So, I’ve been pretty busy what with work, wrapping, planning festivities and a sick kid and I haven’t been writing as much. But I’ve been reading. I came across this post this morning and I like it. I asked the author and she said it was okay to publish it here. So, here you go….my first guest author!

Things that make me happy around the holiday season

Families who together ring the Salvation Army bell (particularly the ones who sing!)
-The man at the coney island who paid for a family of five’s entire meal out of the Christmas spirit
-Seeing people make holiday cookies together
-All the presents wrapped and ready to be enjoyed
-Bulldog calendars!
-Eddie wearing a holiday neck scarf
-Christmas lights, anytime and anywhere
-Thinking about how dramatically different next Christmas will be with a little one

Guest Blogger:  Michelle Chastain

Picture yourself as a cold, weary shepherd sitting in yet another dark field on yet another dark night, likely shivering yet again by a small fire.  The sheep are sleeping and you and your fellow shepherds are settled in for the night.  Maybe you’re nodding off to sleep; maybe you’re recapping the events of the day; maybe discussing exactly where you’ll drive those sheep tomorrow. 

Suddenly the sky fills with light.  You rub your eyes to make sure you’re not seeing things; you look at your buddies to see if they see it, too.  Sure enough, angels are everywhere, and a heavenly chorus is proclaiming:  “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10)

The shepherds are surely startled by this breaking news”.  This is a big deal – God is telling them personally that unto them – yes, even to shepherds! – a Savior has been born.  And if you’ll only go then you’ll see this baby that has come to save the world. 

The shepherds went and then they told everyone what they had seen and heard.  They spread this biblical headline news with the people around them. 

Now picture yourself, today.  We spread the headline news of our time:  the sagging economy, the unemployment rate, off shoring jobs, etc. .  What about the good news of our time?  The birth of Jesus is still headline news for us.  He is still the good news to all people.  He is still the Savior, Christ the Lord. 

This headline never grows old.  Did this headline die?  Yes, He did – but only to be resurrected on the third day after He defeated death and the grave.  This headline news lives on and is for today and we need to share it with everyone.  Put that newspaper down and share the real good news with someone today.

Though he is a titled nobleman,Royal Dewar is singulary unlucky… forced to choose between his soul mate… and his salvation.

After years abroad, Royal has returned to Bransford Castle to find his father dying and the family treasury nearly empty. Then the old duke wrests a final promise from his guilt-ridden son: that Royal will marry heiress Jocelyn Caulfield and restore the estate to its former glory. However, it is not his fiancee who quickens Royal’s pulse, but rather her beautiful cousin Lily Moran.

Penniless Lily knows that nothing can come of their undeniable attraction―but there is a way she can help Royal. Enlisting some questionable characters from her past, Lily concocts an elaborate ruse to recover some of the Bransford fortune from a notorious confidence artist. As the dangerous scheme unfolds, Lily and Royal are thrown together in pursuit of the very thing―money―that keeps them part…

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I’ve always wanted to write a bride series.  Something romantic with orchids and white lace.  For years, I toyed with an idea for a sort of Cinderella story about a duke who accidentally falls in love with the wrong woman.  Not his betrothed, the woman he has promised to marry, but his fiancée’s poor relations, a cousin hardly suited to become the wife of a duke.  Royal’s Bride was the result.

From conception, it was a book that involved three brothers, which gave me two more hunky Dewar men in need of the perfect bride.  In Reese’s Bride, the middle brother, Reese, is the kind of dark, brooding hero I love to write.  He is home from the war, retired from the cavalry and forced to live the sedentary life of a country gentleman, the last thing he wants to do.  Worse yet, Reese’s next door neighbor is the woman he once loved, a woman who betrayed him by marrying another man.

Elizabeth is now a widow, a forbidden temptation even more powerful than before.  Reese definitely has his problems, but so does his younger brother, Rule.

In Rule’s Bride, the handsomest, most rakish Dewar brother is shocked to find the young bride he wed in an arranged marriage three years earlier all grown up and sitting in his London living room.  Violet Dewar has matured into a delectable little morsel Rule can’t wait to seduce into his bed.

Unfortunately, all Violet wants from Rule is an annulment.

I had great fun writing this series, though the weddings were not all orchids and lace as the ladies and this writer expected.  Still, true love is worth the perils the characters must endure.  I hope you’ll watch for the Brides’ Trilogy.  Royal’s Bride is currently available.  Reese’s Bride will be out the end of December, and Rule’s Bride will follow the end of April.

Hope you enjoy and very best wishes, Kat

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Thank you for visiting, Ms Martin!

Leave a comment to enter the drawing for a copy of Royal’s Bride, the first title in the trilogy.

As the holidays approach, we’re seeing an increased number of families at all of our Mobile Food Pantry distribution sites. Here’s an inside look from Sherry LeBlanc, Programs Director, at the Mobile Food Pantry distributions last week in Lott, Uhland, Mustang Ridge and Cedar Park.

“Lott is one of our largest distribution sites, where we reached 322 families/371 individuals on Friday afternoon. There were 25 volunteers from various organizations in the community who helped make the distribution a success. 

On Saturday, our first stop was Uhland. Although the weather was cold, Fred and I arrived early to find a line of more than 100 families waiting. It’s clear that there is great need in this area. When we finished the hour-long distribution, we served 125 families/445 individuals.

The line of people in Uhland wrapped around the church:

There are lots of children at our Saturday distributions:

After we finished in Uhland, the truck headed to Mustang Ridge. Since the ground at this site is too soft for our truck and the parking is limited, we will be moving this distribution just slightly up Hwy 21 beginning in January. With the slippery state of the distribution site, we ran the Mobile Food Pantry as if it were a drive-through site. Clients drove-up, signed-in and the volunteers loaded the food into the cars. Although the volunteers will be following us to our new, paved site next month, they were very sweet – praying and crying as the truck drove away. We served 43 families/180 individuals with the help of 10 volunteers. We expect to see even more families at our new, larger site.

The food for Saturday included assorted frozen meats, frozen tortillas, fresh potatoes, apples, milk, green beans, spaghetti noodles and sauce, peanut butter and much more!

Here is a picture of our Mustang Ridge volunteers and some of the wonderful food from the distribution:

The distribution in Cedar Park had been rescheduled on account of the holidays. The Wheels of Sharing truck generally visits St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Cedar Park on the fourth Saturday of the month. With the date change, we were expecting a much smaller turnout than the 50 or so families we usually serve at this location.

What a surprise! As the truck drove up to the church, Fred and I were welcomed by a long line of both volunteers and clients. When the distribution ended, we served 91 families/393 individuals. This is almost a 100 percent increase from our regular turnout! I believe that this is a great sign, showing that the word of our presence in Cedar Park is spreading and that the families in need are thankful for the service there.

This picture was taken well after the distribution started and the majority of families had been helped:

39 (give or take a few) of the 42 volunteers that showed up to assist with the Cedar Park distribution:

Do you need food assistance this holiday season? Do you know someone that does? Click here to find out when the Wheels of Sharing Mobile Food Pantry will be in your area.

We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!

I’ve known Shad and his wife Bonnie for a couple years now, and now we’re on the same faculty. Shad is a great guy, and a gifted artist.

Name: Shad Anderson

What do you do? husband, Mormon, father, educator, painter

website or blog address? www.shadanderson.com

What is your current “creative outlet”? What creative things are you working on or thinking about?

Painting–I have a small room that shares the washer and dryer, and this is where I paint.

Currently I’m working on architecture, specifically architecture that is nearby. I’ve painted a couple of temples, and am now painting this sweet looking old grainery. There’s several silos and old sheds with plenty of color and personality.

I don’t know if looking at art is considered a creative outlet, but it sure gets me pumped. When I see how someone else has solved problems of subject matter, composition, color and paint application, I start to make all kinds of connections of my own, and then I can’t wait to get home and get painting. Recently I’ve decided to take this to a new level. It’s an old art class excercise, but when I did it in art class I was just starting to figure out how to handle the materials and so now I feel this activity could create new inroads for me in my painting. The excercise is to take another artists work and duplicate it. There are several artists who to me are masters at problem-solving. I love the textures of Douglas Fryer, the compositions of J. Kirk Richards, the emphasizing and de-emphasizing of Walter Rane, and the paint application of Mark Lague. Rather than just observe by looking at how they solve and master these problems, I want to observe by trying their solutions. My hope is that my own style will come out having gained new insights into how to paint more impactful paintings.

How has your view of your own creativity changed over time? Have you always considered yourself “the creative type”?

I’ve always hoped I was creative because I sure couldn’t rely on getting good math and science grades. I figured that that part of my brain was just disfunctional. What’s surprised me over the years is how logical, mathematical and even scientific, painting is. I thought that you were just born a certain way. But creativity has been my pathway into thinking I never ventured into earlier on. I wonder if the same is true for those who figured they weren’t all that creative. Logic and organization was their thing. In time did they discover that in their logical thinking they became creative. People always are telling me that they could never paint. I ask them if they have ever tried. They usually say something like, “Yea, in high school I never did well in art. I think you should try it again.”  You’re older now, you know what you’re good at and you’re confident. So now pick up a paint brush and see what happens. I think creativity is simply doing something. I’m creative not because I was necessarily born that way, but because I’ve just done a lot of creative things.

When do you feel the most or least creative? What inspires you? What stifles your creativity?

I think I’ve already mentioned above what makes me feel creative. I feel stifled when an idea isn’t working out. I used to force myself to paint through to the end, and I would just end up with awful paintings. Now I just stop painting for a while until I get all jazzed up again. Then I just paint over that other painting or start a new one. I don’t think this is the best way of dealing with it either. A part of me wishes I didn’t have to wait to be inspired, that I could just create inspiration when it was low in me. But another part of me acknowledges that inspiration can’t be forced. Currently I’m in a creative mode.

If you have any questions for Shad, post them, and he’ll answer…

{bjm}