ANNOUNCEMENT--WRITING WORKSHOP

I am pleased to announce that I will be heading two Beginners Writing Workshops at the Millington, TN. The first workshop will be on Saturday, May 3, at 10:30 a.m. It is opened to anyone interested in writing and publishing.

The second workshop is geared specifically to teens and will be held on June 21, at 10:30 a.m. Teens interested in writing and being published are encouraged to attend.

I am looking forward to meeting others who love the written word and are interested in writing.

NEW RELEASE

Sammy thought the war would be over when he left Afghanistan. A new battle awaited when he returned home:
http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/lamparter-mabry-toni/

My newest eBook--Red, White, and True is now available at the Desert Breeze website. Red, White, and True is an inspirational romance, the second in The Friends of Scrapbook Etc. series. When Sammy leaves the VA hospital he thinks it will be hard enough to learn to walk again, but PTSD threatens to destroy all the relationships he holds dear, especially his relationship with Karla.

SKIDDISH

For many months I have been trying to find homes for some stray dogs in our neighborhood. These dogs had homes when they were puppies. They've known what it's like to belong to families, to be abandoned, and they don't know how someone they've loved so much couldn't love them back.

I adopted a stray dog and wrote about how broken she was when she was abandoned. That dog became a minor character in my eBook, A NEW SEASON.

One of the female strays had puppies in the neighbor's shed. A home was found for the mother and her puppies. The father, a chow mix, had to be left behind, abandoned again.

Recently, I've come across a group that will adopt the chow that I've named Kato. The problem is, we need to confine him so he can be transported to his new foster.  Now that's a problem.  He has lived on his own for at least 2 winters. People have chased him out of their yards and treated him unkindly. It is difficult for Kato to trust humans.

So I've begun to feed him, often leaving him trails of food to my house. He follows, but at a great distance. As the Arctic blast approached, I worried about Kato and whether he could stand the freezing temperatures. Would he find shelter, food, or water among the ice? Still, he refused to allow me to catch him and take him to a new home.

A few days ago he scooted into my garage, snatching a dish of food, and ran away with it. I thought of how he would face the night in the cold, when he could have had a warm rug and shelter from the wind. I also though about people I've known in my past who've chosen the hard path to trod even when better options were available to them.

Maybe that's why I love dogs so much.  They seem so human.

DECEMBER 26, 2013

Christmas has just past and now that I'm alone, I'm making some observations.

There are lots more Christmas movies and specials than when I was a child.  I don't know if that is necessarily a good thing. I've noticed that most of these movies are rather sappy love stories. The usually have some sugary sweet moral about how the message of Christmas is all about love, family, or giving.  Those are all good things, but Christmas is about a birthday.

Christmas music is played more these days.  There are some stations that start playing it on Nov. 1. I love Christmas music as much as the next person, but "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" isn't what I'd really call music. In fact, many of the songs makes me want to grit my teeth. I miss the old carols that had depth and meaning.

When Christ is left out of Christmas a void remains. People try to fill is with sappy stories and cutesy songs. Children are taught traditions that have no connection to history.  Depth and feeling come from the celebration of the birth of the Savior.

KARMA, REALLY?

In America we like to believe that Karma (sort of) view that we get what we deserve. We have been taught to believe that if we do good, good will come to us. Life doesn't work that way. Bad things happen to good people.  Life just isn't fair.

Like a couple of weeks ago...

While I was doing something nice for someone else, something bad happened to me. If I had been at home I could have prevented the bad thing from happening.  I was upset for awhile, but that's the way life is.

As it turned out, I needed help from someone else to fix my problem. Maybe that's the way it works--we need each other.

I saw something interesting last night. I'm a part of  a group that put together a Christmas party for kids who really need a boost. We see them on a regular basis and really wanted to do something special over the holiday. The problem was, we didn't have the resources to do what we wanted, what the kids surely deserved.

Then God brought someone to one of the planners.  She told this mystery Santa about the kids and the Christmas party. This mystery person said that Jesus had blessed him and because of that, he wanted the children to be blessed, too.

When those 10 teens opened their stockings, they got the shock of their lives and I got to witness their surprised faces and share their hugs!  As I think about it, if we had pulled our resources and come up with the money, it would have been one thing. The Secret Santa made the night all the more special.

In life we don't always get what we deserve. Doing good things to get good things in return doesn't work--at least it doesn't for me. Doing good things because it is the right thing to do, doing good things out of love, that's another story.

FRIGHT NIGHT

I usually spent Halloween night with a bowl of popcorn in one hand and a bowl of candy for Trick-or-Treaters in the other.  I watch Halloween movies and hand out goodies.

This morning I was thinking about some of my favorite Halloween movies and scenes that stuck in my mind; 1)  Charlie Brown's, "I got a rock," 2) the scene in Ed Wood where he sits in a diner and converses with the great Orson Wells, 3) the "Keep your eyes on the heaven," speech from numerous cold war alien movies.

Then I remembered Fright Night.

Okay, Fright Night wasn't a classic.  It was one of those teen, the adults don't understand us kind of movie.  The teens figure out that a neighbor is a vampire and enlist the help of the local TV horror movie host, a vampire slayer, played by Roddy McDowell.

When McDowell is convinced that they are up against a real vampire he relies on what he has learned hosting movies.  Armed with vampire fighting equipment, they face the neighbor.  When the vampire attacks, McDowell hold up a wooden cross.  The vampire responds, "That only works for those who believe."  McDowell's fate is sealed.

 For a cheesy movie, I thought the comment was profound.

Lately, I've noticed a lot of unbelievers quoting scriptures on-line.  Usually it is a meme with a single verse or picture from a Bible story, completely out of context from surrounding literature. It is much the way a political candidate might take a one-line from an opponent's speech and make it a sound bite.  The verse doesn't take into account history or culture.

The person who does this usually appears very self-righteous about quoting from a book he doesn't even consider sacred, much like McDowell holding up the cross in front of the vampire.

The words don't work for those who don't believe.  As in Fright Night, the outcome can be tragic.

TWO DOGS

I had a tree break apart a few days ago.  I didn't have the money to have it removed.  Since the economy crashed and people, especially people my age, have been forced to take jobs that don't fit their skill or their former pay scale, I have lived paycheck to paycheck. I no longer have a nest egg for a rainy day. 

I looked at that tree and my first thought was, "Well God, how are you going to take care of this one?"  I knew the tree was no surprise to God. I knew I didn't know how to take care of it.

I found an old friend who takes down trees and a deal was made.  When the tree men arrive, I put my two dogs in the house. One dog, Taz, is a nervous girl. She was abused as a pup. When we adopted her, she was about to be put down because she was so filled with fear and anxiety that no one wanted her.

The second dog, Dixie Belle, is a very calm old girl.  She was also neglected and eventually abandoned. I was always there to climb a fence and feed or water her. She ended up on my porch when she was left behind.

Taz knew the instant the strangers trespassed in her back yard. She barked, nonstop, as they felled two trees. She barked as the trees were removed.

Dixie Bell was laid back. She watched what was happening, looked at me, then went to the carpet to rest. She had every bit of confidence I had it all under control. 

As life goes on, I hope God will see me acting more like Dixie Belle and less like Taz. I may not know how things will end, but know to trust the One who has control.