You can enter by making a comment on my blog or a comment on my Facebook author page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Merrillee-Whren/233910490013374

Each comment will be counted as an entry. Only one comment per blog or Facebook post will be counted. Each new blog or Facebook post provides an opportunity to comment and receive another entry.

Must be 18 or older to win.

No purchase necessary.

Void where prohibited.

Chances of winning may vary based on the number of entries received.

Winners are final.

All rules and regulations are subject to change at any time without reason or notification.

Entering this contest is an agreement to abide by all rules and regulations.

Prizes are as stated. No substitution or exchanges.

All entrant information is strictly confidential and will not be shared.

 The contest ends at midnight on March 20, 2012 EST, and the drawing for the winner will held on March 21, 2012. The winner will be notified at that time.

The winner will receive a Nook.

The winner has seven days to respond to the winner e-mail notification or else the prize will be forfeited and a new winner drawn.

I am not responsible for mistyped or misrepresented e-mail addresses, SPAM filters or internet problems when delivering the notification e-mail.

I admit that I like shoes and have more than my share of footwear. I have shoes for athletic endeavors–tennis, walking, running and water sports. I own flip flops for sport and dress. My closet is filled with flats, medium heels and high heels in various colors. I have casual and dress shoes. You will find sandals, clogs and slippers amongst my footwear. I even have a couple of pairs of boots left over from the time I lived in the north.

I have to tell this story about shoes. My husband was on a business trip and happened to sit next to a young man who said he was engaged to be married. He looked at my husband and asked, “Does your wife have a lot of shoes?” My husband responded that I did. My husband was curious about the question and soon learned that the young man couldn’t understand why his fiancee had to have multiple pairs of brown shoes. I laughed when my husband told the story. Don’t men know that you have to have brown shoes with low heels and high heels? And you have to have light brown, medium brown and dark brown shoes, too.

We need to remember whatever shoes we are wearing that we should let God guide our steps as we read in Psalm 119:133. “Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.”

Do you like shoes? Do you have a favorite pair?

Here we are cutting our cake. We were married in the 1970s , thus the maroon tuxedo. Tuxedos the color of the rainbow were in style at that time. We laugh when we look back at our wedding photos. I wonder whether my kids will laugh when they look back at their wedding photos. 

Since we were married on Valentine’s Day, we decided early on that we wouldn’t get gifts for each other. Instead, we have bought things for the house that we both can share. We have bought numerous pieces of furniture and rugs. Here is one of my favorites, our grandfather clock.

How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Do you remember an extra-special Valentine’s Day?

My daughter is having a baby girl sometime in May. She and her husband are in the process of picking out a name, but they still haven’t decided on one. These days there are lots of websites that feature baby names. Here is one that gives the meaning of names. In some cultures, the meaning of a name is important. We often read in the Bible how people were given names with a special meaning. Here is one from the story of Moses recounted in Exodus 2:10. “When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, ‘I drew him out of the water.’”

I often use this website to find names for my characters when I start a new book. I figure out what their age would be, and often use a name from the list of popular names for the year in which they were born. I try to use last names that are common to an area. In my Kellerville series, I used many German names because that area of Ohio near Cincinnati was settled by many people of German descent. I also liked using the German names because my father’s family was German. My maiden name was Luft which means “air” in German. In my latest book, Montana Match, my hero’s first name, Parker, was his mother’s maiden name.

I also have an unusual first name that isn’t found on any list that I know of. There are advantages and disadvantages to having an uncommon name. Having an unusual name means it stands out, but it can also mean having it misspelled many times. It means when I do a Google search for my name, I find information about me and not some other person with the same name.

Do you like your name? Do you know what it means?

My husband and I in front of the stadium before the game.

 During the game between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles.

This was part of halftime. Paul McCartney put on a great show.

 This is the celebration after the Patriots won the game.

Here’s a picture of the scoreboard and the final score as Terry Bradshaw interviews New England’s quarterback, Tom Brady.

I was cheering with great enthusiasm for another Patriots win in last Sunday’s game, but they didn’t win.

I am reminded that football isn’t of great importance in the view of eternity. But the game and the stadium also remind me of the scripture that I recently studied in Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (NIV)

We have those who are cheering us on as we run life’s race. As we look to Jesus, we will be winners. We will be victorious!

I think the idea of hanging onto things stemmed from several instances where I did discard something and then wished I hadn’t done so. When I was in high school I played a flute in the band. We had to wear black oxfords when we marched. I had an ugly pair of black oxfords that I finally threw away when I went to college. I attended a small Bible college that didn’t have a band, but one year (and I don’t remember how) I got involved with the band at the local liberal arts college. I was going to march with their band in their homecoming parade. You guessed it. I needed those ugly black shoes, but I had gotten rid of them. So I had to get a new pair that were just as ugly and had no use other than in a marching band. However, after all these years, I still have my flute even though I haven’t played it in public in over twenty-five years. Here it is. The silver finish needs a good polishing.

Sometimes saving things pays off. Even though I got rid of a lot of things each time we moved, especially when we downsized our house in our move to Florida, there are some things I didn’t discard. One of those things was all the stuffed animals our daughters collected. Some of them I have sitting in the window seat in one of the guest bedrooms. Others are in the built-in chest in the window seat.

When my granddaughter was here last week, my daughter asked if I still had all those Care Bears from she was a kid. My granddaughter loves the Care Bears just as her mother did when she was a child. Much to my granddaughter’s delight, I quickly searched through the window seat chest and pulled out the old Care Bears. Here she is with all the Care Bears and a couple of her other favorite stuffed toys lined up on the couch.

She went home without the Care Bears, but she called tonight and said she missed them and asked if I would send her a couple. Of course, this grandma will be sending some her way.

This post about “things” reminds me of what God says about our possessions in his word in Matthew 6:19-21. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So there may not be any harm in saving things, but we should remember where our real treasure lies. Are you a saver or thrower? What kinds of things do you hate to discard?

After a little break to visit Disney World with my granddaughter, this week I’ve got one more garden blog. The photo above shows a portion of my strawberry patch. You can even see a couple of ripe berries.

Last year in late spring I was shopping at our local K-mart, and I noticed that they had several flats of strawberry plants. The gardener in me couldn’t resist buying them. After I brought them home, I waited several days before planting them because I was looking for the sunniest non-grassy spot in my yard. That’s no easy task because our yard has lots and lots of trees and shade. But I finally settled on a spot. I didn’t expect to see any strawberries the first year, but the plants did produce a few. Unfortunately, often times before I picked the ripe ones, either the racoons, squirrels or some other varmint either ate the whole thing or took a big bite out of it.

This year there have been more strawberries. I have actually had a few, and they are quite good. But I still am having trouble with pests beating me to the ripe ones. This photo shows a few green ones and blossoms that promise more berries.

 I love fruit, but I think I have to say that strawberries are my favorite. I am reminded of the verses in the Bible that talk about the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5: 22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Besides eating fruit, which is good for our physical health, we should strive to add the fruit of the Spirit, which is good for spiritual health. This year I’m working on joy. So that means being joyful even when the critters get to my ripe strawberries before I do.

What is your favorite fruit, and is there a spiritual fruit that you are working to add to your life?

When our first daughter was born nearly thirty-four years ago, my husband bought me a small prayer plant. Over the years the plant grew, and I repotted it several times. By the time I had owned it for fifteen years, it had grown quite large. During that fifteenth year, we moved from Massachusetts to Texas. When you move long distance, you are told that the movers will NOT guarantee that your plants will survive the move. They are boxed up and put into the dark trailer of a moving van. They receive no water, and there is no heat control. This move took place in August, and if you’ve never been to Texas in August, you can’t imagine the heat. We arrived in Texas, and a day later our possessions arrived. Some things we put in storage, and the rest we moved into the apartment we were renting temporarily until we could move into our new house that was under construction.

I opened up the boxes, and much to my delight, all of my plants had survived the long, hot trip. The apartment was small, but I managed to find a place for the plants. We lived there for not quite five months. During that time, the prayer plant began to look rather sickly. It turned yellow, then brown. Nothing I did seemed to make it better. I was truly sad because I had had the plant so long, and it held a special place because of the gift occasion. When we were ready to move into our new house, the plant had turned completely brown. I was sure it was dead, but I didn’t get rid of the pot or the plant. I just put it in the garage which had no windows, so it was completely dark. I even put another smaller pot on top of the dirt in the pot where the prayer plant had been. There was no sign of plant life in that pot.

The following spring, over six months later, I had another plant that needed to be put into a bigger pot. I remembered the pot in the garage and knew it was the perfect size. I went to the garage to retrieve the pot and removed the smaller one. Much to my surprise, there was a tiny sprout–the beginnings of a prayer plant. How could that be? The plant had received no water or light for over six months. All I can figure is that deep in the dirt there was still life. Today I have that prayer plant and several others that have sprouted from the original. It is a lesson to remember. Even when things seem hopeless, don’t give up.

We’ve had some cold nights lately, so the plants are indoors. I’m wondering whether I should move them back outside now or wait to make sure the nights are warm enough, especially since they are scattered all over my house–some in inconvenient places. Here are a few photos.

Plants in my kitchen.

More around my kitchen table.

Plants in my dining room. This one is more like a tree.

Plants in the bedroom.

Plants in the living room. I think I’m going to keep this one inside. It was outside for a couple of cold nights, and even though I covered it, you can see the brown and yellow leaves. It was so green this summer.

I’m trying to take care of my plants in hopes that they will continue to thrive, but they remind me that the one thing we can count on to endure is God’s word.

1 Peter 1: 23-25 “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,

   ‘All people are like grass,

   and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

   the grass withers and the flowers fall,

   but the word of the Lord endures forever.’”

If you have house plants, do you keep them inside all of the time?

.