Exciting, God-honoring, Middle-Grade Fiction--Jemima and the Mystery of the Missing Cufflinks

Just Released, Thanksgiving Day, 

November 27th, 2014

Jemima and the Mystery of the Missing Cufflinks,

written by Alicia G. Ruggieri, author of The House of Mercy and The Fragrance of Geraniums

The first book in a series, set in Regency England. 

Intended for girls ages 9-12 

Jemima and the Mystery of the Missing Cufflinks can be purchased on Amazon, available in paperback or Kindle. Click here.

This book would make an excellent Christmas gift. 

From the back of the book:

An eleven-year-old in Regency England, Jemima can hardly contain her excitement when she learns that Cousin Aimée is coming for an extended visit.

However, Aimée turns out to be a different sort of girl than Jemima expected. Disdainful and rude but oh-so-accomplished, Aimée certainly doesn’t want Jemima to be her friend… and Jemima doesn’t want to spend any more time with Aimée than she must! To make matters worse, when household items start to go missing, including Reverend Sudbury’s heirloom cufflinks, Aimée accuses the Sudburies’ faithful servant Robert of theft.

Secret searches, overheard conversations, and night adventures lead to a solution to this mystery story in which Jemima learns that Jesus can give her the power to love her enemies.

For more information about Alicia and her writing, visit her:

Blog: http://www.abrighterdestiny.blogspot.com

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/AliciaGRuggieri

Twitter Account: http://www.twitter.com/aliciaruggieri

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, Oakhill Homestead

For Things Eternal: Children and Prayer

Prayer honors God, acknowledges His being, exalts his power, adores His providence, secures His aid.

--E.M. Bounds

The men upon whose shoulders rested the initial responsibility of Christianizing the world came to Jesus with one supreme request. They did not say, "Lord, teach us to preach"; Lord, teach us to do miracles,'"or "Lord, teach us to be wise'". . . but they said, "Lord, teach us to pray."

 --Billy Graham

Someone is praying for you... someone is praying for you...

I rock my daughter to sleep on the well-used glider and we hear the strains together of the CD that is playing softly in the background. 

Someone is praying for you... someone is praying for you-

So the Mennonite choir sings and the words roll softly over and over-

And my daughter slowly nods off, her little head against my arm, her strawberry-blond hair still wet from her bath.

Then I place her gently in her crib and I see her little face all-lovely and peaceful.

And I pause a moment and I pray over my daughter while she sleeps. 

Later, I pause over my son and pray-

And then watch as his face smooths and he drifts into sleep, covered with the blanket of prayer. 

How important is prayer to me?

Because we live in a society that is so concerned, so consumed with physical safety - carseat placement, vaccinations, bike helmets, and the list goes on and on... 

But not so much with spiritual safety. 

And though no good parent would deny that physical safety is important, sometimes I have to ask myself honestly-

Do I care as much about my child's spiritual safety?

And I think that the answer lies in what we allow into our homes,  into our children's minds, into our children's hearts-

And it also lies in the emphasis that we place upon spiritual things - over the things that will inevitably pass away.  

So I think about something that my Mom urges my sisters and I to do - her words come again and again to my mind. 

Let your children see you pray... It's so important...

Let your children see you pray...

So I pray with my daughter before she goes to sleep - and I try to pray on my knees - so that she sees this - I want her little heart to grasp the idea of reverence for the Lord. 

And then I pray over her as she sleeps - for protection, for grace - that the Lord would draw her heart to Himself as she grows older. 

Because prayer is so important.

And I think of John Paton's father, his son a pioneer missionary to the New Hebrides, praying in a literal closet, for years - and his children heard their father's muffled voice and knew that he was praying for them. 

I think of another parent, a mother--Hudson Taylor's, who felt the Holy Spirit leading her to pray in a locked room until she sensed an inner peace that her son had become converted. Later, he would go as a faith missionary to China and begin a great work there - the China Inland Mission - going where others would not dare to go. 

Two parents - one a father and one a mother - two men - mightily used by God, moved through prayer - the means through which the Lord works. 

And so I pray - because I want to value the things that are important-

So I seek, through the grace of God alone, to pray with my children-

To pray for them-

And to let them see it when they can-

See me turn to God in prayer when I'm overwhelmed, 

When I'm tired, 

When I'm worried, 

When I see the beauty of His creation all around and praise Him-

So that they may value the things that are important-

The things that are eternal,

For the glory of God.

I share my posts with these blogs: Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Homestead Lady, Deborah Jean's Dandelion House, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Serenity You, Renewed Daily, Sunday Stillness, The Beauty in His Grip, Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom.

Beauty in the Dying

The fast-dimming sky peered back at me, unmoved and I drew my jacket around me closer, shuddering a little. 

November-brisk days and soon it will be too cold to bring my babies outside before supper. 

The trees seemed to stare at me, emotionless, and the dim, dull ache inside bit away at my sagging spirit. 

I looked above, and there was the great, strong tree in our backyard, stripped bare of almost all of its leaves, its glory quick-departing. 

I felt like that tree as I stared back at it, stared back at it against the backdrop of the unfeeling sky, oblivious to the cries of my soul. 

Felt like that tree stripped of its leaves - felt like it right down to the physical reality of shedding away almost half of my hair in the shower--great wet clumps every time I washed it, my strength seemingly stripped away and my body, tired and drained, all-spent from giving life to one baby after the other. 

Life. . . 

And the leaves lay on the ground, dying, while the world spun and I was lost in my thoughts of sorrow that seemed to swallow all of me up and spin me out there on the cold November ground among the lonely, life-stripped leaves.

Lost in my reverie, a baby sleeping peacefully against me, I could not shake myself from the sorrow-

The sorrow of tasting death there in cold November,

The sorrow that was robbing me of joy in the month of culminating thanksgiving. 

I could not shake away the sorrow, and my very body felt, was weary, drained, seeming-useless. 

Until a breath of warmth spoke, there to my lifeless heart among the fallen glory of the leaves--

There is a beauty in the dying---

And no, no, not in death, not in death itself, because death is cold and harsh and ugly - like the sparrow that I saw lying on the ground outside as I walked into church this morning, wet-washed and spit out of the night into that brisk November morning--

Death is ugly--

He remembers each sparrow that falls to the ground...

Beauty in the dying, in the all-abundant colors of the falling leaves spinning to the ground, their last glory bathing the earth in beauty. 

Beauty in surrender, in the giving, in the seed thrusting itself from the flower, falling, falling, dying, into the ground to be buried during the barren freeze of Winter. 

Beauty in the offering, in the sweet scent of the incense rising from the altar. 

Beauty in the dying. 

Death is swallowed up in victory.

So I sat outside today in November and the Lord spoke to me there where I was, among the dying leaves, into my own feelings of dying, of changing, of growing older, of letting my own life become lost in the lives of my babies, become a seed buried in the ground--

Though the outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day... 

And the sweetness of that truth plucked away the bitter-sadness in my heart -

My outward person is perishing - my body is changing, growing older, slowly losing strength and youth--

But my inward person - being renewed day by day as He grows me in conformity to His dear Son - His Son who died -

Arms outstretched in giving life -

His death birthed my life -

And beauty sang for me in the dying.

I hear a robin. Then, in November, its sweet voice laughing through the pain, into the soon-coming dusk. 

The robin sang for me, for all of creation. 

Spring is coming, the great sweet Spring that will swallow up sadness and fear and death forever -

When every tear will be wiped away, and death will be swallowed up forever. 

Sang for me - beautiful in the dying day -

Sang of life eternal to my soul. 



You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays

In the Small Things

My little girl was turning two, so we planned a small birthday celebration. 

I decided on a menu, and my Mama said that she would take care of the cake. 

She helped me a lot this year. The crisis with my eye was just settling down, and I wasn't able to get out very much while it was healing. 

So she thought that it might be nice to order the cake - just something simple, from Stop-and-Shop, one of the local grocery stores. 

We were doing a Winnie-the-Pooh theme. My daughter loves Winnie-the-Pooh, and I thought that the bright colors and cheerful characters would be just right for a 2-year-old's birthday. 

We were excited as we planned out the details. 

About a week before, my Mom went into Stop-and-Shop to ask about ordering a cake. The Winnie-the-Pooh-themed cake was cheerful and sweet for a child's birthday; the colors were bright - and a simple Winnie-the-Pooh plastic centerpiece would be affixed to the middle of the cake, the lady behind the counter explained. But when my Mom learned how much just a small cake would be, we re-thought the decision; my Mom lives on a tight budget and the cake would have been a significant expense for her. 

But then she went back to the bakery department a few days before the birthday. She noticed a couple of plain cakes ready to be transferred to the reduced bakery rack. Then she learned that the Winnie-the-Pooh centerpiece could be bought separately from the cake. 

If she came back the next morning, one of the ladies told her, she could buy a plain cake from the reduced rack and put the centerpiece on it herself. 

So she bought the centerpiece. And then my Mom returned back again. Early in the morning. 

But the cakes weren't on the reduced rack yet. My Mom waited and then finally asked a different woman who was working in the bakery department when they would be going out. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," was the lady's huffy reply. 

"But someone in the bakery department told me that these cakes would be reduced today . . . " my Mom spoke to the woman.

"Well, I don't know who told you that..."

My Mom left the store, downhearted, disappointed by what had transpired. 

She told me that in the car, she brought it to the Lord, asking for forgiveness for being frustrated in her heart with the woman in the bakery department who had answered her brusquely. 

As my Mom drove, she suddenly remembered that there was another Stop-and-Shop nearby--

She entered the store, headed to that Stop-and-Shop's reduced rack, and looked in amazement. 

The brightly colored Winnie-the-Pooh cake sat there - without the centerpiece - and priced just under 10 dollars, in perfect condition. 

Amazed, she picked it up and paid for it, rejoicing and praising the Lord all the way home. 

And when we ate the cake on Sunday, it was deliciously fresh, even though it was a "reduced" cake. 

My little daughter loved it; the centerpiece adorned it beautifully, and again we were reminded that -

Our Lord's hand is in the small things - He works in the minutest details of His children's lives, He answers the simple prayers of our hearts -

Meeting a woman's need -

In His perfect, all-providing way, 

Down to the tiniest detail. 

Because He loves His children.   

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays

An Interview with Author Alicia G. Ruggieri

I'm thrilled to interview Alicia G. Ruggieri on the blog today. :-) Alicia is the author of The House of Mercy, an exhilarating story of hope and redemption set in Arthurian Britain (you can read my review of that book here) and most recently, The Fragrance of Geraniums, a 1930's novel whose plot and storyline are masterfully woven together and so beautifully illustrate and magnify the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father through brokenness and pain.  

Alicia's writing always challenges me to know and love the Lord more deeply, to embrace the sorrows that He sends with the assurance of His Father-love, and to set my hope more firmly upon Him. 

Now, without further ado, :-)

An Interview With Alicia G. Ruggieri

A fourth-generation New England native, Alicia G. Ruggieri writes stories about the possibility of redemption for all things through the Cross and the cost of true mercy. With a degree in Communications and History, Alicia loves spending her days researching, writing, and caring for her family, and she avows that every life would be enriched through the addition of just one more dog.

When did you begin writing?

Well, the first thing I remember writing was a sequel to the original Little Mermaid. I was so disappointed that Ariel had left her entire family to choose a sea-less life! I think that I was around six or so. I've written since then. Thankfully, my subject matter has matured!

What was your inspiration/motivation to become a writer?

Books - good ones - were an integral part of my childhood and young adulthood. So, I suppose, writing stories was as natural to me as breathing. As a result of reading almost every day of my life, I've come to see nearly everything that I observe as part of a story. And I love the idea that everyone has a story and is part of the Great Story that God is writing. I'm not sure that there was ever a time when I decided to become a writer; but there was a time when I knew that God desired that I put concentrated effort into my fiction writing so that others could benefit from it.

What overall message do you want to send your readers through your writing?

A theme that travels through most - or even all - of my writing is that, through the Cross, all things can be redeemed: even the most ghastly sorrow, the most wretched circumstance. All can and will be made well - made right - by the Lord Christ, the one who crushed the Serpent's head. And that we, His children, can trust Him to do right.

How does your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ influence/impact your writing?

For me, I see this world as a shadow, as something passing away to make way for the Real Kingdom. Gradually, that has led to a stronger focus on the spiritual - not in a preachy way - but in a way that, I hope, emphasizes that Real World and makes us understand better the solidity of the Gospel and its application to all of life, and not only to our moment of salvation.

What authors, past or present have had an impact upon your writing? In what way?

Wow, what a question! There are so many, from Gertrude Chandler Warner with The Boxcar Children series that I read so often as a child; to C.S. Lewis, whose 'Til We Have Faces revolutionized my thinking about Greek mythology; to George MacDonald, Oswald Chambers, and John Piper, whose theological writings have provided stones upon which to build from the foundation of Scripture. I also love different aspects of Louisa May Alcott, the Brontes, Jane Austen, George Elliot, and others.

What other activities do you enjoy, besides writing?

Drinking coffee. Taking walks in the woods. Playing with my nieces and nephews. Eating cannolis (If you've never had one, you've not lived.). Hymn-sings and prayer meetings. Laundry (Yes, I actually enjoy it!). Oh, and of course, reading!

My Review of Alicia's Novel:

The Fragrance of Geraniums is a beautiful, breathtaking, thought-provoking work of fiction. Alicia weaves together a dramatic story of sorrow and loss, and of redemption and grace through her character's pain and brokenness. Without being overly-sentimental, Alicia paints a poignant canvass whose dark undertones ultimately serve to emphasize the radiant, glorious, grace-imparting strokes of light and restoration, as a sunrise is illuminated by the darkness from which it rises. 

This is a heartbreaking story. Be prepared to taste the sorrow of Grace's family situation, to cry with Emmeline as she faces the prospect of a lifetime of barrenness, and to sympathize with Sarah, whose failing marriage leaves her broken, bitter, and hungry for something deeper than the lifeless religion that she has always known. 

And then be prepared to rejoice--rejoice in the unexpected twists and turns that the Lord's great mercy takes in the lives and hearts of these three women. 

This is a difficult book to put down; completely engrossing, the conclusion actually left me quite stunned. The way in which Alicia illustrates through her story the workings of the Lord's hand in each of her character's lives is masterful and utterly satisfying to me as a reader and as a Christian. 

Through Alicia's book, the reader is led to the conclusion that no matter what difficult, painful circumstances are seemingly hurled into our lives or gently placed there by a loving Heavenly Father, He is good--and that He is working all things together for His people who love Him. 

I also enjoyed the subtle, though not overt or distracting, romantic element to the book, and the delightful way in which the main character's friend and admirer, Paulie Giorgi illustrates the love and gentleness of Christ in how he relates to and interacts with Grace. 

So pick up a copy of the book, settle down with a cup of coffee or tea, and be prepared for your heart and mind to be deeply moved.  

This novel would also make a wonderful Christmas gift.


You can purchase The Fragrance of Geraniums on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/aliciagruggieri

Available on Kindle and in paperback.

Visit Alicia's blog: http://www.abrighterdestiny.blogspot.com
Follow Alicia on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/AliciaGRuggieri
Find Alicia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AliciaGRuggieri
And on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AliciaRuggieri




You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays

In Our Pain + A Giveaway for Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts

(In connection with this post, I'm hosting a giveaway for a new copy of Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts, a memoir-style book about understanding the grace of God in our pain and brokenness. If you already own a copy but would like to give one to someone else as a gift, please still feel free to enter the giveaway... It is a wonderful book, even for hurting unbelievers. Read to the end of this post to find/enter the giveaway.)


You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival

Neither life nor death shall ever

From the Lord His children sever;

Unto them His grace He showeth,

And their sorrows all He knoweth.

- Karolina W. Sandell-Berg

It all began a few months ago. The eye-watering, the pain; waking me from my sleep at night. 

I was already getting up a few times with my newborn and sometimes with my almost-2-year-old. 

So I hardly noticed the interruption in my sleep. 

It was an annoyance, but I just brushed it aside and attributed it to allergies and sleeplessness. 

But then it began to worsen. 

The pain would linger, so severe at times that I would rock back and forth to deal with it.

And then, just try to go back to sleep. 

It began happening during the daytime, too, until one Sunday morning - I was trying to get everyone ready for church - it just wouldn't go away. 

I tried to make it through that day and the next, but the pain became so severe, that I couldn't function. 

My Mom and my sister had to help with my little ones -

My eye swelled grotesquely and reddened, and when the pain finally became excruciating and unbearable, I called my husband at work to take me to the walk-in emergency center. 

They immediately sent me to another part of the building to see an eye specialist-

My sinuses were also affected and I couldn't stop my nose and eyes from leaking continually with cold-like symptoms. 

I was a mess. And there was nothing that I could do about it. 

The diagnosis was a severe case of "recurrent corneal erosion," and I was relieved at finally knowing what was wrong and being given medication to treat it. 

I joked about how I could to some small degree sympathize with the Apostle Paul with his supposed eye troubles - but the pain was not a joke. 

And I sat that night in my room, my nose leaking, my eye burning and watering, my little ones there with me. My daughter, almost 2, climbed up into the desk chair with one of her books that we read before she goes to sleep. 

As I sat on the floor in severe pain with my 5-month-old, I heard my daughter suddenly begin to recite one of the poems from memory that was in her book -

I hear no voice, 

I feel no touch

I see no glory bright...

And I knew that the next words of the poem followed:

But yet I know 

That God is near 

In darkness as in light-

At that moment, I knew the Lord's nearness to me in my pain - only a light affliction in comparison to what my Savior had suffered-

For the past few days before that, it had been difficult to even think - to take care of my babies - and even my tears were painful -

But the Lord knelt down to me there, in my suffering - in the suffering that He had allowed -  to draw me to Himself - so that I could relate in some small way to the sufferings that He had borne for me. 

That night was the most difficult - The doctor had said that it would take from 12-24 hours for me to have some relief from the pain.

I spent a sleepless night in agony, the dripping from my sinuses making me sick and giving me a terrible headache on top of the extreme pain in my eye. 

But I knew that He was with me...

And I made it through, by His grace. 

Made it to the morning.

And the next day there was some improvement; the severity of the pain faded. 

And His grace washed over me. 

C.S. Lewis says -

"Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." 

And He knows our sorrows and gives us a measure of what we are able to bear, by His grace. 

He walks with us through them, even when we cannot see Him for the pain. 

Because He is near. 

And because, as the rest of the poem in my daughter's book reads, 

The Father for His little child

Both day and night doth care. 

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Alicia G. Ruggieri's The Fragrance of Geraniums COVER REVEAL!

Look forward to an interview with Alicia on the blog, Thursday, November 13th. 

Sisters

For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands.

- Christina Rossetti

I love my sisters. 

They are one of the greatest earthly gifts that God has given me. 

Kindred hearts, true friends, lovers of Jesus, my soul is bound to theirs, even  to joyful eternity-

And I am thankful for the treasure that God has given me in them. 

My sister, Londie . . . 

My older and wiser sibling, the one who I look up to and can always count on for practical advice. 

The mother of two little ones . . . devoted, dedicated, creative homeschooling Mom--who pours all of her heart and her soul into her work and never goes halfway. 

I love my Londie . . . she is the one who I tagged along with when I was younger, the one I constantly annoyed by attempting to creep into her bed at night when I was afraid of the dark, the one whose clothes I always borrowed (and thank the Lord that she had better taste than me! :-)). 

We sang together. Her sweet, rich voice blending with mine; her confidence giving me strength and prodding me on. 

To sing--and to live for Jesus. 

I have always looked up to Londie, my lovely artistic, winsome, wet-humored friend who lives for Jesus, and Whose strength and light shine brightly through her. 

Whose heart touches all that she does and whose creativity sparkles through all of her work. 

My sister is, I think, above all else, someone who perseveres, even when all of the odds are against her, even when the way seems "shut," even when she faces adversity. 

I know that, by the grace of God, my Londie will not give up, 

Will never give up. 

And her dogged perseverance has always inspired me--

Never give up. 

And then there's Lishy--Alicia--my younger sister by 3 years,  petite and fiery-hearted, passionate about all that she does and says and lives for. 

I can always count on Alicia to tell me the truth. 

Because she doesn't mince words and doesn't make up an excuse and won't offer a half-truth. 

Conscience steel-hard and yet her heart beats soft and gentle beneath. 

Her words, sometimes hard, always wrap around the freeing, beautiful truth and the hope of living righteously before Christ . . . 

In spirit and in truth. 

My Lishy--

Is sensitive--towards animals, towards other's suffering--

The one who has walked with me through deep waters, through our family's poverty, through persecution. 

She is the one who I know will pray for me, who has prayed for me when I could not pray. 

Who loves to read more than talking and who writes the most beautiful, thought-provoking stories that make me cry.

Who reminds me constantly through her words and through her example, 

Press on. 

I love my sisters. 

Two women who love the Lord with all of their hearts, whose lives are an inspiration to me, who help me to persevere and to press on in my walk with the Lord. 

How grateful I am--

And so I thank the Lord--

For this sweet gift of my sisters.  

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily,