Audra Jennings

An interview with James L. Rubart, Author of Soul’s Gate James L. Rubart’s novels entertain readers while challenging them to reexamine their own lives. Soul’s Gate (Thomas Nelson/November 6, 2012/ISBN: 978-1-4016-8605-5/$15.99) explores healing from our deepest wounds and embracing God’s calling for our lives — challenges that often have a strong hold over us. Soul’s Gate poses the question: what if you could travel inside another person’s soul? What if you could battle for them and be a part of Jesus healing their deepest wounds? Thirty years ago, that’s exactly what Reece Roth did—until tragedy shattered his life and ripped away his destiny. Now God has drawn Reece out of the shadows to fulfill a decades-old prophecy about four warriors with the potential to change the world. In order to fulfill God’s plan, Reece will have to face his deepest regret in order to train them. Q: What drew you to write supernatural fiction? From the moment I read The Chronicles of Na

Elizabeth Ludwig is celebrating her new book with a Kindle Fire Giveaway and connecting with readers at a Facebook Author Chat party on 12/6. One winner will receive: A Kindle Fire No Safe Harbor by Elizabeth Ludwig Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on December 5th. Winner will be announced at the "No Safe Harbor" Author Chat Facebook Party on 12/6 . Connect with Elizabeth, get a sneak peek of the next book in the Edge of Freedom series, try your hand at the trivia contest, and win some great prizes—gift certificates, books and a Book Club Prize Pack (10 copies for your book club or small group)! So grab your copy of No Safe Harbor and join Elizabeth on the evening of the December 6th for a chance to connect with her and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!) Don't miss a moment of the fun,  RSVP today .  Tell your friends via  FACEBOOK  or  TWI

I know you weren't wondering, but I'll act like you were... In case you were wondering, it took me until Monday night/Tuesday morning at 2 AM to get all my lights and decorations on my big tree. Six hours. I did my lights too thick at the bottom and my back-up strings weren't working to throw more lights on it. And I couldn't have a half lit tree, so I had to unwind and rewind. As seen from my couch while I was crashing. That's the corner of my love seat. Normally, I take down the day after Christmas. As much work as it was putting it up, and will be getting it down, I may just leave it up until St. Patrick's Day. (Highly doubtful, but...) And I got my other little tree up too. I'm having a party for some friends to see it. Otherwise, I'm not decorating like this for my health. I was exhausted yesterday, my back was killing me, and I have bruises all over my legs from getting up and down from standing on chairs.

To celebrate the release of Resurrect, David E. Stevens has teamed up with his publisher, Kregel Publications, for a Kindle Fire Giveaway and Facebook Author Chat Party {12/4} . One "thrilling" winner will receive: A Kindle Fire Resurrect by David E. Stevens Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on December 3rd. Winner will be announced at the "Resurrect" Author Chat Facebook Party on 12/4 . Connect with David, get a sneak peek of the next book in the Resurrect Trilogy, try your hand at the trivia contest, and win some great prizes—gift certificates, books and a Book Club Prize Pack (10 copies for your book club or small group)! So grab your copy of Resurrect and join David on the evening of December 4th for a chance to connect with David and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book - don't let that stop you from coming!) Don't miss a moment of the fun,  RSVP today . Tell your frie

An Interview with Rose Marie Miller, Author of Nothing is Impossible Nothing is impossible with God. That’s what Rose Marie Miller had always heard, but for a long time it didn’t seem to ring true to her. Even while serving in ministry, she kept God at a distance, building walls of self-protection and self-reliance. She wanted to avoid weakness and vulnerability at all costs. Then, God powerfully transformed her heart. In Nothing is Impossible with God: Reflections on Weakness, Faith, and Power (New Growth Press, October 2012, ISBN 978-1-936768-68-4, $ 15.99, also available in eBook) , Miller shares how God revealed his grace and forgiveness, changing her life in ways she never thought were possible and welcoming her into new, missional life of discipleship. Q: In Nothing Is Impossible, you speak quite candidly about your resistance to actively be a part of some of your husband’s ministry outreaches. Was he aware of how much you were struggling with your faith at that time

I finally got all the lights unstrung from the garland, hung it up, strung some other lights, and added decorations. The big tree is still not up. There's still time before midnight. Today, a nap took priority. And some computer reconfiguration (as much as I hate messing with that too.)

Each year as I drag out all my ornaments, I say, "this is so not worth it." After procrastinating all day long. This is what I have done. One small tree. It's the orange one I promised for Peyton. The light is wonky, so I need to try another one now that it's dark. I untangled two strings of garland and started hanging them up, but the lights were out in one string. I've totally unstrung the lights that have been twisted around the garland for years. I'm going to rig different lights with the garland some other way. The garland had shiny holly leaves on it. Soon it won't because so much falls off every year. I'm going to have to vacuum as soon as there's room to vacuum. I am not looking forward to the big tree. If I hadn't spent so much the past few years on all these purple and orange ornaments, I'd just skip decorating.

For all my commentary on not shopping on Black Friday, I did. But I didn't go shopping for yarn. And I sure didn't wake up early. Mom wanted to get dad an office chair at Office Depot. He's the one with a list this year as opposed to the norm. Their sales circular had $60 worth of iTunes gift cards for $45. All the nieces wanted those for their iPod Touch. You can't beat $15 free. I was also looking for a laptop that was like $300 off so that I wouldn't wear out my nice, large, touch screen computer so quickly because I've gotten some of those scary DOS screens on shut down lately. Plus, I could actually go someplace with Wi-Fi and work from time to time for a change of scenery. That would mean going to Whataburger because I'm not sure the Slot Machine Coffee Shop has free wi-fi. I can also go out of town and still be able to accomplish work. I didn't see the computer out there, and I forgot what I saw in the circular because I didn't have it w

I am too stuffed to say anything more than Happy Thanksgiving. My cooking, with the exception of a squash casserole I tried (epic fail), was too good for anyone's own good. Don't my pecan and buttermilk pies look good? Dad messed up the pumpkin one he made for Mom. He put the wrong kind of milk in it, so without sweetened milk, it was not sweet and the crust didn't cook right. It was raw dough that sat out for 20 hours because the rest of the pie looked done. Thankfully only mom tried it before we dumped it all out. At least his coconut one turned out with good looking meringue that didn't weep.

Maybe I need to go Black Friday shopping after all. I was looking at the Walmart ads. Two whole circulars. Event 1 starts at 8 PM on Thanksgiving. Event 2 at 10 PM on Thursday. Each with its own deals. Event 3 starts at 5 AM on Black Friday. This is a picture of the front page. Seriously? I mean yeah, it's a good deal on the big skeins of yarn. Yes, unlike serious crocheters, I use Red Heart (like my Nanny did). But really? They had more yarn on another page. I just found it strange that yarn ranks with 60" TVs as front page deals. I'm kind of thinking about going to Walmart on Friday after all. That makes me a mega nerd. Oh and I had to go out there today. My parents' microwave started firing sparks this morning so I went with Dad to get a new one. An exhilarating day off. It was nuts today. I can only imagine the rush for yarn.

I'm not much on getting out and shopping on Black Friday. For one thing, I like to sleep in on the holidays. Plus, there's not really any place to go in this town besides Walmart, and you know how I feel about Walmart. Maybe I'm just more into stimulating the economy rather than trying to get a good deal that's not necessarily a good deal.  Here's what Crystal Paine, aka The Money Saving Mom , has to say about shopping on Black Friday: Money Saving Mom Says to Stay Home on Black Friday Are the Black Friday deals really worth getting up at 3 AM for? I don’t go shopping on Black Friday. I know, I know. That statement might sound a bit antithetic to my usually frugal, money-saving ways, but it’s true. Here’s why: The Black Friday deals online are just as good, or even better, than the in-store deals. Yes, seriously. And I’ve proven this theory throughout the past few years by meticulously comparing the prices online versus the prices in-sto

After a bad start on the cocoon, and a complete start over, I think it turned out pretty well, don't you? Now, we'll have to see once a baby gets put in it... I bought the buttons on Saturday and had to put on the buttons and finish off the hat after getting back from Dallas so I could take it to church for a shower Sunday afternoon.  I had to pull part of the hat loose and did most of it in one sitting. I was up until 2 AM, but thought the hat ended up so very cute.  Since I pulled off the cap this time, I guess I need to see if I can make a turtle shell and hat now. Oh, but one more project first. 

My dad found this birthday card and mom had some of my old Sunday school kids sign the card. She was only able to catch a few of them, but it was fitting. Last night my parents and I took Paige and Peyton to Mardel's and Hobby Lobby for what ended up as Christmas shopping for them rather than birthday shopping for me, but that's ok too. We then ate at Cracker Barrel as a pick everyone would like. I was all about including the girls iny plans since they were more concerned with my birthday than I was. Today my two special fans followed me around church. Morning and evening. One of them put my name into an iPod app for my own special birthday song. When one had a small branch to give me birthday lashes, my Dad surprisingly told him he needed a bigger one which he did find. The other who is probably reading this right now posted "happy birthday" on 79 of my blog posts. I am impressed with his effort because I woke up from my Sunday nap to 79 emails of comment notifica

An interview with Marty Machowski, author of Old Story New Who can resist a story filled with adventure, suspense, drama and mystery? A story with these elements easily captures our attention, no matter how old or young we may be. However, we often forget that the gospel story has all these characteristics, and it’s a true story that has the power to save. Longtime children’s ministry leader Marty Machowski brings the entire family together to rediscover the excitement of the gospel by taking a deep biblical truth and presenting it in an easy-to-understand weekly devotion in his latest release, Old Story New: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God (New Growth Press, October 2012, ISBN 978-1-936768-66-0, $19.99, also available in eBook). Q: Why do we find it so difficult to get into a devotional routine ourselves, much less for our entire family? I think there are a couple of reasons it is difficult for us adults to keep a consistent devotional routine.  Fi

Today's blog post is actually over at another blog... I wrote a special Thanksgiving post over on the Litfuse blog for our Friday Favorite Feature. It's a family story, so be sure to go over there today to check it out. Just click on the picture below to take you over there.

A couple of weeks ago, my boss sent us all packages of new to-do lists. Perhaps that was a subtle sign that we all need to get organized and get it together. I have 6 stapled together. I have marked a few things off, but have added numerous more back on. Oh, if that only covered all that I need to do. Before a baby shower this weekend, I really need to go finish a crochet project. I've finished one part, but need to go finish another. I blame my new addiction to Song Pop on my phone. Really, I do. Then, I have another project started that I started 4 times trying to see how I was going to do another project I have promised. It may be started yet again by the time it's all over with. Oh, but with a post on Facebook I made yesterday, I may have a new side job and another to-do list. Isn't this adorable? I asked if anyone wanted me to make this, and a number of people do. I'm not sure how fast I could get it done, if it even turns out right! I'd give cre

You know the saying, "I think I created a monster?" I may have created a stalker. Tonight as I was walking around the church building, I met the Hispanic minister along the way. His name is Mud. Because he is terrible. Our church building makes a big loop. I would call the halls a circle, but it's not a round shape. Anyway. The halls are ceramic tile and the place echos. And when people like Mud are loud, you are sure to hear it around the entire building. So, Mud says, "you're boyfriend's behind you." As a reflex at "behind you," I turn around to see Not-My-Boyfriend-Timmy-the-Fly coming around the corner. I just laugh really loud, then say, "you know that's not true," really, really loud in case anyone thought that might have been true. What I was really wondering is if a certain someone else was following me after already coming across him elsewhere. You see, ever since the kids in my 5th grade class have promoted

You know, auto correct is pitifully sad. I was posting from my phone on Facebook yesterday, and auto correct changed crockpot to crackpot. I guess because it's actually crock pot (two words) vs. crackpot (one word). Regardless, my latest cooking experiment was AWFUL. Next thing I know, Klout will think I'm influential in crackpots. Let me just say that I will NEVER EVER make potato soup again. At least I have no intentions to. After pinning a few recipes on Pinterest, I picked one that could cook in the crockpot for a while vs. some others that were more hands on in that you couldn't let it cook on it's own. However, this was a long, drawn out mess. I picked a recipe and bought all the ingredients a couple of weeks ago. Sunday night, I decided to cut up the 5 pounds of potatoes to make the full recipe figuring it would be good enough to share with my parents. Alright, all good. I spent probably an hour cutting up potatoes after washing and re-rinsing them since

Kristen Heitzmann is celebrating The Breath of Dawn by giving away one of the new Paperwhite Kindles and hosting a fun Author Chat Party on Facebook. (11/27) One fortunate winner will receive: A Kindle Paperwhite The Breath of Dawn  by Kristen Heitzmann Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 26th. Winner will be announced at the "The Breath of Dawn" Author Chat Facebook Party on 11/27 . Connect with Kristen, get a sneak peek of her next book, try your hand at the trivia contest, and chat with readers just like you. There will also be gift certificates, books and a Book Club Prize Pack to be won (10 copies for your book club or small group)! So grab your copy of The Breath of Dawn and join Kristen on the evening of the November 27th for a chance to connect with Kristen and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book - don't let that stop you from coming!) Don't miss a moment of the