Robin Lee Hatcher Giveaway

Best-selling novelist Robin Lee Hatcher is known for her heartwarming and emotionally charged stories of faith, courage, and love. She discovered her vocation after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles. 
Although Robin didn't always want to be a writer (Her first love was acting.), she discovered in high school that writing could transport her to any place at any time.
From her biography found on her website:
 "I read voraciously. I daydreamed. In my mind, I reworked the endings of both movies and books any time they didn't suit me. I performed with a Christian theater troupe. Then I got an idea for a story, a Gone With The Wind type saga. I talked about it with others for about six months. Finally, I sat down and began to write. I wrote long hand on yellow legal pads and typed the pages on the office Selectric typewriter during lunch hours and coffee breaks. Nine months later, I had a book, and a little over two years after that, it was published."
When others find out she writes "Christian Fiction", Robin says she often gets a blank stare.  What makes her writing different from regular fiction?  Here's part of the reason, again from her website:
"Because the essence of Christianity is a relationship with God, a Christian novelists’ well-conceived story will in some way, whether directly or indirectly, add insight to the reader’s understanding of life, of faith, of the Creator’s yearning over His creation."

And that is what Robin strives for in her stories...and she does it very well.

Betrayal is the second book in Hatcher's Where the Heart Lives series.  Belonging is the first installment and Beloved will complete the series some time later this year.  

Book Synopsis:
It’s the turn of the twentieth century and drifter Hugh Brennan is a man well acquainted with betrayal. Hugh finds himself drawn to the attractive widow, Julia, yet when he looks into her eyes, he recognizes the same hurt that haunts him.
Julia Grace has little reason to trust men, but she’s going to have to trust someone if she’s to keep her ranch from the clutches of her dead husband’s half-brother. Is it possible God had a hand in bringing Hugh to her door?
The latest historical romance from award-winning author Robin Lee Hatcher and the second book in the Where the Heart Lives series, Betrayal will take you to the high desert of western Wyoming, through the crags of the Rocky Mountains, and into the hearts of two seekers learning to trust God’s love no matter the circumstances.


Zondervan sent me a copy of both Belonging and Betrayal for the purpose of review.  While I haven't read anything from Hatcher before these books, I can now say I am a fan!  Her stories in this series are a simple weaving of the lives of three siblings trying to find their way after being raised apart from each other.  God's story of redemption, second chances, forgiveness, and all things working together for the good are clear in Hatcher's writing.  I'll be looking to read more from her in the new year.


Thanks to Zondervan's generosity, I have a copy of these first two books in Hatcher's Where the Heart Lives series to give to one of my readers!

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me who your favorite author and genre of fiction is and I'll send one of you a copy of both Belonging and Betrayal!
Happy Reading,
Jennifer 

Welcome 2013!!

Welcome 2013!  I'm praying you and your family have had a blessed holiday season.  As we enter a new year, there are a few things I am super excited about and I want to share them with you today.

Now I usually do not accept friend request on Facebook from people I do not know.  I just find that a little weird.  However...when I received a friend request from Kelly Thorne Gore and took a look at her page, I accepted her request!  I just sensed a refreshing spirit about her and the things she was posting...and plus, I became very curious about something that kept being mentioned on her page...iBloom.

iBloom is a ministry devoted to equipping women to love the life they live and is comprised of a group of amazing life and business coaches.  I am so grateful that in God's providence I "stumbled" upon iBloom and have connected with so many amazing women who are seeking to honor and glorify God in their lives, homes and businesses. 

Two aspects of iBloom in which I will be participating this year is serving as an iBloom ambassador and going through the book iChoose2 Love My Life:  A One-Year Journey Toward Living A Life You Love.  iChoose2 Love My Life really isn't just a book...it is a 52 week journey toward a life of contentment, challenge and growth in honoring and glorifying God with your life in very practical ways.  Some of the areas touched on in the book are i Choose 2...

Live Intentionally

Manage my Time

Be Grateful

Forgive

Operate in My Strengths

Be Still and Listen

Create a Routine

Make a New Friend

Make My Home a Haven

Get Organized

Make a Difference

And that's just 11 of the places this year long journey will take you.  The book gives you places to take notes, make observations, and journal through your journey.  So often we speak in theory about our life and the things that would be good to do...iChoose2 Love My Life helps you not only develop a God honoring theory for your life, but offers practical guidance to moving your theology to doxology and actually living a life you love.

Beginning this Wednesday (tomorrow!), I will be blogging through my iChoose journey.  I hope you will join me each Wednesday as I share with you how I'm choosing to love my life in 2013.  Go HERE and grab your copy!

Also...

Don't miss the party on January 8th!  I'd love to have you join me as my guest!  Just leave me a comment and let me know you'll be there!  You will be blessed and encouraged!

Secondly...I'm excited about being a part of the No More Desperate Mom Movement prompted by the book Desperate:  Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson.  The book is published by Thomas Nelson and will be available anywhere books are sold on January 8th.

The definition of desperate according to Google is...

 feeling, showing or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with or tried in despair or when everything else has failed; having little hope of success.

Have you ever felt that way in your mothering?

Have you ever thought "I can't be a mother today?"  I have.  Actually, if I'm being honest...I'm in a season of desperation in my parenting right now.  I'm 41 and am a mother to a 15,7 and soon to be 4 year old.  This book and this movement could not be coming at a better time.  God is so good in that He is meeting the deepest cry of my heart through both connecting with iBloom and Desperate.

Sarah Mae blogs at Sarah Mae:  Fitting Perfect into Fallen and can be found on Facebook. 

 

I have been familiar with Sally's ministry to mothers for several years now.  When my firstborn was elementary age, I read her book The Ministry of Motherhood and have followed her ministry since.  She blogs at I Take Joy and can also be found on Facebook.

These two ladies have come together in Desperate to offer a beautiful picture of support, encouragement and exhortation in this calling of motherhood.  Sarah's portions of the book are genuine and transparent...they are real.  Sally offers wisdom from a seasoned mother that exhort and encourage.  I'm not sure you will find a more refreshing sense of hope in your calling as a mother than you will find in this book.  They provide an amazing picture of mentoring that should be taking place between older women and younger women.  Desperate is for moms and women of all ages in all different stages.  We need to be doing life together and Sarah and Sally show us how to do that in God honoring ways.

You can order your book from Amazon.com by going HERE.

Connect with the launch of the book and ministry on Facebook by going HERE.

Ruth over at The Better Mom will be hosting a Bible/Book study of Desperate on Tuesday and Thursdays beginning January 29th.

You won't want to miss it!  I will also be blogging through the book study on Tuesdays beginning January 29th.

Thank you Thomas Nelson for sending me the book as part of the Booksneeze program.

Lastly but certainly not the least of these...I'll be joining in with Beth Moore in memorizing 24 passages of Scripture in 2013 as part of Living Proof Ministries Siesta 2013 Scripture Memory Team.  You can visit Beth's blog post HERE to get all the details on how to be involved.

My first verse and my chosen verse to focus on during 2013 is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

^"Rejoice always, pray continually,  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Whew!!!

I know this is all a lot if information, but I wanted to get this info before you on this first day of the new year.  I'm anticipating not a good year or a bad year, but a God year in 2013!  If you have any questions about anything in this post, please leave me a comment!  I'd love to hear about some of the things you are looking for in 2013 and hope you will join me here at Mother of Three!

Blessings,
Jennifer

That's A Wrap 2012

We've had a full couple of weeks.  I don't use the word "busy" because the fullness has been full of good times and sweet memories.  There have been lots of Christmas parties and things happening at school and church, shopping and birthday celebrations.

Mike led and Cecily sang in our church's Christmas program.

Cecily turned 15 on the 19th.  As has been her birthday tradition for the past several years, we had her birthday dinner at Olive Garden.

After dinner, we took her to Menchies for yogurt.  They have a chalkboard on one of the walls and JennaBeth was proud to write her name and Bentley drew a picture of his big sister holding a Christmas tree...strong sister he has!  In the top picture on the right, Cecily is proudly wearing her ring Bentley gave her for her birthday.  I think he paid all of $1.50 for it and was so proud to give it to her.

Cecily had a few girlfriends from church and school over to our home on the 21st for a birthday party.  I cooked chicken quesadillas and we had rotel and chips with a cupcake bar after for dessert.  The girls had a fun time playing CatchPhrase.  There were all manner of laughter and giggles and teenage girl squeals  It was a blessing to see them all having so much fun.

 

The cupcake bar was a success...as you can tell from the pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our church always has a Christmas Eve candlelight service.  We come home after and have a "snack food" supper.  Bentley told us on the way home from the service that he was going to go straight to bed.  Funny how he never wants to do that on school nights!

That's the living room before the attack on presents.

 

 

 

 

The girls made Christmas cookies.

And the littlest of the bunch enjoyed her "little girl iPad" (V-Tech InnoTab2) until both she and the InnoTab ran out of batteries!

Bentley and JennaBeth wanted to show everyone their scooter moves:

Wishing you and yours a Happy and Blessed New Year,
Jennifer

A Kingsbury Collection

Karen Kingsbury is America’s favorite inspirational novelist. There are more than 20 million copies of her award-winning books in print, including several million copies sold in the past year. Karen’s recent dozen titles have all debuted at or near the top of the New York Times Bestseller’s list. She is also a public speaker, reaching more than 100,000 women annually through various national events. Karen lives and works outside Nashville, Tenn., with her husband, Don, and their five sons, three of whom were adopted from Haiti. Also living nearby is their only daughter, Kelsey, an actress in inspirational films and married to Christian recording artist Kyle Kupecky. For more information visit www.karenkingsbury.com. Karen is also on Facebook and Twitter, where she regularly interacts with nearly half a million reader friends.  (Short bio taken from Kingsbury's website.)
*Picture by Dan Davis Photography

Most recently, courtesy of Waterbrook Multnomah's Blogging for Books program, I was able to obtain a copy of A Kingsbury Collection for the purpose of review.

A Kingsbury Collection is a collection of three of Karen's stand alone novels.  The collection includes Where Yesterday Lives, When Joy Came to Stay, and On Every Side. 


Book Synopsis:
Where Yesterday Lives:  Ellen Barrett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with an uncertain marriage, a forgotten faith, and haunting memories of her picturesque hometown and the love she left behind.  The eldest of five siblings, she longs for the time, long ago, when they were a happy family.  Now Ellen's beloved father is dead, and she returns to her childhood home to make peace - with the people who still live there, with the losses and changes that time has wrought and with the future God has set before her.
When Joy Came to Stay:  Maggie Stovall is one of the golden people.  She has it all together...at least on the surface.  Ben Stovall is a godly husband and successful attorney.  He has no idea of the darkness about to overtake his life.  Amanda Joy is a child of society - abused, broken, thrown away.  But her trust in God is still alive.  Here is the heart-wrenching story of one woman's descent into the shadows of depression, her husband's search for understanding, and a precious child's unwavering faith.
On Every Side:  Faith Evans is an up-and-coming newscaster, a woman of honor and integrity who must take a stand against the one man she never imagined would be her enemy.  A beloved, hundred-year-old statue of Jesus stands in a small-town park - but some say it's a clear violation of separation of church and state that must come down.  Jordan Riley is a powerful attorney fighting for human rights and against God, but still reckoning with bitter boyhood losses.  Amid political intrigue, social injustice, and personal conflicts, will love be enough when the battle rages on every side?

What's better than having one Kingsbury novel to read?  Well, having three in your hand all at once!  In typical Kingsbury fashion, these three books touch on every conceivable human emotion - deep sadness, inconceivable joy, angst of family conflict, forgiveness, letting go, injustice, redemption and restoration.  I dare you to sit down with a Kingsbury story without a box of Kleenex!  I just dare you!

You immediately are drawn into the characters and their stories.  Kingsbury is a master at writing stories that are believable.  My favorite out of this collection was When Joy Came to Stay.  While in some cases Kingsbury's plot lines are a bit predictable, she is still a master story teller and you can't help but finish on the edge of your seat and heart to the last page.  Her "letters to the reader" at the end of each of her books are as good as the stories told.  She feels like a long time friend.  You'll be blessed by reading her writing!

If you will take just a quick second and rank this review as to how helpful it is to you, I would greatly appreciate it!  For doing so, you will be entered to win a free copy of this book for yourself from the publisher!
 

Blessings and Happy Reading,
Jennifer

Every Perfect Gift

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

James 1:17

 "An award-winning author of novels for preteens, young adults and adults,  Dorothy Love is currently at work on her 17th novel. She is the author of the Hickory Ridge series,  historical novels set in the beautiful Smoky Mountains region of  her native Tennessee.  Her well-researched, heartwarming stories of small town Southern life, faith, friends, and family reflect the emotions, concerns, and values of women everywhere. The Hickory Ridge series (Thomas Nelson Fiction)  marks her adult fiction debut."

*Taken from Love's website found at www.dorothylovebooks.com.

  You can also connect with Love on her Facebook page by going HERE.

Every Perfect Gift is the final offering in Love's Hickory Ridge Romance series.  The previous books are Beyond All Measure and Beauty for Ashes.

In Every Perfect Gift, Ethan and Sophie long to share a future together. But the secrets they’re keeping could tear them apart.
Sophie Robillard Caldwell  has spent a lifetime guarding her heart…. and a life changing secret. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of the newspaperwomen she has come to admire, she returns to Hickory Ridge from Texas to revive the local paper, the Gazette.
Ethan Heyward, son of a Georgia planter has come to town to build and manage Blue Smoke, a luxury resort soon to open at the top of Hickory Ridge. He, too, is harboring a secret too painful to share with anyone…even Sophie.
It will take all of their trust and all of their faith to confront the past and embrace their future.

Love certainly embodies Southern History with Heart as her website tagline states.  I really enjoyed reading Every Perfect Gift.  Although the book read as a wonderful stand alone novel, I get the feeling the story would have been so much richer had I read the previous two books.  Love does a good job of "filling you in" on the characters from the previous books without overshadowing Sophie and Ethan's story.  I always read Christian fiction with a mind's eye toward whether the gospel is clearly shown within the story.  With confidence I can say that Love pulls this off expertly.  I will be looking to read more of Love's writing!  Absolutely phenomenal story!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson for the sole purpose of this review.

Happy Reading,
Jennifer

The Crimson River

The Crimson River is book four in a four part series called Mysterious Ways by Donna Westover Gallup.  The first three books of the Mysterious Ways series followed the adventures of Charlie Smith in the late 1800s, as he came of age, sought - and sometimes fought for - his fortune, and learned who to trust and who not to trust. Now, The Crimson River fast forwards to 21st-Century Denver, with Charlie Smith's descendent as a main character, and with flashbacks to the late 19th Century. The plot involves a hunt for buried treasure based on clues found in Charlie's diary. Beloved characters from the first three books enter the picture again. They struggle against greedy antagonists and their own conflicted motives. The reader is kept guessing with plot twists that provide suspense and intrigue as well as romance and inspiration.

Donna Westover Gallup is a poet and musician. She currently holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/Pre-Law from Liberty University and an M.B.A. from the University of Pheonix. 

Donna says she is "the mother of three grown daughters, the mother-in-law of two wonderful men, and the grandmother of three of the world's sweetest boys." She and her husband, Don, live in Pueblo, Colorado with their boxer, Cheyenne. Donna enjoys living in the area where "Charlie lived." She has dedicated her time to her writing ministry; but in her free time, she likes to golf, go boating, and explore the colorful state of Colorado. Her desire is to convey God's love through her writing.

 #3: IN GREEN PASTURES: A FRONTIER NOVEL

#2: ROCK OF REFUGE: A FRONTIER NOVEL

#1: WHITE AS SNOW: A CHRISTMAS STORY

As a gift to readers, the publisher is offering White As Snow: A Christmas Story FREE on Kindle Dec. 4-8 !

Blessings and Happy Reading,

Jennifer 

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Last Thursday evening, Bentley had his Christmas program at school.  The program was called "The Elf Factory".

Kindergarteners and First graders are just too cute!  He made a point of telling us several times, "You know mom, I'm standing by Ruby".  Ruby is a little girl in his class...her name comes up a lot!  While Bentley didn't have a major part in their little play, he was chosen as one of the first graders to play the violin before the program.

That pic is a little unfocused...I took it from the video of their violin performance.  Here's the video.  Bentley was so serious as he was playing:
At the end of the program, all the kids sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  Their little voices were so sweet!

I may be the tinniest bit partial, but I thought my little guy sure was handsome and beginning to look more and more each day like a little man!

If only he can survive growing up with his two silly sisters :)

Blessings,
Jennifer