Happy Memorial Day

In church today, Bill Hogan, one of our ministers mentioned that Memorial Day is a bittersweet holiday. Men died...bitter... so we could live free...sweet. Jesus died for our sins...bitter... so we may spend eternity with Him...sweet. I appreciate all the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country so I may live free. And I appreciate Jesus for his amazing sacrifice. Happy Memorial Day!

Hot fun in the summer time.

I think of Memorial Day weekend as the start of summer. I was glad to hear Sam Champion refer to this weekend as the unofficial start to summer. So I'm not the only one. I love the warm weather and the long days. We began working in the garden this week. Tomatoes are planted and staked. Peppers are planted and something came back that I'm not quite sure what it is. Maybe cucumbers or melons. It'll be fun to discover. I also planted some seeds a few weeks ago, and I can't wait for them to grow. We've had a delicious crop of strawberries. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend.

A smile. An encouraging word. A thoughtful gesture. Each day people interact with us, help, and make our day a bit brighter and full. This is especially true in the Writing Community. 

Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.

So many people take the time to make us feel special, don't they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.

Kindness ROCKS!

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too!

I chose Rose McCauley to blitz. She welcomed me into our area ACFW group. She answered endless questions for me. She's encouraged me and prayed for my family. She is truly amazing.

I really appreciate Rose, who blogs  at http://www.rosemccauley.blogspot.com (LINK). If you have a minute, please stop in and tell her how awesome she is!**

Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way. Kindness makes the world go round. :)

Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness?  Let me know in the comments!

Frist flag picture of the season

I love this house. It's located on a North Carolina beach and it screams to me, "I love this place, and I'm ready for some summer fun.
                                                                     God bless the USA!

Small town USA

Over the weekend we drove to Richmond, Indiana to watch Asbury University play tennis. We traveled the back roads of Indiana and discovered some beautiful sights. I didn't realize there were so many lakes in Indiana. We drove through a lot of flat farm land and saw small town America. We stopped at a McDonalds and it was packed. While standing in line I observed people talking from one table to the next.
The American flag was displayed at many of the homes we drove past. So I'm going to try and show my patriotic spirit on this blog and show a flag a week.
In case you're curious, Asbury won the conference and for the first time in college history the team is going to Nationals. (Back in the day and individual play was picked to go to Nationals, but now teams go.)

                                                 Asbury University 2012 Men's Tennis Team