How’s Your Curb Appeal?
ALT="Colorado blue spruce tree"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer In one of my upcoming novels, a character says, “Sometimes we don’t see the things we’ve grown accustomed to.” Such an observation works for the bad as well as the good, and I recently discovered how. This summer we revamped the front of our

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Meet Caryl McAdoo, Author of Texas Tears from Thanksgiving Books & Blessings
ALT="covers for Thanksgiving Books & Blessings"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Summer is slipping away and September will be here in two weeks. So will a new six-book collection of historical Christian romances, “Thanksgiving Books & Blessings.” I’m excited to be a part of this collection and honored today to introduce you to the veteran

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God’s Address: the end of your rope
ALT="end of a rope with no knot"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer We’ve all heard the familiar saying, “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and perhaps others are credited with that pithy line on perseverance, but I’ll bet the barn

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Calm in the Midst of the Pyrotechnics
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By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup was laid out and maintained like a theme park. Disneyland and Six Flags, move over. Everything was bright, pristine, and welcoming as we pulled our rig in next to the arena and set up camp for the

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Speak to the Earth and It Will Teach You
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By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer At first, you might not notice much difference between these two unretouched photographs other than one has no direct sunlight and one does. I took these two images about an hour apart – before sunrise and after. No filters. No corrections. Just raw pictures

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Sometimes Life’s a “Mud-eo”
ALT="muddy rodeo arena"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer In the sport of rodeo, the game is never called on account of rain. Well, almost never. The only place I saw a performance canceled due to weather was Drummond, Montana, where standing water mirrored the bucking chutes (above). But there was no cancellation

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Late Again … Thank God
ALT="stormy night and road"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Last Monday I had a 2 p.m. appointment and just enough time to get there. Then the phone rang with a long-distance call. And the dog wouldn’t go back in the yard because he was freaked out by an approaching storm. How does a

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Life, Liberty, and a Little Help from Our Friends
ALT="bullfighter, bull, bull rider"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer For my family, equating the Fourth of July with rodeo is a long-standing habit. Yes, we’ve barbecued and sometimes watched fireworks, but when our kids were growing up, we never celebrated at the house. We didn’t have a house. We had a 16-wheel rig

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Time Is a Runaway Horse

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The bad news is, six months from today is Christmas Eve. The good news is, six months from today is Christmas Eve. I guess it all depends on how you look at it. Remember when you were a kid and Christmas couldn’t come quickly

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Evangelism for Introverts: Have Some Tea
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Today I’m pleased to introduce you to author and blogger Patrice Lewis, who has a refreshing idea about evangelism. Grab a cup of tea, sit back, and enjoy the freedom of her perspective (as well as her great photos). By Patrice Lewis If there’s one group of

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Going Off-Grid (Guiltlessly)
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By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Last week I left it all behind. Well, sort of. I took my laptop because I was, after all, planning to write. Which meant I also needed my smart phone and Nikon camera. Now that I think about it, I lived more off-grid when

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Forever #lovingthecowboy
ALT="anniversary card picture of cowboy and sweetheart"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer “I do” was a high-priced promise. On this, the anniversary of my wedding, I see how those two little words spoken so long ago were life-changers. That’s one of the things I love about words—and writing them. They can open our hearts to a

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Memorial Day Historical Giveaway
ALT="book cover, Far Side of the Sea"

I felt it quite fitting that today’s post for Memorial Day be presented from wartime novelist Kate Breslin. Kate’s answers to my questions are well thought-out and insightful. Comment below for entry into a giveaway for a paperback copy (ships US) of her latest release, Far Side

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O Taste and See That the Lord is Good!
ALT="girl eating donut"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I don’t even like donuts, but this enthusiastic eater of doughy delights makes me want one. Do food commercials affect you that way? What about a billboard with an image of someone chomping into a juicy burger or slurping a double-scoop ice-cream cone? Yeah,

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All I Want
ALT ="camp fire"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Have you ever wanted something so simple that it crosses all barriers of time and culture? I have. Fire.             The warmth of a wood stove on a cold spring morning.             The campfire of a cowboy who rolls out

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