Persistence Wins.

Following your dreams is never a straightforward or easy path.

It's often filled with potholes and diversions that will cause you to question just how much you want what you want.

In those moments, read these words and repeat them out loud as many times as necessary.

If you still believe your dream is worth the journey, continue on, and remember that persistence wins.

How I Learned to Live in the Moment

Mom came home from rehab on Saturday.

On Sunday, we spent the day sitting on the deck, drinking coffee, reading, listening to classical music, and savoring the beautiful Colorado weather.

What we were really celebrating, of course, was that Mom was home after a month long stay in the hospital and then a rehab facility after she was diagnosed with a subderal hematoma.

As we sat, doing these normal things, like drinking coffee, I realized what it means to live in the moment. Yesterday was the best day I've had in a very long time. It was made more special because I allowed myself to truly enjoy it...I lived right there in the moment. 

I didn't think about the future, the past, what will happen with Mom's health or my fledgling writing career. Which is what I usually do...most nights I wake myself up at 2am or 5am worrying about both real problem and imagined catastrophes.

I am the personification of Eyeore.

But, on Sunday I allowed myself to think no further than the moment we were experiencing right then.

What I discovered is that this might be the key to happiness.

I'm not advocating shutting one's mind to planning for the future, or working hard when a project needs to be completed. 

But there is also a time and place to just relax, recharge, and enjoy the company of those we love.

And when we are in that place...our experience will be more memorable if we can be fully present, if we can give our full attention to those we are with or the task at hand, especially if that person is someone we treasure and the task is renewing the mind.

Peace.

It's Been a Rough Week: Let's Share Some Love

Martin Richard will forever remain in our hearts.

I wonder if the men who did this ever stopped to consider the terrible toll their actions would have on the lives they took and the families left behind.  

We know that they will soon feel the full weight of justice.

~

We know that God comforts the brokenhearted.

I pray an outpouring of God's Love will surround every family dealing with the aftermath of this act of terror. 

Love has always triumphed over evil. It will again today. 

Our hearts also go out to the families hurt by the unspeakable destruction in West, Texas.

Just as in Boston, we watched First Responders rush in, while fires still raged.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to those brave men and women who risk everything to save others.

It's been a rough couple of weeks here at home, as well.

Mom went into the hospital on March 31st with a subderal hematoma. 

On April 7th, she was transferred to a rehab facility to recover and receive therapy.

I'm happy to report that she's doing better and I hope she will be coming home in a few weeks. I sure do miss her. 

I'm posting this earlier video in hopes that she will soon be back in the kitchen enjoying life.

It snowed for most of this week, which meant grey skies and fires in the wood-stove.

But it was also a blessing, as it brought much needed moisture and will hopefully restore our water-tables up to 90% of where they need to be to break this drought.

I hope we'll have more snow between now and May.

~

It's easy to become overwhelmed at times like these, when each day seems to bring another tragedy or another challenge.

But I also believe that these moments also reveal our greatest love for one another, our ability to rally together to lift one another up, to give comfort.

It's been a rough week. 

But we know that we can go forward and we will experience joy again.

Let's take a moment to hug a loved one, call a friend, and recount the things we are thankful for.

The Evolution of a Book Cover Design - Playing with Placement and Tint

We begin here....

Then move the title to top.

Or we can move the name to the top.

Then we can deepen the tint

And switch the placement of name and title again.

~

I can spend hours doing this. 

And I haven't even completely decided if this is the cover illustration I'm going to use.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as obsessive compulsive behavior, but it's close.

UPDATED WITH NEW CHOICES! Mrs. Tuesday's New Cover - Which is Your Favorite?

Here's the Current Mrs. Tuesday Cover

I still haven't settled on a new cover.

So, today I came up with these.

Which one do you like best?

UPDATED: HERE'S SOME NEW CHOICES:

NEW 1

NEW 2

NEW 3

NEW 4

NEW 5

AND HERE ARE THE ORIGINAL CHOICES:

COVER 1

COVER 2

COVER 3

COVER 4

COVER5

COVER 6

COVER 7

COVER 8

COVER 9

  

So, any of them shouting 'pick me' ?!

Mrs. Tuesday's Book Cover Facelift

This is the current cover for Mrs. Tuesday's Departure.

Yes, I'm going change it again.

I change book covers the way some re-arrange furniture in the living room.

For the same reason, actually.

It just feels wonderful to use a cover design to bring-out a new aspect of the story.

Here's a synopsis of the story and the new cover candidates follow...

A heart-wrenching historical novel spanning fifty-years, two continents, and a an imagined story that holds the power to create a safe future for a young girl. This page-turning family
saga soars to a breathtaking ending that redefines the meaning of love. 

When Natalie and Anna, sisters and life-long rivals, hide an abandoned child from the Nazis,
their struggle re-opens a star-crossed love triangle, threatening their safety and testing the bonds of their loyalty.

Hungary's fragile alliance with Germany insured that Natalie, a best selling children's book author, and her family would be safe as World War Two raged through Europe. The Holocaust that has only been whispered about until now becomes a terrible reality for every Jewish family or those who hide Jews.  

Beautiful but troubled Anna, a poet and university professor is losing her tenuous hold on reality, re-igniting a dangerous sibling rivalry that began in childhood.

The streets of Budapest echo with the pounding boots of Nazi soldiers. Danger creeps to the doorstep where the sisters' disintegrating relationship threatens to expose the child they are trying to protect. In one night, Anna's rash behavior destroys their carefully made plans of escape, and Natalie is presented with a desperate choice.

Interwoven with Natalie and Anna's story, is Mila's. The abandoned child whose future Natalie lovingly imagines in a story about an old woman named Mrs. Tuesday.

Mrs. Tuesday's Departure is an inspirational historical novel spanning two generations, exploring the un-breakable bonds of sisters, and the power of love to create new futures.

~

Here are the new contenders (feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts!):

Cover # 1

Cover # 2

Cover # 3

I welcome your feedback!

Good Friday: LOVE Manifested

Love is expressed in a myriad of ways each day, through acts of kindness or a gentle word.

But sometimes, Love is expressed through incredible sacrifice.

When we review of the life of Jesus, His teachings were all about reaching out to one another in love, treating each other with the same generosity of spirit that we would want to treated with.

And then today...

We acknowledge the Love that Jesus made manifest in His sacrifice on our behalf.

1 John 4:9-11 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-inspirational-bible-verses-about-gods-love/#ixzz2OxidR4sU