Sand And Water

Excerpt from Chapter 11 – Stand At The Cross Roads: It was one of the hottest Septembers on record. Scott rented a trenching machine and dug a trough alongside our driveway to lay a quarter mile of water line. Jennifer and I followed behind, trying to lay down the twenty-foot lengths of PVC pipe before the baked sugar sand spilled over and refilled the trench. Hurriedly we glued and fitted each piece to the next, wiping gritty sweat from our eyes as we went. 

            Needless to say, none of us had ever done this before. When we finally attached the up-line, waited for everything to dry, and turned on the spigot, the puny trickle of sandy water that emerged was like manna from heaven.

            Unfortunately, a puny trickle was the most we could get. Scott went up to Woodson’s and asked a couple of his good ol’ contacts what we’d done wrong. Not a thing, they assured him. We just used the wrong size pipe. 

Heavy sighs and blank stares passed between us as the realization hit, but the second time is the charm - right?

Sorry, couldn't get the photo to load from my laptop!

I am SO excited - we are up to 147 FANS - closing in on the magic # of 200+!  Please suggest to your friends that they go to the FAN PAGE and Become A Fan.   I am so incredibly blessed by each and every one of you that I am speechless!

A Diamond In The Rough

Excerpt from Chapter 10 – Stand At The Cross Roads: We watched three of them go, then our tractor was up. When I started bidding, heads turned again. I know the men were wondering, What’s up with her? Nina and I were just about the only women there, and I was definitely the only woman bidding.

            The exciting thing about an auction is not only the expectation of getting a bargain but that quiver in your stomach when you think, What if it’s a piece of junk? What if I’m throwing the hard-won cash from selling my diamond wedding rings into a red-and-gray money pit? Then you think, But what if it’s a steal, what if we drive home today with a real gem? Then again, you think, Am I being foolish, like Jack trading his cow for a handful of beans?

If you haven't already please go to the Stand at the Cross Roads Fan Page and click the “Become a Fan” button.  200 is the magic number that publishers look for to see if a book might have an audience. It would also be extremely helpful if you would re-post this to YOUR Facebook page to encourage your friends to become Fans, too!

Out of Options

Excerpt from Chapter 9 - Stand At The Cross Roads: Looking back, I wonder where we found the nerve to keep hammering on doors.  Can you imagine banks refusing to loan a quarter of a million dollars to a divorcee with no collateral, no job, and no prospects, just 160 acres to her name, and with a loan against that?  I laugh about it now, but I must have been crazy to think they'd even consider it.

Once again, we weren't really in a picture taking mood at this point!

It was so exciting to open Facebook and find 6 more Fans this morning!  It’s like Christmas every morning now! We are up to 135 fans on the Stand At The Cross Roads Fan Page! If you haven't already please go to the Stand at the Cross Roads Fan Page and click the “Become a Fan” button.  200 is the magic number that publishers look for to see if a book might have an audience. It would also be extremely helpful if you would re-post this to YOUR Facebook page to encourage your friends to become Fans, too!

A Stinging Revelation

  "Ow!" I tripped and rolled.

            Scott halted to avoid stumbling over me. I got up, lurched a few steps and fell again.

            "Hilda, come on," he yelled, trying to help me back up while waving the bees away.

            "No, Scott, go on!" With my heart racing, my lungs constricted, I gasped, "If they get me they get me."

            Scott grabbed the back of my belt and hoisted me like a satchel. With my rear in the air, my head bobbing dangerously close to the ground, and my feet flopping, he ran for the cab of the trusty white farm truck we’d bought. Jennifer held the door while he tossed me inside and jumped in behind me.

            It’s funny now. but.....

Thankfully, there is no photo of this episode!   LOL!

We are up to 129 Fans!!! If you would like to help get the word out about God's work through Cross Roads please click the  “Become a Fan” button on the Stand at the Cross Roads Fan Page.  200 is the magic number that publishers and agents look for to see if a book might have an audience.  It would also be extremely helpful if you would re-post this to your Facebook page and encourage your friends and family to become a Fan, too!    

The Walk To Emmaus

Excerpt from Chapter 7 – Stand At The Cross Roads:  And so I did. And he was right, there’s no way to explain the enormous impact Emmaus had on my life. Yes, it’s a retreat for spiritual renewal, but it’s so much more than that. Before you renew you have to get rid of your baggage, through meditation, prayer, fellowship and sharing. For the first time in my life, and I was forty-six years old, I realized that I wasn’t alone anymore. I wasn’t the only woman who felt certain she’d messed her life up beyond repair. I wasn’t the only woman struggling to overcome the effects of a difficult childhood and my own bad choices.  I wasn’t the only woman who felt that, in a world of normal people, she was the odd duck, the problem child, the one who didn’t belong.  I realized that it was okay, God still wanted to use me.

Yeah! Yesterday 12 new people joined the Stand At the Cross Roads Facebook Fan Page!  We are up to 126 Fans!!! If you would like to help get the word out about God's work through Cross Roads please click the  “Become a Fan” button on the Fan Page.  200 is the magic number that publishers and agents look for to see if a book might have an audience.  It would also be extremely helpful if you would forward this to your friends and family and encourage to become Fans, too!    

Hunkered Down

Excerpt from Chapter 6 - Stand At The Cross Roads:  About that time one of my next-door neighbors, Brenda Gaskins, began hounding me about meeting a Christian friend of hers. Brenda was a cheerful, friendly young mother of three with blonde shoulder length hair. Her friend lived "just on the other side of Chriesman," where Brenda pastured her horse.

            Ironically, once again I was too busy trying to figure out things on my own to get involved with people in the community, I kept putting Brenda off, and putting her off, and putting her off. She was relentless. One day she dropped by and found me, as usual, sitting in the dark, my face lit by the computer screen, books and papers scattered on every surface.

            "I’m going to check on my horse. Come get in the truck and go with me. You need to meet my friend."

            Not today. Wearing my usual cutoffs and t-shirt, my hair air-dried and unruly, I just didn’t need this right now. "Brenda - "

             "No excuses. You need to do this. Come on."

If you would like to help me get the word out about God's work through Cross Roads please click on the "Follow" button in the top left corner of this page.  Also, if you are on Facebook please join my fan page.   I have 17 "Followers" on this Blog and another 114 "Fans" on my Facebaok FAN page for a total of 130.    200 is the number that publishers and agents look for to see if a book has an audience.  It would also be extremely helpful if you would forward this to your friends and family and encourage to become Followers and Fans, too!    

Roughing It

Excerpt from Chapter 5 - Stand At The Cross Road: The barely accessible, deeply rutted clay road ran along the west side of the acreage, and a small clearing sat at the top end of that road. To say it was hot understates the weather by about twenty degrees. Texas summers are always hot. But in a Texas thicket, surrounded on all sides by vegetation, by shrubs and vines that grab at your clothing and scratch at your face, the heat comes at you like a steamroller, sucking the breath right out of your lungs.

            There are also the no-see-ums, those tiny bugs that fly up your nose and into your ears and eyes. Scott and Dale faced quite a challenge setting up the tents. Tent stakes simply won’t hold in sand. Jeremy, with far less hassle, helped me hang my hammock between two oak trees, but Jennifer and Nina had to search forever to find rocks for the campfire ring. My nephew, Jay, watched from his perch in a tall oak as he insanely swayed the entire top of the tree a hundred feet off the ground.