HEEL FLIES DON'T BOTHER YOU?

Stephen Bly 2009

By Stephen Bly

Copyright©1993,2009

Old-time cowboys would be surprised at today’s cattle business. In the 1800s, Texas longhorn steers were on their way out. The hard winters forced cattlemen to search for hardier breeds. Herefords and others replaced longhorns.

But longhorns have made a comeback. They’re considered a tough bunch that requires less care than newer breeds. They’re known to survive scruffy locations and produce leaner meat. Mossy-backed longhorns especially proved to be sturdy. They were afraid of nothing…except heel flies.

heel fly

That’s the worst season for cow raisers. In southern ranges heel flies arrive between mid-February and mid-April. Those tiny flies sting cattle in the tender part of the leg, just above the hoof, where they lay eggs. Heel flies can cause even tough old longhorns to scatter in panic … in search of water or bog holes to escape the torment.

Such tiny insects, yet they can drive cows wild.

Sometimes it’s the annoyances you can hardly see that give you the most trouble. Big troubles can grow from little specks. That’s true for spiritual well being too. The quicker you learn to recognize temptations and sins when they’re just pinpricks, the better off you’ll be (James 1:15 MSG).

Maybe if little sins hurt more, you’d do something about it in a big fat hurry. If you felt a painful sting every time you strayed away from God, maybe you’d stampede towards him sooner and more often. At least the longhorns always know when the heel flies are around.

What in your life works like a loving nip at the heels?  

Sometimes it’s the very thing that seems like an annoyance, a chronic harassment ... but yet God means this problem or person to prevent you future pain. To help you recognize trouble ahead … and fight against it.

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COMING MARCH 2012: Stuart Brannon's Final Shot, by Stephen Bly with Janet Chester Bly, Russell Bly, Michael Bly & Aaron Bly

AVAILABLE NOW in hardback or E-Book:

Throw The Devil Off The Train

http://BlyBooks.com/store.htm or http://Amazon.com 

 

Throw The Devil Off The Train

  

LOVE FINDS YOU ON CHRISTMAS MORNING

Love Finds You On Christmas Morning

Not ready to think about Christmas?

But here's a great Christmas gift for the romance readers on your list ....

About the book: 

Love Finds You On Christmas Morning in two heartwarming holiday stories:

Deck the Halls (Debby Mayne): In 1925, the wealthy William Tronnier becomes smitten with the lovely but penniless Lillian Pickard. Not one to give up easily, William pursues Lillian even though she does everything in her power to resist falling in love with a man from a completely different social class. As Christmas descends on the picturesque town of Cary, North Carolina, William plans to make Lillian a proposal she can’t refuse.

 ‘Tis the Season (Trish Perry): When personal chef Nikki Tronnier moves back home to Cary, North Carolina, she plans to fulfill a lifelong dream and buy back the family home built by her great-grandfather for his bride. But before she is able to make an offer, someone else buys the house. Just as she prepares for a fight, she learns that the very person who stole her dream is the man who has also stolen her heart. Unaware, handsome new owner, Drew Cornell, seeks Nikki’s help in restoring the home to its historic beauty in time for Christmas.

A Recipe From The Book:

Pickard-Tronnier Shortbread or Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Directions:

Mix the flour and cornstarch in a medium bowl.

1.      In a large bowl, mix softened butter with sugar and vanilla (optional) until you have a creamy consistency.

2.      Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar.

3.      Press the mixture into an 8" by 8" cake pan. (See below if you are making cookies.)

4.      Bake in a 325-degree oven for approximately 30 minutes.

5.      Cool slightly but cut into 2-inch squares while still warm.

Directions for cookies:

1.      Follow 1–3 in the directions above.

2.      Use a teaspoon to scoop the batter, roll it into balls, and flatten each one on a cookie sheet.

3.      For cookies, bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes until brown around the edges.

4.      Cool before removing from the pan.

Online purchase links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Love-Finds-You-Christmas-Morning/dp/1609361938/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316190442&sr=1-1

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-finds-you-on-christmas-morning-to-be-decided/1101376108?ean=9781609361938&itm=1&usri=love%2bfinds%2byou%2bon%2bchristmas%2bmorning

CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?event=AFF&p=1155087&item_no=361938

Trish Perry

Trish Perry Bio:  

Award-winning novelist Trish Perry has written nine inspirational romances for Harvest House Publishers, Summerside Press, and Barbour Publishing, as well as two devotionals for Summerside Press. She has served as a columnist and as a newsletter editor over the years, as well as a 1980s stockbroker and a board member of the Capital Christian Writers organization in Washington, D.C. She holds a degree in Psychology. 

Trish just released Love Finds You on Christmas Morning, written with Debby Mayne. Her nostalgic romance novel, Unforgettable (Summerside Press), released in March and Tea for Two, Book Two in her Millicent’s Tea Shop series (Harvest House), released in April. She invites you to visit her at www.TrishPerry.com

Love Finds You On Christmas Morning, Tea for Two, and more

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THE WEDDING KISS, a new novel by Hannah Alexander

The Wedding Kiss

ABOUT THE WEDDING KISS:

Against the backdrop of 1901 Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and the surrounding countryside, one simple kiss draws two people into a discovery that will forever change their lives.

Marriage seems the only option for Keara McBride and Elam Jensen after Keara's father gambles away her home and ends up in jail. Plus Elam's children need a mother's care. 

When the Jensens seal their vows at the altar with a kiss, however, their marriage of convenience seems much less convenient. The first kiss they share before a church filled with witnesses ignites a beacon of attraction that leaves them both feeling guilty. Elam's wife, Gloria--who was also Keara's best friend--has been dead less than a year. How can they betray her like this? 

And yet...oh, that kiss. 

When a stranger who bears a striking resemblance to Gloria shows up injured on the front porch on Elam and Keara's wedding night, the whole family is thrown into confusion, suspense and danger. But does this stranger also hold a key to the Jensens' future happiness?

Published by Summerside Press

Order from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN978-1-60936-308-6

NOTE FROM HANNAH ALEXANDER:

Since I'm an incessant reader, I'm beginning a new blog to share some of the best of those books I love to read. The blog is Sunroom Reflections. I may even, on occasion, share a new release of my own, or information about contests.

I am now on facebook! If you would like to be my friend my user name is Hannah Alexander. Please mention that you are a reader of my books when sending me a friend request.

Team of Hannah Alexander

 ABOUT HANNAH ALEXANDER: 

HANNAH ALEXANDER is the pen name for the writing collaboration of husband and wife, Cheryl & Mel Hodde. They chose the name "Hannah Alexander" to incorporate their two names into one. They have read that Hannah means "her hope is in the Lord," and Alexander means, "servant of mankind."
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HAVE YOU GONE HAYWIRE?

Hubble space telescope

By Stephen Bly

Copyright©1993,2009

 I once watched a scientist on TV explain what went haywire with the Hubble telescope floating out in space. 

 Seemed like an ironic use of words…a billion dollar computer goes haywire. 

 I wondered if any of those NASA officials have ever been around haywire.

Some words are too good to keep on the ranch.

Haywire’s one.

Hay Bale

In fact, many a kid on a ranch today has never seen haywire either. Most bales these days are tied with orange, poly-plastic twine…or some such. But for about a century, baled hay got secured with two thin, tough wires. Once you cut the wires and fed the cows, you had to make sure you gathered up both wires and twisted them together in a haphazard fashion, tossing them far away from the cattle.

I know a guy who lost a $3,000 bull who swallowed some haywire. Countless livestock have died from ingesting bits of it.

Sometimes it seems the whole world’s gone haywire.

The Bible laments, “What is twisted cannot be straightened” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). That is, life’s full of paradoxes that cannot be solved, messes that can’t be cleaned, problems that can’t be figured out. Some folks get so dysfunctional, they seem to be wadded up and tossed on a waste heap.

But there’s hope. Nobody’s a useless scrap of baling wire.

Proverbs 3:5,6 reminds us that “he will make your paths straight” if you trust in him.

That’s what we all need…at times: someone to straighten out the crooked.

God will, if we ask him.

And no reason to wait until we’ve gone completely haywire.

######

When’s a time you truly felt the word ‘haywire’ fit your situation?

###

Throw The Devil Off The Train

Now Available in E-Book format 

or at http://BlyBooks.com/store.htm/

Throw The Devil Off The Train

A NEW NOVEL & PUMPKIN PIE CAKE RECIPE

From This Day Forward

From This Day Forward

By Margaret Daley

Book Blurb:

March 1816

Rachel Gordon is stranded in South Carolina, pregnant, a recent widow when her husband fell overboard on the voyage to America.

Nathan Stuart, a physician who came home from serving in the American army during the War of 1812, disenchanted with his life and the Lord, rescues Rachel and saves her life. Feeling responsible for her, Nathan tries to discourage her from living at a rundown farm her husband bought to start a new future in America. He wants her to return to England.

Rachel refuses to go back to England where her father disowned her for marrying against his wishes. The farm is all she has, and she is determined to make it on her own.

But Nathan has other ideas and becomes her farmhand to discourage her from staying in America. Instead he ends up protecting her and being challenged by her. Can two wounded people heal each other?

Reviewer:

“A wonderful love story in the American Tapestries series with characters who are trying to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives after the War of 1812. Daley turns the ugliness of war into a new beginning for the ones who pick up the pieces. Her characters are willing to do what they need to in order to survive, but also are willing to give a friendly hand to those around them.”

Reviewed By: Patsy Glans from RT

A Recipe from Margaret Daley:

A friend gave me this one after I had it at a luncheon. It was great! It is a wonderful dish to take to a potluck dinner or for a party. 

Pumpkin Pie Cake

1 large can (29 oz.) or 2 (16 oz.) cans of pumpkin
1 (13 oz.) can of evaporated milk
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depending on pumpkin amount)

Beat together above ingredients. Pour into lightly greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle 1 box yellow cake mix over top. Dribble 1 1/2 to 2 sticks melted butter or margarine over the top. Top with lots of chopped pecans. Bake 50 minutes at 350 degrees until crispy. Serve hot or cold. Top with cool whip.

About The Author:

Margaret Daley

Margaret Daley is an award winning, multi-published author in the romance genre. One of her romantic suspense books, Hearts on the Line, won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Contest. Recently she has won the Golden Quill Contest, FHL’s Inspirational Readers’ Choice Contest, Winter Rose Contest, Holt Medallion and the Barclay Gold Contest. 

She has sold seventy-five books to date.

Margaret is President for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), an organization of over 2300 members. She enjoys mentoring other authors.

Until she retired a few years ago, she was a teacher of students with special needs for twenty-seven years and volunteered with Special Olympics as a coach.

She has been married for over forty years to Mike and has one son and four granddaughters. She treasures her time with her family and friends.

+++++++++

STANDING ON THE PROMISES

by Janet Chester Bly

Copyright 2008

When do you get personal peace when you feel like you've gone into free fall after a bungy jump?

Peace comes when you know...

what to do next

when to speak

what to say

where to go

why you’re here

but especially...

whom to trust to land you in a safe place.

The kind of trust of really deep down in your gut kind of certainty that this one will pull you through.

It’s called faith.

Have you discovered your own promises from God...for comfort? For help? For peace? The sort of assurances that penetrate past your doubts? Every bit of unbelief? 

He’s got words meant straight from His heart to yours. Find them. Listen to them. Allow them to permeate deep within until you know He will not withhold any good thing from you.

When’s the last time you’ve claimed promise verses for yourself and those you love? Below you’ll find a few samples to examine.

Note the context.

Detect what comes before and after too.

Pay attention to any pre-conditions to be met.

Memorize the key ones.

Every good thing the Lord had promised them came true. (Joshua 21:45 TLB)

Psalm 4:8 - promise of sleep and safety.

Psalm 29:11 - promise of strength and peace.

Psalm 55:16-19 - assurance of deliverance from threats of harm.

Psalm 119:165 - promise of great peace.

Psalm 121 - promise of help, protection and watchful care.

Isaiah 26:3 - promise of perfect peace.

Isaiah 32:17 - promise of peace, quietness and confidence.

Isaiah 33:6 - promise of salvation, wisdom and knowledge.

Isaiah 54:10 - promise of peace, no matter what.

Proverbs 16:7 - promise of peace with enemies.

Matthew 6:33,34 - promise of provision of every need on this day.

Matthew 7:7-11 - promise of answered prayer and good gifts.

Matthew 11:28-30 - promise of rest for the weary.

John 16:33 - promise of peace and coping with world’s troubles.

Romans 5:1,2 - promise of peace with God through faith in Jesus.

What particular promise do you trust in today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Free download of “31 Ways To Win The Fight For Personal Peace” at www.BlyBooks.com/articles.htm/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out: Words To Live By For Women

MISTAKEN IDENTITY, new novel by K. Dawn Byrd

Mistaken Identity

ABOUT MISTAKEN IDENTITY:

Eden Morgan makes a list of six goals to accomplish in order to have the best summer ever. Getting a boyfriend, which is perhaps the most important goal, becomes complicated when she and her best friend, Lexi, fall for the same guy. Since Lexi is popular, gorgeous, and always gets her guy, Eden thinks she doesn't have a chance.

Channing Johnson is everything Eden's ever dreamed of and she can't believe he just moved in next door. When he starts showing interest in her, she's overjoyed...until she sees him out on a date with Lexi. He says Lexi talked him into it to repay her for tutoring him. Lexi says they're in love.

Eden doesn't know who to believe and is forced to choose between her best friend and the guy of her dreams. Nothing is as it seems and no matter who she chooses, someone will get hurt.

---

---

"This is a spiritual journey for Eden who is looking for guidance but is not sure where to find it, friends, family, God, or maybe a mixture of all the above. I felt for Eden as she tries to understand what is happening around her and when loyalties are crossed who should she believe? A sweet story."

*******************

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Zippy & Ponchee

K. Dawn Byrd says: "When not reading or writing, I enjoy spending time with my husband of 16 years. Our favorite evening consists of a leisurely walk beside a gorgeous lake near our home while we plot the next story waiting to be told. Here's a picture of the two little guys who walk with us, Zippy and Ponchee. They're hairless Chinese Cresteds."

K. Dawn Byrd is author of Queen of Hearts (April 2010) and Killing Time (August 2010) and This Time For Keeps (October 2011).

Visit her blog: http://kdawnbyrd.blogspot.com/

Check out her website: http://www.kdawnbyrd.com/

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HE'LL DO TO RIDE THE RIVER WITH

By Stephen Bly

   1944 - 2011

Copyright©1993,2009

In the Old West, a person’s reputation often meant the difference between survival and death. So, it was a guarded commodity.

For many cowboys, his reputation was the only thing of value he could rightly call his own. Lots of terms sprang up that described a man of good character. One of the more meaningful became the phrase “he’ll do to ride the river with,” the highest compliment paid to a cowman.

Back in the days of trail drives, cowboys had to swim thousands of heads of cattle across swollen and dangerous rivers. To make it across required riders of exceptional skill, courage, and level-headed thinking. You quickly learned who you could trust to ride those rivers with you.

You may have wished for that sort of companion.

A good decision maker...

One who keeps commitments...

A friend who stays cool in a crisis...

A partner who helps you cross the stream of trials, the river of troubles...

Someone who’s a stander, not a runner...

A person of faith who seeks God’s wisdom.

It’s a great goal for which to aim yourself: become a person who’ll do to ride the river with.

*************

Has there been that kind of friend for you?

Have you been that sort of friend for another?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOW AVAILABLE:

Throw The Devil Off The Train

COMING MARCH 2012:

Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot

THIS COUNTRY CAPTION SAYS IT ALL

Children walking country road

This picture comes from Pastor Erick Reinstedt of rural Monterey County in California.

He says, "We snapped this picture some years back of our girls taking a walk. I guess I'd call it, 'It Says it All,' because, I guess it does (at least to me)."

 

Erick & Mary Ann Reinstedt

About Erick Reinstedt: I pastor True Life Christian Fellowship, a rural, non-denominational church.I live on 40 acres (about 55 minutes from town) with my amazing wife, Mary Ann, and two awesome daughters. We have two cows, five chickens, and three cats. I enjoy writing on my blog, A Great God & Good Coffee, and sharing my personal thoughts, things God is showing me in my study, reflections, and slices of life. The title of the blog says a lot about me—I love a good cup of coffee and God-centered fellowship in the screen porch in the summer, and by the wood stove in the winter. I believe the Bible is God's writing, front to back, word for word.

Check out Erick's blog link: http://erickreinstedt.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What does this picture mean to you?

THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK

by Kathleen Y’Barbo Turner

Fiction With A Southern Accent!

Book Blurb:

Despite craving independence, Charlotte Beck agrees to a marriage of convenience. But when her marriage suddenly becomes very inconvenient indeed, will romance thrive in the most unlikely of situations?

An aristocratic astronomer out to save his family and a Denver heiress out to take on the world meet their match in THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK, the latest historical romp in the Women of the West series from Kathleen Y’Barbo.

From Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show’s London debut to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the mining town of Leadville, Colorado, join Charlotte Beck and Viscount Hambly as they discover that sometimes love arrives at the most inconvenient of times. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read the first three chapters at http://bit.ly/iWVjM8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kathleen Y'Barbo Turner

RITA and Carol award nominee Kathleen Y’Barbo is the best-selling, award-winning author of more than forty novels, novellas, and young adult books. In all, more than one million copies of her books are currently in print in the US and abroad, and her books have been translated into Dutch, German, and Spanish, to name a few.

Kathleen holds a BBA from Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School and a certification in Paralegal Studies, and is a member of the Texas Bar Association’s Paralegal Division. In addition, Kathleen also served as exclusive publicist for Books & Such Literary Agency.

A tenth-generation Texan, Kathleen Y’Barbo has a daughter and three grown sons. She recently married her own hero in combat boots (read about their real-life romance here!) and is proud to be a military wife, even if it did mean giving up her Texas drivers license.

Check out her website: www.kathleenybarbo.com 
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IN STORES NOW:
The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper

Anna Finch and the Hired Gun

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