New Bible Verse ~ Sunday, September 16th

New Bible verse posted as of Sunday, September 16th. Have a great week! Oh, and happy Rosh Hashanah to my friends in the Jewish community. I wish you a sweet and blessed new year! Shana tovah u'metukah! :-)

Hebrews 10:23 (AMP)

So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.  

God Bless!
T Denise Clary

Guest Blogger: Editor Jennifer Moody "Be an Inspiration to a Young Writer"

Be an Inspiration to a Young Writer

A few months ago my daughter’s 2^nd grade Teacher asked me if I would be a guest speaker for her class to discuss writing and editing with her students. I showed up with the book “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” and we all sat in a circle on the floor and read through some of it. After discussing the importance of editing (in between giggling over the book’s examples), we moved on to the topic of being/becoming a Writer. I showed them a few magazine articles I’ve written and they thought it was cool that I had a by-line. I told them that unlike other career choices, you don’t have to be a grown-up before you can start. Anyone, any age, can be a Writer. Of all the things I talked to them about that morning, THIS one was the topic that would not be dropped. They were fascinated … they could be a Writer right now? Even though they’re only 8 years old? …Yep.

“The expert at anything was once a beginner.”

~Hayes

The kids were more into it than I thought they’d be. Several of them shared with me that they write, or like to read, etc., but there was one particular little boy who asked me a dozen questions. The Teacher said, “That’s my little Harry Potter reader right there.” He was a sponge, asking questions, sharing his love for reading and writing. I left there hoping, praying, that I made some kind of impact on the kids, this boy especially, because he so clearly has a love of the art. (Maybe he’ll be famous one day and dedicate a book to “Mrs. Moody who came to my 2^nd grade class and told me I could be a Writer.”)

The Principal (who stopped in to hang out for some of my visit) asked me if I’d come back to guest speak to other classes. She said higher grade levels do creative writing and she thought having me visit with them might boost confidence and get the creative juices flowing. I happily agreed, not only because I want to help, but because of a past experience…

When I was in the 9^th grade, my English Teacher told us we were going to do a three week long poetry project. I was beyond thrilled. I had been writing poetry, secretly, for a few years. After class I shared my secret with her, and she asked if she could read my work. I had never shared my poems with anyone, so this was a big deal for me that someone actually wanted to read my work. The next day I brought my folder of poems to school and gave them to her. I had zero confidence in myself back then, and I think I said something like, “They’re not very good, but here they are.” I walked into class every day and waited expectantly for her to give me some feedback. After two weeks I asked her about them and she said she hadn’t had a chance to read them yet. The next day I walked into class and saw my folder on her desk. I was excited and nervous to hear what she thought of my poems. She called my name and when I got to her desk she handed me my folder without saying anything. Working up all my courage, I asked her if she liked them. She dismissively said, “Yeah, they’re good.” I knew, without a doubt, that she was lying – she hadn’t read them, or hadn’t read much. I was crushed.

Looking back, I can see that she was probably just busy or distracted. I’m sure she has no idea the impact she had on me. But it would be ten years before I shared a poem with anyone again, when I wrote my Mom a poem for Mother’s Day. Even though it was my mother, I was terrified to give it to her. She read it, hugged me, and through tears said, “This is the best Mother’s Day gift I’ve ever gotten.” That was a turning point in my writing confidence. (Thanks Mom.)

As an Editor I am sometimes asked by Writer friends to read their work and give my opinion. Some Writers are trying to break into the Editing field and ask for my advice. I help everyone as much as I can—whether they’re asking for suggestions on building up an editing business, or requesting pro-bono editing for their seedling novel—if I can do it, I do it.

If you’re a more seasoned Writer or Editor … contribute, inspire, encourage. Look at a beginner as a potential comrade, not competition. The world of greatness has plenty of room for all.

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your dreams.
Small people always do that, but the really great ones
make you feel that you too, can become great."

~Mark Twain

Be a “great one” to a young writer. I promise you that one day that beautiful karma will come floating right back to you.

Be blessed, y’all.
Jen

Jennifer Moody is a Professional Editor and the Owner of MoodyEdits. To learn more about Jen, visit her website at www.MoodyEdits.com. You might enjoy her take on living a happy life, on her blog “Editing My Life One Day at a Time” at www.MoodyEdits.blogspot.com. And if you wanted to be nice, you could like her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MoodyEdits.

New Bible Verse ~ Sunday, September 9th

New Bible verse posted as of Sunday, September 9th. Have a great week!

Psalm 86:4-5 (NLT)

4 Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to You. 5 O Lord, You are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for Your help.

God Bless!
T Denise Clary

My Summer Blog Series - "Labor Day Camping Trip"

"SUMMERTIME SERIES"

Labor Day Camping Trip - Nightmare or Not? The Verdict is In!

Although the actual season of summer is not officially over until close to the end of September, the Labor Day weekend marked the end of summer for me as the kids have already gone back to school and things are finally beginning to return to some sort of 'normal' around the house. I have quiet time again! Yay!! Since my summer has officially ended, this post will be my final post in my "Summer Series." I have definitely enjoyed blogging about my adventures with my kids over the summer, but now it's time for me to get back into the "book world." But before I dive back into books, I'll tell you about my Labor Day camping weekend experience with family and friends.

Well, I had a lot of anxiety about the Labor Day weekend because we had decided to go camping. Now I have been camping before. I grew up camping with my parents and siblings. Growing up in my family we started out tent camping (what you call, "REAL CAMPING"), then it progressed to a mini-camper, then a pop-up tent trailer, and finally to a 40 ft. RV. Although I hadn't been camping in years, at least I can say that I have been camping. Unlike my husband, he had NEVER been camping before, not even when he was a cub scout years ago as a child. He comes from a family that has never been camping. My anxiety levels were high because I was dealing with a person that had never been camping before, did NOT want to go camping, couldn't understand the point of camping (i.e. in his words, "why would anyone want to leave their house to live as if they're homeless..?"). The camping trip was my idea because I can remember the days when I was young and my parents took us camping, we had such a fun time. I wanted our kids to experience that same type of fun and outdoor adventure that I had experienced growing up. Out of my 3 kids, only my son had been camping when he was a cub scout years ago. My other 2 kids had never been before. Unlike my husband, all 3 kids were super excited to go. I too was excited to go, however, I was also a little nervous as I knew that if this trip was not successful, we would never go camping again as a family.

The Labor Day camping trip would also mark our third attempt at going camping this year. Our first attempt was during the kids' Spring Break back in March earlier this year, but we had to cancel that trip because of severe thunderstorms and flooding. Our second attempt was during the Memorial Day weekend, but lack of communication between all the attendees caused us to postpone yet again. So our final attempt for this year was Labor Day.

After much preparation, hours of shopping and packing, we finally headed out on the Friday of Labor Day weekend at 4:00p.m. in the afternoon. Not a smart choice considering traffic. We tried to head out earlier, the plan was to leave no later than 2:00p.m., but that didn't work out obviously. So the first part of our trip was met with a lot of traffic and disagreement between my husband and I over which direction to travel to avoid the traffic. My husband allowed me to win that argument, but as the traffic was just as thick in the direction I wanted to travel, I was left to hear my husband's snarky remarks and expression on his face as if to say, "I told you so!" LOL. So our trip didn't exactly start off on the right foot. We finally got through the traffic, however, my anxiety only doubled when halfway to our destination we encountered severe thunderstorms, with the Weather Channel predicting the city we were traveling to was also under a thunderstorm watch. Ugh!! To make matters worse, my father had severely miscalculated the distance to the campground. My parents (who were also joining us on this camping trip) had stated that in their estimation, the campground was only about 1-1/2 hours away. Well we discovered it was more like 3 hours away and with traffic and the stormy weather we encountered, it took over 4 hours to arrive at the campground!!! Double Ugh!!  At 8:30p.m., we were the first of our group to arrive at the campground. It was dark (more like "pitch-black") and drizzling, with the only thing we could see from our headlights were swarms of bugs flying around our car. We made our way in the dark and found the campground office...WHICH WAS CLOSED FOR THE EVENING!! Triple Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!

So after driving over 4 hours, in stormy weather, and disagreements over which direction to travel, we couldn't camp anyway (or so we thought) because the office was closed and wouldn't re-open until 8:00a.m. the following morning. Definitely NOT a good way to start a camping trip. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we also had no cell phone service to inform the others who were also traveling there that day. We had to travel back down a dark road and find the nearest gas station for cell phone service. Thank the Lord for our cell phones because we also used our phones to find the nearest lodging. We settled on a La Quinta Inn about 11 miles further down the main highway.

And there you have it...our first night of camping was at the La Quinta Inn, LOL. Actually it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because there was no way that we could have pitched our tents and set up camp in the dark, with the not-so-great weather, and mystery bugs flying amongst us.

The following morning we were refreshed and renewed and ready to head back to the campground. We arrived once again at The Texas State Railroad Park & Campground in Rusk, Texas (a.k.a. Rusk Depot Campground) and were FINALLY able to check-in and set up our camping site! Yay!! I also need to add that the weather was beautiful the following morning!

Here are some pics from our Labor Day camping trip, I will let the images tell the rest of the story...

Loaded down and ready to go!

My youngest daughter lounging on the sofa at La Quinta after a LONG trip on the road.
  

Texas State Railroad Park & Campground check-in office in Rusk, Texas.

Texas State Railroad & Park.

  

Setting up camp.

We called our campsite, "Our Village," LOL. With family and friends.

Here's our tent.

Wait, is that a smile I see on my husband's face?? LOL

The Rusk Depot Station. We boarded the train at this station located at the campground.

  

My kids in front of the Texas State Railroad, getting ready to ride the train!

The Texas State Railroad.

We rode in the "open air" car.

Riding the train!

Arriving at the Palestine Depot Station in Palestine, Texas. Our pit-stop.

My sister and niece in line for the box lunches they serve during the pit-stop in Palestine, Texas.

  

This is where we ate lunch while on the train pit-stop in Palestine, Texas. Under the shady trees.

The kids enjoying their time during the train pit-stop.

"All aboard!"

Heading back to Rusk, Texas.

Back at camp, my son is building a fire.

Making S'mores.

Lounging and telling ghost stories...

One of the first to fall asleep.

Next day, the kids enjoyed the campground's splash pad.

My husband and daughter, "Let's go fly a kite!"

Family pic in front of our tent.

Capturing some of the beautiful sites of the park.

There was also this cute little church on the park grounds.

Very scenic!

All loaded up again.

On our way home.

All in all, we had a great camping experience, despite the original trouble we encountered. We were initially suppose to stay 2 nights (Actually 3 days, 2 nights) camping, but with the late start and arrival, we only were able to stay one night (with the other night being at the La Quinta Inn). Now to the verdict on my husband and his thoughts about the whole thing...DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

...He actually enjoyed it!!!!  He even commented that he would do it again next year!! WoooHoooo!!! Success!!!!!  Thank you Lord! ;-)

God Bless!

T Denise Clary

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials,

for we know that they help us develop endurance.

Romans 5:3 (NLT)