It is amazing what love will do for a person. I grew up in Wyoming, so people would assume that I'm a bit of a country girl, and I am. I love the wide open spaces-lots of land between neighbors (even though I grew up in town) and the pace of life in the country.
Life is just life, but city folk and country folk view life a little bit differently. In the city it is go, go, go all the time. When you are not working (and a lot of city folk work LONG hours) you are busy going from one thing to another.
In the country, you work hard. The land supports you and you have to work hard to be sustained by the land. Yet, when the work day is done, life slows done a little bit. You may have supper with friends/neighbors, or you may just go inside and turn the game on the big screen. There are no museums or galleries to visit, and movies are a treat, not an every night experience. You have to go to things-they are not just right there, at the next metro stop.
Neither lifestyle is better than the other. Whichever you chose is going to be right for you. I grew up in a small, Wyoming town with dreams of living in the city. In college and grad school I was in the city, first Denver and then to smaller cities. I loved it.
But now, I am changing. Maybe it is returning to roots (of my ancestors) or maybe I just see the pros of country living, but I'm less and less of a city girl. Yeah, I like having a mega Kroger 10 minutes away, and I love that city libraries have more books, and going to coffee shops to write is good too, but I am finding that the more time I spend in the country the more I love it.
I love being able to see 100's of stars at night. I enjoy sitting on the porch and shucking corn or snapping beans. I love the views of rolling hills, and meadows with cow pastures. I love that when friends come over it is an event and you do things at home (my pocketbook loves that).
Yeah I miss other things, but this country kid turned city woman is back to loving the country life!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Paige's Vows (an excerpt from the novel)
So one of the things that the character in my novel is doing is to ponder her one day wedding. I think that ALL girls do this at some point. We like to dream and we like to dream of the perfect wedding. For each of us the perfect wedding is something different. For my character, at least right now, she thinks the perfect wedding includes personally penned vows. So, I thought I'd give y'all a glimpse into Paige's world and let you see the vows that she wrote to her future groom. I hope you enjoy this little bit of the book...
To my husband:
When I was a little girl I prayed to marry prince charming, and today God is answering that prayer. You are my prince, the man that God set apart for me to love and to return that love with your own. I vow that I will not be perfect, but I will do my best. I will love you with my whole heart and mind. I will be right there beside you through all the ups and downs of life.
Whether we are rich or poor, sick or healthy, living in the city or out in the middle of the Amazon, I'll be your constant companion. I vow to love, forgive, encourage, listen and respect you. I vow to make mistakes and to do my best to fill our home with laughter. Mostly I vow to do my best to follow Christ's leading as He continues to mold me into the woman He wants me to be, and the wife you need. I love you.
******************** (copyright protected btw)****************************
To my husband:
When I was a little girl I prayed to marry prince charming, and today God is answering that prayer. You are my prince, the man that God set apart for me to love and to return that love with your own. I vow that I will not be perfect, but I will do my best. I will love you with my whole heart and mind. I will be right there beside you through all the ups and downs of life.
Whether we are rich or poor, sick or healthy, living in the city or out in the middle of the Amazon, I'll be your constant companion. I vow to love, forgive, encourage, listen and respect you. I vow to make mistakes and to do my best to fill our home with laughter. Mostly I vow to do my best to follow Christ's leading as He continues to mold me into the woman He wants me to be, and the wife you need. I love you.
******************** (copyright protected btw)****************************
Love
Right now it is 6:01am on a Sunday. So much is going on in my life and I don't really know where to begin. Life is crazy like that. I've yet to find a time when there isn't a lot going on in my life. I love having a full life, I really do, but some days I just need a break!
So I am giving myself a break and right now I'm focusing on happy thoughts and one of my happy thoughts is love. Love is wonderful and necessary. Love provides security. When we are loved we feel secure and safe.
I'm not talking about physical safety. We all have people that we love, and they know we love them, and they are over on the other side of the globe fighting a war. They are not as physically safe as we want them to be, but they are SAFE, because they know that we love them; emotionally they are protected. And sometimes that is all we can do.
We have to keep on loving, even when it hurts. Love is what this life is all about. We are need it, and studies show just how important love is in each stage of life. And yes, there are different types of love and we need to experience them all. Love is one of those gifts that the more we give the more we have.
Love is an exhausted mother rocking her baby at 330am, so he can sleep and grow. Love is a wife writing her husband a letter full of nothing, so that he has something tangible to read and hold while he is over in the sandbox. Love is a daughter hugging her mom as Mom leaves for deployment. Love is the soldier fighting to protect people he doesn't even know. Love is a kitty curled up on your lap as you watch TV. Love is a friend giving you the last cookie in the jar. Love is a husband and wife sitting together on the porch swing, holding hands after 60 years of being together. Love is a young boy stopping to give a little water to a turtle on a hot day. Love is a Savior hanging on a cross, listening to the insults, but refusing to come down, so that we could be with Him in Heaven for all eternity.
Isn't love grand!!!!!!
So I am giving myself a break and right now I'm focusing on happy thoughts and one of my happy thoughts is love. Love is wonderful and necessary. Love provides security. When we are loved we feel secure and safe.
I'm not talking about physical safety. We all have people that we love, and they know we love them, and they are over on the other side of the globe fighting a war. They are not as physically safe as we want them to be, but they are SAFE, because they know that we love them; emotionally they are protected. And sometimes that is all we can do.
We have to keep on loving, even when it hurts. Love is what this life is all about. We are need it, and studies show just how important love is in each stage of life. And yes, there are different types of love and we need to experience them all. Love is one of those gifts that the more we give the more we have.
Love is an exhausted mother rocking her baby at 330am, so he can sleep and grow. Love is a wife writing her husband a letter full of nothing, so that he has something tangible to read and hold while he is over in the sandbox. Love is a daughter hugging her mom as Mom leaves for deployment. Love is the soldier fighting to protect people he doesn't even know. Love is a kitty curled up on your lap as you watch TV. Love is a friend giving you the last cookie in the jar. Love is a husband and wife sitting together on the porch swing, holding hands after 60 years of being together. Love is a young boy stopping to give a little water to a turtle on a hot day. Love is a Savior hanging on a cross, listening to the insults, but refusing to come down, so that we could be with Him in Heaven for all eternity.
Isn't love grand!!!!!!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Come Quickly Lord!
Dear Lord,
I don't want to sound like I'm demanding action, because who am I to demand something from Holy, Powerful, Awesome, God? I'm no one, just one human out of billions that have been created. Yet, I'm going to be bold and plead with you right now. I'm begging, please Lord, come quickly! Please!
This world that we live in is full of pain, suffering and too many good-byes. Once again I'm being forced to say good-bye to someone that I love. Once YOU return, the time for good-byes will be over, and for that, I can't wait.
I can't wait for the time when you reign here on Earth, when everyone and everything acknowledges who YOU are, and You are given Your rightful worship. I can't wait for a time when there is no sickness, sin, shame or death. Your earthly reign, the new Heaven, Earth and Jerusalem all sound indescribably wonderful.
Please, Lord, I beg you, come quickly! Claim your rightful title as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Master of ALL.
No matter what, I WILL love You, I WILL praise YOU and I will continue to try to figure out this Christian life and sin less than I did yesterday. I WILL serve You to the best of my energy and knowledge.
You ARE my everything and that is why I long to see YOU return.
Your Loving Child,
JLK
I don't want to sound like I'm demanding action, because who am I to demand something from Holy, Powerful, Awesome, God? I'm no one, just one human out of billions that have been created. Yet, I'm going to be bold and plead with you right now. I'm begging, please Lord, come quickly! Please!
This world that we live in is full of pain, suffering and too many good-byes. Once again I'm being forced to say good-bye to someone that I love. Once YOU return, the time for good-byes will be over, and for that, I can't wait.
I can't wait for the time when you reign here on Earth, when everyone and everything acknowledges who YOU are, and You are given Your rightful worship. I can't wait for a time when there is no sickness, sin, shame or death. Your earthly reign, the new Heaven, Earth and Jerusalem all sound indescribably wonderful.
Please, Lord, I beg you, come quickly! Claim your rightful title as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Master of ALL.
No matter what, I WILL love You, I WILL praise YOU and I will continue to try to figure out this Christian life and sin less than I did yesterday. I WILL serve You to the best of my energy and knowledge.
You ARE my everything and that is why I long to see YOU return.
Your Loving Child,
JLK
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Creating a Diamond
Right now I'm in the last stages of working on the new edition of my novel. Joyfully After All is coming along, but the pressure to basically write a book in a summer is tremendously amazing in its stress level. I love to write, and I have this story to tell, but I also have other things going on, so I can't always devote the time that I need to, to the book. Not to mention that I'm not guaranteed inspiration on any given day.
Writing is not a 9-5 type job. I can't just sit at my laptop and say "Today I'm going to write 25 pages in my novel." It doesn't work like that. I have to have something to add to the story. In essence the characters have to speak to me and tell me where they want to go, and what they say. More often than not, they are silent and I'm dragging things out of them. This makes for a less than stellar story and many instances of major deleting and starting over.
Someday I hope to be able to support my family with my writing career, but that requires getting this novel finished and convincing the publisher that it is good enough and people will want to read it. Of course, along with my writing career I want to travel and talk to women and girls about overcoming the black times of life, about protecting themselves, about seeing a way to cling to God, even when you can't feel or see Him.
This is my passion, but in order to do it. This darn diamond needs to form. If pressure is any indication, the diamond is going to be gorgeous, but the creation process is not easy, or always fun.
People have asked about my other passion, working with military families. That is still a passion of mine in a HUGE way (for MANY reasons). I'm just not sure how to go about it. My current thinking is to write a book (or even a short series) about life on base/post. I think a good way to serve military spouses is tell the story, let civilians know what it is like and what they can do (without preaching), and what better to do that, than with some fun stories that everyone can enjoy?
All of this requires one thing: Joyfully After All needs to get finished and published SOON. Keep up the prayers, thanks for all the ones you've already sent to the throne.
-JLK-
Writing is not a 9-5 type job. I can't just sit at my laptop and say "Today I'm going to write 25 pages in my novel." It doesn't work like that. I have to have something to add to the story. In essence the characters have to speak to me and tell me where they want to go, and what they say. More often than not, they are silent and I'm dragging things out of them. This makes for a less than stellar story and many instances of major deleting and starting over.
Someday I hope to be able to support my family with my writing career, but that requires getting this novel finished and convincing the publisher that it is good enough and people will want to read it. Of course, along with my writing career I want to travel and talk to women and girls about overcoming the black times of life, about protecting themselves, about seeing a way to cling to God, even when you can't feel or see Him.
This is my passion, but in order to do it. This darn diamond needs to form. If pressure is any indication, the diamond is going to be gorgeous, but the creation process is not easy, or always fun.
People have asked about my other passion, working with military families. That is still a passion of mine in a HUGE way (for MANY reasons). I'm just not sure how to go about it. My current thinking is to write a book (or even a short series) about life on base/post. I think a good way to serve military spouses is tell the story, let civilians know what it is like and what they can do (without preaching), and what better to do that, than with some fun stories that everyone can enjoy?
All of this requires one thing: Joyfully After All needs to get finished and published SOON. Keep up the prayers, thanks for all the ones you've already sent to the throne.
-JLK-
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