New Pictures and a Chat with my Mom

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I had some pictures made in order to choose one for back of our book, "A Stand for Truth" that is currently in the publishing stage with Olivia Kimbrell Press. The choice was difficult since we had a great photographer who made us look nice, in spite of ourselves. Here is the one we chose.

Oliva Kimbrell Press is the same publisher who published my novel, The Whisper of the Palms back in March of 2017. This book is the fictionalized version of my parents' story--their childhoods, love story, and call to foreign missions that ultimately led them to Nigeria where I was born. In celebration of the two-year book anniversary, Valentines (since this is a love story), and my mother's birthday (Feb 23) the ebook is going on sale Feb 13-16. You can watch for more reminders of that sale on my Facebook author page.

Since the story is based on the lives of my parents, I wanted to share a conversation I had with my mom the other day. Mom told me about a book she is currently reading that took her back to her childhood because it had a rural farm setting about the time she grew up in the hills of North Carolina, the daughter of a poor farmer. Mom told me about the turning plow and the regular plow. In the book she's reading the little girl had to learn how to use a turning plow.

"Now that was different from me," she said. "Daddy would never let me work the turning plow. He said it was too hard to handle." Then she explained that the turning plow turned over new ground still hardened from the winter. "But I begged him so that he finally agreed to let me try my hand at the regular plow. I was supposed to plow between rows of corn but I lost control and plowed up about a fourth of a row of corn. We could get most of it to stand back up by stepping around the roots and packing them back in the dirt but Daddy lost some of his plants." 

I asked her if my grandfather, whom I remember so fondly, was angry with her. "Oh no," she said. "He thought it was funny and laughed and laughed at me. I had my pride hurt, though. I was always so sure I could do anything anyone else could do." 

… and this is why I wanted to write a book about my parents. I love my mom's can-do attitude and my dad's ingenuity. My mom has always believed anything was possible and my dad has usually found a way to make it happen, whatever it was. If you haven't reads the book yet, get it while its on sale in a couple of weeks. I promise you will enjoy it.