The wife of our President during World War II encouraged people worried about the terrible state of the word and their loved ones fighting overseas. She said, take courage.
How do we “take courage”? First, we must still our overwrought hearts. Sometimes historical facts aid in this effort.
Every era has its challenges, but consider this: sixteen million Americans served overseas in WWII. Two million of these served in Europe in order to stop the murderous surge of Naziism. In 1945, of a population of 140 million, roughly 11% of all Americans fought on foreign soil. (In Iraq, only about 1% of all Americans served.)
Our nation is experiencing lots of tension now, but what if our husbands, sons, and brothers were in harm’s way? Or our daughters, as nurses, jjoined the troops in their invasions?
Knowing our history helps us keep PERSPECTIVE…and in times like this, we need all the perspective we can get. So why not spend some time reviewing the incredible World War II era, when Americans rose up en masse to serve each other and our nation?
Stilling our hearts…taking courage…a great idea for our time!
Within Golden Bandsis the sequel to my 2014 debut novel.It’s not necessary to read Land of My Dreams first, but I hope the reader wants to know what came before, because life sometimes interferes with our plans. This book went through three phases before I truly knew the story I was to write. Family matters and publisher changes stalled my efforts. I believe this is God’s time for this book. People who are pro-life must speak up. Within Golden Bands reveals one woman’s quest to build a family by adoption. Along the way, are others who cannot raise the children they bear, yet they choose life.
In some ways, Bonny MacDonell’s story is my own. She believed Kieran accepted her probable infertility before marriage. I suspected I had a problem. My husband and I discussed adoption before we married. Unlike Bonny and Kieran, I was the one who struggled. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to adopt. However, I wanted to bear a child when all of my friends were pregnant. My husband was ready for adoption long before I was.
Bonny and Kieran’s story is complicated by an elusive stalker. The unknown assailant attacks Kieran and leaves him in a remote part of their sheep farm on the banks of Loch Garry, Scotland. In his absence, Bonny experiences a devastating miscarriage. Throughout their struggle to discover God’s plan, their lives and farm are threatened. And oh, does Kieran grapple with accepting a child not of his own blood.
As they search for God’s will, they question and pray. At times, the battle seems too hard. They grow weary. As a newly married couple, their relationship is strained at times. When faith and love are not enough, where do you turn? I hope you’ll want to know Bonny and Kieran’s story. I believe they will capture your heart.
About the author:
Norma Gail’s debut novel, Land of My Dreams,won the 2016 Bookvana Religious Fiction Award. Within Golden Bands releases May 19th. A women’s Bible study leader for over 21 years, her devotionals have appeared in several publications. She lives in New Mexico with her husband of 44 years. You can connect with her on her blog, or join her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Goodreads, or Amazon.
Don’t we love it when things flow harmoniously? These moments remind us to be grateful, but our situations can also get complicated. Then, nothing seems right.
This week, our relative faced cancer surgery, which went well. But a few hours later, his blood pressure dropped due to internal bleeding. Things worsened, and two surgeries later, he was on the mend, but you can imagine those tense hours.
Recently the son of a real-life WWII heroine, Dorothy Woebbeking, sent me this photo of the gun turret where his mother fell asleep in the Invasion of Sicily in 1943. She and the other nurses were sent in on the first wave, a huge error by their commander. During incoming fire, a gunner rudely awakened our heroine and sent her below.
What a terrifying period that must have been! Those of you who have read UNTIL THEN
know what happened next, so I won’t spoil it for others, but the war overflowed with situations like this. Dorothy’s son also sent this note printed on the back of the photo.
Even those who’ve never experienced war know that nurses shouldn’t go into battle ahead of the infantry. This frightening circumstance must have caused terror in the heart of every person aboard that LST. ( Read how all of this turned out in UNTIL THEN.)
But in the midst of all the chaos life throws at us, we still discover synchronicity. The other day, I met a man whose accent intrigued me. We chatted, and it turns out he was a child if France during World War II, with vivid memories of that period. We arranged to meet yesterday, and I learned that Jean Jacques still recalls the Allied forces moving north through the French Alps in 1943-44.
His father had sent his family from Marseilles, a center of Nazi and Resistance activity, to a little mountain town for safety. Jean Jacques recalls pleasant childhood times there, but also the American and Canadian troops passing through the Alps.
What’s interesting is that the Eleventh Evacuation Hospital, which included our heroine Dorothy, followed the troops through these mountains to set up their triage and surgery. Wow–it’s entirely possible that Jean Jacques witnessed the truck carrying Dorothy and her thirty-nine-nurse comrades!
Today I’m meeting again with this child of the war, now in his eighties. This time, I get to see some of his photos. And who knows what may result?
Who would have thought that in the tiny mountain town of Pine, Arizona, someone like this would cross my path? But that’s the joy of research–our sources lie all around us!
You may notice a few changes to my website…not HUGE things, but a tweak here, and a tweak there. The Gallery page, for example, now boasts some great World War II photos. Just a picture is all it takes to set my mind wandering…wondering. How did that generation, ordinary folks like us, tackle their era’s challenges?
Sometimes thoughtfully…often without time to think. We don’t hear a lot about them praying, although can you imagine how mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers lifted up their loved ones on the battlefront each day?
Having a family member “over there” changed everything. I would think a person’s perspective would alter greatly–suddenly your flesh and blood was risking life and limb for the cause.
Recently I learned that the truck driver for Dorothy and the other nurses with the Eleventh Evacuation Hospital went to the effort of heating their food on his truck’s engine. Can’t help thinking that when she wrote her parents about his concern, their faces lit up. Somebody was watching out for their daughter.
Maybe he thought it was a small thing–one little act he could do to brighten the nurses’ days. Makes me think of my dad, who drove a jeep in North Africa, too.
So, this “renovation” might seem small, but maybe it’ll make a difference in someone’s appreciation of this incredible era. That’s what I’m all about!
It’s downright amazing what you can find at the thrift store. Yesterday I had so much fun claiming these booklets about cooking from World War II.
Full of tasty recipes and helpful suggestions for wartime women “stuck” with the rigors of rationing, these leaflets must have found a welcome in many an American kitchen.
Then, digging deeper, viola! Now this next gem really struck my fancy…
If you were researching how America’s eating habits changed during World War Ii, wouldn’t you be happy too? (:
So that’s how it goes these days….research, research, research. So many fun facts to discover–I never tire of learning something new about this era in our nation’s history.
In the meantime, the final, final, FINAL edit of In Times Like These has been returned to my publisher and any moment now, a purchase link will appear. Truly.
It’s likely Addie and her friend Jane received one of these booklets and devoured the contents in their efforts to comply with wartime standards. yep!
ADDITION: The e-book links for IN TIMES LIKE THESE have arrived!! The hardcover/paperback will soon be added:
My fascination with historical books began at an early age. I loved reading and watching the Little House on the Prairie series. It captured my attention and seemed like such fun to live during that time period. I was hooked.
Of all my novels, I’ve only created one that was contemporary. That one has never seen a bookshelf, as it’s buried in my file cabinet. It’s a youth mystery I wrote when I was a young teenager. Back then I was reading a lot of Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew. 🙂
There’s something about the 19th Century that still draws me in. It looks like a simpler life even though they had to work hard to eke out a living. Perhaps it’s the thought of fewer distractions that makes it so appealing.
My newest novel is set in Kansas in 1875.
I loved delving into the topic of mail-order brides. Here’s what the back cover for Taming Julia says:
In 1875, Kansas bachelor Drew Montgomery’s sole desire is to serve God, but his congregation’s ultimatum that he marry or leave, forces him to advertise for a wife by proxy.
Jules Walker strides into Drew’s life wearing breeches and toting a gun and saddle–more cowboy than bride. After years on the trail, she’s not exactly wife material, but she longs for home and family, and will do anything to ensure Drew never discovers what she really is.
How about you? What genre is your favorite?
Jodie Wolfe creates novels where hope and quirky meet. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), Romance Writers of America (RWA), and COMPEL Training. She’s been a semi-finalist and finalist in various writing contests. A former columnist for Home School Enrichmentmagazine, her articles can be found online at: Crosswalk, Christian Devotions, and Heirloom Audio. She’s a contributor and co-founder of Stitches Thru Timeblog. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, walking, and being a Grammie. Learn more at www.jodiewolfe.com.
Here are some great photos from you-know-who. Lance was out early this morning with his camera, so I’m sharing some IOWA SPARKLES. It’s a winter wonderland, and fun to enjoy this artistry.
It’s about thirty degrees warmer here under the Mogollon Rim where I am today, but I can still appreciate the glitter of snow on every single needle.
This is kind of like the way we journey vicariously with our favorite fictional heroines. The first character of the WOMEN OF THE HEARTLAND series still seems very real to me–real enough to re-launch IN TIMES LIKE THESE…and here is the new cover.
It should be just a few days now until In Times Like These re-enters the world.
It’s been enlightening to go back through this book and get to know Addie in an even more meaningful way. She’s still the same make-do Greatest Generation young woman, but I’ve learned a few things since her first launch, and think you’ll enjoy her story even more.
As clearly as if in a waking dream, she saw herself married to Thomas, saw herself loving him with all of her heart and soul. Which, of course, was impossible. Painfully so. Quickly, she dropped her gaze, blocking his scrutiny. Surely her eyes would give away both her foolish feelings and her dirtiness.
He reached up with his fingertips and gently tilted her chin upward, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Forgive me, but … I need to see if that was just my imagination.”
She swallowed hard. Look away, Anna …
And now, a little more about this novel.
Wings Like a Dove by Camille Eide
Have you ever felt as if you didn’t belong?
Growing up, Anna lived through many upheavals and displacements and has never truly felt at home anywhere, but at least she always had her family. Home was wherever she and her mother and siblings were. But since her family has come to America, she has found this new country not as welcoming as she had been made to believe. This feeling intensifies when, turned out of her home, she finds herself in a place where Jews are despised. But this time, Anna is far from family and friends. She is wired for community, thriving best when part of a larger whole, but now, alone in this strange, hostile environment, she faces not only danger without, but also heartbreaking loneliness within.
Unwed and pregnant, adrift and alone, Anna finds not only solace and refuge among the rag tag family of orphans and their kind caretaker, but also champions. Thomas and the boys have taken a stand against the wave of bigotry in their community and refuse to be bullied. In their home, Anna may have found refuge and shelter against hate, but then again, she may have only landed in the eye of a storm. Finding out where she belongs in the world will have to wait. What she needs now is to protect herself, her unborn child, and this family she has grown to love… even though it means leaving her heart behind with these boys and the man who would do whatever it takes to raise them into men of faith, compassion, and honor. A man who longs for Anna in ways she is desperate to forget.
Anna faces hatred and danger, but her biggest fear is that she will never truly belong, never feel anchored again.
If you’ve moved a lot growing up or in life, what anchors you?
About the Book:
Can the invisible walls that separate people ever come down?
In 1933, Anna Leibowicz is convinced that the American dream that brought her Jewish family here from Poland is nothing but an illusion. Her father has vanished. Her dreams of college can’t make it past the sweat-shop door. And when she discovers to her shame and horror that she’s with child, her mother gives her little choice but to leave her family. Deciding her best course of action is to try to find her father, she strikes out . . . hoping against hope to somehow redeem them both.
When Anna stumbles upon a house full of orphan boys in rural Indiana who are in desperate need of a tutor, she agrees to postpone her journey. But she knows from the moment she meets their contemplative, deep-hearted caretaker, Thomas Chandler, that she doesn’t dare risk staying too long. She can’t afford to open her heart to them, to him. She can’t risk letting her secrets out.
All too soon, the townspeople realize she’s not like them and treat her with the same disdain they give the Sisters of Mercy — the nuns who help Thomas and the boys — and Samuel, the quiet colored boy Thomas has taken in. With the Klan presence in the town growing ever stronger and the danger to this family increasing the longer she stays, Anna is torn between fleeing to keep them safe . . . and staying to fight beside them.
About the Author:
Camille Eide is the award-winning author of inspirational fiction including The Memoir of Johnny Devine. She lives near the Oregon Cascades with her husband and is Mom, Grammy, and enjoys the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. She also loves the liberating truth and wisdom of God’s word, and hopes that her stories will stir your heart, strengthen your faith, and encourage you on your journey.
Her other titles include:Savanna’s Gift(Christmas), Like There’s No Tomorrow, Like a Love Song, The Memoir of Johnny Devine, and The Healer(exclusive to newsletter subscribers).
A short distance from our place, I heard hooves on the road. An elk peered at me from the intersection. I peered back, and then she proceeded on her way, followed by her offspring.
Obviously, this isn’t one of Lance’s photos, since he would have the animals show up better.
At any rate, there they were, doing what elk do around here. The thought of parades came naturally, since I’ve been reading through the memoir of a man who spent decades designing and creating incredibly complicated floats for the really big time venues. Think Rose Parade.
So I’ve been pondering the importance of beauty, one essential element in a hand-crafted float replete with tens of thousands of flowers, flower petals, leaves, seeds, and other harvested materials. Of course, many other elements integrate to leave a float’s lasting impression, but it’s tough to outrank beauty.
We all share the desire to express ourselves through creating something of beauty. We do this through song, painting, cooking, sculpture, dance, story and ritual, and parades, for starters. In these endeavors, we attempt to make make sense of the world and of our own lives.
Where would we be without beauty to appreciate, to comprehend, to embrace? Entering into beauty in its many forms enhances our journey here.
Writing seems to be my way of beauty-making, and I like integrate these ramblings with what’s occurring with my written work. So here we go.
My publisher just sent a first look at the book cover for my next release, about two young World War women who sought beauty in the rapid changes of that era. . . the world at war. One of them, on an Iowa farm, spends every spare minute facilitating beauty on what some might label a humble stage, her garden.
Her best friend seeks her downed RAF pilot husband in the devastation of post-Blitz London. At the same time, she seeks beauty–in the people she mets, in the still-blooming laburnum trees of the city, and in her office work.
Through the only correspondence tool available at the time, Addie and Kate create another kind of beauty. Their letters back and forth across the Atlantic encourage, inspire, instruct and provide laughter in the midst of such a frightening period.
During the war’s first months, with bad news at every turn, how much could one letter from a friend or loved one mean? It’s difficult to overestimate!
We can count on letters being included on this new cover, which I’ll post as soon as it arrives in my e-mail. Meanwhile, I hope you’re finding beauty in your everyday world.
This wonderful blog is all about women flourishing, regardless of age, and I would like to multiply its readers by sharing it with you here.
My friend Rhoda Preston is reading No Stopping Us Now: The Adventures of Older Women in American History, by Gail Collins, a decade-by-decade survey of the changing attitudes towards older women in the United States.
Here’s where you can access Rhoda’s post, and more enticing tidbits about some intriguing women in our nation’s history. One thing they were able to do: embrace the moment.
Take a minute to check out this post–you won’t regret it!
I’m embracing these moments here under Arizona’s Mogollon Rim, and sharing Lance’s latest flora and fauna photos. The people who live here think we’re pretty weird to come in winter–most people arrive in summer, to escape the heat of the Phoenix area.
But for us, it’s just gorgeous and the altitude helps me so much. I hope you enjoy this taste of the beauty that surrounds us.
The CUTEST baby elk!!!
GET a load of these INCREDIBLE neck muscles…gotta reach those leaves!
