Time to Rest
Dale and I love to travel, and we’ve been blessed to do a lot of it since we got married. We’ve taken trips to Europe, South Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Australia, and more, and we’ve discovered an amazing tapestry of God’s beautiful world and the cultures of times past and present. Most of our trips are filled with a busy schedule of tours and trying to glean all we can from our time in these wonderful places.
Last week we traveled to Mexico simply to rest, relax, and reconnect. We needed to get away from the busyness of writing my books, and of all the demands of this year thus far. I didn’t even take my computer with me, and that was wise.
It’s always amazing how easy it is to let the busyness of life fill your days and weeks and months—until you long for time alone, for time apart, for time to relax together. So that’s what we did.
We talked. We walked on the beach. We laughed over dinner. We rested, and we found such joy in simply relaxing—and not feeling guilty.
True confessions. Dale and I have one, major besetting sin—we tend to be workaholics. We feel guilty when we rest. We have trouble sitting still. We have an inordinate need to be busy, busy, busy.
And the Sabbath Rest? Argh! We try. We fail. We try again. And we know that this will probably be our ongoing pattern until the day we die. Yet I know I must heed the old adage that I taught my kids, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” So we try and I think, succeeded a little…on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta.
How about you? Is resting and relaxing hard for you? Why or why not? I’d love to know.
God Talking
Talking about God is not just for Sundays; it’s for every hour of the day. Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” But I don’t think this Scripture is only for parents. It’s for all of us—with or without kids at home! So how do you, as a couple, make “God talk” a lifestyle and have conversations about God in a natural, comfortable, and life-changing way?
God needs to be a part of your every day life—your thoughts and actions. Attend church but don’t just go on with your day. Talk about the sermon, the worship songs, etc. Read God’s word together daily, even if it’s just a few verses, and talk about them. For us, breakfast is a good time for us to do that. We also listen to Chuck Swindoll’s radio teaching while we get ready for the day. This has a way of leading us to some pretty interesting God talk.
Be sure to apply God’s truth to your relationship and to your life. Sometimes that takes two minds trying to figure out how to do that. As you talk about it, God can often inspire you together in ways you wouldn’t think of separately. As the saying goes, “Two heads are better than one.” There are times when Dale and I snuggle up together and just chat about a God topic or something we’re thinking about.
It’s also important ask godly questions about things that happen during the day. There are times I’ll get an email or phone call that requires wisdom from God to answer well, so I sometimes talk about it with my husband. And when we watch the news, we frequently talk about the different news stories and how God’s word applies to them. That sure makes for interesting conversation.
Last, if you have kids at home, doing all this will model for them that “God talk” is a normal way of life. Include them in your God talk—in the car, at home, everywhere. And if you have grandchildren, be sure to shine your light brightly before them. You’ll be glad you did!
How do you make God talk a part of your daily life? I’d love to know!
Travel Writing
My latest work in progress is the first in a series about the Thousand Islands, and I’ll soon be heading there to do some research for my first two books in this series. There’s nothing like being there—seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and even tasting the uniquenesses of the place that becomes your setting for a story.
More than 1,800 islands are situated between New York and Canada in the St. Lawrence River. I grew up just 17 miles from the Saint Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands. They’re one the most spectacular places I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to more than 40 countries.
Until the mid 1800s, these islands were largely uninhabited until George Pullman, the entrepreneur who developed the railroads sleeping car, invited Pres. Ulysses S Grant to come for a vacation during his reelection campaign. Reporters followed, and they told the country how beautiful this area was, and that started a rush to buy islands and build massive summer homes, mansions, even castles. Resorts popped up, fishing guides got rich, and the islands became a place for the rich and famous of their day to spend their summers. Back then, grand parties and famous get-togethers happened all throughout the summer. Stories of intrigue, wonder, and fun filled its history, and there is much history to tell.
The majestic St. Lawrence Seaway provides passage for huge ships from all over the world. People along its shores marvel at the passing ships, classic wooden skiffs, luxurious yachts, and family boats zigzagging through the water.
The small communities along its shores on both the Canadian and the American sides the river, as well as parks, tourist attractions like Boldt and Singer Castles, make this a great place to visit. Places like Wolfe Island, where my great great grandparents landed after emigrating from Ireland, and Cape Vincent, where my great grandparents became American citizens, are just two of the many communities here that are filled with history dating back to the 1600s.
It’s the stuff of movies and books, and since there are few of either one, I’m writing about it. I hope to bring this area to life, tease your imagination, and bid you to come and visit. I may be a little bias, but I think everyone should have this beautiful piece of the world on your bucket list.
Have you visited the Thousand Islands? I’d like to know!
Being With You
As I closed the brightly colored picture book, my granddaughter looked at me with those big blue eyes. “Being with you is the best thing of all, Gran.”
“Better than jumping on the trampoline?” Yep!
“Better than ballet class or gymnastics?” Yes!
“Better than going to the beach?” Of course!
“Better than cake and ice cream?” For sure!
Ah! Can get any better than that? My little granddaughter loves being with me.
I recently had a Skype visit with my three granddaughters in South Africa. I told Reagan how sad I was that I wouldn’t be able to be with her at her birthday party. She thought for a moment and then, in all her near six-year-old wisdom, she said, “I know what we can do, Gran. After the party, I can Skype with you and I’ll tell you all about it. Then you can go to sleep and dream that you were here at my party with me, and then we can be together and you won’t feel so sad.”
Being. Just being. Just being together.
What a sweet gift it is to just be together! What a sweet gift we can give to others in this busy world.
Sometimes just being means sitting alone, quietly praying or thinking or dreaming. At other times, just being together means holding the hand of the one you love, resting in the knowledge that you are loved. Sometimes just being together means enjoying a rowdy Skype visit filled with little girl laughter and love and joy. Sometimes it means taking time to call your elderly mother to hear about her day. And sometimes it means resting in the healing process God has for you.
Our crazy world is so busy, busy, busy. It consumes our thoughts and actions far too much. We push ourselves to go a hundred miles an hour so that we can everything done, and we nearly crash and burn. Stress fills our lives and the beauty of just being gets lost in the shuffle.
So what will it take to change us? For me it’s taken thumb surgery and complications that have forced me slow down. And it’s taken a little girl to remind me to just be.
Johnny Diaz has a great song called, “Breathe” that has blessed me during this time. He suggests that we rest at God’s feet and take some time to fill our lives with the One who gave us breath in the first place. He implores us to “lay down what’s good and find what’s best.” What good counsel this is! I, for one, want to learn from it…and from the wisdom of a six-year-old.
How do you “just be”? I’d love to know!
Give Your Child the World (A Book Review)
One of the reasons I wrote Lexie’s Adventure in Kenya: Love is Patient, is to give children a look at the world of the Maasai, a tribe in rural Kenya. I wanted to develop a series that could help parents, grandparents, and teachers to raise globally minded kids as well as teach first Corinthians 13 principles. My next book is about Thailand, and my artist is working hard on it. Standby, and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.
Before I started writing books, I wrote missions curriculum for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) for five years. We wrote our way around the world, and I came to love our big, beautiful world with all its amazing cultures, places, and people more than ever before. Since then, I have traveled to more than 40 countries and learned firsthand how amazing and diverse our world is.
Recently Zondervan published a new book, Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time by Jamie C. Martin. It’s a really great resource for parents, grandparents, schoolteachers, and Sunday school teachers—anyone who wants to raise children who care about the world. I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time.
In essence it’s a compilation of children’s books organized by age ranges (4-12) and by region and country. Each book that’s listed includes a short description. There are also four indexes to help you find just the right book for your child, grandchild, or student. I sure wish I had such a resource when I was a parent and a teacher and a missions curriculum writer, but now that I’m a children’s book author and grandmother, I will still get to enjoy this resource.
There are over 600 book recommendations about places around the world, stories that can enlarge a child’s global view of the world as well that as help them to grow academically and compassionately. The author is a homeschooler and married to Brit, and they have adopted a child from India and a child from Liberia as well as have one of their own.
Books, reading, and kids. It’s a wonderful combination, and when you add learning about the world, you have a powerful combination. Buy books for children that will help them grow in this area. Teach children to care about the world, not just about themselves, not just about their friends, but about the whole wide world. After all, it’s God’s world, and we are His ambassadors.
If you’d like to learn more or purchase Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time by Jamie C. Martin, click here. If you would like to learn more or purchase Lexie’s Adventure in Kenya: Love is Patient, click here. Thanks for growing globally minded kids.
How do you instill globe worldview and the kids in your world? I’d love to know!
Scavenger Hunt #17
For the Christian Authors Network (CAN) Scavenger Hunt, I have the privilege of interviewing my friend and fellow CAN board member and president (I’m the v.p.), Angela Breidenbach. She’s the author of several historical fiction books, just like me. I hope you enjoy “meeting” her.
Susan: Angela, you’ve written quite a few short romances about true Montana history. Do you have a favorite so far?
Angela: Bitterroot Bride is one of my favorite stories I’ve written so far. There are so many parallels to my own life.
S: What kind of parallels?
A: The main character, Emmalee Warren, doesn’t know how to read as an adult. I learned to read at 4 years old. But I didn’t learn how to read people, as in social cues and connectivity, until I was an adult. So Miss Emmie is battling a sense of illiteracy and I was battling that same feeling, but in communication. Both of us do everything possible to learn how to “read” and put every ounce of our being into it as young adults. Now, 30 years later, I hope we both are fluent 😉
S: You use real history and people in your stories. It’s one of the signature elements for your historicals. But how do you write real history and real people into a fictional story?
A: I love learning true history through novels. When a fictional character is set in a real place, time, and life (or lives) of true history the story comes to life. So I research the settings, factual events, and people. Then I figure out what isn’t said. It’s in that gray area that I can squeeze my heroine and hero into story line. For instance, in the 3 books that come before Bitterroot Bride all are set in Helena, MT, in historically accurate iconic buildings with historically accurate people in the lives of my characters. But those people had a lot of employees and friends that weren’t named. So my characters became those employees and/or friends.
S: Then Bitterroot Bride is the 4th in this series? Are they all stand alone stories or do you have to read them in sequence?
A: That’s a great question! Bitterroot Bride is the 4th, but no you don’t have to read them all in order. Soon, I’m going to put them all together in one collection.
S: Tell us how it works for this series and where Bitterroot Bride comes into the history of Montana.
A: All the books are romance novellas that range 20-40K words. So they’re quick reads. It all started with Calista in The Debutante Queen and its placement into Snowflake Tiara as a two-in-one set in 1889-90 when Montana becomes a state. The Debutante Queen has been in a couple of very popular collections since then, and sold thousands and thousands of copies. Then Eleven Pipers Piping takes up where that left off in 1890-91—the newsies (reader favorites) are street children selling papers to stay alive. Still staying in the historical romance genre, Mirielle fights to help the street urchins get an education rather than be sent to military school or indenture. After that comes Taking the Plunge set in the Broadwater Natatorium in 1892-3 with our heroine, Delphina, who introduces synchronized swimming (but it was called scientific and ornamental swimming back then). And last is Bitterroot Bride set in 1894-5 where we meet Emmalee Warren, a reformed prostitute, who is not only abused and misunderstood but trying to find a way of life in a very judgmental world after being widowed.
Ultimately each book continues the story of Montana, reminiscent of the Centennial saga series from a few decades ago, even though these 4 books came out in a variety of ways from two-in-one to ten-in-one to ebook/audiobook versions. Characters from the previous stories do cameos in the next books, but they’re done in such a way that it won’t cause confusion. However, if you have read the earlier stories, then you’ll have a fun reunion with those cameo appearances 🙂
Each romance is now individually available in case a reader already read one in a collection, now they can pick up the others to fill out their experience. The 1st three are also already in audio and the 4th (Bitterroot Bride) is in production.
S: Tell us why you chose to write this story and series.
A: I love Montana, its history, and storytelling. But often history is a bit dry to learn. By enjoying a romance, I can share both true history and storytelling, but I can also include a Christ-centered, clean fiction experience for my readers. (Did you catch the clue? Christ-centered is my phrase for the CAN Scavenger Hunt sentence.)
S: How do we find you and your books? And, the next stop on the CAN Scavenger Hunt Tour?
A: Thank you for having me, Susan! My website is: http://AngelaBreidenbach.com
Please pop over and meet our next guest on the tour, Peggy Sue Wells! She’ll be on my blog. Here it is: http://angelabreidenbach.