Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas too.

Count Your Blessings - Name Them One by One

I'm sure you've sung that song at Thanksgiving worship services in the past. Here in Kentucky, most of us will be singing in virtual services. I do miss gathering and singing the old hymns with my church family, but due to the escalating virus problems, we've canceled services for a few weeks. Your church may have done the same, but that doesn't keep us from counting our blessings.

The same as many of you, one of the best things I can count is my family. My husband and I were blessed to celebrate another anniversary last week. The years have piled up. But this is a picture of all the beautiful family members we've collected over the years. One granddaughter missed being in this picture taken on our 50th anniversary a few years ago. We've added a family member since then when my oldest granddaughter got married last year. We're looking forward to adding more to our family in the years ahead with the Lord's grace and blessings. This picture makes me think of what my dad used to say when my sisters and I along with our families gathered around his table. He would look at my mother and say, "Just look what we started." And here we are continuing that start on.

Book Blessings

One of the most fun things for an author is getting a first look at the cover that will wrap around her words in a new book. So I was thrilled to see the cover for Along a Storied Trail that comes out in June 2021. You can already pre-order it to have the book land in your mailbox when it releases. That way it can be a Christmas gift in June and you can be among the first to share this Appalachian adventure with Tansy, a packhorse librarian, and one of my favorite characters ever, Perdita Sweet. Perdita is a tough mountain woman who admits she's not always so sweet.

A great place to get Along a Storied Trail is the Baker Book House where you can pre-order the book for 40% off and get free shipping. You can grab my other books there for a great 30 % discount too.

So, what do you think about the cover?

More Book Blessings

An Appalachian Summer made it on the Library Journal bestseller list. I know some of you helped put it there. So thank you for that. For sure I count all of you on my blessing list.

I love getting books for Christmas. I'm guessing you do too. But I also love giving books for Christmas. I have way too much fun picking out the perfect books for my children and grandchildren. Everybody has to get a book from Mom/Grammy.

If you want to find out more about my books to see if someone you know would enjoy one of my stories or perhaps you need to give yourself a gift, you can check out my book pages on my website. You can find my blog posts there too. It's about time for some new giveaway fun there and here too. Read on to find out what.

Parting Shots

Giving Thanks
• For the taxes I pay because that means I am employed.
• For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because that means I have a new day.
• For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because that means I have a home.
• For all the complaining I hear about the government because that means we have freedom of speech.
• For the lady behind me in church who sings off key because that means I can hear.
• For clothes that fit a little too snugly because that means I have enough to eat.
• For my heating bills, because that means I am warm.
• For my shadow that watches me work because that means I am out in the sunshine.
• For muddy paw prints on the floor because that means the earth got watered and I have a dog.
• For every blessing – great or small.