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I have several Homer Simpson holes in my being. One of the most gaping wounds in my diet is my love for pancakes and waffles. Just ask my mom. Or, you could just survey my cube where a menu for Waffle House graces the book shelves. And a coffee cup from Waffle House is on my writing desk. And I have maple syrup as my blood type.
This picture is from our mission trip to Haiti with Healing Haiti. One of my greatest joys was stepping up to the grill and making pancakes for my fellow hands and feet of Christ. The saying is true – the first pancake, like the oldest child, is a throwaway. But then again, I’m the oldest child and I got to catch the pancakes so it all worked out. I must also admit that I greatly admire a great grill cook (Hi, Francis, Rick, Dave, Jen) and the ballet that happens in front of that heated slab of steel. So this time around I got to play the pancake flipper and enjoyed it more than I should have.
I hope you have a blessed day and may it be filled with pancakes and waffles.
I’m going to cheat on this post. I’m going to just quote my review of Swimming Through Clouds as I posted it on Amazon.com. Click on the link, go buy the book, and enjoy an excellent read.
Swimming Through Clouds
Rajdeep Paulus is an enjoyable writer with a story to tell to all ages. Her mastery of image and point of view are breathtaking in a new author. Many authors who have written dozens of books would do well to look at this work for its ability to capture the imagination and heart of readers from 12 to 90. It is labeled as YA fiction, yet this 53 year old man enjoyed it immensely.
The character development is spellbinding. You get to know the people bit-by-bit as you would in life. Rajdeep must have paid close attention to her craft after her Junior Year in High School – she’s close to perfection.
My only regret about the book is that it ended too soon. She deprived me of a good night’s sleep by forcing me to read it in one afternoon and evening and at that cost I needed at least two more chapters. I wanted more. I need a sequel, or another set of stories that are as well written and in the same magnificent voice. That’s an author’s goal: leave the reader demanding more from them. She’s met the goal.
If every new author would take the time to craft their book as lovingly we’d all be better off as readers.
Hats off to Rajdeep Paulus for an incredible start to her literary career.
During my trip to Haiti in February of 2013 I had the pleasure of getting to know the people of Healing Haiti. Part of their mission there is an orphanage known as Grace Village. It is my pleasure to present one of the children from Grace Village each week to my readership in the hope that you will take them into your heart and sponsor their care and education.
This week’s child is:
Dudely
Dudely:
Dudely and his brothers, Shadley and Frolitho are grateful to be living together at Grace Village. Dudely likes to spend his time playing with the other children, especially when there is a basketball game involved. Dudely is a good student, excelling in science and biology. One of Dudely’s special gifts is singing so you will often hear him singing his favorite gospel song, Bless the Lord. Dudely would like to be a pastor or mechanic someday so his prayer request is that he is able to finish school.
Dudely came to Healing Haiti in July, 2008. Dudely and his siblings, Shadley and Frolitho were abandoned by their parents who are still living but are unable to care for them.
Birth Info
Birthdate: July 25, 1999
Place of Birth: Delmas, Haiti
It is my hope that one of you will find your heart touched by this child and take up a bit of Christ’s work by sponsoring them for an extended period. My wife and I are sponsoring a pair of sisters and I look at it this way – I only gave up a fast-food dinner each day to change the life of a child. Healing Haiti will do the right things for these children and I have full confidence in their work. I am not affiliated with them, they don’t endorse this blog, nothing like that at all. I just love kids (can’t be Santa and not love children) and know that Grace Village is the difference between life and death for many of these children. Please open your heart and prayerfully reflect on the opportunity God’s giving us to sponsor these children. Some of them have come out of slavery and have some of the toughest lives you could imagine prior to Grace Village.
Just click the link and it will take you directly to the page where you can sponsor this week’s child. And if God is particularly good and that child is sponsored when you get there, please grab another smiling face and change their life instead. My goal is to put Sponsorship Sunday out of business as quickly as possible and take that day off each week. Thank you. God bless you for your generosity.
Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.
During a recent trip to the doctor I had an honor bestowed upon me. As I walked out of the exam area there was an older couple sitting in the waiting area. The gentleman had on a ball cap and the back band said “WWII VET” in gold letters. I make it a point to talk to these men as they made it possible for me to be here today, free and happy. And, unfortunately, most of them are leaving us very soon.
I leaned over and said, “Master Chief, I want to thank you for your service.”
His eyes lit up and he was tickled that I knew what his insignia meant. “I had to know, Master Chief, I was a Second Class [Petty Officer] in my day.”
Master Chief – a fouled anchor with two stars.
I wasn’t motoring too well with the bum knee so I sat down and talked with another sailor for a while. Here was a man who’d spent years in the service of his country. He eventually retired from the reserves but he’d done active duty during the largest conflict mankind has ever known.
The Master Chief was an aviation guy – he spent his time on carriers and sea plane tenders. He was gracious enough to share some of his life with me that morning. And then we had one of those moments that only veterans seem to share. He was talking about the flight deck on the carrier and how dangerous it was for his guys. He was an arresting gear specialist during the war and when those cables break (and they do) they whip around like death with an attitude. If you’re lucky it comes in low when the cable breaks and slices off your feet. If it comes in higher it cuts you in half. That’s why when people talk about the peacetime service being a refuge for those who can’t cut it on the outside, or an easy job, I can only treat them with scorn for their ignorance. You don’t need to be in combat to be in danger in the military.
His words choked me up – “I always used to tell my guys to make sure they dropped the barrier if the plane caught a wire. Otherwise they’d flip over it and crash.” I couldn’t even talk for a minute with the emotion threatening to bring me down.
My life today is busy. So busy that I forget the sacrifices of others. The reminder from the Master Chief broke my cycle – I usually only think of those guys on Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, and in January of each year on the anniversary of the crash.
I saw the look in the Master Chief’s eyes that I knew mirrored my own. A memory of friends and shipmates gone on ahead of us. And for that brief moment two old sailors from different eras and different wars shared a common bond.
Thank you, Master Chief, for taking time to talk to a punk kid. Fair seas and following winds for all of your days.
For those of you without enough social media in your lives, I have another excellent time waster – Follow me on Twitter! My first two followers were amazing authors, Larry W. Timm, and Rajdeep Paulus (Swimming Through Clouds, her first book came out this week.)
In celebration of this milestone, we’ll be holding a contest in the next few days to give an autographed book away from a major public figure (negotiations still in the works.) To be eligible you must be a subscriber (that’s on the right, free and easy to do), follow me on Twitter, or “Like” the Facebook author page. Just click on the links with each word and you will be eligible. And, no, you don’t have to do all three. (But I’d appreciate it. It really helps me when pitching myself and book ideas to the publishing industry and agents.)
I promise not to bombard the twitter feed after we get the word out. I’m having excellent luck with the Facebook Author Like business this week, and your spreading the word about this blog by subscribing, following the Twitter feed, and liking the Facebook author page are key components in getting me launched into the publishing world.
You can write books, you can write books well, you can have a potential best-seller, but if the fan base isn’t there in social media you will go nowhere. This blog is an amazing platform. My readers are the best bunch around + 20,000 of you come by each month to read. If even 1/2 of you did the three social media things for me – well, I’d be on the road to published status.
Please take a minute. I’ll be announcing the name of the book and the Author (it really is a Famous person… hint, hint, hint) on Monday. But you have to be a subscriber, a Twitter follower, or a Facebook “liker” to be eligible.
Many thanks in advance. (I’m even throwing in a couple of bottles of honey to “sweeten” the deal (groaning is authorized.))
