New Release! Mountaineer Dreams

Introducing Mountaineer Dreams - releasing August 1st! This full length historical collection with coauthors Yvonne Lehman and Irene Brand chronicles faith and love in rugged West Virginia. In this book is my novel, Seneca Shadows -

Lucy Bland has lived a simple, peaceful life far from the battlefields of World War II. But during the summer of 1943, military men come to train on her beloved Seneca Rocks. With their intrusion, her life changes abruptly - especially when the handsome U.S. Army Captain Nick Landers captures her heart. Captain Nick Landers, of the Mountain Training Group, has been assigned to teach soldiers rock climbing techniques. Soon after he arrives in the back country of West Virginia, Nick discovers that overcoming internal obstacles is as challenging as scaling a jagged cliff face. With his next assignment, Nick must move on from Seneca Rocks - and from Lucy. If he returns, will she be waiting? And will she still love him, even if he's been changed by war?

Order this book or find it at your local Christian bookstore.

Do You Have a Vacation Nugget?

Will post a new message on July 27th - I am in the midst of two trips and seeing family. Hope you are all having a good summer vacation and are able to spend time with families near and far.

In the meantime, I open it up to you! If you would like to post in the "comments" section a nugget or two (inspirational or whatever) you picked up from a vacation this summer, that would be most interesting! And don't forget to share your blog URL or other info.

Those Who Walk Alongside Us

I like this picture - it was taken when my husband Steve and I were on the snowfields below the base of Mt. Rainier on our trip this summer. I think often of Steve and also my friends who have walked with me on difficult travels in my life. Even on one of my climbs up Lassen Peak, when Steve was not there and I could not get up one particularly icy section, a hiker came behind me and offered me a hand up so I could make it to the summit.

As a writer, it can be a tough and lonely journey as we struggle to put words on paper or the screen and then find a publisher for them. And it doesn't work to be a lone ranger in that walk either. The way can be treacherous. Lonely. Cold and snowy, even icy as we slip and slide. We really need a person to come alongside us, to help hold us up in prayer, to give a steady and sure hand, even a belief in what we are doing. Without it, one cannot get very far in the journey.

I encourage you as writer to find other writers and friends to come alongside and help you. When discouragement settles in or the rejections come or the writer's block is there, you can call on them to lift your arms in prayer. To show you a path that you never thought to try before. To give you words of wisdom that you may need to hear that provides a lamp and light to an otherwise darkened path.

Don't go it alone in this life. It's too hard. Reach out to others and allow them to minister to your life. Accept it humbly as a guiding hand from God that you need in your life.

Lessons Learned from the Oregon Trail

Take a look at the pictures from our recent trip to Oregon. We think we have it hard on the path of life! Here we learned about the pioneers who traveled the long and difficult path to Oregon country. They had come so far, thousands of miles, reaching the Mt Hood region of Oregon country, when suddenly they are confronted by another obstacle - a steep and dangerous mountainside unlike any they have encountered before (the one pictured above).

Now you may wonder, what did they do so they did not lose control of their wagons and all their possessions weren't lost? They did several things, such as anchor the wagon to a rope tied to a tree and slowly drove the wagon down the hillside. Another way was to tie a rope around a large cut spruce tree and allow the tree's limbs to snag the brush along the way and thus slow the descent. All of it was to prevent them from going too fast and avoiding catastrophe.

What an interesting lesson to learn in our walk in life. Sometimes we face steep hillsides and just want to race down them. But God has a way of slowing us down. Sometimes He ties obstacles on to us so we travel steady and sure, and not fall headlong away from His will. He wants us to arrive at our destination intact, our spirits strong, our faith in Him alone.

And so we learn a valuable lesson from the pioneers of old. Don't be afraid if God seems to have tied a dead weight on you at the moment. He has your best interest at heart. And it may be keeping you from a disasterous fall.