Welcoming Winter As a Sabbath

.Reading time 2 minutes.
winter in the woods

I have two memories of snow that stick in my mind like individual snowflakes to window glass, their intricacies blatantly announcing both God’s mathematical genius and His ability to condense the universe into a tiny, faceted jewel. (Or the Savior into a newborn.) …

Read More

Faithful with Leaf and Bird and Boy

.Reading time 4 minutes.
bird's nest

Each heavy rain sets everyone on edge. Since the floods, the towering trees, the still-under-repair mountain roads, and the compromised bridges beneath our cars and tractors and feet feel fragile, like clay models built by a boy dreaming of other lands…

Read More

Big Book Release Giveaway

.Reading time 3 minutes.
Jack and the Red Giant

It’s nearly time for the BIG GIVEAWAY to celebrate the August 5 release of Jack and the Red Giant, book 6 in the Tree Street Kids series for kids 8-12.

Read More

The Generosity of Crows and Old Women

.Reading time 1 minute.

Amanda Cleary Eastep I never know what may meet me over the mountain in the morning. It isn’t the crows anymore—just the sunrise. Maybe a sliver of yellow light between the bluish peaks and the gray clouds until it’s shoved back by January’s insistence on muted greens and rusts and blacks. Maybe an orange and […]

Read More

Amazed by Stories of Story

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Two things that inspired the writing of my third book in the Tree Street Kids series for kids 8-12 (Moody Publishers) were historic efforts to reach people who didn’t have easy access to books.

Read More

When the Flood Carried Kindness

.Reading time 1 minute.
Helene flooding in WNC

The western North Carolina floodwaters had receded enough for my husband to make it to the town nearest our “holler.” There, he gathered with others at the local radio station, all desperate for any Wi-Fi connection that might enable them to get word to family and friends that they were alive and safe.

Read More