"The choices we make change
the story of our life." ©
Friday, July 27, 2007
SUBMIT YOUR TRUE STORY NOW!
*******
ATTENTION WRITERS
GOD ALLOWS U-TURNS WANTS YOU!
SEND YOUR TRUE SHORT STORIES NOW!
God Allows U-Turns is the acclaimed Christian inspirational book series with 23 books under the recognized God Allows U-Turns "brand." The editors have just announced a new CALL FOR TRUE SHORT STORIES and are compiling stories for THREE new volumes to release in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Submit true short stories for ...
God Allows U-Turns - Parents Setting Boundaries
God AllowsU-Turns - Boomer Babes Rock, and
God Allows U-Turns - Writing from the Heartand Soul
For complete writer's guidelines, visit the web site at: www.godallowsuturns.com
Submit stories to: stories@godallowsuturns.com
Make sure to sign up for our monthly "Dream-Zine" at:
www.BoomerBabesRock.com
Check out what Allison Bottke is doing here:
www.AllisonBottke.com
ATTENTION WRITERS
GOD ALLOWS U-TURNS WANTS YOU!
SEND YOUR TRUE SHORT STORIES NOW!
God Allows U-Turns is the acclaimed Christian inspirational book series with 23 books under the recognized God Allows U-Turns "brand." The editors have just announced a new CALL FOR TRUE SHORT STORIES and are compiling stories for THREE new volumes to release in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Submit true short stories for ...
God Allows U-Turns - Parents Setting Boundaries
God AllowsU-Turns - Boomer Babes Rock, and
God Allows U-Turns - Writing from the Heartand Soul
For complete writer's guidelines, visit the web site at: www.godallowsuturns.com
Submit stories to: stories@godallowsuturns.com
Make sure to sign up for our monthly "Dream-Zine" at:
www.BoomerBabesRock.com
Check out what Allison Bottke is doing here:
www.AllisonBottke.com
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Check Out Our New Web Site!
Greetings to all!
Please visit me at Boomer Babes Rock! and check out the video welcome on the Home Page from yours truly.
I also want to invite you to check out our Boomer Babes Rock Blog, a co-author blog written by six amazing baby boomer women, including several best-selling CBA authors and speakers!
God's Peace!
Allison Bottke
Please visit me at Boomer Babes Rock! and check out the video welcome on the Home Page from yours truly.
I also want to invite you to check out our Boomer Babes Rock Blog, a co-author blog written by six amazing baby boomer women, including several best-selling CBA authors and speakers!
God's Peace!
Allison Bottke
Saturday, January 06, 2007
On an Extended Writing Sabbatical
Dear Family and Friends:
Happy New Year! I pray everyone is in good health and spirits as the New Year enters it’s second week. I am heading out tomorrow for a writing sabbatical and will not be back until 1/29. While I’m gone, I encourage you to check out our brand new web site, blog, and Dream-Zine launching on Wednesday, January 10th.
Visit http://www.boomerbabesrock.com after January 10th and sign-up for the Dream-Zine and receive cool FREEBIES! Boomer Babes Rock!
There’s a video welcome by yours truly on the new web site, check it out and share the site with your friends. Sure would appreciate it!
In the mean time, we’ll be making some announcements regarding God Allows U-Turns in February so make sure to stop back, okay?
God’s Peace,
Happy New Year! I pray everyone is in good health and spirits as the New Year enters it’s second week. I am heading out tomorrow for a writing sabbatical and will not be back until 1/29. While I’m gone, I encourage you to check out our brand new web site, blog, and Dream-Zine launching on Wednesday, January 10th.
Visit http://www.boomerbabesrock.com after January 10th and sign-up for the Dream-Zine and receive cool FREEBIES! Boomer Babes Rock!
There’s a video welcome by yours truly on the new web site, check it out and share the site with your friends. Sure would appreciate it!
In the mean time, we’ll be making some announcements regarding God Allows U-Turns in February so make sure to stop back, okay?
God’s Peace,
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Merry Christmas - We're Going on Vacation!
Merry Christmas and God’s Peace!
May the blessings of this Christmas season be upon you. We are taking the remainder of the year off from blogging and will return in January with a very special announcement. Stay tuned.
God be with you and yours!
May the blessings of this Christmas season be upon you. We are taking the remainder of the year off from blogging and will return in January with a very special announcement. Stay tuned.
God be with you and yours!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
An Unforgettable Gift
Posting by Guest Blogger: Karen O'Connor
Day Seven of Seven
This is my last blog on U-Turns this time around, so I want to close with this Christmas story from our family's history. I hope it will bless you as it has me.
On Christmas morning, 1912, in Paducah, Kentucky, fourteen-year-old Charlie Flowers and his three brothers and two sisters huddled in their beds, fully dressed, trying to keep warm as the wind howled outside their small frame house.
It was a desperate time for the family. The coal had run out. There was little money--none for gifts. Their tree with decorations made from scraps of colored paper had been given to them the night before by a local merchant who said he "couldn't sell this last one." And earlier that year their father had died.
To pass the time, the children joked and shouted stories from their bedrooms across the hallway from one another. Then suddenly a racket from the alley at the rear of the house broke into their games.
"Charlie," his mother called, "would you see what's going on out there?"
Charlie pulled on his shoes and ran out back. There stood a man in a wagon bent over a load of coal, shoveling it into the shed as fast as he could.
"Hey mister, we didn't order any coal," Charlie shouted. "You're delivering it to the wrong house."
"Your name's Flowers, isn't it?" the man asked, still shoveling.
Charlie nodded.
"Well then, there's no mistake. I've been asked to deliver this to your family on Christmas morning." Then he turned and looked the awe-struck boy square in the eye. "And I'm under strict orders not to tell who sent it," he teased.
Charlie ran into the house, his coat tail flapping in the cold morning wind. He could hardly wait to tell his mother and brothers and sisters. God had provided.
Charlie Flowers died in 1994 at age 96. And right up to the last year of his life, not a Christmas went by that he didn't tell the story of that sub-zero Christmas morning of his boyhood when two men gave his family an unforgettable gift.
It wasn't the coal that was remembered or cherished, Charlie often recounted--welcome as it was--but rather what two men brought to his desperate family. One, for his gift of recognizing their great need and taking the time to do something about it, and the other for being willing to give up part of his own Christmas morning to deliver it.
That gift of so long ago has continued to warm the Flowers family from one generation to another, as Charlie's son--my husband Charles--calls to mind these two unknown men each Christmas morning and whispers a prayer of thanks. Then we as a family praise God for His gift on the first Christmas morning––the gift of His son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent to a needy world--the One who makes possible the U-Turn that brings each one of us to Him, our Lord and Savior.
God bless each of you and my thanks to those who sent comments during the week. May Christmas this year be special for all of us and the new year, bright with the promise and hope that Jesus brings.
Day Seven of Seven
This is my last blog on U-Turns this time around, so I want to close with this Christmas story from our family's history. I hope it will bless you as it has me.
On Christmas morning, 1912, in Paducah, Kentucky, fourteen-year-old Charlie Flowers and his three brothers and two sisters huddled in their beds, fully dressed, trying to keep warm as the wind howled outside their small frame house.
It was a desperate time for the family. The coal had run out. There was little money--none for gifts. Their tree with decorations made from scraps of colored paper had been given to them the night before by a local merchant who said he "couldn't sell this last one." And earlier that year their father had died.
To pass the time, the children joked and shouted stories from their bedrooms across the hallway from one another. Then suddenly a racket from the alley at the rear of the house broke into their games.
"Charlie," his mother called, "would you see what's going on out there?"
Charlie pulled on his shoes and ran out back. There stood a man in a wagon bent over a load of coal, shoveling it into the shed as fast as he could.
"Hey mister, we didn't order any coal," Charlie shouted. "You're delivering it to the wrong house."
"Your name's Flowers, isn't it?" the man asked, still shoveling.
Charlie nodded.
"Well then, there's no mistake. I've been asked to deliver this to your family on Christmas morning." Then he turned and looked the awe-struck boy square in the eye. "And I'm under strict orders not to tell who sent it," he teased.
Charlie ran into the house, his coat tail flapping in the cold morning wind. He could hardly wait to tell his mother and brothers and sisters. God had provided.
Charlie Flowers died in 1994 at age 96. And right up to the last year of his life, not a Christmas went by that he didn't tell the story of that sub-zero Christmas morning of his boyhood when two men gave his family an unforgettable gift.
It wasn't the coal that was remembered or cherished, Charlie often recounted--welcome as it was--but rather what two men brought to his desperate family. One, for his gift of recognizing their great need and taking the time to do something about it, and the other for being willing to give up part of his own Christmas morning to deliver it.
That gift of so long ago has continued to warm the Flowers family from one generation to another, as Charlie's son--my husband Charles--calls to mind these two unknown men each Christmas morning and whispers a prayer of thanks. Then we as a family praise God for His gift on the first Christmas morning––the gift of His son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent to a needy world--the One who makes possible the U-Turn that brings each one of us to Him, our Lord and Savior.
God bless each of you and my thanks to those who sent comments during the week. May Christmas this year be special for all of us and the new year, bright with the promise and hope that Jesus brings.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
You Turns
Posting by Guest Blogger: Karen O'Connor
Day Six of Seven
I've made a few U-Turns in my life, and I imagine I'll make a few more—and not just at a stoplight. But I'm concerned with a different kind these days. I call them You Turns. I notice as I grow older that I'm more concerned with 'you' than I am with myself. What a refreshing observation that is. I'm sure if my mother were still alive she'd like knowing that. I remember a time in high school when she said with conviction, "The whole world doesn't revolve around you, Karen. You just might want to focus on others for a change."
Now why didn't I think of that? Probably because I was 15 at the time and really did believe the whole world revolved around me.
Today it's fun to see how many You Turns I can make.
• Chatting with the grocery bagger, a young man who is mentally challenged but who has a smile to die for.
• Complimenting the receptionist at the doctor's office on her efficiency and welcoming words.
• Waving a driver to go ahead of me into traffic.
• Fixing my husband the kind of lunch he loves: hot soup, cheese bread, salad with olives and a chocolate cookie for dessert.
• Visiting a neighbor in the hospital as he recovers from bypass surgery.
I feel good when I make You Turns. And I can tell that others like it when I do. One You Turn can lead to another and another until suddenly I find myself making another major U-Turn in my life--from self-centered to selfless. I think I'll stay the course. I like this new direction. My life is becoming brighter and I see the love of Jesus brightening the lives of those around me.
"We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Lord, help me to keep on loving.
Day Six of Seven
I've made a few U-Turns in my life, and I imagine I'll make a few more—and not just at a stoplight. But I'm concerned with a different kind these days. I call them You Turns. I notice as I grow older that I'm more concerned with 'you' than I am with myself. What a refreshing observation that is. I'm sure if my mother were still alive she'd like knowing that. I remember a time in high school when she said with conviction, "The whole world doesn't revolve around you, Karen. You just might want to focus on others for a change."
Now why didn't I think of that? Probably because I was 15 at the time and really did believe the whole world revolved around me.
Today it's fun to see how many You Turns I can make.
• Chatting with the grocery bagger, a young man who is mentally challenged but who has a smile to die for.
• Complimenting the receptionist at the doctor's office on her efficiency and welcoming words.
• Waving a driver to go ahead of me into traffic.
• Fixing my husband the kind of lunch he loves: hot soup, cheese bread, salad with olives and a chocolate cookie for dessert.
• Visiting a neighbor in the hospital as he recovers from bypass surgery.
I feel good when I make You Turns. And I can tell that others like it when I do. One You Turn can lead to another and another until suddenly I find myself making another major U-Turn in my life--from self-centered to selfless. I think I'll stay the course. I like this new direction. My life is becoming brighter and I see the love of Jesus brightening the lives of those around me.
"We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Lord, help me to keep on loving.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Help Wanted––and Needed!
Posting by Guest Blogger: Karen O'Connor
Day Five of Seven
I never realized until now (living within ten minutes by car from three of my grandchildren) how many advantages there are to being a grandparent. In case you haven't yet experienced this divine season of life, here's a glimpse into some of what you can look forward to. As a grandmother you'll have:
• someone to remind you to cover your legs with a towel at the beach—so the blue lines on your legs won't show.
• someone to spot the stray hair growing out of your husband's ear so you can pluck it before he goes out in public.
• someone to tell you she loves the feel of your hands just when you're noticing how old they look.
• someone to jump up on the kitchen counter in one bound—to reach a bowl or a cup that is too high for you.
• someone to tell you that your shoes are 'cool,' your earrings are just the right color, but your knit turtle neck shirt shouldn't be tucked in. "You're supposed to wear them over your jeans."
• someone with whom to make cookies, read bedtime stories, skip in the rain, laugh at knock-knock jokes, and fall asleep in front of your favorite cartoons.
Being a mother is superb. Being a grandmother is supernal! Thank you, Lord, for grandchildren. Gettin' old ain't so bad after all!
Day Five of Seven
I never realized until now (living within ten minutes by car from three of my grandchildren) how many advantages there are to being a grandparent. In case you haven't yet experienced this divine season of life, here's a glimpse into some of what you can look forward to. As a grandmother you'll have:
• someone to remind you to cover your legs with a towel at the beach—so the blue lines on your legs won't show.
• someone to spot the stray hair growing out of your husband's ear so you can pluck it before he goes out in public.
• someone to tell you she loves the feel of your hands just when you're noticing how old they look.
• someone to jump up on the kitchen counter in one bound—to reach a bowl or a cup that is too high for you.
• someone to tell you that your shoes are 'cool,' your earrings are just the right color, but your knit turtle neck shirt shouldn't be tucked in. "You're supposed to wear them over your jeans."
• someone with whom to make cookies, read bedtime stories, skip in the rain, laugh at knock-knock jokes, and fall asleep in front of your favorite cartoons.
Being a mother is superb. Being a grandmother is supernal! Thank you, Lord, for grandchildren. Gettin' old ain't so bad after all!
