In Case You Missed It

Here are a few BLOG TOUR bits in case you missed it:

The SIDE BY SIDE giveaway is almost over, but you can still sign up HERE. The winners will be announced here on May 12.

CLICK HERE to listen to my playlist on Spotify. The five songs included are related to SIDE BY SIDE. I like Leali and Salib Fuadi because they are Sudanese and I love the very Sudanese Arabic sound. Takes me back to Khartoum! Halleluia is in Arabic but not Sudanese so the accent is different. The liturgical sound reminds me of the more traditional churches in the Middle East. I chose the final medley for the song "He Knows My Name" because it reminds me that God knows and loves the Halimahs of the world.

You can see pictures of my writing area where I did a lot of editing for SIDE BY SIDE RIGHT HERE.

Sunday Refreshments is a blog of devotions written by various authors. You can see mine by CLICKING HERE.

And here is a blog post for "The Books Authors Read" HERE.

And don't forget to check out the pictures on PINTEREST. It's like my virtual photo album that goes with the story.

See you on May 12!

A Thousand Words

I love to write.

But I think the saying is true:

A picture is worth a thousand words

It would take me at least that many to capture what some artists and photographers can capture in a picture.

Last weekend I purchased some amazing photos from a talented photographer and I can hardly wait to have them printed and framed.

The hardest part about the purchase was picking which ones I wanted the most. You can check out more photos by this photographer on his Facebook Page Josh Wells Photography.

Isn't it amazing how the Lord gives each of us characteristics and talents that are unique and are obviously from Him? They aren't always what we thought they would be but if we take the time to ask Him, the Lord will show us how to use our gifts for His Glory.

I Figured It Out! (sort of)

So, I figure out some stuff about a Blog Tour! And it's not even over yet, that's how skilled I am :)

I got some links for you...

• You can enter to win a FREE copy of Side by Side! Even if you already have one, you might as well get a free one so you can give it as a gift to a reading buddy :) To do that, you can CLICK HERE.
• Here is "The story behind the story" about the novel. You know, why I wrote it and that sort of stuff. If you are interested in that you can CLICK HERE.
• If you want to check out the blogs on the BLOG TOUR you might find some interesting bloggers to follow. To do that, you can CLICK HERE and then click on the "Reviews" bar under the book info and the bloggers will drop down. You can see their blogs and the posts about SIDE BY SIDE by clicking on their links. More will appear over the coming days, so keep checking!
• Also, you can check out my garden and writing space at Novel Garden. Just CLICK HERE. I am the featured author at the moment, but you can still see my pictures after the feature by CLICKING HERE.
• And finally, here's a cool graphic with a quote from the book. You can see this and more fun stuff about SIDE BY SIDE on Pinterest by CLICKING HERE.

BLOG TOUR!

What's a blog tour?

...

No, it's not a question I'm answering here. I'm asking YOU!

Seriously, what's a blog tour? I am SO walking through this whole publishing thing blindly. Wow.

My answer is: a Blog Tour is something I'm doing from TODAY through MAY 10. Perhaps on May 11 I will post an answer and tell you what a blog tour is. Until then, I'm stumbling and Googling my way through.

For starters though, and you better hurry up and get your name in on this one...you can WIN a free copy of SIDE BY SIDE! As my husband says when I'm trying to find a good deal on something, "Cheap is good, but free is better". That's why I found myself crocheting a rug out of old bed sheets. Yes, really. I don't have time to go into that right now because I'm on blog tour. Remind me to post about it later.

Anyway, ENTER NOW!!! CLICK RIGHT HERE.

If you are a Kindle or Nook kinda person, no worries, you can buy an ebook version. You'll get a head start on the folks who are waiting to see if they win :)

Winners will be announced on May 11.

Giving Up

Mak Cik (pronounced "MAHcheek") cooks onions and spices on her dirty stove. She adds meat and stirs. The delicious aroma fills her tiny apartment. There are fifteen people who live with Mak Cik. Every day she has to cook and clean for them. They are her children and grandchildren, but she does not feel any love from them. She feels like they are only taking advantage of her.

Mak Cik wipes a tear from her eye. She misses her husband. He died many years ago and left her with this selfish and argumentative brood of young people. Then there is her son and daughter: the ones that loved her. They are dead now too. She cannot take a job because she must stay home to take care of the babies. If she doesn’t, no one will.

Mak Cik watches the meat sizzle in the pan. Yesterday she received one-hundred dollars from the government. That much money could go a long way in helping Mak Cik feed her family. Perhaps she would even have money left over to buy some clothes. Not many, mind you, but maybe some.

But not this time. Maybe another time. This time Mak Cik spent the money the best way she knew how. She bought spices, vegetables, and the best cuts of meat in the market. She spent every penny. And now she cooked it. This was a feast; but not a feast for her family.

No, Mak Cik has given up on her family. She is cooking this meal for the leaders at the local mosque. If she makes them a delicious meal, maybe they will pray to the spirits of her husband and son and daughter. If they remember, they will ask the spirits to help her.

Mak Cik has given up on her living relatives and has given up on praying. Will you pray that Mak Cik will have ears to hear the gospel that is being shared with her? Will you pray that her heart will open to the true love that Jesus Christ has for her? Until Mak Cik can pray as a loved child of God, will you pray?



Photo credit "Nasi Lemak, Mamak, Sydney" by Mw12310 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Monkey Beach

One Monday not long ago, we took a trip to Monkey Beach. We parked our car at this beach (I still can't believe this is five minutes from our house) and hired a boat to take us around to another beach on the island. So we headed around to the other side of the buildings in this picture.

The boat dropped us off near the entrance to some hiking trails. We hiked for over an hour. It was a pretty good hike, one that was a bit too much for my Walmart tennis shoes that I'd purchased some 6 or so years ago. So I had to rip the sole off the bottom of one of them and hike another half hour without the sole. Does it give away the quality of my shoe when I say that the foot that did NOT have a sole was just as comfortable as the foot that DID have a sole? Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say both feet were equally UNcomfortable.


 This is Monkey Beach. I would guess that it acquired its name from all the curious gray monkeys that come out of the forest to check out the tourists. When we first arrived I threw my tennis shoes in the trash and one of the workers of the food stalls burned the trash while we were there. Well the monkeys found my shoes and rescued them from the pile of burning rubble. They enjoyed my shoes much more than I ever did. They kept fighting over them and sticking their heads inside. After such a long hike, I figure the fumes from the insides of my shoes would make the monkeys pass out when they stuck their heads in. But they never did. In addition to the gray monkeys we also saw two Malayan Giant Squirrels and a baby monitor lizard.

The above picture shows the rope swing that we found and took turns swinging on. For lunch we ate grilled shrimp, chicken, pork, and sausages with mango and pineapple for dessert.

Not a bad way to spend a Monday I'd say!

Island to Mountain

Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the usual. A couple of weeks ago we took a break from our little island. So we drove across a long bridge to the mainland and headed up a winding road to the mountains.

Goodbye Island!

And we enjoyed a few days in this cozy little house surrounded by beautiful flowers and an awesome view of mountains and trees.

We enjoyed games, reading, hiking, sleeping, and relaxing. 

Mountain Trails

And we even tried to get a family picture on Easter Morning, but it was a little sunny, can you tell?

Even though I love where we live, it was still nice to get away for a few days. Now we are back in the thick of life on the island, but I sure am thankful for the days we had as a family in mountains.