Running Tally on Comment Contest

Portrait of Books, Contests

Jennifer 6 comments

Twiga 1 comment

Laura 2 comments

Beck 2 comments

Tina 1 comment

Heather @L'Chiam 1 comment

Come on people! Where's your spirit of competition! Did I mention you get to choose from these three books...

Collen Coble's Distant Echoes

Rene Gutteridge Troubled Waters

ALton Gansky Dark Moon

Grace is Having Bladder Issues

Portrait of Grace, Fun

I don't know if it's all the caffiene she ate yesterday from all the candy, but she's frustrated because she's had to go several times this morning! (I have similar issues with caffiene and going, so I'll have to watch to see if it's hereditary!)

So to help her frustration I've come up with a couple of ditty's I'd like to share since it is my birthday month!

Sung to the tune of Let is Snow!
(This one was inspired when Gracie said, "mom, there's pee inside my body again!")

Gracie has to go to the potty, because there’s pee inside her body! Please don’t fret so, Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow!

Sung to the tune of Who Let the Dogs Out?
(Inspired when Gracie complained about having to go to the potty again!)

Go, Let the pee out! (sound affects) Go Let the pee out! (repeat until the pee is out or the song gets too darn annoying!)

Hey, It's my Birthday...Month

Portrait of Birthdays, Me

And I'm throwing a party here at Portrait of a Writer...Interrupted all month. There'll be fun give-a-ways, challenges, de-lurking parties, invite a friend day and so much more. (If you have any fun ideas, let me know!)

So join the party and spread the word!

Among some of the other festivities, I'll be giving myself a blogging break and posting oldies in between the goodie bag surprises and giveaways...

If you'd like to get me a present, here are some of the things I want for my birthday.

Leave me lots of comments!

Tell a friend about Portrait of a Writer...Interrupted who doesn't already read.

Tell me why you keep coming back to my blog!

Subscribe to this blog! :)

Link to me at least once this month.

So are you ready to party? Here's the first surprise give-a-way! I'll be scouring my book shelf this week to see what gently read books I can part with and the winner at the end of the week is the one whose's left the most comments! You can comment on old or current posts because they all come to my inbox. I will give a running tally throughout the week to motivate those competitive people, then tally the winner on Saturday, announce on Sunday and hopefully mail out on Monday.

My Book's Here!

Portraits of Books, Me, , Writing, Publishing

I just received an email from a lady who said she went to pick up a copy of "Anytime Prayers for Everyday Moms," a book she worked on and she saw my name! I guess we worked on the same book! Hope I can recognized my own prayers!

I have been waiting over a year for this to come out and was told it'd be a couple more months. I think I wrote about 30 prayers in it. I'm so excited it's here just in time for Christmas!

I'm headed to amazon.com right now to see if it's there!

I think this is it! But since there is "no author" and my name is probably teeny weeny on the inside, I'll have to wait and see to make sure!

Taking the BOO out of Halloween andFocusing on the Light of the World

Portrait of Holidays, Halloween, Jesus, Faith, Sin Forgiveness

I wasn't even going to post on Halloween until I read this post. And I'm not going to get into the pagan history of the "fun" holiday because if you want to get picky about things, even Easter has pagan origins, but I am going to share with you a Godly alternative to pumpkin carving.

The Pumpkin Gospel

Open with prayer and share "Every Halloween, people carve pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns. We're going to carve a pumpkin too, but our pumpkin is going to teach us about the Gospel and God's promise of heaven.

Theme: We become a new creation when Jesus comes into our hearts.

Supplies: Pumpkin, large bowl, newspapers, sharp knife, spoon, candle, matches, Bible

Activity: Cut an opening in the top of the pumpkin and have your kids pull out the seeds and scrape the inside of the pumpkin while you read Matthew 23:25-28 and Revelation 3:20

Ask: How is the stuff we pulled out of the pumpkin like sin in our hearts? (They're both yucky, sticky...)

How is the way we cleaned out our pumpkin like the way Jesus cleans us out when we confess our sins?(Jesus scoops the yucky stuff out, etc)

Draw a happy face on your pumpkin, then carve it out. When your pumpkin has a happy face read 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 2:10

Ask: How have we made this pumpkin a "new creation"?

How do we become new creations when Jesus comes into our hearts?

Share: When Jesus comes into our hearts, we become new creations, just as our pumpkin has become a new creation. Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Read aloud: Matthew 5:14-16. Then light a candle and place it inside the pumpkin. Turn off the room lights and have everyone stand or sit so they can see the light coming through the pumpkin's face.

Discuss how God wants our light to shine before others. Read 2 Cor. 4:6

Ask: How is the way the candle light comes through the pumpkin like the way God wants our light to shine?

This can be a wonderful way to glorify God on this day and olders kids can help read scripture while the younger ones will have fun learning the Gospel in a way that will stick with them forever.

If you do this, please come back and let me know how it went!

The Other Blog

Portrait of Writer...Interrupted

I'm working on some new posts, so in the meantime check out what's happening at my other blog. Even if you're not a writer, or DON'T want to be one, you'll find inspiration for your faith walk, and encouragement for life in general.

Button Help Needed

Portrait of Carnival of Christian Writers

In anticipation for the new Carnival of Christian Writers, I've been wanting to make a button, but my button know how is soooo limited, well actually it's nonexistent!

So if any of our readers (or relatives or friends of readers) know how to create one and would like to help, drop me an email! I know exactly what I want, but don't know how to do it!

My Post is Missing!

Portrait of Blogging, Letting Go

Don't you hate it when Blogger loses your post! This has only happened to me once or twice and you'd think I'd learn by now to draft in Word, but yesterday I thought I posted without a hitch. But I can't find my post anywhere. I guess I'll have to rewrite it, but the emotion and energy for that particular piece isn't in me right now, and I probably won't get it back.

I've been thinking of switching to Wordpress, but I'm a little concerned about how transfering my entire blog, comments and all, will work. Have you switched from one to the other? If so, please leave a comment and give me the scoop, or email me! I'd also like to know honestly what you don't like about Wordpress!

Oh well, like my previous post stated...The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. I better go check on the kids who are supposed to be doing their morning work. I have a feeling that they've gone awry!

If You Give A Writer A Laptop

Portrait of Writing, Fun

Reposted in honor of the FIRST Carnival of Christian Writers Don't forget to check out the rest of the carnival! You're in for a wild ride!

by Gina Conroy
based on "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff

If you give a writer a laptop she’ll want a cup of coffee before she writes. She’ll go to the kitchen to make herself a pot and realize she drank it all yesterday.

She’ll reach for her purse and realize she can’t find her keys. She’ll dump the contents of her purse onto the table and find her lipstick. That will remind her that she doesn’t have any make-up on, and she’s still in her pajamas. So she’ll splash a little color on her face and pull on her favorite jeans.

Bending over to tie her sneakers, she’ll split her pants and realize she’s gained more than a couple of pounds. She’ll throw on her sweats and decide to jog to the coffee shop since it’s just a couple of blocks away.

As she’s jogging down the street she’ll see a paper sack and clothes scattered in the road. She'll stop. Her writer’s imagination kicks into high gear (unlike her slow jog), and she imagines a kidnapping gone awry, a teen runaway falling off the back of a truck she just hitched a ride from, or an angry housewife kicking her cheating husband out.

As she stoops down for a closer inspection, she’ll notice a wallet. Seeing the empty wallet will remind her she was on her way to get some coffee. And chances are if she reaches into her pockets for her money, she’ll realize she spent it all on the laptop.

Wordless Wednesday: Who's YOUR Hairdresser?

Portraits of Wordless Wednesday

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

Portraits of CWO, Meme, Me, Quotes

Often Go Awry.

"Has someone seen the life I planned?
It seems it's been misplaced
I've looked in every corner
It's lost without a trace..."
~ Beth Moore~
From the poem: "The Life I Planned "

Do things always turn out the way we plan? I don't think so.

I dreamed a lot when I was younger of finding love and having the perfect kids. Is it anything like I thought? Yes and no.

It's tons of more work than I ever dreamed, and extremely challenging most days. Many times those I love bring out the worst in me. Why? I haven't totally figured that out yet.

Maybe it has something to do with this quote. Maybe growing up in dysfunction made me have unrealistically high expectations about motherhood and marriage. I didn't really have great examples of either to follow in my life, so I made up my own idealistic view of what each should look like. The reality is, it looks nothing like what I had planned it would be.

But the good news is God can make it even better than I imagined! So as I plug along doing the best I can at this season in my life, I'm trying hard not to plan my future. Because in the end, God is the one who orders my steps. All I have to do is follow where He leads.

My First Rejection!

Portrait of Rejections, Carnival of Christian Writers

Well, it's a half-truth, (my kids and I have been studying when Abram told a half-truth to the pharaoh of Egypt saying Sarai was his sister which was true, but she also was his wife.) We had a great little discussion on whether a half-truth is REALLY a lie, and if we speak against the truth are we speaking against Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life?

But that's not the reason for this post. Though I've received many, many rejections in my writing life, this month I had to GIVE my first rejection. I never thought I'd have to sit down and write on of those emails that start like this...

Thank you for your submission, unfortunately it doesn't meet the criteria for our writer's guidelines...

Have you figured out what I'm talking about yet? It's a rejection letter for the Carnival of Christian Writers. While many people sent in wonderful and thoughtful posts, they were not about writing, the craft of writing or the struggle with writing, etc.

So you still have a chance to submit. Check out this link and send your post today! Only five more days until our very first Carnival of Christian Writers!

And don't worry, if you stick to the guidelines, chances are you WON'T get a rejection letter...from me!

Crossing My Fingers

Portrait of Writing, Laptops

I finally got my laptop back and it's been great using my hubby's old one at home, but mine had certain things to help me get where I needed fast...like having my bloglines and my.delio.us in the tool bar section! (Confession: I haven't checked my bloglines in almost two weeks!)

Now I have to reconfigure all that, but what I'm really praying about is all my homeschool data will transfer. I'm booting up the computer now...

NaNoWrMo

Portrait of Writing

I'm hinking of doing this for my 20,000 word novella I'm plotting now! How abhout you?

Pen Names

Portrait of Writing

I've been toying with the idea of a pen name for years and want your input. I've noticed that most published writers in the CBA use their real names and seem to give out sensitive information about their kids and where they live right on the book jacket. I'm just curious as to why? Maybe I'm a little more paranoid cautious, but a pen name seems like it'd keep away many unwanted problems.

So what do you published and nonpublished writers think? What do you use and why? And why do you think more writers don't use pen names? It seems like in this day and age, that would be the practice and not the exception.

Since I'm not published I feel I still have a choice and want to make the best one for me and my family. So let me know what you're thinking!

Exploring God's Glory

Portrait of Faith, Experiencing God

God’s glory. His holy presence. It’s something so many people desire. But are they really ready for it?

In the Old Testament many prophets experienced God’s glory, and it wasn’t how many Christians today imagine it to be. Most often when God entered a place, the ground shook, the Temple filled with smoke and people fell down in fear.

Isaiah was no exception. When struck with the presence and glory of God, Isaiah cried, “Woe to me! I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips.” He recognized the awesomeness of and the sinfulness of his soul.

What would happen if we were met with the presence of the Holy God? Thankfully, God will look upon us and see the blood of his son, but still the presence of God changes people.

Thoughts on Experiencing God’s Glory

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “We, with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord’s glory and are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory…”

I want to be like Jesus, but I’m so far from looking anything like Him. On some days I really wonder if there is any resemblance and if He’d recognize me as his child.

Presence brings purification.

Maybe that’s my problem. I’m not changed because I don’t sit long enough in the presence of the One who can change me

Dwight Edwards says this “Nothing so invigorates our souls, so ravishes our hearts, so diminishes our anxieties, and so ennobles our existence as being supremely preoccupied with God’s greatness and presence. This is what you and I were made for.”

So how do I find the time to sit in God’s presence and absorb His glory when I’m surrounded by “stuff” to do and people to take care of? We all can’t be monks or nuns, called to hours of isolation and communion with God. So how can a normal person, a busy, stressed-out, exhausted mom experience the glory of God in her daily life? I’m still trying to figure out this answer.

Father, I want so much for your glory to be present in my life, especially in my home and parenting. Help me find the time and desire to spend it with you so I can be filled with your glory so others will be drawn to you.

One Reason I LOVE Homeschooling

Portrait of Homeschooling

We're working our way through the states, learning the basic facts like the capital cities and each state's nickname. Where also reading lots of fun books on the each state.

This week we're in Maine and our focus has been on lighthouses. We've learned about the true story of a young girl named Abbie who kept the lighthouse burning during a terrible winter storm while her father was away.

We got the Reading Rainbow version of the book on DVD and Lavar took us on a tour of a lighthouse and then read a book I had in my to be read pile. The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge was set in NYC, so I had tucked it away for another day when we studied NY. But after seeing it on Reading Rainbow we decided to read it together.

It was a sweet story about feeling needed but the best part came at the end when the author said "And every day the people who go up Riverside Drive in New York City turn to look at it (the little red lighthouse.) For there they both are- the great grey brigde and the little red lighthouse. If you don't believe it, so see for yourself!

So that's just what we did. We searched Google Earth and SAW the little RED lighthouse! It was so neat to be able to make a story come alive and actually SEE something right in my pajamas in the comfort of our home.

And that's one of the reasons I love homeschooling!

Time to Make the Salad?

Portrait of Fun, Parenting

Remember that old Dunkin Donuts commercial where the chubby man would shuffle into the store, eyelids heavy, and then he'd drone "Time to make the donuts?" Well, substitute salad for donuts and put my face on his, and you got the enthusiasm I feel about making the pre-dinner greenery.

Growing up it was my job to make the salad. It was a job I hated. I guess it was all the chopping or something. Though I LOVE to eat a good resturant salad, to this day I still hate to make salad. That's why I seldom have it for dinner at home.

But there is another reason my family doesn't eat salad at dinner. I can't make it. Sure, I can cook a three course Italian meal without blinking and eye, but when it comes to salad mine just never turns out right.

I'm trying to figure out why and here's a couple of reasons I come up with.

1. By the time I get around to making salad, it's wilted and old.

2. After I thouroughly wash my salad and use that salad spinner, my greens look like they've been through a hurricane. All wet and wilty.

3. I never have enough good salad extras in my refrigerator. Sure I buy tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers, etc. But by the time I get around to making salad they're wilted and moldy.

So why can't I make a good salad? Any ideas or solutions.

I've tried buying those READY TO EAT THOUROUGHLY WASHED pre packaged types, and I seem to have the best luck with those when I eat them before the experation date. But sometimes I get the idea that I SHOULD wash it anyway, especially with the E Coli scare, and when I do I get wet wilted leaves! YUCK!

So what's a salad lover to do? I guess if I can't figure this out I'll just have to keep ordering salad out. At least I won't have to make the salad!

Wordless Wednesday

Portrait of Fun


I planted these wild flowers in the yard and my husband wasn't thrilled. Now he's so excited about his five foot+ Marigold he's taken a photo of it and was even on the local news!

My Flabby Flesh

Portrait of Faith, Friends

No, I'm not taking about the extra baby fat I can't seem to get rid of. I'm talking about the lazy, selfish part of me that gets tired of doing the right thing. Well, I'm glad I didn't listen to my flesh yesterday because my obedience really blessed someone in need.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up Galatians 6:9

I have a friend with Cerebal Palsy whom I have helped care for in college and on occasion over the last six years. In college she was very mobile in her wheelchair, but for the last 7 years she's been bed ridden due to an wheellchair accident, no fualt of her own.

Most times meeting her needs is inconvient, other times it's just plain hard to drag myself away from my homeschooling, raising four kids, writing routine. I often have to drop what I'm doing to help fill an immediate need.

On Sunday our family was going to visit her in the hosptial, but I didn't feel like it. It was raining and bringing the kids is never fun because they're usually rowdy, plus I really wanted to write. So I did what I wanted, but made myself promise to visit her the next day when I had a babysitter.

Monday afternoon rolled around, and I dreaded manuvering through the maze of hospital rooms and corridors, but I pushed aside my flabby flesh and "just did it" as Nike would say. All week I had been praying that God would show me what He wanted me to do each day. Today He did!

My unexpected visit to her hospital room was an ordained blessing in disguise. Though I could not have known it, God had heard my friends need and filled it through me.

When I showed up she was getting ready to be discharged. It comforted her that I was there. She said she was humbled by God's answer to her prayer. With family in another state, she had no way of getting all her "stuff" home. Though I only expected to stay for 30 minutes, I made some calls and had my babysitter bring my kids over to a neighbors until I could get home.

Then I helped get my friend's stuff home. There was supposed to be an aid waiting for her, but the aid wasn't there and my friend was worried about dinner. I told her I could fix something for her and feed her. Which I did (though it was only a tuna sandwich)! I made it home just in time to feed my own kids and then run out the door to drive my son to play practice.

What God's showed me through the whole thing is that He does provide, even through reluctant flabby people. And that obedience brings blessing. The hardest part of the whole day was dragging my flabby flesh down there, after I did everything else was fine and I enjoyed my friend and being able to meet a need.