If you want a chance to win a free 3-month membership to Bookswim you are in the right spot. Check out the Bookswim details and then go to Novel Reviews. Leave a comment THERE before 7:00 p.m. CST next Thursday, December 10th. There is also another opportunity coming up so read the details....
Happy Birthday, Hunka, Hunka!
My hubby gets another year older and better!
I received one of "those" compliments.
You know. The ones that are very flattering BUT.
A new family at church has apparently figured out that I'm not easily wounded/offended which is a really great thing.
I'm thrilled that they've pegged my fun side and know that I have a sense of humor and of the absurd.
Seems the youngest kid in the family has a slightly dramatic flair AND a wig collection. Both parents, and a few others who were there, mentioned that the wig-obsessed girl was donning wigs and came out in a wildly curly wig saying. "Look at me. I'm Kelly."
Unfortunately, the wig was curly AND GRAY!!!!! Hmmm.
Therein is my angst. Have I now crossed over from peppa and salt to salt and peppa?
Oh well. That is easily remedied should I choose to go there. At least she didn't wear a nasty monster mask.
So the picture has nothing to do with the recipe...but I didn't have one of chicken or lemons. Must fix that. This sounds good and I just bought some curry and was looking for somewhere to use it. LEMON CHICKEN SOUP – SENEGAL, WEST AFRICA
This warm, mellow soup from Senegal, West Africa, can easily incorporate any extra turkey you have on hand. Just substitute it for the chicken.
You will need:
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons flour
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup diced chicken (or turkey)
1 cup yogurt
juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
fresh chives, washed and snipped
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the curry powder and flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually blend in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, continuing to stir constantly. Add diced chicken (or turkey).
Remove the kettle from the heat and cool the soup slightly. Gradually stir in the yogurt, a small amount at a time. Squeeze the juice from the lemon half and add the juice to the soup.
Garnish each bowl of soup with a dash of fresh chives.
The Women at the Well
Kay Marshall Strom
In Senegal, West Africa, I sat beside the community well, because that’s where the village women gathered. Out of the dusty wasteland they came, from every direction, their babies tied to their backs and their water containers balanced on their heads. They were glad to rest beside the well, for they had to walk many miles to get there. The average woman in the world, we are told, walks seven miles a day in her quest for water. When you factor in those of us who only walk to the kitchen to turn on the faucet, you can see that some must trek much farther than seven miles!
At the well, the women have a chance to catch up with the goings-on in neighboring villages, to air their complaints with one another, and to share their own news. And so I sat by the well with Obei and Helene, two Christian women in a country 98 percent Muslim, and waited to meet the women as they came for water.
And come they did.
A young woman came, sobbing over her baby son who was burning with fever. We prayed together in Jesus’ name that her baby would be healed.
A girl came and whispered her wish to learn to read, but said she could not because the walk to the well and back took her all day. Obei offered to teach her a little every day when she came for water. She started with: “For God so loved the world….”
A woman came with terror in her eyes and confided that her daughter must surely be a witch. Helene prayed for the girl, but also for the mother. “Do not believe what others tell you,” she warned the distraught mother. “Believe in the power of God.”
And Songa came. Obei and Helene had prayed with her before in Jesus’ name, and Songa had seen a miracle as her seriously ill son was healed. Now she too, was a follower of Christ. “My husband ordered me to renounce Jesus,” Songa told us. “When I would not, he threw me out of the house, but he kept my children. Please, please… pray for my little ones. Pray that they too will know the God of mercy and love.”
This holiday season, I am thankful for the women at the well in Senegal—all three of them, for Songa has joined the other two. I’m thankful for the lives they are touching in the name of Jesus. Most of all, I am thankful for the Living Water that flows freely for every one of us.
Author Kay Marshall Strom has two great loves: writing and helping others achieve their own writing potential. Kay has written thirty-six published books, numerous magazine articles, and two screenplays. While mostly a nonfiction writer, the first book of her historical novel trilogy Grace in Africa has met with acclaim.
Kay speaks at seminars, retreats, writers’ conferences, and special events throughout the country and around the world. She is in wide demand as an instructor and keynote speaker at major writing conferences. She also enjoys speaking aboard cruise ships in exchange for exotic cruise destinations. Learn more about Kay at her website.
Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving.
I did.
I kind of slept in.
Went for a quick walk with the hounds.
Peeled and mashed many potatoes.
Drank delicious coffee.
Cleaned my closet. (Yep. Got a good start on the crazy Kelly Klepfer cleaning method.)
Watched Rob formulate kitchen plans and put them on paper. Then he pounded, sawed and completed a small "foundational" job that he'd been putting off and which is keeping him from completing the fun stuff.
Rode to a lovely home which I did not have to clean. To eat delicious food that I did not have to prepare. Enjoyed conversation with people I'm pretty darn fond of.
A very, very lovely day.
What haunting legacy awaits deep beneath the barrios and wealthy enclaves of Southern California?
An idyllic Spanish mission collapses in the eighteenth century atop the supernatural evidence of a shocking crime. Twelve generations later the ground is opened up, the forgotten ruins are disturbed, and rich and poor alike confront the onslaught of resurging hell on earth. Caught up in the catastrophe are...
· A humble shopkeeper compelled to leave her tiny village deep in Mexico to preach in America
· A minister wracked with guilt for loving the wrong woman
· An unimaginably wealthy man, blinded to the consequences of his grand plans
· A devoted father and husband driven to a horrible discovery that changes everything
Will the evil that destroyed the Misión de Santa Dolores rise to overwhelm them? Or will they beat back the terrible desires that led to the mission's good Franciscan founder's standing in the midst of flames ignited by his enemies and friends alike more than two centuries ago?
From the high Sierra Madre mountains to the harsh Sonoran desert, from the privileged world of millionaire moguls to the impoverished immigrants who serve them, Athol Dickson once again weaves a gripping story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the abiding possibility of miracles.
Product Details:
List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Howard Books, Simon & Schuster (September 15, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1416583475
ISBN-13: 978-1416583479
About Athol Dickson:
Athol Dickson is an award-winning author of several novels. His Christy Award-winning novel River Rising was name one of the "Top Ten Christian Novel of 2006" by Booklist magazine. He lives in California with his wife.
Dickson's They Shall See God was a Christy Award finalist. River Rising was selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and was a Christianity Today's Best Novel of 2006 finalist. Both River Rising and The Cure won Christy Awards for best suspense novel.
His latest novel, Winter Haven was a finalist for the 2009 Christy Award in the suspense category, making four novels in a row to receive
that honor.
And now Athol is back with a gripping tale with an epic sense of the passage of time and the way events and choices impact people across generations.
Visit his website for more information. Dickson also participated in the Dregs Q & A...click here to read it.
What people are saying...
Athol Dickson is a breath of fresh air in a market that is often saturated by manufactured plots, spurious characters, and inauthentic spiritual conversions. Lost Mission is redemptive storytelling at its highest level and once again Dickson proves that he is a true master of the craft.
-Jake Chism, Fiction Addict
The story is filled with compassion and truly reaches to the heart of human kind and it's frailities and reminds us that we are not alone and that God will direct us if we choose to follow his ways and not our own selfish desires. And when we sin we can ask for and recieve His forgivness. This is such a beautiful story that you simply MUST read.
-Kim C., Book Reviews Today
Seattle, WA - Critically acclaimed author, Athol Dickson's writing has been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler (Publisher's Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (Cindy Crosby, Christianity Today fiction critic) and Flannery O'Connor (The New York Times).
"In his new release, the ultimate storyteller invites us to join him as he spins a tale of grand visions and dismal failures. Four people, sensing a compulsion to do something great for God, learn greatness is not something God calls any of us to; transparency and faithfulness are."
t.e. george, amazon.com reviewer
My thoughts:
I really wanted to read this novel. I've not read Athol Dickson before but had heard great things about him. When a review copy was offered to me, I jumped on it. But then the book came and I read the back cover. "Hmmm." I thought. "Well, I'll get to it eventually." And then I set the book down. The subject did not appeal. But then came the blog tour and I needed to be able to say something about the book. So I opened it.
Two strikes right away. One is the omniscient tone of the story. For some reason that's my least favorite point of view. Second was the abundance of names within the first few pages. I have trouble keeping track of too many characters and too soon into a book and I'm annoyed.
Then I got into the story and wow, this man can write. The praise and awards are well-deserved.
The story is two distinct yet similar stories unfolding in the same location, two centuries apart. Two characters choose to love the lost at the cost of their own moral compass, two characters choose love of laws and rules over loving people, and two characters struggle with caring deeply about the events unfolding and feeling helpless to do anything about those events.
Changing centuries threw me the first chapter but then it became more clever and clearer and the omniscient point of view added greatly to the seamless weaving of events. The characters were all important and as I read Dickson made sure that I knew enough about them that they became easy to remember and know. So much for my complaints. From there it's just a great, thought-provoking read. And challenging. I saw myself in each of the characters. Not necessarily a positive thing and it required me to face some of the issues in my life and how I might need to tweak my thinking a bit. Did I mention it's fascinating as well? An outbreak of some horrific disease/plague (assuming it was small pox) decimates as does fire. Dickson is an artist with words and characters. I've not read such fresh prose in quite awhile.
I'm recommending it to anyone. However, don't expect to be untouched by the story. It's not an easy one to read or digest. And it's not a mindless beach read either. Action lovers could struggle with the slower pace. Literary lovers should put it on their Christmas list.
