Holiday Mission (it's BIG)

This came in my inbox and I wanted to share with you because I love not only her devotion to helping others, but the cool jewelry she sells (100% of the profits go to charity). This is an opportunity to get some beautiful gifts for the people in your life AND to contribute to a great cause.

I'm so excited to be writing to you today because I have big things to share. If you are new around here, I want you to know that Sela Designs is changing the world and you are part of it. This holiday season, we are going to do amazing things - together.

Every holiday season, we choose one BIG mission goal. Here are the last three we've completed:

 

2017: $5,000 given to Life House to help break the cycle of generational poverty

2018: $6,300 given to fully fund a sex trafficking rescue mission through IJM

2019: $10,000 given to build a well in Malawi through charity: water

 

For 2020, the dream has grown. The mission has grown. Our community has grown. 

 

My heart is racing as I type these words: our mission for Holiday 2020 is to FULLY FUND 3 SEX TRAFFICKING RESCUE MISSIONS. 

 

Yes, you read that correctly! Not one mission, THREE! It's a lofty goal to give $20,000, but friend, think about those women and children who will be freed. Picture their faces. Imagine what rescue means to them. 

 

From now through December, we're going to make every sale count toward our big, outrageous goal. Here's what you can do:

 

1. Share Sela Designs and our mission with your friends, family, and co-workers.

2. Wear the jewelry & talk about our purpose.

3. Share us on social media. Like, comment, save & share. It all helps.

4. Gift Sela Designs to teachers, friends, family & anyone else you can think of. Let them be a part of this mission too!

 

This mission is big and bold, just the way we like it! Let's do this.

NEW from author Deirdra Eden

So many exciting things happening this week for author Deirdra Eden. She has a non-fiction book called Time Management for Creative People. (available now on Amazon)

I am so excited to dive into this book. Aren't we all creative to some extent? And I love that this is a fresh approach to productivity. I'll have more comments on this soon (because I'm starting it once I get the draft for this post done - yay).

Here's more information for you:

Now Available

Time Management for Creative People

 by Deirdra Eden

Guidance for being in the right mind for right-brained people.

Chances are you’ve tried spreadsheets, agendas, day planners, and other linear, mathematical ways mainstream culture measures time. Applying industrial production systems to a creative mind can dampen the joy of your work, knock you off balance, and block your energy flow.

 

Time Management for Creative People offers a fun, organic approach to balancing, organizing, and prioritizing all you need to get done by living your life in creative cycles and seasons while maximizing your high and low energy times the way you were meant to.

 

Your creativity is a uniquely powerful force that can be harnessed, focused, controlled, commanded, and become a powerful ability as you masterfully channel your desire to create into the powerful motivating force it is meant to be.

 

 

Get your copy today: Time Management for Creative People

 

 

 

You can follow Deirdra Eden on your favorite Social Media sites:

Amazon

A Storybook World (blog) 

Website

Facebook

YouTube

 

Instagram

Pinterest

Twitter

Goodreads

and

Booklikes

 

 

Also from Anika Arrington

Amazon

Website

Goodreads

Deirdra Eden also has a few books from The Watchers series debuting this week (aren't these covers lovely?):

 

book 4

 

book 5

book 6

Happy reading!

Something New (I wish it was a book!)

Have you ever been motivated to do something that needed to be done as a result of a minor disaster? Like mopping the kitchen floor after someone drops a cup of juice? Because if you leave that, it's going to turn into one fat sticky mess. Or renovating a bathroom because the old shower leaked? Because if you leave that, it results in horrid smells and damage on a much larger scale.

Before

Unlike mopping, our recent reno ended up being a much bigger project than we anticipated--and it really was our own doing. We couldn't put in a new shower and leave the old countertops. Right?

The old shower matched the lovely mauve and cream cultured marble of the countertop complete with matching brass fixtures/doors. Who wouldn't want to keep that?

Oddly (at least in my opinion), it is relatively the same cost to throw in a pre-fab shower as it is to hire someone to tile it. So of course I went with the tile option.

After several trips to Home Depot and a lot of hours perusing our option, we settled on this lovely greige subway tile and gray penny tile for the floor. We also picked out a new countertop and brushed nickel faucet. The cabinets got a new coat of white paint as well (thanks to our cute renter). I think it turned out much better than I anticipated.

Granite Countertops

This isn't unlike writing a book. I just wish I could write one in two weeks rather than years and years. It takes way more preparation and work than I imagine. But I hope the stories turn out just as lovely after I put in the work.

To Every Love a Season

Check out these fun blogs that are also featuring To Every Love a Season:

Feb 24: Heidi Reads / The Bibliophile Files

Feb 25: Empower Moms

Feb 26: Literary Time Out / Wishful Endings

Feb 27: Katie’s Clean Book Collection

Feb 28: My Book a Day / Peggy Urry

Enter to Win prizes (today is the last day)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author: 

A USA TODAY bestselling author, Stacy Henrie graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in public relations. Not long after, she switched from writing press releases and newsletters to writing inspirational historical romances. Born and raised in the West, where she currently resides with her family, she enjoys reading, road trips, interior decorating, chocolate, and most of all, laughing with her husband and kids. Her books include HOPE AT DAWN, a 2015 RITA Award finalist for excellence in romance.

You can visit Stacy at her website, Amazon author page, Facebook, and Bookbub.

Enjoy these inspirational historical romances brought to us in five novellas.

Back of the Book:

Her Winter Suitor

If Callie doesn’t attract the interest of a suitor by the Patriarch Ball, she’ll be shipped off to England to find a husband. Unwilling to let that happen, Leo, the son of Callie’s favorite chocolatier, volunteers to pretend to be her secret admirer. In return, Callie will ensure his family’s shop provides chocolate favors for the ball—in hopes of keeping the shop from closing. But when their arrangement deepens into real feelings, the two must decide if a humble maker of chocolate and a wealthy heiress can find more than temporary happiness together.

An Unlikely Spring Courtship

Tempest and Bram are both eager to have the most successful mercantile in town. But there are only enough customers to support one store, and neither Tempest or Bram are willing to concede defeat. In spite of their initial competition, the two can’t help but admire the tenacity of the other and eventually they form a bond of friendship. When disaster strikes the town, the pair will have to choose what matters most—success in business or in following one’s heart.

A Summer for Love

When circumstances thwarted their young love, Wyatt and Loralee promised to meet in eight years if neither of them had found someone. This time Loralee isn’t returning to the beach resort as a lowly hotel maid, though—she’s become a renowned singer, performing across the country. Wyatt’s situation has also changed. He’s become a father to his orphaned niece and wishes to provide her with a stable home. But when Wyatt and Loralee see each other again, they begin to wonder if their love hasn’t lessened with time but has deepened instead into something lasting.

Romance in Autumn

Once the daughter of a servant, Phoebe is now an heiress with enough funds to provide herself and her mother with a home of their own. And she knows exactly which house she wants to buy—the mansion at the seaside where she and her mother once worked in the summers. However, James, the son of their former employer, has been tasked to sell the mansion at auction for a price much higher than Phoebe can likely afford. Still hopeful, she volunteers to help James return the neglected mansion to its former glory, and the two become good friends. Yet as the auction draws nearer, they will need to determine which dreams are worth pursuing and which are worth changing.

A Long Winter Kiss

Once the best of friends, with the promise of being something more, Samantha and Rex have seen little of each other since Rex returned home from the war. Samantha is still hurt over Rex eventually asking her not to write him anymore while he was away, and Rex is certain Samantha doesn’t deserve to be with a man who bears the emotional scars of a soldier. However, the two of them are thrown together again when Samantha’s father is unable to deliver his annual Christmas Eve gifts. As Samantha and Rex perform the task, the walls between them start to crumble, making them both hope in the miracles of the season.

You can buy the e-book or paperback at Amazon.



Which one will you read first? (Do you go in order like I do or pick and choose where to start?)

Customer Service

Not our electric car, but probably goes farther.
(and the people are much cuter)

Recently  had an experience that was a little harrowing for me. Not in a life-endangered type way, but  still ratched my anxiety.

We have an electric vehicle. Not one that can go hundreds of miles, but a used one that gets about 45 miles on a charge. Now if you're cruising around close to home, that shouldn't be a problem. Or if you're going ten miles away, shouldn't be a problem, right?! This particular car, if you drive on side streets, gets great mileage. The freeway, however, is another beast altogether.

We were headed about ten miles away, with roughly a 40 mile charge. About two miles from our destination, this is what the mile counter showed: - - - . Yep. Out of miles. We had been searching the charge station app to find an available station, so pulled off the freeway (I know ... ) and headed to the closest one. It was at a business and occupied so we drove a little farther and discovered an apartment complex with two stations. Not plugged in, but non-electric cars were parked in both spots. Ugh. Come on people! You clearly do not understand this dilemma. I'm feeling the stress at this point. We have to turn around because we're now at a dead end (literally and figuratively haha). There's a Carvana near the main street. They have two charge stations. Hooray, we're saved! My husband goes in to ask about using one. No bueno. It's only for their use. WHAT?

I'm going to side note here that I do understand we should have been more responsible. It's not anyone else's fault that we are in this situation. BUT ...

Carvana just got a big thumbs down. Customer service rating: boo (I know I'm not a current customer, but now I'll never be a customer because I know how you treat people).

Tried another few stations (and please don't judge me for my lack of knowledge on using the charging app--admittedly I am tech-challenged) but they had cars plugged in.

Got to our first destination and took care of business there. Still at zero miles, car still moving. We take the major street to a side street toward more charging stations. Oh hello, street closed, no worries, we'll just take the detour. Which, tender mercy of God, landed us right across the street from the charging station we were heading too. Are you ready for the 'but'? But, it's inside a gated parking garage of an upscale apartment complex. I'm dying at this point, vowing to never drive outside my five mile radius in this car again.

Again, my husband (all calm and cool) goes inside to ask about charging the car. Completely different experience from Carvana. The woman inside was so kind and generous. She opened the gate and gave us a parking pass. Bless her! We hooked up and walked back across the street to my favorite lunch place.

What's the point of this story? That it doesn't take much to be kind or have excellent customer service (and 'customers' don't necessarily have to be people that benefit our place of business). Be kind.

Loving Like Jane by Connie Sokol

Available on Amazon

Since last week's was such a heavy topic, I thought I'd switch gears.


LOVING LIKE JANE
by Connie Sokol


Back of the Book: Allie’s dream of writing a best-selling novel for a top literary agent is finally coming true. Except, she's already agreed to go on a bucket list Jane Austen Tour for three weeks with her newly-divorced aunt and widowed mother. To complicate matters, Allie can’t decide what the Best Novel Ever idea should be, and the first three chapters are due in, what else, three weeks. Determined to buckle down, Allie devotes her time to writing while refusing to engage in the trip’s delights, or gorgeous but enigmatic Beckett, the assistant tour director. Despite her attempts to stay focused, Allie is drawn to Beckett's quick wit, Jane Austen wisdom, and deciding if his help will further her dreams or get in the way. Join Allie on her inspiring, hilarious, and romantic adventure as she learns how loving like Jane Austen creates unexpected changes that could lead to the life she loves. I have enjoyed both the fiction and non-fiction I've read from Connie Sokol. And this book was no different. It was such a fun, but kind of long, read. There were a few times when I relaxed thinking the story was wrapping up but it just amped up instead.


My Take: I loved the Austen quotes at the beginning of the chapters and the little tidbits about her life that were woven into the story. I appreciated Allie's determination in finding and writing 'the best novel ever'--and wished my writing process could be so productive (I thought it was a little unrealistic, but that could be strictly based on my lack of ability). I loved Beckett and the romance that developed. I know beach season has wrapped up, but if you're heading there for the holidays, this would be great to take along. Or if it's blizzarding and you want to curl up with a hot cup of tea, bring this book and enjoy a little Austen detour.


I received an ARC. The opinions are my own.

A Cry of the Heart

A Cry of the Heart 

by Debra Rush and Penelope Childers

My friend!

You know I have an interest in raising awareness about human trafficking, so when the opportunity came to read and review this book by Debra Rush and Penelope Childers, I gladly took it.

This book! So well-written about such a dark and heavy subject. I cried and hoped and cheered for Debra during her horrifying ordeal. I highly recommend reading this one. Talk about it with your friends and family. Education is one of our best tools in combatting this.

Here's my posted review on Amazon and Goodreads:

I don't typically read non-fiction simply because I don't generally enjoy it. This book, however, piqued my interest because I have supported or follow organizations like O.U.R., Shared Hope International, and SariBari India. It is so incredibly well-written (with the perfect amount of detail), thought-provoking, and engaging that I had a difficult time putting it down. I don't need to put any of the book details, as they are in the book description and other reviews, but I loved that Debra is so open about her spiritual journey and the way God led her and directed others to her. There are so many organizations out there devoted to helping these survivors. If not Breaking the Chains, find another one and do something. You CAN make a difference in helping victims overcome this tragedy that occurs globally but more specifically in your town or city.

You can get it in paperback or ebook on Amazon.