salmon, anyone?

I never thought I'd be blogging such, but this week a man approached me with 20 pounds of fresh salmon in exchange for a book! What could I say but yes? I didn't tell him if he'd had halibut I'd have given him two books:) So now I have oodles of salmon in my freezer. Randy is thrilled. I officially have more fish than books! To complicate matters, my oldest son, Wyatt, is out on the ocean fishing today. I hope and pray the salmon aren't biting, at least around his boat:)

August is rolling by and I need to get out in our garden. Past years I was knee-deep in canning jars and green beans, beets, and all the rest, but now I'm immersed in book 3, tentatively titled, The Scrivener's Daughter. And no, don't think for a minute that title will get past the titling committee. They'll think of something better. I love the story and I hope my readers do, too. It's set in Kentucky at a fort along the Ohio river and the male lead is quite appealing. At least my female protagonist thinks so. But there are forces at work to keep them apart - Tory spies, Indians, and past heartbreaks, among other things.

Thank you so much to those readers who have left such great book reviews!! It's such a treat finding them on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and other sites! What a gift! Hearing what people liked about the book, or didn't, helps authors craft better novels. I certainly take every word written to heart.

On the home front, we're making a big leap from homeschooling to public school with our oldest son in a couple of weeks. Washington state schools start September 2nd, at least in our area. Wyatt is very excited to be in "real school" for the first time ever so will see what happens. I'm more nervous than he is! I'll continue to keep Paul homeschooled as he has a pretty tight fiddling schedule. It will be so quiet with just the 2 of us during the day.

Get ready for a girly-girl post as my evening wear for the Denver conference just arrived and I can't wait to show you:) Am waiting on the shoes then will take a pic. 33 days till conference time. I've never attended a writer's conference and promise to take my laptop and keep you posted!

Please stop back by here Saturday for another book giveaway. It's not too late to enter the drawing for a freshly printed copy of The Frontiersman's Daughter. Just leave a comment below and I'll post the winner this Saturday and then additional winners the next two Saturdays. Bless you all!

storms

Two sheep take shelter under stormy skies on the hillside above Fintry in Central Scotland.

http://flickr.com/photos/paulcookphotography/2678539318

This morning I woke up at 4am for some reason but what a beautiful day to get up - sunny and supposedly nearing 80. For western Washington, this is about as extreme as the hurricane that just hit Texas. I really feel for those folks down south and my prayers are with them. Being without power and water is no fun, much less being without a home, etc.

Yesterday in Sunday school we learned about a similar storm and I wanted to share the wonderful lesson. Bear with me as I'm no Beth Moore! Our pastor's wife taught and it was absolutely annointed! Cindy, if you're reading this, I know it won't go to your head (smile) and you can consider this a thank you note! Anyway, the text is Mark 6:45-46:

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the water...

In this snapshot of Jesus's life, He has just fed the 5,000 with the loaves and fishes. I think the disciples must have been tired as they had been with this hungry crowd all day. Notice Jesus "made" them get into the boat after this miracle. Being made to do something is no fun if you don't want to do it. I can just imagine Peter, strong-willed as he was, looking right at Jesus and whining, "But I don't want to." Maybe the disciples didn't like being separated from Jesus (would you?) even if it was just a quick trip across the lake. But into the boat they went. Jesus remained on shore and said goodbye to the big group He'd just miraculously fed. Then He went up on the mountain to pray. Even God's son needed time alone. Perhaps He needed a break from the disciples. They were a high-maintenance bunch, I think!

While Jesus was praying He was also multi-tasking. He was keeping an eye on the disciples and they were having trouble. Now, many of these men were experienced seamen. But the wind had kicked up and they were straining at the oars and couldn't get to shore. But He kept His eye on them. He let them row until the fourth watch - 3am to 6am. He let them get really tired before He intervened. In the words of Beth Moore, this was "a great time for control freaks to exercise surrender." And then Jesus walked to them on the water, got into their boat, and the wind stopped.

It's such a comfort to me to know that in our storms, He's keeping His eye on us. He's always there, always watching , always ready to intervene. But He intervenes on His timetable, not ours. We just have to keep rowing and watching for Him. And we can call on Him to get into the boat with us. He wants us to do that. The Christian life is all about a relationship with Him.

Hope you have smooth sailing this week. But if not, we know the One who goes with us.