They Like Us!

ForeWord Magazine has announced the finalists for its 2007 Book of the Year Awards. And numbered among this year's finalists is the Cutrer-Glahn collaborative effort, Sexual Intimacy in Marriage (3rd Edition) in the Family & Relationships category.

This is the tenth year that ForeWord has awarded their Book of the Year Awards, which focus on works coming from the independent press community. Winners are determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers selected from ForeWord's readership. Winners will be announced at BookExpo America at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on May 30.

ForeWord employs professional freelance reviewers from all over the United States and Canada. Most of them have “day” jobs at universities or libraries and many of them review for the magazine's peer journals, Kirkus, Booklist, Choice, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. They describe themselves this way: "ForeWord affects the choices of booksellers and librarians across the country who tell millions what to read. We also put the magazine in the hands of agents and editors at larger houses who are looking for leads to bring into their fold from the independent press sector."

Excerpt

The "You've Got Books" site is running excerpts from Cappuccino with Colossians starting today. Here's a link to the first installment. The site, a service of the Christian Authors' Network (CAN) runs excerpts daily so readers can "test drive" a book before buying it. Feel free to subscribe while you're there.

Got Shots?

Thursday afternoon my husband came running into the house grasping his thumb--which he had cut with the table saw. We had no idea how bad it was because when he realized he'd done it, he grabbed it and wouldn't let go.

He was in enough pain that the doc thought he'd hit bone, but as it turns out, the x-ray showed he missed by a hair. (He cut his thumb the long way, not across.) Doc said, "Somebody must be watching out for you." Somebody, indeed.

My man got six shots and six stitches. Which brings me to my point... If you do immunizations, are you up-to-date on your shots? Adults should receive a booster shot for Tetanus every 10 years, along with diphtheria immunization according to the CDC, which now recommends an adult immunization visit at age 50 years.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Earth Day!

You can make a difference. If you don't do all of these, choose one and start now:

Replace the conventional bulbs in your three most-used light fixtures with earth-friendly bulbs.

Clean your air filter.

Insulate. Seal air leaks, especially in the attic and basement.

Call your energy company and switch to green power.

Recycle.

Drink water from a glass rather than from a plastic bottle.

Use water outside during the coolest part of the day.

What other suggestions do you have?

Update on Carlos

Exciting days, these.
Back in 1995 Carlos came to live with us for a summer while he took a seminary class. The rest is history. Check out this short video.

Peace that Passes Understanding

This takes about ten minutes to watch. The guy has a double-degree. Humbling. Inspiring. Get the tissues...

Not in Calgary Any More

After a twelve-hour day facing customs lines, having my airplane window sprayed with orange fluorescent goo, and waiting to deplane at the gate in Dallas because of three other planes causing a "traffic jam" ahead of us, I finally did make it home last night.

I don't generally think of an overnight in Canada as international travel. Yet the change in climate, different currency, and the addition of "eh" in people's sentence served as in-your-face reminders.

At the hotel teens without coats ran outside, threw their arms up, and tried to catch snow with their tongues. They also tried to keep their eyes open without blinking as they looked up, but they reported having a complete lack of success. From inside a warm car I enjoyed watching fat flakes swirl around me, and I knew my girl would be jealous. When she was little, in her prayers she asked God for snow nightly several years running--even in Texas in July. Especially in Texas in July!

After a dinner of yummy Calgary beef and driving through a blizzard (which for me is as rare as an enthusiastic customs official), I loved deplaning into a sixty-degree evening, seeing green grass, and smelling spring in the air. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

White Out

As I look out my window I see the world aswirl in white. Um, that's because obviously I must not be in Dallas. Right. I'm sitting in Calgary. And I packed a shawl. Not a coat. Not boots. Not gloves. A shawl.

Headed to the airport soon, hoping we get out of here before this turns into a bigger storm, or I may be here until May!

Wordless Wednesday

Cowpeople Cuisine

My artsy, photographer friend, Carol, who treated me to a night with Anne Lamott last month, also treated me to today's "Arts and Letters" event at the Dallas Muse de Art. The feature: cookbook and travel writers Paula Disbrowe and Robb Walsh. Disbrowe wrote Cowgirl Cuisine and Walsh (restaurant critic at the Houston Press) wrote The Texas Cowboy Cookbook.

After a cooking demo we ate food prepared by the restaurant staff at Seventeen Seventeen using recipes from the authors' cookbooks followed by a question-and-answer time (which included a lot of storytelling) in the auditorium.

The menu included stuff like dulce de leche flan with pepita brittle and iron-skillet peach cobbler. (Notice dessert comes to mind first.)

But the highlight of the day (besides Carol's company and the fab weather enjoyed during the demo on the courtyard rooftop) was the Habero Carrot soup. I've never been crazy about carrot soup, but then I'd never had Disbrowe's made-it-up-herself recipe. I'm not talking a little toe touch when I say that stuff had some serious kick.

Disbrowe went from Manhattan after 9/11 to a ranch in Rio Frio, Texas (thinking bin Laden might be slightly less likely to strike there). She told of how she found a seven-foot-long snake eating the fresh eggs in the ranch's hen house and how she killed it with her butcher knife and that for some reason her editor decided to nix that story from the narrative in her cookbook. Let's hear it for editors, shall we?

Expelled

"Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," starring Ben Stein, opens this Friday, April 18, in nearly 1,000 theaters. The docusatire follows Stein over a two-year period as he interviews people on both sides of the Intelligent Design debate.

Stein confronts leading atheists and Darwinists in a humorous yet serious battle of wits and world views. If you like irony, you'll love this one. Other than one of the attitudes reflected in one scene, I thought this was a terrific flick. Especially for those who like to think. And most especially for those willing to think outside the box.

You can check out the film's web site at www.getexpelled.com/. Take a friend and talk about it afterward.

There and Back

My ancestors rolled across the plains to Oregon in a Conestoga wagon, and I always wonder what they would have thought if they'd known I'd have days like today when I got up in Orlando and will turn in for the night in Texas. (And the sooner the better, too. I'm beat!)

Yes, last night at 10:30, I was doing laps under a beautiful Florida sky. I went to Mickey's city (though the pool was the only "Orlando" site I saw) with a former student, Lesa, to present workshops on writing at Synergy. Synergy is a conference for women in leadership, and it rocked! Imagine about 150 educated women from a variety of cultures and nationalities. It's one of those places where the presenters learn as much as the people they come to train. One of my former students even flew in from China to get some writing instruction. Loved talking with her!

We couldn't believe it Friday when the two American Airlines flights before ours and the one after it got canceled, but our out-bound Super-80 departed right on time. So apparently some airline news is good. And we got home early on stand-by, too!

Of course Lesa and I worked hard. We co-led three workshops yesterday, which had us running from 6 in the morning until I slipped in the pool at 10:30 last night. But we saw some writing that really encouraged us. And the keynote sessions included two fab presentations by friends Carolyn Custis James and Leigh McLeroy, both of whom knocked 'em out of the park. Gone are the days when the only options for women's conferences were "fluff."

Upon arriving home, I found the kitchen floor all torn up. My husband is re-tiling. (Yeah!) So out of necessity we ate out. (Double yeah!) Italian food. (Triple!) I wonder what the women in my family many "greats" back would have thought of the idea of coming in from a long day and letting somebody else cook. I don't need to tell you, do I, what I think of it?

Win a Copy of Cappuccino w/ Colossians

Over on the SoulPerSuit blog site, my co-bloggers and I are doing some giveaways in prep for the next international Yahoo group forming to study Colossians. Feel free to enter. To win just leave a comment over there, and we'll hold a drawing next Friday for the winner. The catch? You have to be a wee bit creative. In your comment pretend you're an author whose story begins with this sentence: "It would surprise even my friends if they knew what I had hidden in my closet." Use your imagination and tell one thing your character is hiding and why. Even if you don't enter, you should read how Heather G answered the question!

Reliability of the Biblical Text

This past weekend, the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum presented The Textual Reliability of the New Testament: A dialogue between Bart Ehrman and Daniel Wallace at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

For a good summary of the event check out the summaries at the blog site if i were a bell, i'd ring:

Greer-Heard: The Rules of the Game
Greer-Heard: Ehrman's Presentation
Greer-Heard: Wallace's Presentation
Greer-Heard: Ehrman's Response
Greer-Heard: Wallace's Response
Greer-Heard: Ehrman's 2nd Response
Greer-Heard: Wallace's 2nd Response
Greer-Heard: Final Friday Thoughts

What's Up With Us

I've received some email from folks asking for clarification on what's up in my household these days, so I figured now's a good time to bring you up to date.

The law firm where Gary worked for more than ten years as an office manager laid him off (along with a bunch of other folks) on leap-year day. So for the past five weeks he's been home. We had some advance notice (mid-December), so he had a couple months to make tons of contacts. But firms in Dallas seem scared to hire anybody because they fear the economy is about to fail (even though Dallas is in good shape). Since March 1, he has had zero calls, either from businesses or temp agencies, requesting more info.

We can't say we mind terribly, though. He has painted the entry way and the dining room, torn down wall paper in the breakfast nook and primed the walls there. Oh, and done the taxes. And now he's getting ready to finish that nook. Also, you may recall that I left huge burn marks on the kitchen floor. (Oops.) So we plan to replace the floor, too. We had some Christmas money from my folks earmarked for home improvements, so we're making good use of it. Gary's seriously considering one business prospect, but I'll wait until we know more to fill you in.

For the time being, the house is getting some attention. And he's handling carpool and grocery runs and organizing my office. He's also been clearing the garage of unused antiques/pottery via eBay. So suffice it to say I think he's found his dream job--except for the income part.

My prof/editing job got bumped up to thirty hours' week, so we have health insurance covered. I head to Florida to do a writer's track at a conference this weekend and then to Portland for a week in May. After that I teach Creative Writing daily for three weeks at DTS.

In my freelance life, I have a couple of book deals awaiting contracts, with a possible third that I'll be flying to Calgary to pursue in a couple of weeks (assuming all goes as planned). So it looks like our needs are and will be met, for which we're grateful.

On Saturday our friend and my former co-author, Bill Cutrer, flew in for the day from Kentucky to do the service for Minnie Pearl. We had glorious weather. And our friend Carlos (the voice of Charles Swindoll in Latin America), who lost his mom in Culiacan on Easter, joined us all for a group hug and amazing stories of God's comfort.

Bill started his message with Ecclesiastes 7:2, "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart." And in the house of mourning recently, I've been reminded of and reflected on the fact that the unthanked, unknown caretakers (like my friend Virginia) have a special place in God's heart. As Jesus said, "Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward." Indeed, the way up is down.

On Generosity

Here's a thought for the day from my grandmother's sage wisdom: The open-handed are never empty-handed.

Do You Know...?

1. The estimated number of AIDS orphans in the world today has reached...
A. 3 million
B. 7.7 million
C. 10 million
D. 15 million

2. The number of newborn babies daily infected with HIV is...
A. Nearly 250
B. Nearly 1,000
C. Nearly 1,525
D. Nearly 2,000

3. With 1.7 million new cases in 2007, the number of Africans infected with HIV reached...
A. Seven million
B. Ten million
C. Fifteen million
D. Twenty-two-and-a-half million

4. Daily in Africa AIDS kills...
A. 400 people
B. 750 people
C. 1,000 people
D. 4,400 people

The answer in every case is D, according to www.medicalteams.org. Are you doing anything for at least one person affected by the pandemic?

"I Thirst"

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Psalm 16:15).

My friend, Minnie Pearl, died this morning about 4:45. The mother of my dear friend, Virginia, Minnie Pearl was also my own sweet friend. Last time I released a new work, Minnie Pearl told her daughter with a sly smile, "Sandi published another book? Why, that little rascal!" I'm not sure whether I'm a rascal for publishing or for failing to tell her the moment the book released, but either way, I confess that I sort of like the title.

Virginia lived in the hospital at her mother's side, day and night, for weeks. I pulled only two-and-a-half all-nighters with them, which has been an honor. And I've also learned something profound.

The first night I stayed over, I quietly sang to Minnie Pearl because she loved the old hymns of the faith. And suddenly in response she started forming words. It seemed like she was saying, "Softly..."

Was I too loud? I sang barely above a hum. Maybe she was making a hymn request--did she want me to sing "Softly and Tenderly"? When I asked Virginia, she came over, listened and translated: "She wants coffee."

Sure enough, Minnie Pearl's lips were dry as toast. So we spooned coffee into her mouth, followed by small ice chips. In short, she was saying to any human near enough to listen, "I thirst."

It had been more than a week since she'd ingested food. Days passed since she'd known her own family members. And though she sometimes opened her eyes, we were pretty sure she no longer had sight. Yet here's what struck me as significant about that: When pretty much everything else connected with this life had left her, she still felt such overpowering thirst that somehow she found a way to form words to express her most basic of human needs.

In the past when I've thought of the passion of the Christ, I've thought primarily of the pain of separation from Jesus' Father ("Why have you forsaken me?") and the end of earthly relationships ("Woman behold thy son"). Only after standing on holy ground with my friends have I also glimpsed the kind of suffering that must have been behind these words: "I thirst."

But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

Wordless Wednesday