Late last year, I had an opportunity to be a part of a series of Christmas stories. While I don't "comfortably" write short stories, I jumped at the chance because Kathi Macias was spearheading it, and I knew anything that had Kathi's name on it would be a success. Plus, this would be my first real chance to write Christian fiction and be published by a Christian publisher. How could I let this opportunity get by me? Kathi said the theme would be 12 Days of Christmas and that we twelve writers (that includes her) could write anything we wanted--a historical, a mystery, a romance, Amish fiction--whatever. The catch was that the story had to take place on a single day. Our stories would be epublished first, then come out in an anthology. It all sounded good to me.
My story occurs ten days before Christmas. The title is If You Believe, and the theme is "trust God's will for your dreams." My theme meant something to me. I knew when I married my husband after being divorced for nine years, and moved to Louisiana almost immediately (after living in Texas all my life), I was trusting God's will.Thirty-one years ago today, our daughter was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Here's a picture of when we stood before our pastor and dedicated her to God. Look how tiny she is. Just looking at this picture, I can hardly believe she's real.
Here's a picture of her "reading" her little picture book. We put books in her hands from the get-go. We definitely wanted a young reader! A few weeks after she was born, she attended her first writer's meeting--at our house. Her first public appearance was to the Goodwood Library in Baton Rouge. 
By the time she was three, she knew many of my author friends and was a Hemingway fan...through me, of course. We lived in New Iberia, Louisiana and started a writer's group there. Our daughter has always been chatty and had a beautiful, happy personality. You can probably see that by these other two pictures.
On May 29th, 12 Days of Christmas
will release. If you're wondering what my daughter has to do with any of this ... it's simple. She's always my heroine. No matter what I write--mystery or romance--the heroine is always the young woman you see here. Happy birthday, Chaney. Thank you for being the perfect daughter for me and your father. The years went too fast.
I pray God's blessings on you, and that you'll always trust God's will for your life. I love you.
Please visit the other authors in our 12 Days of Christmas anthology. Several are giving away a copy or you can purchase one HERE. We hope you enjoy our stories and above all, we hope they bless you.
May 19 - Ruth L. Snyder at http://ruthlsnyder.com/
May 20 - Anne Baxter Campbell at http://pewperspective.blogspot.ca/
May 21 - Marcia Lee Laycock at http://marcialeelaycock.com/
May 22 - Mishael Witty at http://bluebrownbooks.com/
May 23 - Christine Lindsay at www.christinelindsay.com/
May 28 - Peg Phifer at http://www.whispersinpurple.com
May 29 - Jeanette Hanscome at http://jeanettehanscome.com/
