Back in the UK -- with a gift for you! 💌

Hello, lovely reader!

I hope you and those you love are happy, safe, and well. I'm praying for God's peace and love to rest on the world, and on you, too, especially in these troubled times.

First, happy 4th of July to all my American readers. On the 250th birthday of the nation, it’s a time to remember what the Declaration of Independence says. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” May leaders of all nations govern wisely, according to God’s will, in a way that respects the rights of all people to life and equality under the law!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for hubby and I as we travelled on Thursday! We both made it to our destinations with only the most minor of issues on the way. He’s now in Bulgaria dealing with the very naughty kittens, who managed to climb up onto a kitchen shelf and knock down one of my jars of cherry syrup, breaking the seal when it hit the tiled floor, leaving him with a mess to clean up! Thankfully it sounds like the jar didn’t leak tooooooo much. That jar now goes in the fridge and the rest in a cabinet the kittens haven’t worked out how to open yet!

And I’m back to our UK house with our mob of rescue cats, who were happy to see me after almost a month away. There’s a certain sense of comfort in returning here, where everything is familiar and I don’t need to struggle to understand what someone is saying or to remember the words for things. But I’m also missing Bulgaria, the peace of the village, the kittens, the house I’m working to turn into a home. Right now, both places feel like home, and yet neither place feels completely like home, a confusing and contradictory way to feel.

I think God is reminding me that our true home is always with Him, and as long as we trust Him and rely on Him, we are Home, no matter where we are in the world. Home with a capital H!

And on to the book news!

I’m starting Christmas in July with a gift for you - two small-town romances from my Huckleberry Lake series, filled with faith, family, and community! If you don’t already have these heartwarming stories celebrating the true meaning of Christmas, I hope you enjoy them. The Christmas at the Lake ebook should be f-r-e-e in all regions on Amazon, for this weekend only! Please let any of your friends know who you think might enjoy reading my books.

Here are the new f-r-e-e additions for my to-be-read library this week! No-cost this morning on Amazon but prices do change so be sure to check before hitting the buy button! All should be clean and faith-friendly, and many are from authors I’ve worked with in the past. But as I haven’t read any of these stories yet, I hope I haven’t missed anything I wouldn’t normally choose to share!

• Operation Fireworks by Elizabeth Maddrey is a sweet 4th of July romance of faith and redemption;

• Shadowing Stella by Elle E. Kay is Christian romantic suspense;

• The Minister’s Bond by Lee Tobin McClain is a small-town Christian romance;

• Topaz Treasure by Valerie Comer is an opposites attract Christian romance.

And some books that aren’t f-r-e-e, but I want to recommend them if you have any spare cash to spend! I read book 4, newly released, and the flight home and I laughed, I cried, I was glad I had plenty of tissues with me. The Aveline stories by Rae Walsh are all clean Christian romance / women’s fiction as couples find love and deeper faith while wresting with real life problems and social justice issues. I downloaded book 1 when it was on f-r-e-e days a couple of years ago, and loved it. She does make it available at no cost periodically so it’s worth watching out for!

CLEAN CHRISTIAN CHRISTMAS FICTION

This group promo includes a selection of clean Christian Christmas fiction! All are available to buy on Amazon or to borrow in Kindle Unlimited. Includes my Christmas sets The Greatest Gift (all my Christmas stories) and Together for Christmas (a sampler of four). I know the organiser will have checked all books carefully, so there’s unlikely to be any content I wouldn’t normally recommend.

If you don’t have Kindle Unlimited, Amazon’s subscription ebook service, find out more about a no-cost trial here.

I was concerned the kittens might have forgotten hubby while he was in the UK, a month is a long time in their short lives so far. But no, they remember him just fine, and aren’t missing me at all! Despite being much bigger than they were last time he was there (even little Squeak now weighs over 1 kg/ 2.2 pounds), THREE still managed to squeeze onto his lap while he sat at the kitchen table last night.

And the UK cats are glad I’m back and aren’t leaving my side, either, apart from downstairs cat, Roxy, and outside cat, Missus. They also seemed happy to see me, but don’t come up on the bed, my workplace as well as sleep place! Photo taken just now, as I write this newsletter.

This week's randomly chosen ebook winners are Karen, meemaw, Rebecca, Christy, and Ethel. If your first name or the name in your email address matches one of the winners' names in the list above, reply letting me know which of my solo ebooks (sorry, sets are not included) you'd like as a free Bookfunnel download. You can see them all here. His Tender Mercy and Heart in Hiding aren't yet released, so if you opt for one of these, you'll be added to a wait list and get a copy when your choice is finally reader-ready.

Until next week, I'm praying you and those you love are happy and healthy, with many precious moments of peace and joy to brighten your days.

Blessings, and happy reading,

Psalm 32:7 was the verse to journal on in my Bible study plan yesterday, another way God is reminding me that my true home is in Him and with Him. I love how the First Nations Version paraphrases this: O Great Spirit, you are my hiding place. You watch over me and keep me safe in times of trouble. You sing over me with songs that wrap around me like a warm blanket, songs that tell how you set me free from all harm. We can trust Him to keep us safe and watch over us.

I also love the lavender, there are a couple of beautiful fields fully in flower along the road from our Bulgarian village to town. The town hosted a lavender festival last Saturday, where I enjoyed a concert, a lavender ice cream cone, and lavender lemonade, all at no-cost!