Happy Autumn!  

For me, the cooler temperatures and tasty apple desserts bring with them an air of contemplation. So here I am thinking about this picture of barbed wire. Looks pretty ordinary, right?

Is it a picture of barbed wire? A photograph of a bird sitting on a fence? Or is the bi-plane the focal point?  

All of the above. And more.

I've been told adventure could be my middle name. I've ridden a camel. Fed a giraffe from my mouth. Held a baby crocodile. And I enjoy flying in Cessnas, helicopters, and bi-planes. 

Yep, I'm one of two passengers in that bi-plane, (right above the bird) returning to the Sedona Airport after a glorious flight over the red rocks with my friend Debbie. A celebration of life. My birthday, and Debbie's clean Pet Scan, several months out from completion of chemo. 

The bird on the fence...will it fly? How about you? Are you sitting on the fence?

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39

I'm so very thankful we have Him. So thankful we have each other.

What am I Working on Now?

Yesterday I turned in the Production Edits on The Bride Wore Blue, Book Three in The Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series. While I await the First Round Edits for Book Four, I'm working on the first story in a second series. 

  Many of us find ourselves staring at the empty chair at our Thanksgiving or Christmas meal table. If that's you or someone in your sphere of influence, I hope you'll read this article and pass it on.

DEATH IN THE FAMILY  

I Didn’t Have to Be Strong Enough

My body refused to follow my mental commands. All it wanted to do was sleep. Somewhere, tucked in the safe places in my mind, I had known that Dad would die. Someday. No one lives forever on Earth. I knew that, but it seemed too soon. I had planned on having many more years with him. Dad stood for living and laughter. Vigor and enthusiasm. Then he began having trouble swallowing. Five months to the day after his cancer diagnosis, the 57 year old father of four daughters and grandfather to eight girls was gone.

People said Dad had “passed away,” “moved on,” “left us,” “graduated to Glory.” Whatever the syntax used, I knew the bitter reality: my daddy was dead.

I wouldn't see Dad waxing his truck in the early morning hours. I wouldn't hear him singing “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder” in a variety of keys—all of them different from the key the rest of us sang the song in. I wouldn't feel his steadying hand in mine as we'd walk and talk about anything and everything.

I knew God was in charge. Dad's death wasn't some accident that had taken place while God had His back turned. I professed to believe in the sovereignty of God. Dad was with his beloved Jesus in a glorious forever, where illness no longer threatened him. I knew that I would someday be reunited with Dad. Still I wondered, “Why Dad? Why now?”

Sure that my pain would lessen if I ignored it, I stepped forward as head of the grief support group for my family. I tried to be strong for my mother, my husband, my three sisters, my two daughters, and anyone else who grieved Dad’s death. Try as I did to put mind over matter, the pain of Dad's absence didn't go away. Big sister, firstborn or not, this wasn't something I could make better. Not for my family. Not for me.

Children's Books Available in time for Christmas!

Zondervan's re-release of Real Girls of the Bible: A Devotional features a new cover and another woman from the New Testament, making it a 31-day devotional.

You can pre-order any of the three books from your favorite bookseller. And, yes, they are available as e-books!    

Picture Book Submission Format and so much more, available on my Website

When you have a minute, I hope you'll stop by www.monahodgson.com and check out the FREE RESOURCES Page. Find recipes, places to explore in Arizona, an interview with Ida Sinclair, and many articles for readers and writers. 

I'll write again in about three months. In the meantime, I hope you'll follow me on Facebook (Mona Hodgson Author Page) and Twitter, and peruse my website often.

May your Thanksgiving celebration be joyful, and your Christmas blessed by the gift of God's Son, Jesus.

Blessings, 

Mona Hodgson

Author of the 

Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series!