Through my Kitchen Window

It's the beginning of  a brand new year! I, like many of you, look toward it filled with hope for all things good to happen. I have read posts on Facebook and blogs from many people who were making comments about how 2017 was a challenging or difficult year, and how they were glad to see it go and hoping for a better 2018.

Well, that's not my story.

2017 was a good year for me. My family stayed in good health, safe from harm, and gainfully employed. My youngest completed his freshman year at Union University where he is happy as a clam. His joy was topped off by two events in the fall of 2017--he was initiated into the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and his sweet girlfriend (a year younger) followed him to Union. My grandson was baptized in June, and my second son and his family welcomed my first granddaughter. They traveled to Hawaii to adopt her and brought her home to Memphis. She is so precious! (She was actually born/ adopted in the fall of 2016 and turned a year old this year. She is beautiful, happy, and thriving.)

And my writing stayed blessed. I continued to pen articles and devotions for a variety of magazines, and had two new books, The Whisper of the Palms and Glimpses of Prayer released. Also, a book my husband and I have worked on for several years made it to the committee of a large, Christian publishing company and we go onto 2018 filled with the hope that we will be offered a book contract from them. (More on that later, if it comes to fruition.)

So, no, I'm not hoping 2018 will be better then 2017, just different--full of other wonderful blessings! Here is my prayer for you in the coming year:

May the Lord bless you and keep  you.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.

Life as I Knew It--Christmas Memories

Every child wonders if Santa Clause is real. I have two memories of times when I was pretty sure he was real or at least quite ambivalent about it.

One year the missionaries stationed in Ogbomoso had a special guest at the annual Christmas party. I found out later that he was actually a European visitor, but at the time, he appeared in the room as Santa Clause in the flesh. Many of the older MKs were convinced he was an imposter but none of us could figure out who he really was to save our lives. We would guess one missionary uncle after another only to look around the room and see them all accounted for. In my little mind, if he was not one of my missionary uncles, who else could he possibly be there in the heart of Africa at Christmas time? Though at some level, I knew he was not the real Santa.

The other memory was even more magical. One Christmas Eve as I lay in my bed about to go to sleep, I spotted what must have been an airplane in the sky through the window that was just above my bed. I lived in what we called the Wests' House then. All houses on the mission were temporarily named after the family who had most recently resided in them. That year we were living in the house the West family usually occupied, while they were in the states on furlough. (My MK friends will know which house this was by the name.)

My room had a bed right up against a window. I often looked out that window at the night sky as I was falling asleep. That night when I looked, I saw a light flying slowly across the sky. I suppose it could have also been a falling star, but it moved more like an object. 

Spotting an airplane in the sky was a rare treat in Nigeria in the 1960’s, especially in Ogbomoso where I lived. Once or twice I can remember hearing a plane through the screen window while at school. It was such a rarity that we all ran out of the classroom, turned our heads up toward the sky and just watched it—including the teacher!

So, I lay there that Christmas Eve watching that light move slowly across the sky. I was pretty convinced it was a plane, but my heart was filled with that magical feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, it was actually Rudolf’s nose pulling Santa’s sleigh. I mean, an airplane flying over Ogbomoso on Christmas Eve was equally as unbelievable.

New Release!

I have another book releasing! It's actually releasing on Dec 5th (and I am posting this on the 4th) but it's the news of the week and month!

The book is a themed devotional on the topic of prayer co-written by my childhood MK friend, Shirley Crowder and me. It makes the third in our prayer series with the others being Prayer: It's Not About You written by me, Study Guide on Prayer: A Companion to Prayer: It's Not About You written by Shirley. We are currently working on the fourth and final book in this series. It will be an anthology that we hope to have released by PixNPens in summer '18.

But the interesting thing about this new release is that it straddles two different book series. Shirley and I currently have a seasonal devotional that we hope to rework and also add two more to cover the  year. Those three, "Glimpses of God in the Winter/ Spring", "Glimpses of God in the Summer/Fall", "Glimpses of the Savior" which takes the reader through the end year holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas and the New Year, and the book releasing tomorrow, Glimpses of Prayer will also make a four-book devotional series.

And as a special bonus, all of the Glimpses books will be illustrated by my talented daughter, Kristin Michael.

I will not always partner with Shirley nor she with me. I have other ideas in the works, some I hope to write alone, and one I am collaborating with someone other than Shirley. She has another devotional she just released that she co-wrote with someone other than me. So, we are not always writing partners butt we do work well together and have future plans for quite a few more collaborations. Meanwhile, we celebrate the latest one!

Here's a pictur of us a kids ... long ago in a faraway land. (Shirley is kneeling in the plaid dress, I am standing behind her, next to the really tall boy.)