give away a PDF copy of Patriot's Courage. To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below. Hi Penelope, first tell us a little about yourself. I’m the wife of a retired electrical engineer who plays the accordion. There has always been plenty of music in our house. Our three grown daughters don’t live too far away so we see them often. I spent many years teaching first graders in public school, but I also taught pre-schoolers, which was delightful fun. I sang songs, read stories, painted pictures and played with clay. Some days proved to be a challenge, but most days were full of hugs and smiles. Seeing the children’s progress in learning filled me with joy. I knew I was making a difference. While there was a great deal of responsibility on my shoulders, I looked forward to the job. Now that I am retired from teaching I write, but I also paint and crochet. I’m always busy with an assortment of projects.  Lots of wri...

A Warm Welcome to Carol James Carol shares a recipe and a favorite Bible verse with us. She'll also give away an eBook of Season of Hope . To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below. For The Sweet Tooth Josh and Mattie’s (and my husband’s) Favorite Peanut Butter Criss-Cross Cookies 1 cup shortening (or butter) 1cup granulated sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup peanut butter 3 cups sifted all purpose flour 2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt Thoroughly cream shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in peanut butter. Sift dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an uncreased cookie sheet. press with the back of a wet fork to make a criss-cross. Bake at 350º about 10 minutes. Makes about 5 dozen cookies. To Give Us Hope A favorite Bible verse Carol used for this novel is: “See! The winter is past;     the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; ...

A Warm Welcome To Kimberly Miller Hi Kimberly, Thanks for stopping by to tell us about writing Forgiving Tess. My recently-published novel, Forgiving Tess, explores some of the nuances of forgiveness in our lives—not just the obvious issues like forgiving others or praying that they will fully forgive us when we’ve wronged them, but also the challenge of truly and completely forgiving ourselves. The last one can sometimes be the hardest of all. Isn’t it fascinating that the Bible is filled with scriptures that encourage us to ask forgiveness and then let God’s grace wash over us, the healing balm we need and so often, and so sadly, we refuse, thinking we can do it all ourselves? As I worked through this novel, I imagined I’d use a Bible verse or two to help tell Tess’s story and the ways in which she learns, eventually, to accept others’ forgiveness and ultimately to embrace her own as well. What I found was that I had such a difficult time scaling down all the scriptur...

A Warm Welcome to Carol James Carol will give away an eBook of The Waiting . To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below. Hi, Gail. Please let me begin by thanking you for having me here. I appreciate the opportunity to share with your readers. It's my pleasure to have you. Tell us a little about yourself. I am the wife of one, the mother of two, and the grandmother of five. Retired, I enjoy spending time with my husband and Zoe, our Jack Russell “Terrorist.” I have a BA in English/Education and have taught children from kindergarten to high school age. My last job was in the international sales department of a medical device manufacturer. Were you an avid reader as a child? If so, what did you read? Oh, yes! I read everything I could find. I particularly enjoyed mysteries and tales of adventure. We lived in England during part of my childhood and got hooked on the Fantastic Five series. Two of my other favorites were Heidi and Robinson Crusoe....

A Warm Welcome to Linda Rondeau Linda will give away an e-book of Hosea's Heart. To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below Linda Shares a Devotional based on a passage from Hosea Hosea Chapter 12 talks about Jacob's journey, how God called him and blessed him though he'd been a deceiver, how he wrestled with the angel until he submitted. Jacob's family was riddled with strife. With two wives, sisters who obviously had serious jealousy issues, and two concubines who squabbled as well, and twelve sons who fought continuously. So fierce was there jealousy, they plotted to murder their little brother. Joseph's story is familiar. God used the dysfunction of a family to save a nation. Family rife is as old as Cain and Abel and sometimes with just as serious consequences. In Hosea’s Heart, my main character, Aubrey Beaumont, worried for his children because of his addicted wife’s choices. Darlene became an overachiever, Paul excelled i...

A Warm Welcome to Sarah Ruut How to Heal the Problem that Separates Us As I walked down the hallway past my daughter’s bedroom door, I noticed the distinctive smell of a struck match. Curious what was going on (since she was probably one or two at the time and didn’t have access to matches), I pushed open her door. There in the middle of her floor sat her older brother, an open box of matches before him and one black-tipped match lying on the carpet. I tried to keep panic from my voice. “What are you doing?” “I wanted to see how these work.” Oh, my… I proceeded to explain—again—why we don’t play with matches. He acknowledged that the flame had startled him, and he’d dropped the match. And I swallowed my panic yet again to gently explain to him what could have happened when he dropped that match! (Thankfully, the flame died before the match hit the carpet.) His eyes grew huge as he realized what he might have caused, and my sweet preschooler said, “I’m sorry...

A Warm Welcome to Danele Rotharmel Danele will give away a Sunflowers and Butterflies Prize Package. (U.S. residents only) The prize package includes the following items: A lovely teacup and saucer painted with sunflowers A set of 10 butterfly note cards with envelopes A Philippians 4:8 journal Gail, I am so honored to be here! Thank you for having me! It's my pleasure to have you. Let's talk about your new book. What inspired you to write this particular story? Time Search is the third book in The Time Counselor Chronicles , and one of the things that inspired me to write it was a horrible case of cabin fever. I was extremely ill at the time, and I wrote it in the middle of a seven-year stretch of quarantine. The four walls of my house were closing in on me, and my only way of escape was through my imagination. I longed to travel, and since I couldn’t, I became an armchair traveler. I’d always wanted to visit Europe, so I read tra...