I love hearing my kids find their voice as they learn to talk to God.

Emma goes for loud and proud. “Dear Jesus,” she’ll begin, then we usually get a nice pause. This is followed by her thanking Him for something about her day, or the food, or something really random like swings or a television show.
I know God looks forward to her prayers. I believe they make Him smile.

Then there’s James. At four, his prayers are already starting to sound like the prayers he’s heard. He’s likely to ask God to help us “have a great day” or “keep us safe” and he’s been known to throw in a request for frozen yogurt or a trip to the park. He also is starting to question things. 

He recently wanted to know why we say “Amen” at the end of our prayer. I told him what I’ve always been told, that “amen” means “so be it.” That went flying over his head, so I backed up and went with, “it’s a word we use to end our prayers.” He hasn’t started saying “goodbye” or “later” so I think he’s good with amen.

Of course, I imagine God cracking up as this little guy starts to have more of a conversation with Him. I think He loves the questions and looks forward to James coming to Him with more complex queries in the years ahead.

And then there’s Drew. At two, his prayers go like this…Dear Jesus…(long pause)…Amen.
It’s cute, right? Adorable really.
He’ll grow more verbose in the months ahead.

But I wonder if God kinda wishes he wouldn’t.

I wonder if He wishes more of us prayed the way Drew does.

Dear Jesus…(long pause…sitting quietly, waiting for Him) … so be it.

So often, I try to tell God everything I need, because I know what I need. I try to explain the mess, because I know all the ins and outs of the situation. I try to propose a solution, because I’ve been thinking about this for a while.

Wait…why am I praying again?

Maybe we could all take a lesson from Drew. Maybe we need to approach the throne, not with a laundry list of desires, but with one desire.

Dear Jesus…whatever You want…so be it.

Amen.

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I read a lot.
I read a lot of romantic suspense.
I even try to write it.

This combination of reading and writing has given me a pretty good idea of the elements that need to be present in a romantic suspense novel to keep everybody happy. This is both good and bad because sometimes it can make a book rather predictable.

So I love it when I crack open a book and find all those elements, but find that each one comes at me in a fresh or unexpected way.

Irene Hannon’s second book in the Private Justice series, Trapped, did just that.

Trapped opens, not in the head of the hero, James “Dev” Devlin, former ATF agent turned private eye, or the heroine, librarian Laura Griffith, or the villain (no, I’ll not be giving you his name), but in the head of Darcy, the sixteen year old half-sister of the heroine. A young woman who is about to make a very poor choice that will send Laura and Dev on a race against time, the elements, and the twisted mind of a sociopath.

And speaking of sociopaths . . . This guy is C.R.E.E.P.Y.

I find the villain-next-door to be the scariest of all and this one, well, you’ll have to read it. We spend a disturbing amount of time in our villain’s head and Irene Hannon did a masterful job of presenting him, not as a caricature of evil, but as a deeply troubled soul.

Our hero, Dev, has his own troubled past that rears its ugly head when Laura, complete with her own trauma, walks in his door and asks for his help. As their search takes them to train stations, homeless shelters, and through late-night stakeouts, they will both have to find a way to leave their pasts, and their future, in God’s hands.

Doesn’t it sound great? Wouldn’t you like to have your very own copy?
Well, guess what? You can! 

I happen to have an extra copy, so I’m giving it away. I’ll put entries from Facebook, Twitter, and the comments on this post into a random number generator, and someone will win their very own copy of Trapped!

All you have to do is leave me a comment and let me know you want to be entered into the drawing!

So what are you waiting for?

Trapped is available as of August 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I received a free copy of Trapped in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

There are few things that make me happier than walking to my mailbox and finding a new book. I particularly enjoy it when the book isn’t available for purchase yet. This is probably because I have the patience of a fruit fly and I don’t like waiting for anything.
Right now, I’ve got four—that’s right—four books in my TBR (to-be-read) stack that fit this criteria. It’s like Christmas in August!

For today, let’s talk about the Alaskan Courage series written by Dani Pettrey—specifically, book three, Stranded, which releases on September 1 (but I’ve heard can already be found in some stores).

The Alaskan Courage series follows the adventures of the McKenna family—Cole, Gage, Reef, Kayden, and Piper. (Aren’t those great names!) 

The McKenna’s own and operate Last Frontier Adventures in Yancey, Alaska. When they aren’t helping tourists enjoy the vast beauty of the Alaskan frontier, they serve their community as volunteers on the search and rescue team.

We met Cole and his long lost love, Bailey, in Book 1, Submerged. Then we had the fun of watching the baby sister, Piper, fall in love with longtime family friend Deputy Sheriff Landon Grainger in Book 2, Shattered.

We also met Darcy St. James and watched her get under Gage McKenna’s skin in Shattered. Now, in Stranded, Gage and Darcy take center stage as they search for Darcy’s missing friend and uncover a sinister plot in the icy waters off the Alaskan coast.

And that’s all I’m going to tell you about the specifics. You know how I feel about spoilers. They are evil.

What I will tell you is…
I.Love.This.Series.
(True confession…I read Stranded in one night. I couldn’t put it down).

These books make me happy. They have just enough suspense to keep me turning the pages and just enough romance to keep my heart fluttering. 

The McKenna’s are a great family. The siblings are as different as five siblings can be. Feisty, fun, flawed. You will love them.
I certainly do.

**************
After you’ve read the books, you’ll want to check out Dani’s website. She’s got some fun bios, playlists, and videos for each of the three books. 

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You may have noticed that it’s been a little quiet around here.

Here’s why . . .

Summer 2013 by the numbers:
Number of days spent away from home … 25+

Number of trips to the pool … 15+

Number of playdates … 15+

Number of books read to the kids … 100+

Number of long talks, shrieks of joy, huge grins, and hours spent surrounded by family and friends who might as well be family … too many to count!!

Number of fiction words written … 5,000

Number of blog posts written … 7

I’ve spent my summer trying very hard not to worry about writing. And in July I made the conscious decision to take the end of July and most of August off. It’s been both liberating and irritating. Liberating because it lightened a very fun-filled but hectic August schedule. Irritating because I kept thinking of things I wanted to write about!

Number of days before the boys start preschool … 7!

Now that we are down to a week before all three kids will be back in school, I’m flexing my blogging muscles and remembering how to work this into the schedule. (For those of you wondering, yes, I’m flexing my fiction muscles, too.)

I’m excited to share some of the things God’s been teaching me this summer.

Here’s to a new season of experiencing life Out of the Boat! I hope you’ll join me on the water.

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A Big Year for Lily by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher is the third book in the Adventures of Lily Lapp series. My friend Emily reviewed the first two, so this was the first time I’ve read one of the books in this series. 

I must say, it was delightful.

In book three, Lily experiences the joys of attending school with her cousins, the trauma of being falsely accused, the drama of the teacher getting married, the frustration of being picked on by a boy at school, and numerous other trials and delights that she sometimes handles well, and other times, finds herself learning some hard lessons. There are many insights into Amish culture that I think young girls (and their mothers!) would find fascinating!

I’m sure my perspective is different than that of an 8-10 year old girl, but I appreciated that Lily’s parents are a team, that they do not condone misbehavior, and that they accept their little girl for who she is. Their discipline is measured and appropriate, sprinkled with grace and mercy, and it is clear that they adore their children, are hard workers, and are still quite smitten with each other. In a world where so many children’s stories either act as if the parents are non-entities, or worse, act as if they are idiots, I found Lily’s parents to be a breath of fresh air.

These books are written for girls 8 and up, but I think they would make an excellent read-aloud for girls as young as 5 or 6. Some of the chapters are quite short (2-5 pages) and while the story does build and progress, each chapter is its own vignette and stands alone quite nicely. I could see this being a lovely choice for bedtime or afternoon story time reading. 

A Big Year for Lily is available in July 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I was provided a copy of this book by Revell in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Once upon a time, as I sat in my office and went about a typical day, my phone rang. Prior to that phone call, if you had asked me, I would have told you (in all the wisdom my 25 years had afforded me) what my life was going to look like.

My husband had a great job with a great bank. I had a steady job. We would move around over the years as he moved up the corporate ladder. We’d have a few kids. Life would go just the way I’d planned.

Do I really need to tell you that all my “I’ve got my life figured out” plans disintegrated that day?

When the voice on the other end of the line says “Honey, I don’t have a job anymore” there’s no going back to any notion of stability and security. Not in jobs, or financial institutions, or degrees. Not even in the idea that people who work hard and do what’s right don’t find themselves looking at each other saying “what do we do now?”

I wish there had been a book like God’s Provision in Tough Times by Cynthia Howerter and La-Tan Roland Murphy for me to read in the months that followed. A book with contributions from people from all over the country and from a variety of backgrounds. People who experienced job loss or who suffered from financial difficulties that had nothing to do with poor budgeting or fiscal mismanagement.

I wish I could have read about God’s faithfulness to each of them. How God showed up over and over again. Not with buckets of cash or instantaneous employment, but by sustaining them as they lost their homes, took jobs they were overqualified for, left friends behind as they moved to new opportunities they never wanted, or moved in with family so they could put food on the table.

These stories are true. They are real. They are often painful to read. But they are not without hope. Because as each author shares in their own way, God brought them through the darkest hours and led them on to new places with Him.

He never abandoned them.

He changed them.

If you or someone you know is struggling right now, whether it’s with job loss or a mountain of debt that has you flattened, I most heartily recommend God’s Provision in Tough Times.

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Ronie Kendig, Missy Tippens, Lynette Eason, Ginny Aiken

I want a magic bullet.
Somewhere
there’s a book, a routine, maybe a diet, or even an outfit. Somewhere, there’s
one thing I’m missing and when I find it, my publishing dreams will come true!

Right?
In my quest
for the elixir of publishing success, I had a rare opportunity to do some
extensive research. I got to hang out with four published authors as they
wrote, brainstormed, and it must be said, consumed copious amounts of coffee
and loaded grits.


I tried to act cool about it. (Heavy emphasis on the word
act, because I’ve never been cool in my entire life). But secretly, I was
watching. Surely over the space of several days, one of them would slip up and
reveal the source of their publishing power. 

Since it’s the first Thursday of the month, I’m guest posting over at The Write Conversation. Head on over there for the rest of the story!

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I’ve had so many conversations with friends recently about how tired we are of perfect moms. You know who I’m talking about. If Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram are any judge, they never have anything go wrong. Their kids never drive them crazy or make a mess or say a bad word. Ever.

I try to be honest about my life—the good, the bad, and the ugly—here at Out of the Boat, but I leave a lot out. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I want to share with you a few of the things I did NOT blog about in the very crazy month of June.

I did not blog about the morning I was trying to be one of those supermoms who has an abnormally high tolerance for messes. The type who can watch their children soak through their clothing and everything in a twenty foot radius without breaking out in hives. I allowed my boys to play with their new water cannons on the back porch and when this deteriorated into the youngest stripping naked, I rolled with it.

I may have been feeling smug about how cool I was and how this was the kind of memory my children would take into adulthood. Until the morning air was pierced by a howl from James and I came around the corner just as a fresh pile of poop hit the deck, courtesy of the naked two-year-old. So, yeah. I decided not to blog about the next fifteen minutes. They weren’t my finest quarter hour. (Cannot tell you how relieved I was that there were NO witnesses).

Then there was the Sunday lunch debacle. The one where James asked for a cookie and I declined to purchase one. So a few minutes later when he was back asking if he could have some cookie, I not only said “No” but I gave him a lecture on repeatedly asking me for things. Unfortunately, I realized a few moments later that a sweet friend had been offering to share half of his cookie with James, and because James was trying to obedient, he had been asking for permission to have the cookie his friend was willing to share with him.

I felt like dirt. (Yes, there were witnesses).

Oh…there was also the afternoon I opened Drew’s door after his nap and discovered that he’d stripped out of his clothes (hmmm, there does seem to be a trend here) and peed through the crib slats into the floor. I seriously need to potty train that boy!

There’s more, but I think you get the idea!

How about you? Have you had some “not-so-perfect” moments you’d like to share? Come on. Spill it. What kind of craziness has been going on at your house? 

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Whoever ** said, “Summertime, and the living is easy” lied through his teeth.

I say, “Summertime is kicking my rear!”

Emma has school Monday – Thursday and gymnastics on Friday. Next week, James has T-ball camp from 10-12. We always have speech therapy on Thursdays. And we are slap in the middle of a two-week stretch of swim lessons.

Did I mention that in my quest to be a “fun” mom we’ve also been to the pool and had a couple of play dates?

Or that in my quest to be a “fit” mom I’ve been going to the gym? Today, I even managed to trip over my own two feet and crash on the sidewalk while trying to be a “runner” mom.

Every day is something different, which really pulls my pigtails.

I like routine. I like plans. I especially love it when a plan comes together. 🙂

Tonight, I had a whole plan that involved a little blogging and a lot of fiction (writing, not reading).
Instead, we had a movie night. Me, the kids, and Boz Christmas. Hey, around here, we rock Christmas year round.

(Lest you start thinking I need a double halo because I’m so awesome, I should confess that my plan was for the KIDS to have a movie night. I was going to hit Play and run. The plan would have worked if Drew hadn’t slid his little hand in mind and dragged me—no, I did not go skipping with glee—back to the bonus room).

So, there will be this post and no fiction because I’m not capable of being a “decent” mom if I haven’t had enough sleep and I can’t seem to convince my children to all sleep in on the same day. Emma and James have been taking turns getting up between 6 and 6:30. (Drew sleeps until 9, which is why he’s my favorite. I’m kidding! Sorta).

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with, well, anything. I’m glad you asked!

I know—really—how insane summers can be. I get it. And I do NOT want you to be discouraged or intimidated about trying to work through a Bible study during the summer. (We are doing Gideon by Priscilla Shirer – you can read about it here!)

Will you fall behind? Probably. Does it matter? Nope.

If you want to join us, go get your book and get started. Don’t worry about whether you can keep up or not. We are hoping to have completed Weeks 1 & 2 by July 2nd. (If you’ve watched Beth Moore’s video you’ll realize we are going to be a week behind her. We are okay with that!)

I learned a long time ago that Bible studies are funny things. It’s not about how fast you work through them. It’s about the fact that you do. If it takes you twelve weeks to do a six week study, you may find that the lesson you cover in the 11th week is EXACTLY what you need when you need it.

If you have picked up your Gideon book, then please give us a shout in the comments. You don’t have to say how far along you are, just let us know you are along for the ride.

**Turns out it was George Gershwin. I hate to say anything disparaging about Gershwin, but I think he took some serious artistic license with the whole “summertime” concept. 🙂

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My two-year-old learned a hard lesson this week.

The iPod doesn’t work unless it’s been charged.

He doesn’t care that it has a cracked screen or that the operating system is so old we can’t download new apps to it—he loves to push the buttons and find the pictures and listen to the music.

But yesterday, all he got was a blank screen. That thing was D.E.A.D.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times I placed the iPod on the charger and tried to explain, all he wanted was to play with his toy. So he’d yank it off the charger as soon as the silver apple appeared on the screen, and then wail in anguish when it promptly disappeared.

I couldn’t make him understand that I was more than willing for him to use the iPod but until it spent some time plugged into the power source….

It. Would. Not. Work.

I wonder if God does the same thing with us. I wonder if He continues to draw us to Him. To His Word. To His house. To His people. But we are so immature, we simply can’t get it through our heads that if we continue to play and live and work without plugging in to Him that…

It. Will. Not. Work.

We will falter. We will sin. We will drift.

This may come as a shock, but we are in a battle. Spiritual warfare is all around us. And here’s the simple truth.

Christians don’t get to take the summer off.

No matter how many days we plan to spend at the lake, or the beach, or the pool, spending some time plugged into the source of Power is the only way to get through the days ahead without our screens going blank and our effectiveness for the Kingdom disappearing.

We are either drawing closer to Him or we are pulling away from Him. There is no in between.
 
Disconnecting from June-August (or, let’s call it like it really is, from May-September) and expecting to still be growing in our faith is as ludicrous as Drew believing his little hand-me-down iPod will work without spending some time on the charger.

So here’s the challenge.

Stay in the Word. Keep moving toward Him. Don’t let September roll around and be so drained you have to take until Christmas to get your spiritual strength back to where it is now.

Commit to staying plugged in this summer.


 

My dear friend, Ginger, and I are going to be working through a study on Gideon by Priscilla Shirer. (You can read the blog post from Beth Moore about it here). If you’d like some accountability (because I’m not pretending this is easy!) we’d love for you to join us. Get the book, and be ready to start next Tuesday. I’ll be blogging about it as we go through the summer.

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