We Have a Winner!
Drumroll, please! Through a random draw of comments and e-mails, the winner of the Amish cookbook goes to...the person who left this anonymous comment on my blog: My husband and I just wrote a check for $300 to help cover some hospital expenses for a little 12 year girl who lost her battle with cancer. The family racked up a lot of debt with her sickness. We felt led to ease the burden. Ah, such irony! The person did a good deed, anonymously. And let me know about it, anonymously. So now I have a dilemma...who wrote this comment? And how will I ever know it's really that individual?Fortunately, my dear bleaders are an honest lot. So Anon

Big Week! Big News!
This was a big week! I spent yesterday at The Corner Store in Sonoma, California, for a "Dogs on the Square" event held to benefit Guide Dogs for the Blind. The Corner Store and four local restaurants donated a portion of the evening's proceeds to GDB. I signed books from late afternoon to early ev

Wrestling the Turkey
I was in Target last weekend and stunned by how much of the store was devoted to Christmas, a small section to reduced Halloween stuff, and only a tiny little endshelf to Thanksgiving. To me, that's sad! When we lived in Hong Kong, I developed a passion for Thanksgiving. It is such uniquely American event, with its own smell and feel different than any other holiday. It wasn't celebrated in HK, for obvious reasons. The kids had school, husbands had work. I missed Thanksgiving and made myself a promise to forever host this special holiday. I love that all-day turkey roasting smell, and sitting down to a traditional dinner surrounded by faces I love. Thanksgiving is a

Blogs and Chickens
I received this award the other day from Christian writer and speaker Jennifer Hallmark. An interesting woman who happens to be a chicken farmer, too. Who knew? Thanks, Jennifer!

Volunteerism
I received an e-mail last week, out of the blue, from a young woman named Michal. She has created a blog called Volunteer Experiences. She wanted to interview me about my work with Guide Dogs for the Blind. We spoke on the phone the next day and this article is the result!That girl does her homework! She had read other things I wrote, did some fact checking, and sent the post to me for final corrections. Impressive!If you know of an interesting volunteer (maybe even you?), please pass that info on to Michal at her blog. She's always looking for inspiring stories.There's just something about vo