Dear to My Heart - Washout Express

Washout Express is the not the first book I've written, but it's the one that got me going in the publishing world. I love my characters, and to get to share them with the world is an amazing experience. The message that we are enough in Jesus Christ is one that I'm passionate about. That is my journey, and Bailey Brown's as well.

I guess there's a little bit of me in all the characters, but none of them is totally me. Bailey is suffering from lifelong background noise that she is just not good enough. That's a little bit me, but not from a mean father like Bailey. 

Scott is just trying to do the best he can, pushing down hurt and grief, and just not getting it all done. That's a little bit me, too, and I would guess a little bit of all of us from time to time. 

Comments from the reviews like this - "This book made me look at my faith and all of my relationships in a different light." - gave me such joy that my goals for this story are being reached. Soli deo Gloria!

If you haven't read Washout Express, I hope you will. I'm giving away a copy at the end of this week. I'll draw from all the comments below using Random.com.  

In one sentence, can you tell me who you are?  Or just say "Hey!" and where you're from.



 

Going Home Again With Christopher Robin

Google Free Images

I had the great pleasure this weekend of seeing Christopher Robin, the movie. It was a special girls day out with my daughters and we had a lot of fun. The movie is precious and I admit to shedding a few tears. The plot follows Christopher Robin as he has grown up and lost his sense of imagination, only to be reunited with his old stuffed bear friend, Winnie the Pooh.  The voices were spot on, and we all agreed that no one else in the entire world could have been the voice of Eeyore but Brad Garrett.

 Veteran voice actor Jim Cummings doubles as Winne the Pooh and Tigger and does a wonderful job. Personally, I prefer Sterling Holloway, the original voice of Pooh,  long gone but forever in my memory.The movie is an extension of the Disney franchise, thus the use of the music my kids grew up on.

This is a true fantasy for me in that Christopher Robin gets to truly "go home again." He finds everything the same, only he has changed. The truth is what we've heard since Thomas Wolfe's novel coined the phrase, "You Can't Go Home Again,"  meaning  that nothing is ever the same. I've experienced that to the point of sadness, penning a poem called My Home No Longer Remembers Me.

I thought about it again last night as I watched one of my granddaughters play in a piece of furniture I purchased for all their shoes to go in when they visit. She is small enough to fit inside with the lid closed. I remembered that my grandfather's house had a shoe closet at the bottom of a shelf. I used to play in there. I visited as an adult and was shocked at how small it was. How did I ever fit? Not just places, but people, too. Visiting home and seeing folks that remember me, but don't necessarily remember the connection. I know I'm not alone in this, but watching Christopher Robin made me nostalgic.

Go see it, you'll love it. What's the hardest part about "going home" for you?