Monday Morning Gratitudes

another new day
a new year to look forward to
anticipation
freshly fallen snow
the delight in a child's face when receiving something hoped for
guesses!
winter pictures
a well-selected gift
men who do dishes
heroes unsung

May I wish for you a wonderful and safe new year!
Thank you, old and new friends, for making my blog what it is today!
Be prayerful for me, send me your suggestions if you wish, and wish for me to re-develop a better blog for the coming year.

Blessings

Sunday Morning Peace

SHARING . . .

 



 

First Christmas with Gramps!

Who's happier? Gramps or baby?

 

Happy New Year!



Monday Morning Gratitudes

Jesus' birth
the humbleness of the first Christmas
children portraying the Nativity scene
grandson #2 speaking his Christmas piece with real expression
the wonder of it all
the majestical worship of the three magi
baby hands touching a Christmas tree for the first time
the gathering of friends and family
old fashion ornaments
the differences in people's tastes in decorating


May Christmas continue to shower its wondrous glory upon you!

Sunday Morning Peace

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth,

peace, goodwill

toward men.

Luke 2:14

 

 

Merry Christmas blessings!

Wednesday Promotion And Giv

Be Sure to Leave a Comment and your email address for a chance to win one of the two books she's giving away. These are short books and if you win, you may have yours in whatever format you wish.

 

Blurb:

Abby Palmer’s four-year-old son, Caleb, has been kidnapped by a serial murderer dubbed as “The Grinch.” She has been instructed not to involve the police or her son will be murdered immediately. It is twelve days before Christmas and the countdown has begun. Tick. Tock.

 

When Abby is forced to seek help, she turns to the one person she can trust. Caleb’s father, Chance Taggert, the man she once loved, but who doesn’t know about Caleb.

 

Chance has left the police force because he is haunted by the deaths of innocent children at the hands of “The Grinch,” and his inability to catch the serial murderer.

 

Now he learns he has a son–a son who is in the hands of the man Chance has never been able to catch. Tick. Tock.

 

 

 

Bio:

Carol Ann Erhardt began her writing career in 2006 writing for the secular market. She found she didn’t like conforming to their guidelines. After publishing two romantic suspense novels, she switched gears and wrote her first inspirational romantic suspense. Since then all her writing has been geared to the Christian market. She is an active member of her church and crochets prayer shawls for the women’s prayer shawl ministry. In addition, she cares for twelve feral cats providing food, water, and shelter. All these felines have been spayed/neutered through a trap and release program. In her spare time, Carol Ann enjoys walking on her treadmill while writing her books. Editing is done sitting on a balance ball at her desk. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers.

 

 

Check out Carol Ann's books here:

Website: www.CarolAnnErhardt.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarolAnnErhardt.Author

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarolAnnErhardt

Story and Logic: http://www.storyandlogic.blogspot.com

 

Blessings

Monday Morning Gratitudes

orchestral music swelling in joyous harmony!
Christmas songs
carolers and their red-cheeks
cider!
memorable pictures
stockings hung by the chimney
nosy people snooping at the packages
cookies baking
ham cooking
fresh bread

Blessings

Sunday Morning Peace

Oh, Come All Ye Faithful

Oh, come:  an open invitation

All: whosoever will

Ye faithful: those who love him

Joyful and triumphant: those who are filled with his joy and are victorious in his love


May all of you be joyful AND triumphant this holiest of seasons!

Blessings

Three Very Special Christmas Blessings

Christmas is ALWAYS special to me. That's why I wanted to share three special Christmas blessings to me:

Here goes:

A special ornament: This is probably my oldest ornament and a very much loved one. She's a bit ragged with a hole in her belly and a missing wing, but she did her duty topping many a tree in our early years. Now she's relegated to somewhere else (since a bigger, fancier angel's taken her place).

Homemade goodies: and that includes hams and chicken noodles, sweet potato casseroles and scalloped corn, cookies and special treats. Treats you don't fix every month of the year and some old stand-byes that faithfully feed us all through the year. All of it special cause I can share it with friends and loved ones.

And a first time Christmas blessing: my grandson, Jonathan. What a delight he is to us. We can't thank God enough for bringing him into our lives. Every minute we share with him is a joy.




Blessings!

Promotional Wednesday

It Really Is a Wonderful Life

 

Midville newcomer and Iraq War widow, Dorie Fitzgerald, despises the frigid Adirondack wasteland that has now become her home.

After twenty failed job interviews, she questions the wisdom of moving to be near her parents. Desperate to belong, she joins the local Community Theater, in production for It s a Wonderful Life. Jamey Sullivan has put his professional life on hold in order to run the family business and to help his ailing father. He signs on for Midville s production of It s a Wonderful Life, although he hopes to receive a Broadway casting call any day now.

When these two meet, they are instantly attracted to one another. However, ambition, demanding children, and a romantic rival threaten to squash their growing love for one another. It Really IS a Wonderful Life is set in the beautiful Adirondack mountains, a perfect backdrop for romantic conflict.

“Set with the backdrop of the well loved movie, It's A Wonderful Life, Rondeau weaves a spiritual thread and a warm hearted story. ”

"Like the Baileys' in It's a Wonderful Life, she must see the bigger picture of how her life and the ones around her fulfill God's will in their choices. ”

"I highly recommend this romantic novel at Christmastime, or any time of year."

 

 

 

About Linda:

A native of Central New York, Linda Rondeau graduated from North Syracuse High School and later Houghton College. She moved to Northern New York where she met and married Steve Rondeau, her best friend in life, and managed a career in human services before tackling professional writing. After thirty-four years she and her husband have relocated to Jacksonville, Florida to start a new adventure...leaving rural America to live in a city of one million. Of course, the more favorable temperatures allow her to follow another great passion--golf.

While writing is her greatest passion, the author takes even greater pride in being a wife of one patient man, the mother of three, and the grandmother of nine.

Rondeau's first book, written under the name Linda Wood Rondeau, The Other Side of Darkness, is the winner of the 2012 Selah Award for best first novel.

Also written under Linda Wood Rondeau, is her newest Christmas romance, It Really IS a Wonderful Life, a story filled with quirky characters, not unlike the good people of Bedford Hills. An Iraq-war widow, newly relocated to the bitter Northern New York winter climate, in an effort to find new friends, joins a Community Theater group in production for It's a Wonderful Life.

Rondeau writes sci-f/speculative books under the name of L.W. Rondeau and is pleased to announce the dawning of her series, America II by Trestle Press. Book I is written is in full length version available wherever ebooks are sold. The sequels will be in 10 volume serial form. Rains of Terror, its prequel is now available for Volumes 1 & 2. Volume 3 will be out shortly. These four books deal with the development of world events catapulting the Earth into a second dark age preceded by climatic changes and global warfare. Jacques Fontaine rises to become the influential force in reuniting the world, forming its first global democratic government.

The author is a breast cancer survivor and is available to speak to your groups about health and/or her books and ministry to senior writers. See her blog on
Geezer Guys and Gals, a multi-author blog written by seniors for seniors. Rondeau also runs a group on Linked In called Geezer Writers.

The author loves to hear from readers. You may contact her on Facebook via Books By Linda Rondeau.

Check out her books on Amazon and other available bookstores!

 

Blessings

Monday Morning Gratitudes

warm weather to save on electricity
chores completed
the warm cozy look of Christmas decorations
baby steps
good food
cold water
cold water
string cheese
new recipes
old and tried recipes

Blessings

Sunday Morning Peace

The Gift of the Magi

 

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 



Go here to read the rest of the story:
http://www.night.net/christmas/Gift-Magi.html


Perhaps most of you know the story, but it bears repeating (or re-reading, as the case is).
Enjoy, and many happy days ahead!

Blessings

A Little Bit of My World

Blake and Wesley helping Grandmas decorate the tree.

 

What fun!

 

 

Blessings

The Diaries of Pontius Pilate Joseph Max Lewis

Book description and reviews:

THE DIARIES OF PONTIUS PILATE

The Diaries of Pontius Pilate opens when a member of an archeological team is murdered along the shores of the Dead Sea. We learn that the murderer and victim are both spies, observing the expedition and grappling with the fact that the team has just discovered some controversial artifacts.
In fact, Archeologist Kevin Elliot and his Deputy, Jill Gates, have unearthed twenty copper scrolls etched with the results of Pontius Pilate’s year long criminal investigation into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They manage to open one scroll far enough to take a series of digital photographs of the etchings. Unaware of the scrolls content, they email the photos to a Professor of Ancient Latin for translation. The Archeologists are unprepared when they’re caught between an ancient conspiracy of global power that’s determined to destroy the scrolls and everyone connected to them, and a small, fledgling volunteer group, the only force on earth that stands between Kevin, Jill and certain death.

Advance Praise for: The Diaries of Pontius Pilate

"Lewis has written a nail-biting thriller that jumps into action on page 1 and doesn't stop until you reach the back cover. Don't open this book unless you're sitting in a comfortable chair with good reading light, because you won't want to move." - Thom Lemmons, Christy award winning author of Jabez: A Novel, and Blameless.

“Pontius Pilate’s diaries . . . would rock the world if discovered today . . . Lewis’s characters are muscular, violent, dedicated . . . and faithful . . . Good and evil remain at war . . . while an archaeologist possessing Pilate’s scrolls is hunted down - Denny Bonavita, Editor and Publisher, Courier-Express / Tri – County Sunday (McLean Publishing Co. - Pennsylvania).

“Joe Lewis and The Diaries of Pontius Pilate tantalize . . . as did “Raiders of The Lost Ark”. . . The archaeologists who discovered the Diaries travel through a gauntlet . . . to bring those records to the public. Don’t wait: . . . follow them in their quest!” – Major Anthony F. Milavic, U.S.M.C. (Retired) and founder of MILINET.



Buy It:
www.amazon.com
www.barnesandnoble.com




About Joseph Max Lewis:

Joseph Max Lewis served as a member of an Operational Detachment in the U.S. Army's Seventh Special Forces Group, the storied Green Berets. During his service Lewis received antiterrorist training and his detachment was tasked to "Special Projects." Afterward, he served as an instructor at the Special Forces Qualification Course. Lewis attended the Pennsylvania State University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the University of Tel Aviv in Israel, and the University of Pittsburgh, receiving degrees in International Politics and Law while being certified in Middle East Studies.

After living and studying abroad, first in the Middle East and then Southeast Asia, Lewis returned home to practice law. He’s a columnist in the New Bethlehem Leader-Vindicator and currently lives, writes, and practices law in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.




Blessings!

Monday Morning Gratitudes

the sudden realization you ARE loved
finishing a project
answered prayer
clean windows
the sun on a cool day
meat in the freezer
a store clerk whistling a Christmas tune
a store clerk helping an older lady
understanding
clean computer screens

Blessings!

Sunday Morning Peace

Christmas Bells

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1864)

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men! And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good-will to men! Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men! Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men! It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men! And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.” Blessings!