I'm travelling tomorrow, so it's short & sweet today! 💌

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.

Tomorrow I return to the UK and hubby flies to our Bulgarian retirement home. Another month without meeting up, because we still have a house full of kittens who aren’t ready to live with the outside cats if one of us isn't here. Due to the needs of the cats we’re responsible for, we haven’t been together since March, and that was only a few hours. I’m hoping the kittens will be ready to live more independently in six weeks, at least enough that hubby and I can get a day or two together! Maybe even an entire three day weekend…

I’ve been very busy and I’m still very busy, between cat care, working on the house and yard, all the usual housework type stuff, supporting hubby long distance, participating in village life, and book related work. So because I’m travelling most of the day tomorrow, I’m sending a shorter newsletter today and will follow-up with a lot more news and the usual f-r-e-ebook links on Saturday, God willing.

So, on to the book news — two sweet new release Christian romances!

A Christian best friend's brother workplace romance!

Dear friend Rose Fresquez, a talented author as well as one of the sweetest and kindest people I know, has a new release! Yours Forever is a Christian friends-to-love workplace romance, and though I haven’t read it yet I know from Rose’ previous stories it will be warm, tender, and always stay the right side of clean.

Marion Ueckermann's sweet final story is now available!

I mentioned last week that it was the anniversary of one of my dearest and sadly missed friend’s passing from COVID, and that I’m helping her family by publishing some wonderful stories he didn’t get time to publish herself. Well, I hadn't planned to launch so soon, but her family were keen to see the next book, I Take You, the story she completed shortly before falling ill, published ASAP. So, the book launched last Thursday, on her anniversary, after I’d already sent out my newsletter! It’s a shorter, very sweet, very faith-focused shorter novella, set in New Zealand as her father’s actions threaten a bride-to-be’s cherished wedding plans. If you’re looking for a sweet and uplifting short read with a theme of forgiveness and trusting God’s will, give this a try!

No f-r-e-e recommendations today!

But look out for my Saturday newsletter when I hope to have plenty of no-cost ebooks to share!

Pet news

Well, it’s been busy! The kittens continue to delight and frustrate me in equal parts! The original four are now 11 weeks old, growing, playful, active, spending hours outdoors each day but continuing to see the house as their home. And one of Cafe Cat’s kittens, a sweet little ginger and white boy who enjoyed playing with the house kittens, decided to move in. I’ve been able to get them feeding outside morning and evening with the adult cats, another step forward in their transition to a more outdoor life.

I was able to get the vet to visit and give two of last year's females and one of the mums who has weaned her kittens contraceptive injections. All went well apart from not being able to find Pippie, now visiting less frequently (who of course turned up later), and Callie, the smallest and wildest of last year’s kittens, biting me hard on one finger. Oddly, since then, she’s been much tamer with me, letting me touch her, stroke her, and even pick her up. Almost as if she’s apologetic, when I’d expected we’d go back to me not being able to get near her! I’m hopeful we can get Pippie done when a couple of other cats get their shots later this month, as I deliberately didn’t wait till the last minute to arrange these injections, just in case we did have problems with any of the cats.

Tiger’s eye which was inflamed by a grass seed remains good after treatment. And Black Tom’s huge abscess which left behind a circular wound almost three inches across has almost completely healed now.

We’re down from last week’s eleven kittens in the house and garden to just six, and one of those spends some time with us and more time with a neighbour. Cafe Cat has taken her other four kittens to a neighbour’s house and I rarely see them. One of the more feral mother cats, who is impossible to get close to and we’re calling Nervous Tabby, had hidden two tiny and sickly looking kittens with eye infections in our tumbledown old animal housing, and they moved out into the garden for a while. I so wanted to manage to catch these kittens to treat their eyes. Then she too moved them to the neighbour's house.

Thankfully one kitten came back to our yard in the evening yesterday, and I am so relieved I managed to catch her to give her some very necessary attention. As well as one eye being completely shut it was clear she’d also developed a potentially life-threatening bowel problem, something I’d never seen before but knew was very serious. Again, tears and prayers over one of the tiny creatures.

It was such a blessing to be able to treat both problems, feed her, and this morning to see her with both eyes open and bright, no sign of the bowel problem, eating well at a separate feeding station I set up for her and mum, and scampering around like a kitten her age should. I wish I could get a photo of her, that sweet little grey face peeking out from between the posts supporting the porch railing! I wish even more I could catch the other kitten and treat its eyes as well, but I wasn't able to. Gotta tell myself it’s a good sign that the kitten is well enough to evade capture!

This is Squeak, the smallest of LG’s kittens, relaxed on a tool bag. Deeply asleep though obviously dreaming because she was squeaking away! A few minutes later she’d woken up, found a favourite toy (a red and white crocheted tree ornament), and was running around the kitchen with it, growling fiercely at the other two who chased her for almost half an hour. Oh, to have the energy of a healthy kitten!

I’ll post the names of last week’s ebook-giveaway winners in Saturday’s newsletter. But five subscribers who click any link in this newsletter by Sunday July 5, 2026 (how can half the year be gone already!) will be randomly chosen to win their choice of my solo ebooks.

Until Saturday, 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,

And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? Luke 12:28 NLT

I find it’s waaaay too easy to get caught up in worries. Cat care, finances, house repairs, family issues, hubby’s health, having to return to the UK, applying for my residency visa for Bulgaria, writing, injustice in the world, and more, and more, and more..…

We all have long lists of concerns — the things we want to fix, that we work on, that we feel are up to us to put right. Many of these things are real and important.

But Jesus reminds us, we don’t need to worry. We can put our faith in God as He cares for us no matter what and supports us though whatever He has asked us to carry.