Star Spangled Summer Adventure

I have a certain fascination with American History. Actually, all history, but since I'm American, and I live here, the stories of our colorful past just really interest me. 

A few years ago, I was with my family in Washington D.C., and I had the opportunity to see the flag that flew over Fort McHenry on the night it was bombarded by British war ships during the war of 1812. The same flag which, that very night, inspired Francis Scott Key to pen The Star Spangled Banner. 

During that same trip, I took a walking tour of Fort McHenry, for the first time understanding the full magnitude of what the song means. And since then, our national anthem continues to be a touching reminder to me of how much was sacrificed to build this country. 

So when I heard about the summer adventure challenge being issued by author L.C. Lewis, I HAD to jump on board. Because no matter where you are in America, we are all surrounded by history. 

I'm going to take this challenge, and drag my family along with me--not because of the prizes offered, but because these are the kind of activities that stick with us and shape us into better people. And hey, if we win some prizes along the way, it only makes it that much more fun! 

The details from L.C. Lewis:  

This summer marks the anniversaries of some profound American history. The sesquicentennial of the Civil War continues this summer, and August and September mark the 200th of anniversary of significant historical events from the War of 1812.

August 14th will mark the 200th anniversary of the British burning of America's capital, Washington D.C., including the torching of the White House, known then as The President's House, and the Capitol, which then housed the original Library of Congress. Along with these American architectural treasures, thousands of irreplaceable volumes were lost from our nation's library.

September 12-13 will mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Baltimore, the birth of The Star-Spangled Banner, and the moment America began its love affair with the red, white, and blue,.

Sadly, economic issues and budget cuts have forced the cancellation of many public celebrations planned to mark these poignant events.

So families, it’s time to hit the road and create your own Star-Spangled Summer Adventure!

Laurie L.C. Lewis, author of the “Freemen and Dreamers” series, which covers this period of history, and some of her author friends, are hosting this Star-Spangled Summer Celebration to encourage families to rediscover America and her history. You visit local, state, or federal landmarks with your family, and we’ll provide some added incentive.

Here’s how you enter:

          1.       Visit five American historical landmarks, (even your local landmarks count), between Flag Day, June 14th, and Defender’s Day, September 12th.

          2.       Email photos of your family standing in front of a sign or building indicating where you went. Use this email address: starspangledsummeradventure@gmail.com

That’s it!

Additional entries will be awarded for those who promote the SSSA by posting the official badge and link on their blog, and link to it via their Facebook page, or on Twitter.  Just send an email with the corresponding link to starspangledsummeradventure@gmail.com

Additional entries can also be earned by submitting a brief, (250 words or less), testimonial recounting your experience on a leg of your “Star-Spangled Adventure.” These will be posted on my blog over the summer.

One family will be selected to win the prize package on September 13th. Visit the official Star-Spangled Summer Adventure page at  http://www.laurielclewis.com/summer-adventure.htm.

Prizes are still coming in, but the package now includes a Vivitar Digital Video Recorder; a $50 gift card to Bed, Bath, and Beyond; a commemorative set of the Charters of Freedom, suitable for framing; and a family-worthy collection of autographed books from authors in a variety of genres. (From Nichole: Also, this package includes a print first edition copy of DESCENDANT.)

So hit the road, and let us see what great American history you find!

Warmly,

Laurie L. C. Lewis

Nichole Giles

Waving from Afar

Hello there!

Remember the spring break vacation I mentioned last week? Well, it's here, and I'm on it. By the time this posts, I'll be somewhere far in the Caribbean soaking up the sun and refilling my well of inspiration in order to write more books. And more books. And...you get it. Right?

Anyway, please accept this snapshot in place of a real blog post. I'll be back next Wednesday. Expect contests. And updates. And other fun posts.

Have a great week!

The Best Outcome Starts with a Hard Choice

Last weekend, my family and I flew to Texas to scope out the city where we will be moving, and to look for a rental house to live in until our home in Utah sells. It’s a beautiful place, close to the water (I’ve always dreamed of living near the ocean) and small enough to not be overwhelming, while near enough to a bigger city to not make us feel isolated. Sort of the best of both worlds.

And if it weren’t for all the comforts and people we’re leaving behind, our decision to move there would have been a no brainer.

But we are leaving behind people we love, and a place where we’re established and comfortable. Where my kids have friends and we all know what to expect of things as small as seasonal changes, and as big as cultural expectations. And I’m not going to lie. It’s not an easy thing to do. Even with all the benefits to our family (there’s a really good job involved) it’s hard.

So why are we doing it?

Because we know that the best results usually start with the hardest decisions. And though I know I’ve said it before, it bears mentioning again. We can do hard things.

We. Can. Do. Hard. Things.

These are the things that make us strong. That define us. That determine our future. And as much as we humans might wish otherwise, this is the way dreams are discovered.

This move isn’t an easy one. There will be tears and heartache and grief. But it’s nothing we can’t handle. Because we’re dreamers, and it’s just what we do.

What about you? What hard thing are you doing this month?

Useful Stuff

So, I’m getting ready to move, and that means I’m cleaning out, like, everything. And we’re getting rid of stuff. So. Much. Stuff.

Guys, if you ever want to feel like a hoarder, decide to move a long distance. You go through every cupboard and closet and storage area evaluating whether or not you can live with 100 empty prescription bottles or that drawer full of mini hotel shampoos. Because, come on. It’s taken you like, nine years to amass this collection, so it’s not easy to dump it in the trash, right?

If you have to fit your entire life onto a single truck, and the movers charge by weight (or if you’re doing the Uhaul thing and have limited space) you take the time to reconsider the need for that collection you’ve been saving. At some point, you must have thought of a possible use for these things. There must have been some point in time when you wished you had a 20 year old bottle of designer perfume or a once-used fuchsia lipstick. There MUST be a reason for saving these things, right? (Don’t laugh, I dumped them. I really did!)

But the creative side of me has to take a minute to recognize that there is a use for everything. That perfume could be a useful weapon against potential…attackers. Yes, that’s it. And that lipstick could be used as, um, oh, I know, part of a disguise. Yes. And the pill bottles? You could totally build a tower out of those, or dump them on the floor in place of marbles ala Home Alone. Same with the shampoos. Slick-shoes ala Goonies.

See? There really is a use for all the crap I just threw away.

Therefore, I’m no longer going to feel like a Hoarder. Yes. Okay.

Please tell me you keep crap because you know someday you’ll use it. Just humor me, okay? 

Change is Coming

I don't do this very often, but this week, I'm feeling a bit melancholy, and when that happens, sometimes, the result is poetry. Hope you don't mind if I indulge in sharing here. 

Change is Coming

This week the last of the leaves are turning

Preparing to drift to the ground

A layer of snow dusts the mountain tops

Preparing to stay for the winter

Farmers harvest their fields

Gardeners clip back their plants

People dust off their coats and boots

Getting ready for the temperatures to drop

Animals store their winter supplies

And build sturdy nests to keep them warm

While birds form flocks

And fly south.

The north wind blows

Bringing cold air and change

And a lone whistle sings

That winter is coming.

While families huddle close

Knowing changes in weather

Cannot steal love’s warmth

No matter where they live.

Are you ready?

Have a lovely weekend, and I hope you'll take time to notice the beauty resulting from seasonal changes. I know I will.  

Holiday Favorites, Part III

Tis the season of family togetherness. (Read: Fighting, bickering, arguing.) And I know there are a whole bunch of activities that will help bring the holiday spirit home. (And if that doesn’t work, there’s always duct tape.)

I think playing, eating, and even watching TV together can be a good thing, even if needed in small doses. But there’s nothing like a good holiday story to change the tone and restore peace among men (or children, as the case may be).

Today’s topic: Holiday Stories

1. The Nativity (Isn’t that a given?)
2. T’was the Night Before Christmas.

3. The Snow Tree (on my kids insistence—because the pages are texturized, I guess.)

4. You Are Special (not just a holiday story, but one we love, just the same.)

5. The Polar Express

And on my personal TBR list this season:

1. The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans

See that list up there? It’s woefully short. And yeah, I have plenty of books on my to be read list, but still. I want to know what other fabulous holiday books are out there. So spill. What’s your favorite holiday story?

Trying Something New

Have you ever watched that show extreme couponing? Last week, on a night when I couldn’t sleep due to my excessively stuffy nose and awful cough, I stayed up late watching episodes, and was astounded and amazed at how much stuff those women could get for either a very small amount of money, or completely free.

So I asked the only expert I know—my daughter—if people really get into couponing like that. Turns out, daughter has a friend whose mother does this and who has accumulated rooms and rooms of food storage.

Me: Huh.

Her: Mom, we should totally try it. They have all kinds of good stuff and they let us eat as much as we want cuz it was free.

Me: ??

Her: Really, I’m serious.

Me: You act like I never feed you. And that looks like a lot of work, which requires a lot of time and thought and calculations.

Her: But they save thousands of dollars. Please, let’s just try it. I’ll help. It’ll be a project we can do together. It will be fun.

This is how I have come to be considering attempting a single shopping trip in which I try to cut my grocery bill in half with the use of coupons. That it can be done, I have no doubt. The question is if it can be done by me, and if I can come home with grocery items my family will actually eat or use, without spending my week obsessing over sales and coupons when I should be writing.

What do you think? Is it possible?

Stay tuned next week to find out how it went.

**Don’t forget to enter my October Give Back Giveaway. The deadline has been extended to midnight tonight.

Heart Breakers

I’ve decided that every kid is destined to have their heart broken by an adult at least once before they grow up. I’m not talking about, you know, being told they have to clean their rooms, or even feeling lied to about the possible existence of a certain white-haired-jolly man who wears a red suit.

No, I’m talking about kids trusting certain adults in their lives—be they teachers, scout leaders, clergy, sports coaches, whoever—who make promises or give expectations, but do not follow through. Who humiliate or hurt for reasons that kid will never understand. Every one of my kids has experienced this, and I’m telling you now, it’s a keen kind of let down, a heartache that you would never expect possible.

How does this happen?

I don’t know. Maybe sometimes it’s accidental. Those times don’t seem to hurt quite as bad as the ones that are on purpose. And believe me, it hurts the parents as much as the child. (Sometimes, that might be the point, which makes it even worse.)

But it must be necessary to the growth of the child, their personal journey. It must. How else would any adult justify making a kid feel like they’re worthless? Like their best isn’t good enough? Like they’re less important, less liked than their peers?

They don’t. There is no justification. NONE.  

But it happens just the same. So what do we do about it? We get out the voodoo dolls, buy the kid prizes, love them through it.

Also, we have a very important chat, which I will discuss on Wednesday, because otherwise this post will be holy-wow-long. In the meantime, I’d like to know. Have you experienced this yourself or with your kids? And how did you handle it?

*In case you're wondering, this discussion will tie into writing, but not until Friday. Keep reading!

Never Say Die

I’m totally watching Goonies as I write this. One of my favorite movies from my childhood. A bunch of great one-liners.

Remember these ones? “Goonies never say die.”

And.

“Up there it’s their time, but down here it’s our time.”

I think those two lines are relevant to Monday’s post. I had another blog all scheduled for today, but after some of Monday’s comments, I had to touch on this subject once more. (Well, I didn’t have to, per se, but I wanted to, so.)

The thing is, about the time we’ve spent a handful of years working hard, paid a small fortune towards education, and maybe even started families, we’ve unknowingly somehow lost that childlike confidence we had as teens. It’s not something any one person did to us, or even something I think we can avoid necessarily. Life happens. Sometimes things suck. We have to learn, and so learn we do. Up here, it’s our time.

But down there, in teen-ager-hood, life is all about who likes who and who said what on FB, and who attended what party and who got arrested for possession (yes, I said possession). But that’s not all. It’s also about discovering their strengths, their interests, and at some point, figuring out what they really truly want to do with their lives. A great many of them make a lot of these discoveries through books, music, arts, sports, and other mediums often explored in the halls of a high school. But those mediums can only take them so far.

That’s where we—the parents and grownups in their lives—come in. Regardless of what we have chosen for our life paths, we have the power to give them the tools they need to choose their own. By taking risks, by working hard, by doing all the hard things we never thought possible, we teach them by example to never stop pursuing that dream—however elusive it may seem. And rather than telling them, “That’s too hard,” or, “You’re not good enough,” maybe we should be telling them, “It’ll be a lot of work, but you can handle it,” and, “Keep going. I believe in you.”

It’s a win-win, don’t you think? Because we all need someone to believe in us, someone who will remind us to never say die.

Who is that someone for you?

Do They Know?

After last week’s discussion about encouraging—rather than discouraging—our children in their creative efforts, I started to wonder. Do my kids know how much faith I have in them? Do they truly understand what they can do if they really commit themselves?

My kids aren’t little anymore. In fact, they’re on the cusp of adulthood. As they make this transition, will they spread their wings and take off? Or will they burrow into a hole and be afraid of the desires of their hearts?

Granted, most of us end up somewhere in the middle and walk into adulthood on legs—and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I have to wonder. If we knew—really, truly knew—our own potential when we were teens, would we have chosen to walk? Or would we have run? Or maybe found wings?

I don’t know the answer to that particular what if, and I have no regrets. I love where I am in life. But I wonder about my kids. Do they know what they can do?

I don’t know for sure one way or another. But I can help them realize their potential. I can help them find the things they love most in life and excel at them.

I—their mother—have the power to give my children the ability to fly. I just have to remember to use it.

So there you have it. This week’s profound parenting thought.

*Don’t forget to stop by my book review blog and see my review of a fab new book, Perilous by Tamara Heart Heiner and enter to win one of several fantabulous prizes, including a Kindle!

Not in the Mood

*Really quick: The Sharp Edge of a Knife is now available for your e-reader. Bargain priced, too.
 

I’ve been thinking about moods, lately. Probably because I haven’t written more than blog posts for over two weeks for the soul reason that I haven’t been in the mood. When it comes to being creative, mood has a lot to do with our success. Don’t you think?

Or, at the very least, it has a lot to do with either the quality or the style of work that comes out of us.

In my current mood, I’ve found every possible excuse to not write. And I have no guilt over that, because I know that any writing I would’ve done in my current frame of mind would be worthless. So I allowed myself this time off. Time to take naps, spend time hanging out with my kids, time to watch the world fly by at 70 miles per hour (see this post about my travels if you’re curious), time to critique the work of others.

I even put out my fall decorations. *gasp* Well. It is October, after all.

Interestingly enough, the other day one of my kids showed signs of needing time off. There was nothing specific driving his need, but maybe a combination of a bunch of small stuff. So I let him stay home from school. We hung out together, ran a few errands, went to lunch, spent time snuggling.

And he felt better. I suspect this next week will be better for him. And after some time with my kids, my girlfriends, and myself, I expect this week to be much more productive for me as well. I intend to write, critique, and maybe even catch up on reading blogs.

Do you have weeks like this? What do you do to readjust your moods?

Note to Self:

Before stomping in the house and yelling at the kids for leaving a pool of water in the garage, first notice parked in the driveway, the shiny, clean truck with fewer little fingerprints on the windows.  Surprise, Mom!