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Month: November 2016

5 Faves: Christmas Cookie Contenders

5 Faves

The list of Christmas cookies I bake includes a couple of “must-bakes.” Those would be butter cookies (or cut-out cookies), the buttery shapes we frost and decorate. Our shapes include Christmas trees, Santa with his pack, bells, stars, and a few train engines. My other mandatory treat is fudge-full peanut butter bars. Aside from those, there are a half-dozen or more recipes we rotate in and out. Those include chocolate biscotti, rum balls, and various drop and bar cookies. Nothing too fancy, but always tasty!

My oldest daughter and I have sifted through recipes, looking for something new (to us) to try this year. Which recipe do you think should make the cut?

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Contemporary Romance with an Inspirational Twist: Author Interview with Nicole Deese

The Promise of Rayne is such a well-written, tightly-woven novel. One of the things that struck me most was how well the themes, faith messages, and character resolutions were integrated in the final chapters. How hard do you work at that and how much comes about through the mysterious process of creation?

The Promise of Rayne by Nicole DeeseYa know, I often have a theme in mind before I type the words Chapter One. That said, I never fully know how that theme is going to play out until after I near the halfway point of my first draft. In The Promise of Rayne, where one of the major plot themes in the book is love your enemy, I honestly didn’t know (insert the big twist/spoiler here!) when I started writing. Like, I had no clue! So, I think for me it’s about 50/50. I usually start with an idea of what I’d like to see happen during the big climax moment of the book (usually around the 75% mark). But as I write, and as I discover more about my characters and their individual wounds, personality types, and journeys, that little idea will eventually take on a whole new shape.

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Top 10 Tuesday: Reasons You Should Read Intermission NOW

Serena Chase’s contemporary Young Adult inspirational romance novel Intermission releases today on Kindle. This book quickly became one of my favorite novels of the year!

Sixteen-year-old Faith Prescott eagerly awaits the day she will exchange her small Iowa hometown for the bright lights of Broadway, but her success-driven parents want her to pursue a more practical career, labeling “artsy” people—including their daughter—as foolish dreamers worthy of little more than disdain.
When Faith meets nineteen-year-old Noah Spencer she discovers someone who understands her musical theatre dreams . . . because he shares them.
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Seven Quick Takes

7 Quick Takes

Autumn in the Park Edition

We took advantage of spectacular autumn weather and a day off of school by spending some time in a local park and on the adjoining walking/biking trail. (Never mind that I spent a small part of the afternoon scraping waterfowl feces from the treads of four pairs of shoes with a toothpick.) Our morning, in pictures:

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Autumn tree
A picture perfect day.

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Have Mercy!

Can you hear those words delivered by John Stamos, aka Jesse Katsopolis? I can. In fact, it seems like everywhere I’ve turned these last months, I’ve heard and read “Have mercy.”

Maybe it’s me. Did you ever notice how once you discover something or purchase something, it’s everywhere, bringing on either affirmation or remorse? More than likely, nothing’s changed but you; you’re now attuned and alert to whatever it is. Maybe that’s what’s going on with me and mercy. Or maybe there’s something to this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Or maybe God’s trying to tell me something.

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