End of 2008

As the year comes to an end, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Gil and I will be traveling to Kansas Dec. 20th to spend some time with his relatives in Ft. Scott. We will have a family dinner at Glenda's house on the 21st, a book signing at the local public library on the 22nd, spend some quality time with family members and friends on the 23rd and then head home on Christmas eve....getting home late that afternoon. Suzanne will be going with us for this winter vacation. Happy New Year to you all and may God bless each one in the coming year.

December Events

Our book event at Timonthy Methodist Church Saturday was great! We sold a lot of books and ran into friends and neighbors we had not seen for a while. It was a lot of fun.

Next Saturday we will be at the McCollum-Chidester House Museum in Camden from 10 am to 2 pm signing and selling books. We look forward to that. Mama has stayed over in Camden so she can be at that event.

The next book event is set for Dec. 22nd in Ft. Scott, Kansas, at the public library. The Ft. Scott Tribune had a very nice article about the book last week. Gil and I look forward to seeing family for the holidays and meeting friends at the book event.

January's first book event will be back in Camden on the 17th at the Book and Frame Shop. We will be there from 1-3pm to sign and sell books. What a great beginning to 2009!

RELEASE DATE IS HERE

The big day has finally arrived and our book is officially released today. It is now available on line at Amazon.com as well as Barnes and Noble. Folks that are too far from Arkansas or Louisiana to come to our book signings can go on line and purchase the book at a discount on those websites. Thanks to those folks who ordered the book from the publisher early. Thanks in advance to those folks who will order it now. I think any age person will enjoy reading this true account of a family living in a time that might teach us all some good things and teach us about the history of that era.

Camden Book Events

Our Monroe event did not bring out a lot of people because of the very cold weather (28 degrees that morning), but we sure had a good time and made some contacts for future events, possibly in the Louisiana school districts. Now we move on to Camden events. Mama and I will be at the craft fair on Dec. 6th (Sat.) at Timothy Methodist Church on the Magnolia Highway from 9 - 3 pm. We will have books to sell there.

The Book Signing is set for the next Saturday, Dec. 13th at the McCollum-Chidester House Museum in Camden from 10-2 pm. If you can't make the Dec. 6th event, please come to the one on the 13th. We hope to see many of our friends and neighbors there.

The last book event scheduled this year will be in Ft. Scott, Kansas just before Christmas. Gil's relatives and friends will be able to come. Merry Christmas to all and watch this blog for events scheduled in the New Year.

Invitation to Speak

We have received an invitation to speak at the geneology meeting at the Barton Library in El Dorado, AR. Ms. Wright called to say she feels the society of geneologists would enjoy hearing about our book and have a chance to ask mama questions about her experiences during the depression and WWII. We hope to set that date for January 11, 2009.

Monroe Book Event & TV Interview

The Monroe, Louisiana, book signing is now finalized. We will be at the Ouachita Parish Public Library on Nov. 22nd, Saturday morning from 10:00 until noon. Just as exciting as that will be a live interview for me and mama on Channel 10 out of West Monroe, the NBC station seen in Bastrop, and Camden. This is a large viewing area covering south Arkansas and north Louisiana. The early morning talk show will be hosted by Angela Cruz about 6:15 on the morning of Friday, Nov. 21st. I hope this gets the word out to folks about our book. The Monroe News Star will have an article as well.

Kansas Book Event

While visiting my husband's family in Ft. Scott, Kansas, for the Christmas holidays, we will have a book signing at the Ft. Scott Public library. This will take place on Dec. 22nd, from 2-4 pm. This is the Monday before Christmas. I look forward to seeing family and friends at this event.

New Book Events Scheduled

Our next book event will be in Mena, Arkansas, at the Public Library on Sat. Nov. 15th from 10:30 - 1 pm. I look forward to seeing some CMA faces there.

Then on Sat. Nov. 22nd, we have a tentative date for a book signing at the Main Ouachita Parish Library in Monroe, Louisiana, exact time to be announced.

December 6th will find me and mama at the Timothy Methodist Church in Camden at their craft fair possibly most of the day - times to be announced.

Then on Dec. 13th, Sat. from 10:00 - 2 pm, we will be at the McCollum-Chidester House in Camden, AR. There will be an article in the Camden News to publicize this event, and possibly an interview with me and mama.

Book Event Scheduled

Mama and I will have a book signing (that's us in the picture, me on the left) in Mena, Arkansas on Nov. 15th at the Mena Public Library, 410 8th St. from 10:30 to 1:00 pm. Our book is Sharecropping in North Louisisana - A Family's Struggle Through the Great Depression. Older folk enjoy reading this true account of what it was like growing up a sharecropper's daughter and the struggles my mother and her family faced in the 20s, 30s and 40s. She is 82 and still uses the skills she learned on the farm - cooking, sewing, quilting and gardening. Young people tell us they enjoy the book because of the historical events spoken of by mama as she lived through those events of the Great Depression and WWII. Mama gives her Christian testimony in the book and gives God all the glory for all the blessings she and our family have had in the past, have today and will have in the future. This is our first book and it has been received well. Tate Publishing has been most helpful througout the process. Official release is Nov. 25th 2008.

Home Again

We are home from our mountain-top experiences with CMA in Hatfield/Mena. It was wonderful and our spirits are renewed! We had only one night and day of rain, and the rest of the days were sunny and cool. There was very little color in the trees this year because there has not been enough cool nights to turn the leaves yet. Later this month and into November, the colors will be so beautiful. Maybe we can go back around that time. The librarian in Mena wants me to come back for a book-signing event and her son who is editor of their newspaper wants to do an article on the book prior to the book signing. That should spark some interest in that community. This will be fun for us because we already know many people in the area and will become residents there by next year.

Vacation to Hatfield, Arkansas, CMA Colors Rally

Once again it is vacation time. We always look forward to the Christian Motorcycle Association Colors Rally near Mena, Arkansas. We plan to leave Tuesday, Oct. 14th and set up camp on our reserved RV site on Iron Mountain. Wednesday night will be the opening night of the rally with the guest speaker being Herb Shreve, founder of CMA in 1975. CMA started with two people, Herb and his son, Herbie. Now there are over 100,000 members around the world! God has used this group of people to minister to thousands of lost and weary souls over the past 33 years in many parts of the USA and 25 countries around the world. We will have a grand time worshiping and praising God in the services morning and evening for 4 days with thousands of other bikers from all over the USA. It is a special time of renewal for Gil and me. His prison ministry will end in November with a visit to the Benton Unit of Ark. ADC.

Louisiana Book Events Ended

Well, I am home again from the two book signings in Louisiana. We had a great time in Columbia. Dr. McKeithen's widow dropped by to see us. Her husband delivered me in Columbia in June 1947. It turns out that her daughter is the curator of the museum where we had the book event that day. We also had another special visitor there, one of mama's friends from way back in 1945. They had not seen each other in many years. That was a fun time for them. Another nice surprise in Mangham the next day was seeing the sister of one of mama's classmates from high school. Aunt Sue ran into several people she knew in school and relatives of others.

Book Signings

9-20-08 Mama and I had our first book event in Chidester, AR, her hometown for over 25 years until recently. She moved to Bastrop, La. the 1st of August to live with my sister Judy. It was fun for her to come back to Chidester to see old neighbors and friends from her church there. We held the book signing at the General Store and had a wonderful afternoon.

10-02-08 We went to Bastrop for a signing held at my cousin's beauty shop, Cuttin' Up & Co. We did not have a big turnout that day, but Sharon kept books on hand to sell customers and friends who might stop by the shop in the future. Some special people from our past stopped in to see us. We had lived in Bastrop from 1953 to 1972. Judy and I both graduated from BHS as did Judy's three daughters. It was certainly a special day for us.

10-11-08 Columbia, La. will be out next book signing. It will take place at the Schepis Museum on Main St. The Caldwell Watchman has interviewed us and will have an article in the paper about the book and our event. I was born in Columbia, and my father grew up there in the 20s and 30s. This should be a very special day because mama also lived there in the late 40s after she and daddy married and when I was a little girl.

10-12-08 Mangham is the small town not far from Columbia where we will have a book signing at the Community Center, named for Mr. T. A. Judd, mama's high school principal in the early 40s. She grew up on farms in Caldwell and Richland parishes, along the Beouf and Ouachita Rivers. She graduated from Mangham High in 1944. This will be a special time for us to meet the people of Mangham.