1-21-23, Day 20 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twenty of A Day In My Life! Happy Saturday!

I’ll post this earlier than usual today because this afternoon, Bill and I are meeting nine of our friends for an early-bird dinner at Tiramisu, a lovely Italian trattoria in North Palm Beach. After dinner, we’re heading over to our favorite theater to see a live production by some of the most talented actors I’ve ever met.

Palm Beach Institute for the Entertainment Arts (PBIEA) was born from the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film and Theatre. After its namesake died, my friend Donna Carbone, her husband Mike, and a dedicated group of supporters, actors, and teachers stayed together, renamed the institute, and have built a thriving, active theater and writing community dedicated to education through entertainment.

In their own words, from the website: “The Palm Beach Institute for the Entertainment Arts was formed to educate, advance and enhance a knowledge of the entertainment industry and to involve the community in all aspects of the creative process. Through our classes and shows, we have cemented an ongoing supportive and interactive relationship with Florida residents.”

I can attest to the truth of that statement. I met Donna not long after I had published the last of my four-book series and had no idea how to market the books. She’s the author of an excellent crime series, and had formed A Novel Approach to Literacy, a small group of authors who would speak at various venues where they’d sell and sign their books. She invited me to be one of those authors. Donna taught me a lot about speaking in public, presenting my work, and becoming involved with our community. I consider her among my best friends.

The main characters in her crime novels are two female detectives based on her daughter, who survived a real-life brutal rape and near murder, and her daughter’s close friend, the local detective who brought her attacker to justice. Donna has written a variety of books, teaches creative writing, has written plays that have been presented around the country and in venues like the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, and directs most of their productions.

Mike Carbone, retired now from a successful, chiropractic practice, designs and builds sets worthy of a much larger venue in quality. Avery Sommers, who produces most of their shows, is a successful Broadway actress who performs in her own shows and teaches acting at the Institute.

I love the small, intimate box theater with its comfy, mismatched seats and small stage. Every one of my friends who has come to see a production at PBIEA has loved it. The friendly cast members and crew, the cozy seating, the proximity to the stage, and the excellence of the production combine to create a truly exciting atmosphere, one we’re reluctant to leave at the end of the show. It’s no surprise that, like Bill and me, they return for more whenever they can.

I’ve had the privilege of participating in one of the most popular quarterly events the theater puts on, Tongues a’Wagging. Donna puts out a call for personal stories based on a topic she chooses. Those of us whose stories have been chosen, must read them aloud on stage in front of a live audience. I have been on stage, and I have been in the audience, and I rarely miss a Tongues a’Wagging event. The theater is nearly always sold out for all six performances.

And so, that is where I’ll be later today and until late this evening. Have you ever been on stage? Do you have a local live theater you enjoy attending? Tell me about it in the comments!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Balance our checkbooks. (If not today, then tomorrow for sure.)
4. Put Christmas bins away and start taking down the Christmas tree. (*waaaah!*)
5. Spend an hour editing my friend’s book.
6. Get tax information together for four corporations. (Must do by this time next week!)
7. Put all but 1 and 2 on hold because we’re going to the THEATER today!

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-20-23, Day 19 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day nineteen of A Day In My Life! Happy Friday!

One of the things I enjoy about this 30-Day Blogging Challenge is reading about other writers’ memories. I have a few of my own that I may share in the coming days. In fact, here’s one from a few years ago, when my mom was still on this side of Heaven, living in Naples, Florida.

It was  another perfect Florida winter day, sunny and in the mid-70s. Mom, my sister, Margie, and I sat at a table in IHop, next to eight burly bikers in their colors, taking a lunch break from their ride. There was a time when my heart would have longed to go with them, but, in the words of an old cliché, “been there, done that.” I sat with my back to the group, with one ear tuned to their conversation.

“Javier went down,” I heard one man say.

“No way,” another answered. “Javi, you gonna let him talk about you that way?”

“Tell them,” a voice I assumed belonged to Javier answered.

The first voice said, “Yeah, man. It happened last month, up in the Blue Ridge. I drove the truck on those icy roads, but Javi’s hard-core. He rode ahead, taking that mountain road real slow. Hit ice on a curve and I thought he was a goner for sure. He was that close to the edge with nothing but a low guardrail that didn’t look too solid. Man, you wouldn’t believe how he got that rear end back under him. Cool as ice.”

“We’d almost reached the valley when he hit another icy patch, this time at an intersection,” the storyteller continued. “You should have seen him working his bike to get control. He danced it out of the way of an oncoming car that couldn’t stop, and almost had it. Almost, man. Then he lost it and went down.”

A collective moan rose from the table behind me and I grinned, remembering the cold ride home I’d had one day.

Javier’s voice broke in, and I could hear the smile in it. “Yeah, man. But did you see how controlled I was? Slid to a slow stop, nothin’ broken.”

The storyteller guffawed and remarked, “Yeah, Javi. Nothin’ but your pride.”

From the warmth of the Florida restaurant, I empathized with Javier. The group laughed while I relived the day a friend and I went riding along the Delaware river on the Pennsylvania side.

I rode my quiet Honda 360 Custom, like the 1976 bike pictured below, only burgundy. A group of Harley riders from my church had kindly adopted me and my rice burner, and we would explore our hilly area whenever we had time. This day, my ex had the kids and only one of the group was free to join me. He rode his roaring Harley, both of us happy with the beautiful weather and the curves of the winding, wooded road.

We stopped for lunch at a popular restaurant next to the river, oblivious to the sudden drop in temperature outside. In the space of an hour, the day turned cold and rainy, and there we were, without jackets or rain gear.

We finished lunch and headed out the door, into a freezing downpour. The waiter, an avid rider himself, brought us industrial-sized trash bags to wear against the rain. I didn’t care how crazy we looked. Those trash bags saved our lives. With hands stiffened into claws and shivering so hard I was sure we’d lose control of our bikes, we made it to my house three hours later. My friend refused to come inside and took off for his own, about a ten-minute drive farther on. The minute I made it into the house, I turned on the oven and parked myself there until I thawed.

I’m glad Javier recovered from his fall on the ice, and I’m glad my friend and I didn’t drop a bike during that freezing ride home.

Have you ever had an adventure that turned out well despite the odds? Tell me about it!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Balance our checkbooks. (If not today, then tomorrow for sure.)
4. Put Christmas bins away and start taking down the Christmas tree. (*waaaah!*)
5. Spend an hour editing my friend’s book.
6. Get tax information together for four corporations. (Must do by this time next week!)
7. Bill and I are going to a community party this evening to hang out with some of our great neighbors.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-19-23, Day 18 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day eighteen of A Day In My Life! Happy Thursday!

We had winter just five days ago, with an early morning frost and a breeze from the north keeping the feel-like temps in the icy cold range all day. Floridians who ventured out into the bitter cold wore jackets, gloves, and hats. Those from farther north wore sweaters. Today, we’re back in the upper seventies, low eighties, and all the windows in the house are open to the refreshing breeze. Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE Florida winters?

Something I read in another blogger’s post made me think about how a story grows from an idea to a plot. I regularly met with one writer’s group before Covid, where we would write to prompts. We were given about twenty minutes to write a story about a random photo; or someone would give us a character, an item, and a place. We would have to come up with something coherent and interesting from a mere suggestion in just minutes. I still laugh at some of the wild stories we wrote. How could a seed of an idea grow into an entertaining story in that short a time period?

I believe three questions are all it takes for an idea to become a plot that doesn’t get bogged down, whether in a short story or a novel. Three questions have helped me move my books along, but then I write a blend of sci-fi and fantasy. Would this method of keeping my story moving work with other genres? Why don’t you decide? These three questions work for me.

What If? Here’s were the idea germinates. What if the girl in the photo above comes to this isolated spot with a view when she needs to pull her thoughts together? What if her parents just announced they were moving? What if that boy she likes has started messing with the wrong crowd? What if she’s tired of the busyness of her life and just needs some space to breathe? What if — can run your imagination down any number of rabbit holes.

The next question might nudge the story in a certain direction. Once you know the character, the setting, and the problem (your choice), you need to ask this: What Comes Next?

Since I write what I do, it could take me somewhere like this:

An eagle snatches the girl from her lookout point and takes her to its aerie, where it drops her into its nest. From there, a young man spots her, rescues her, and takes her to his village. Nice story, but other than the rescue, where would it go from there?

That’s where the next question and the fun begins for me. This question, alternated with “what’s next?” keeps the story moving, no matter how long it is, and adds tension, excitement, color, and growth opportunities. Ready? Here it is.

What Can Possibly Go Wrong?

The girl wants to go home and figures it must be over the mountains, since the eagle flew her over them when it grabbed her. She leaves the safe village, climbs the mountain, only to discover she’s in a different world. Where is the boy who rescued her? Is he inside the city? Did he lose her? Will he find the eagle and will they rescue her together? It’s time to go back to asking, “what comes next?”

I haven’t written a story like this one. There’s no copyright, so it’s fair game if you can flesh it out and make it yours. Not so with my real stories. They are copyrighted, which may be the subject of another post. Stay tuned!

How about you? Do you have a method that keeps your story moving forward? I’d love to know!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Balance our checkbooks. (Hmmmm.)
4. Put Christmas bins away and start taking down the Christmas tree. (*sob!*)
5. Spend an hour editing my friend’s book.
6. Get tax information together for four corporations. (Must do by this time next week!)
7. Make dinner and watch a movie with Bill before turning in for the night.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-18-23, Day 17 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day seventeen of A Day In My Life! Happy Wednesday!

Authors write books from one of two approaches. They outline their story, giving it structure and good bones, and then they flesh it out. We call them outliners. The other authors write the story as it comes to them, letting it ebb and flow as it will, and then go back and make sure it has structure. We call them pantsers. They write by the seat of their pants. I’m one of those.

I’m like the girl in the picture above. My characters lead me into the story, where the landscape of my mind changes and becomes the scenes I want to get down. I see the spaces in which the action happens, and I feel and hear the characters living out the action. When I’m in the zone, where everything around me fades out and all that’s left is the story, the flow excites me, carries me, and opens doors to what comes next. My mind defies outlines. I know, because I’ve tried them.

I admire people who can outline their plot to fill in later. It seems the more logical way to make sure all the elements are in their proper place for a good flow. I imagine the outliner doesn’t run into bogs and snags and writer’s block and wandering plot holes. After all, the bones are there and they’re good ones. The flesh they cover the bones with makes for great stories.

In my case, I found that outlining takes as much time as diving right into it. As I’m outlining, I’m seeing the story unfold, fully fleshed out, and it doesn’t want to follow the lines at all.

The one time I pushed myself to do the planning and write the outline, I got so frustrated with all the scenes and characters pushing me to get them on paper, that I ditched the bones and got back to building the full creature. I’d make a lousy architect.

I credit the fact that my works of fiction are more than bowls of boneless pudding to the years I’ve been an avid reader. Once a person has read thousands of books, they should know instinctively how a story must progress, how it must feel, and how to draw the reader into it. I know other pantsers for whom this approach works well.

I can tell you that when I’m in the zone, and the story flows, I feel like I’m a child dancing in a sunny meadow, free and light and surrounded by the world I have the privilege to create.

How about you? Are you an outliner or a pantser? Why is that approach the best one for you?

By the way, my daily list of things to do is as close as I get to outlining. And because I am how I am, I do the things I want to do and ignore the rest–until time runs out and I do them, or the items drop off and fade into wisps of thought and out the door. “Wasn’t I supposed to …..?”

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-17-23, Day 16 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day sixteen of A Day In My Life! Happy Tuesday!

Remember the two questions people posed to me and other authors when we shared about our books in various venues? I answered the second one, the one about my characters, on Saturday, day thirteen. Today, I’ll do my best to answer question number one: Where did you get your idea for your story? In my case, they were referring to my four-book series. Here’s my answer.

Climate change. Long before the Coronavirus outbreak, and long before the current political climate, earth’s climate was changing. My characters had special gifts and they needed something to use them for. What if the escalating storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and various other real-life disturbances featured in the news nearly every day, were caused by something other than humans?

Ever since I read Erich von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods in high school, I have believed that we are not alone in the universe, and that the ancient aliens still live among us. If they are here, why wouldn’t they also be concerned with global climate change? What if Earth is their home for a reason? What if they can’t go back to where they came from? What if two alien races waged war before our recorded history, wiping out all records of ancient civilizations far more advanced than we are? It would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?

As I discovered real anomalous places on our planet, like Uluru in Australia and the Crystal Cave in Mexico, the Eye of the Desert in Mauritania, and the strange happenings around Mt. Shasta in California, I determined to add them to the story. Setting is important, right?

With so many bits of information to play with, my imagination went into overdrive, and the story came together.

Too much information? The short answer to the question posed to me is this: My idea for the story came from research. Oh, yeah. The aliens didn’t cause the climate to change, either. The secret is buried in the books.

If you’re a writer, where do your ideas come from? I’d really like to know!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Balance our checkbooks. (Okay, this is getting to be ridiculous. I mean, how much time does balancing checkbooks take? I WILL get it done!)
4. Pack ONE bin full of Christmas and put it away. (I’ve packed THREE! One or two more to go before I tackle the tree.)
5. Spend an hour editing my friend’s book.
6. Get tax information together for four corporations. (Who am I kidding? I can’t even get our checkbooks balanced. But I did get 3 bins packed, so that counts for something.)
7. Make dinner and watch a movie with Bill before turning in for the night.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-16-23, Day 15 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day fifteen of A Day In My Life! Happy Martin Luther King, Junior Day!

We lived in Europe during the Civil Rights Movement. Dad had retired from the Army and worked with the Department of Defense as a civilian. Because of his job, we were entitled to all the amenities of the U.S. base in Italy, including schooling. As such, we were untouched by the struggle going on in our country. Our schools were fully integrated, and as kids, we saw no difference between ourselves and children of color. We were all of the Army culture, and our differences were merely genetic in nature. Our parents marked social divisions by rank. We didn’t.

Of course, we knew about the Movement and admired Dr. King and everyone fighting for a cause we believed to be true and just. Rosa Parks deserved to ride wherever she wanted to, and her now famous refusal to move from her seat on that bus started the Montgomery Bus Boycott that sparked the just battle for equality. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was elected as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association formed to support the boycott on the day it started. The boycott lasted 381 days and resulted in full integration of the transportation system. But not without cost.

Dr. King believed the battle against prejudice and division would be won with non-violence. During public marches and protests, the violence, and there was plenty of it, was directed against the protestors. Richard Cohen, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said this, “The violence was being perpetrated by the oppressors, not the oppressed, and that was an incredibly powerful message and an incredibly important tool during the movement.”

In August 1963, thousands of African Americans and whites gathered for the peaceful March on Washington. No arrests were made. This is where Dr. King, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Our country has good reason to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a day of remembrance. Here are a few of his iconic statements made during some of his speeches.

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”

Thank you, Dr. King, for inspiring a nation to change for the sake of love.

All of us would do well to remember that we are all equal in the eyes of God who created us in HIS image, and who obviously loves our many colors.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-15-23, Day 14 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day fourteen of A Day In My Life! Happy Sunday!

Something amazing happened in church today! Not that amazing things don’t happen on other Sundays, but today, the Lord confirmed that my word for the year is HOPE!

Kevin and Donna Jessip, friends from our church who’ve moved to Florida’s west coast, came back to visit and speak today. Kevin is the founder of The Return and Renewal, worldwide movements based on Biblical principles of repentance and a return to our covenant relationship with God. As a church, we prayed for him and with him as he and Rabbi Jonathan Cahn met with leaders in government over the course of five years preparing for this, and we watched as thousands gathered on September 26, 2020, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to repent, pray, and worship the Lord together. Millions took part in live broadcasts around the world, and the Lord moved in powerful ways.

Are you familiar with Rabbi Jonathan Cahn? He’s the author of The Harbinger, The Paradigm, and other books comparing what happened in ancient Hebrew history to what’s going on today. He has partnered with Kevin Jessip. You can read all about it at www.TheReturn.org, if you’re interested.

So, in church, Kevin delivered a wonderful teaching on Joseph and ended with five prophetic principles for 2023, all of which point to God as the Hope of this world. He is the sustainer of hope and the Lord of hope, and because of Him, we have hope. My hope is that each of you will come to know His amazing, enduring, and extravagant love for you.

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (Daily)
3. Rest. It’s Sunday!

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-14-23, Day 13 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day thirteen of A Day In My Life! Happy Saturday!

Why the adorable baby blue dragon? Because I love dragons at that age! And, just maybe, this one will show up in a story I’m working on.

One thing I enjoy about being an author is connecting with people over books. I’ve been privileged to speak about my books at a middle school, at book signings, and at book clubs. The most common two questions people ask me are: “How did you get the idea for your stories?” and “How did you come up with your characters?”

Today, I’ll answer question number two. I’ll share the answer to the first question in another post.

I don’t “come up with” any of my characters. I meet them. Here’s how I met my first character, Jewel Amaryllis Adams.

An exceptional piece of artwork caught my eye as I casually surfed the web one day. Concetta Antico is a tetrachromatic artist, a woman who sees a hundred million colors and whose art reflects her vision. Imagine that! What IS a tetrachromat?

Curiosity led me to websites like this one, Exploring Your Mind, and this one, Healthline, where I learned that tetrachromats have four color cones in their eyes, allowing them to see exponentially more colors than most humans, who have only three. Then I discovered that pentachromacy also exists. If a person with four color cones can see a hundred million colors, what would someone with five color cones see?

A picture began to emerge in my mind. A lovely young woman stepped out of the shadows. Her long black hair shimmered with dark rainbows in the sun, like the feathers of a raven. She gazed at me with large, aquamarine, almond-shaped eyes, smiled, and said, “Hi. I’m Jewel. Who are you?”

I learned that Jewel was seventeen and had just moved to Blue Mountain (fictitious name), NC, from Asheville, where she’d been homeschooled by her scientist parents. She was about to go to a real school for the first time as a high school senior, and she was angry about it. Since she saw people’s auras, in addition to a gazillion colors, her dad invented a pair of color-dampening glasses and made her promise to wear them at all times in school. Jewel was a pentachromat–a smart one, with a loving, supportive family. What’s the fun in that? As it turned out, she was not the only gifted one.

I met the others in much the same way. Curiosity about special abilities led me to more research down many fascinating rabbit holes. As I met each of the characters, I saw where they fit into the story and how they would grow through their experiences together.

The internet has opened doors to unimaginable amounts of information. Meeting my characters led me to learn about a different culture, discover the most fascinating places on planet Earth, read about mysteries galore, and craft a story using much of that information. I wanted to write a story I would have enjoyed reading back when we didn’t have a television in the house. That’s a good thing, considering how many times I’ve read it, edited it, and revised it.

If you’re an author, how do you come up with your characters?

It’s COLD today in Florida. We have winter until Monday. By next Thursday, we’ll be back in the high seventies, low eighties. I’ll take a few days of winter, thank you.

Since I’m not a winter person, I planned to stay home all day. It paid off! I packed one bin full of Christmas, and have a good start on a second one. Our house will look a mess until it’s all put away, but that gives me more incentive to complete the job. Maybe I’ll be done by the time summer rolls around again next Thursday.

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
3. Balance our checkbooks. (Didn’t get done again.)
4. Pack ONE bin full of Christmas and put it away. (Making Progress! This stays on the list until it’s done.)
5. Spend an hour editing my friend’s book. (Maybe tomorrow)
6. Make dinner and watch a movie with Bill before turning in for the night.
7. STAY WARM!

Still seven items on the list. I need the extra padding in this frigid weather.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-13-23, Day 12 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twelve of A Day In My Life! Happy Friday!

Patient Endurance. Two words I never wanted to see together, especially as they pertained to our lives. And yet, God gave that phrase to Bill in 2021 after he prayed for direction for the year.

Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 and pictured above, but I don’t see endurance there. Do you?

I had heard other people talk about their word for the year, and didn’t understand why the Lord would use only one word to guide His people. I know the Word, with a capital W, and I read it every day. It contains many words, as I recall from this morning’s reading. So what’s the story with one word or phrase?

Bill got his phrase, so I asked God for a word, too, hoping it would be something different, like Prosperity, or Healing, or Joy. He didn’t give me one. Instead, He reminded me that Bill and I are one in His eyes, and what’s good for the gander is good for the goose. We were about to get some training.

During 2021, we sold our house in Jupiter and bought a newer one where we are now. The process was certainly a great lesson in patience as we bid on house after house with no success. We stored all our worldly goods and rented a small condo near the beach while we searched. We had given away much of our furniture, and when we finally found our new home, we had to buy a lot of “new” stuff. We did get new mattresses and a new sofa bed, but the rest? Little by little, Bill brought home piece after piece of lovely old stuff he’d bought at thrift stores. Good solid furniture, well-built, and far, far from modern. And yet, as it came together, it became ours and it all worked. The house was undervalued by the owner and filled with upgrades including impact windows. Yay! No more storm shutters! Complete lawn and shrubs maintenance was included in the HOA fees, which were lower than most. No more backbreaking mowing and yard work. We literally traded a 30-year-old home needing some loving attention for a larger 3-year-old with attitude! For the same price! We learned that miracles can come with patient endurance.

As 2021 rolled over into 2022, we prayed and waited for a new word or phrase, maybe one with more pizzazz and less endurance. God wasn’t done with the lessons yet, and patient endurance remained. Medical challenges came along for both of us. We saw God heal, albeit slowly enough to warrant both patience and endurance, and we’re still waiting for other healing to be accomplished. Our income took a hit, but the Lord hasn’t let us down, yet.

Here we are in 2023. It occurred to me that I’d been seeing a lot of one word in my readings and through my devotionals since the New Year. Could it be? Might the Lord be giving me a word this time? I’m going to say it, and if it is what I think it is, then I’ll gladly remind the Lord that what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander.

That word is HOPE.

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Meet with my friend to discuss edits to her book.
3. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (Daily)
4. Balance our checkbooks. (Didn’t get done again. Numbers…)
5. Pack ONE bin full of Christmas and put it away, leaving only six more for another day. (Also didn’t get done yet.)
6. Put together tax information for one of our corporations. (Ugh)
7. Cover the plants for tonight’s frigid temps (our real winter comes in spurts).

Now seven items on the list. It’s getting windy.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

1-12-23, Day 11 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Welcome to day twelve of A Day In My Life! Happy Thursday!

I discovered I was old when our three-year-old granddaughter paused in her hula hoop marathon to check me out as I sat and watched her. She gravely informed me, “Gramma. You’re old.”

When I was a kid, I noticed how little old ladies tinted their white hair blue. I thought it looked pretty. So when, at the ripe old age of sixty-something, I learned I’d become one of them, I decided to own it. The result was a tad more blue than I had imagined. The fact that I didn’t start with white hair might have contributed to the vibrancy of the color.

My blue hair phase lasted until Covid shut the world down. Since I wasn’t going anywhere, I lost the motivation to keep up appearances. No worries. It’s much easier being me when I leave my hair its natural color. Drawing on eyebrows is plenty of maintenance.

Want to know how we wound up with such a large family of kids and grandkids? Well, when a man and woman love each other… No, I am NOT going there.

When Bill and I discovered we loved each other, we each had our own families. I had three children and he had five. We met at a Wednesday Bible study, when our church offered a catered meal at a price we single parents could not ignore. We had nothing in common other than our love for God and our children, and that we enjoyed each other’s company. Our kids went to the same youth group. Their ages meshed, and they got along well.

Before the wedding, we attended a marriage seminar. The speaker, a Christian pastor, said this about second marriages. “If you have teenagers or an adult child living at home, you might reconsider getting married.” His facial expression and the gesture he added to his mild words indicated we should run away as fast as we can. We didn’t.

We had five teenagers and one adult child at home. One daughter was already married, and another was in college. That does add up to eight, right? We ignored the man’s sage advice and spent the next few years in a constant state of drama, laughter, tears, growth, and bonding. Thankfully, Bill and I have a sense of humor and a healthy faith in God, and our union survived.

After a series of weddings, the grand babies came like popcorn: one after the other after the other. Each one precious and loved. Some were added when families broke up and combined with new spouses and their kids. To all of them, we’re Gramma and Grampa. At last count, there were twenty-five of them.

We don’t care how they came into the family. Once ours, ALWAYS ours! The same was true for those kids who came to stay for awhile and moved on to live their lives, related by love rather than blood. We acknowledge and love them all.

I miss the energy of a full house, but relish the peace when only Bill and I are here. We love it when they come to visit, as they do, in waves. If they all came at the same time, we’d have to rent a hotel, or a remote island. Come to think of it, that would be fun!

So now you know why I need spreadsheets to keep track of everyone and everything!

Here’s my to-do list for today:

1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment.
3. Balance our checkbooks. (Didn’t get done yesterday.)
4. Pack ONE bin full of Christmas and put it away, leaving only six more for another day. (Also didn’t get done yesterday.)
5. Do laundry.
6. Make dinner and watch a movie with Bill before turning in for the night.

Still six items on the list. Easy peasy.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org