Peering Through Life's Window

  A Warm Welcome to Kathleen Neely Kathleen will give away either an e-Book or a print copy (U.S. Residents only) of Though the Mountains be Shaken , winner's choice. To enter to win see the Rafflecopter contest below. The Missing Piece  Shel Silverstein is an icon in the world of children’s poetry. Where the Sidewalk Ends. The Giving Tree. Falling Up. I could go on and on. His simplistic illustrations, often in black and white, have become synonymous with his name.  He authored a book titled The Missing Piece . Here’s the quick premise. It looks like a cheese wheel with a wedge removed, or perhaps an open-mouthed Pac-man. It knows that something is missing, so proceeds to hunt for it.  Every solution turns out wrong. It squeezes misshapen objects in an attempt to fill the emptiness. Too large. Too small. An incorrect form.  Many lessons await us in this simple, yet complex children’s book. I’ve found myself trying to fill the emptiness with possessions, work, ...

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 Lisa Lickel Lisa will giveaway e-copies to anyone who will review romantic sci fi. Comment below and leave an email address if you'd like to participate. Researching a New Frontier By Lisa Lickel I am a mid-level science fiction and fantasy fan. I remember pitching a fit when my parents made me go to bed halfway through episodes of the Original Star Trek because I had to get up for school the next day. I’ve loved dragons and brownies—the little folk who live in the hills—ever since I was in kindergarten. Ray Bradbury is my personal hero. I wake up after visiting Mars on a regular basis. But I’m not crazy…not really. I mean, I write cute mysteries with cats and romance and family drama. For the same reason I won’t ever write history (again) I don’t want to stray into the strange and fierce world of science fiction: I love it too much and I’m too picky about miscues and things I can’t wrap my head around…like television. Seriously, how does it work...

Clash of the Titles presents four new springtime reads!  Peruse the images, read the blurbs,  then vote on your favorite in the survey.  I know which one is  my  favorite. Enjoy, dear readers! ~~~~~ He's a nature photographer returning to make amends, and she's a camera-shy naturalist seeking privacy. Their love for a boy brings them together, but the camera could drive them apart. ~ ~ ~ Lifestyle magazine editor Heather McAlister was in the wrong place at the wrong time, witnessing a crime that shakes the roots of the town’s power brokers and sends her life into a tailspin. Previously burned by love, Detective Kyle Taylor has spent his entire adult life protecting his hometown, but now he’s protecting a woman he’ll risk everything to save. ~ ~ ~ She’s ready to fly free of a life-long cocoon; he’s looking for anything but Raine. Can Paradise Pines find a miracle for two unwilling hearts? ~ ~ ~ ...

  We’re told in Scripture that God is love. He definitely proved His kind of love is an unconditional and undeserved type through sending His Son to die for our sins. Some love isn’t hard to conjure. God just helps us to enhance it. For example, I am still head-over-heels in love with my husband of twenty-six years. But through God’s Word and leading, I’ve learned to love my husband more like God planned for a wife to love her husband. When my little girl was born, I was in love, even though it took a lot to get her here. But God has shown me how to love my daughter through example and discipline. I struggled with infertility issues before finally conceiving my only daughter. My bitterness heightened each time I would hear about a young woman or girl who conceived out of wedlock and by accident. I cried out to God that this wasn’t fair. I wanted a baby and would care for that child and love that child, giving her a mother and a father. Some years later I was app...

A Warm Welcome to Brandy Heineman Photo credit: Copyright Emilie Hendryx of E. A. Creative Photography, 2014.  Hi Brandy, lots of writers enjoyed reading as a child. How about you? If so, what did you read? Oh, yes. I always loved to read. I adored mysteries— The Dollhouse Murders and Behind the Attic Wall come to mind—and of course I had my Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High phase, my Roald Dahl phase, my Judy Bloom phase . . . I was quite a bookish child, I’d say! About Whispers in the Branches In 1942, Ruby lost something. In 2012, Abby found it. Abby’s love life, career, and faith are in shambles when she first hears Great Aunt Ruby’s claims that the family home is haunted. Abby moves in, determined to shake out a ghost, but the secrets she discovers there aren’t the ones she hopes to find. Whispers in the Branches is my first novel. It was released earlier this year by Elk Lake Publishing. Buy Whispers in the Branches on Amazon Wh...