Blog Award and Lacy Underwear

Although five years older, my “big sister” is about five inches shorter than me. I always looked up to her because she did everything first, and did everything better than I did. Of the two girls in my family, she was and is the sweet one and I was the mean one. She is still sweet and me—well, I am still a work in progress. My favorite Bible Verse is “Be as smart as a snake and as gentle as a dove.” I am as smart as I will ever be, and I am still working on the gentleness; I have a long way to go.

My big sister Maresa had a great group of friends in high school. It was through one of these friends, Jan Silverthorn Urban, of Remembering My Grandmother’s Kitchen, that I was nominated for the Reader Appreciation Award for my writing on this blog. Thank you to Jan Silverthorne Urban for the nomination and support. Check out her blog and her book, Gator Bait, at Amazon.com.

As a recipient of this award, I am bound to publish seven interesting thing about myself. Warning: It is most probably too much information.

1.  I have read the entire bible all the way through one time, and am on track for doing it for the second time by the end of this year. (Maybe I will get at least 11 days ahead of schedule in case there is anything to that whole Mayan story.)

2.       I am wearing the first pair of lace undies that I have worn since I was a child.

   3. I have thrown a live hand grenade. (But not while wearing lacy undies.)

   4. One of my proudest moments of my life was learning to ride my bicycle without training wheels at the age of six. I haven’t accomplished much of anything since then.

   5. I had my first gray hair at the age of seventeen.

   6. I almost drowned two different times in my childhood. My sister Maresa saved me the first time. A lifeguard saved me the second. That’s why I became a Methodist. I have a fear of immersion.

   7.Once I realized that my shoe size is a 10 ½ and not a 8 ½, my feet have felt much better. (Wonder if that works for lacy underwear? Size matters indeed.)

My next instruction is to list other blogs to pass this award on to: nominations, if you will….

  1.   http://www.Collettescott.blogspot.com

  2.   http://www.Sharonhenning.blogspot.com      

  3.  http://www.aholyexperience.com

  4.   www.Midlifejobhunter.blogspot.com

  5.   www.amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com
    6.   http://homesteadsurvival.blogspot.com/

Please visit these blogs and see what interests you.

I am humbled and honored that approximately one year ago, I won a writer's retreat to Laity Lodge. This year I won this award. 

Thank you for reading.

copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins

Laity Lodge-It is Well With My Soul

This is the last of a four part series about the writer's retreat at Laity Lodge. Here are the links for:
 Part 1
 Part 2
 Part 3
                                                                                                                     

View of the beautiful Frio River. Sept. 2011

My first writer’s retreat; I had no idea what activities to expect. I had registered for the nonfiction workshop led by David Dark. Gregory Wolfe led the other nonfiction workshop. Julia Kasdorf led poetry, Andy Gullahorn and Jill Phillips led songwriters and Jeffrey Overstreet led fiction. 

Julia Kasdorf reads

A special presentation occurred each night, along with singing. With the soft voice of Stephen Purcell opening a poetry reading by Julia Kasdorf on the first night, I felt like I was live at a PBS show. I had never attended a poetry reading before.

Singer, songwriter Andy Gullahorn

I loved that worship began each day. If every gathering, every activity in our lives began with worship, wouldn’t life so much more fulfilling and so much more of how God intended it to be? I want the life that God intended for me to have. I found it at Laity Lodge.

Author Jeffrey Overstreet speaks

Jeffrey Overstreet spoke on Friday morning with help from Kermit the Frog. a panel discussion about self-publishing and self-promotion occurred on Friday evening, with the sweeping changes in the publishing industry being one of the highlights of the discussion. Again, I felt like I was on the set of PBS. David Dark spoke that night.

Panel Discussion

Greg Wolfe spoke at the Saturday worship service, giving an address that he gave at a college graduation. That evening was highlighted by a concert by Andy Gullahorn and Jill Phillips who harmonize in both song and their relationship.

Sign marking hiking trail

Circle Bluff sign

Various boats were available for use.

In between all of the workshops and presentations, there were hikes, kayaking, art workshops and an art exhibit. I tried to participate in everything and squeeze out every drop of the experience that I could. However, I have to admit that I did skip the concert to fellowship with some of the other people attending. I got to sit with published authors talking about their publishing experience--priceless!

Gordon Atkinson speaks on the last day.

Andy Gullahorn plays his guitar

Jill Phillips and Andy Gullahorn lead the last song of the weekend: "It is Well With My Soul"

The highlight of the weekend for me was on the last day. At every session in the great hall the chairs were turned away from the river toward the fireplace. This was done so that no one would get distracted by the beauty outside and fail to pay attention to the activity at hand. But on that last morning, the chairs faced the river. Steve Purcell led the worship featuring communion. He gave people time to prepare to share a few words about their experience if they felt so led. I thought, “Well, I won this retreat. I have to speak, if just to say thank you.” At that thought tears began to well up in my eyes. That doesn’t happen often. As we sang, I had tears running down my cheeks realizing that God’s grace had brought me here and he had carried me in the palm of his hand all weekend. I don’t know that I have ever felt this before in my life; not this real. We had the opportunity to share and I led it off, with others sharing that they had been given the opportunity to attend with anonymous donations from others as well.  It was hard for people to hold back their emotions as they spoke. And then, Pat Spreng broke the serious mood, inciting laughter when she volunteered, “Well, I just want everybody to know that I had to pay my own way.” We all cracked up.

The Body and Blood of Christ

After communion, I felt such joy that I was thinking that we should sing a song that is really upbeat. Andy and Jill surprised me with a beautiful rendition of “It is Well With My Soul”. We all sang this together in harmony. Looking over the beautiful river, in the room with so many wonderful souls, I sang with tears running down my face; I realized that it is indeed well with my soul….

Until next year.....

Amen.
Note: To read the previous article in this series, go here.

Linking up today with L.L. Barkat at Seedlings in Stone and Laura Boggess at The Wellspring








copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins

Laity Lodge-Kindred Spirits

This is the third post of a four part series on my experience at the writer's retreat at Laity Lodge. Click on these links to read the other posts:


Part 1
Part 2
Part 4

In The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis writes about deep friendships that are between kindred spirits. These are people who have more in common than merely convenience or living in close proximity to one another. These are people who see and care about the same truths. At the Laity Lodge Writer's Retreat, the rooms were full of kindred spirits. These were people who are writers, with a deep belief in their God. Many are book authors. Most are bloggers, and some attended in anticipation of beginning to write.

I walked up to a group of writers at the meet-and-greet when immediately I heard a lady say, “Oh, you’re the one who won the contest!” She had read my nametag. I sheepishly smiled as some of the others turned to stare. I was meeting all of them for the first time. Many of them already knew one another. They had met at the retreat last year. Many others had been corresponding on the internet and knew each other but were meeting in person for the first time.

I went to get refreshments and people were introducing themselves. Arriving with my own preconceived notions about  people from seeing their pictures on The High Calling website, meeting them in person was quite a surprise. I expected L.L. Barkat to be ten feet tall. She is an accomplished writer, teacher, editor, publisher, wife and mother. So, when a very petite feminine lady walked up to me and introduced herself, I politely said hello. Then, my brain processed who she said that she was and I couldn’t speak for shock. She was ten feet tall in accomplishments and character only.

We had dinner in a dining room with long wooden tables, more like the kind that you would have in a family dining room rather than at a retreat center. I was amazed that the conversation never seemed to wane. There was none of the nervous first conversations that are usually encountered at retreats among people who were meeting for the first time. Not even among the newbies like me. I guess that is because most everyone there was a writer and we writers love to express. Express we did, all weekend.

When we weren't expressing, we were chillaxing; or clowning; or meditating. 

Some were autographing books.

We came in all ages, shapes and sizes to meet one another, learn a little about our craft, and fellowship. We, the kindred spirits, so thankful to be with each other, drinking in the beauty of understanding, left with the gift of richer, deeper kinships and wonderful memories for a lifetime.

Amen.
To read the next article in this series about Laity Lodge, go here.


Joining with Laura Boggess at The Wellspring and L.L. Barkat at Seedlings in Stone.



















copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins

Laity Lodge Writer's Retreat-Getting There

This is the first post in a four part series. To read the other posts click on the link:
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4



I have had this trip planned for less than a month. I am going to Laity Lodge for a writer’s retreat. I won the retreat, which was a special bonus. The day is Sept. 29, 2011: the 17^th anniversary of my father’s death. I usually never forget this date. I have thought about it several times in the past couple of weeks. But today, I am so busy and so full of hope that it doesn’t cross my mind. If my dad were here, he would tell me not to dwell on the date. “It’s just another day,” would be his words.

I am busy packing, and making sure that I have the kids situated. I am also going to have lunch with a very dear friend on the way. We haven’t been able to have a good visit, face to face in over a year. We are long overdue. She calls and we talk. I am way behind schedule with packing. “Quit talking and finish packing!” she tells me. I do as I am told.

I get on the road and as I travel, I see yellow grass on the side of the highway; evidence of the drought that has plagued Central Texas for the past year. Finally, I arrive in her city, where we have a long, late lunch. We have a very valuable visit. But, it comes to an end and before I get back on I-10, I stop at the grocery store to buy a notebook and some batteries for my camera. There are clouds in the sky. This is rare in these parts. The smell of rain is in the air. I see a sprinkle or two on my windshield.

Many times throughout the drought, I have thought about water being the symbol of the Holy Spirit. With us having no rain, it is almost symbolic of a dryness of our spirits. This is something that we have to fight against. But on this special day, when I am on my way to a much needed retreat, I see rain threatening. I feel that it is symbolic of a breakthrough: the thirst of my spirit is about to be satisfied. When I exit the store, I see a hard, downpour. It is the first time that I have seen this sight in almost a year. This is a great sign. People are crowding around the entrance to the store, as if not knowing what to do. They are putting things over their heads in an effort not to get wet. I am wondering, what are these people doing? How long have we been praying for rain? I don’t care how wet I get, I am going to walk in it and be thankful.

I am reminded of a passage in Priscilla Shirer’s book, One in a Million, given to me by a friend and sister in Christ. In it, Priscilla shares a time in which she was jogging and got caught in the rain, and raced home so she wouldn’t get very wet. She said that she felt God telling her that people pray for rain, but when they get it, they don’t want to get wet. I try to keep from being in that group. But only because of what I learned from Priscilla.

Rolling Hills were part of the scenery of my trip.

I start traveling on to Leakey, Texas and the rain stops. The sun is out for the rest of the trip. The sky is a beautiful blue and the roadside reveals a rocky topography. I am in the heart of the hill country now, traveling up and down the rolling hills, out in the middle of nowhere.

On the dirt road leading to Laity Lodge

The road leads into the river.

The river has a hard bottom.

We had to drive through the river to get to Laity Lodge.

Water splashes as our cars rumble through the river.

I arrive at the destination. I turn in and follow my roadmap and signs on the dirt road, up and down the rolling hills, surrounded by trees. Then, I drive my car through a very shallow river with a hard bottom, back onto the dirt road leading to Laity Lodge. I am full of hopefulness as I park the car.

Arrival at the destination. I am soooo full of hope.

To read the next article in this series about Laity Lodge, go here.

Linking this post up with LL. Barkat at Seedlings in Stone.


Linking up with Laura Boggess at Playdates At the Wellspring





Copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins

My Rich Association With The High Calling

Serendipity is defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for;” I had such an experience four months ago.

Late one night, as I was searching the internet looking for ways to increase my blog traffic, I landed on an online magazine website named “The High Calling”. On first inspection, the site looked good. I found a devotional that I liked that was written by Dr. Mark D. Roberts. I subscribed to the devotional so that I could receive it daily via email. To do this, I registered on the site. Beginning the next day, I received the devotional. I shared one with my prayer group. I added one to my blog with permission from Mark. Sometimes I email him with comments. These are well written, thoughtful devotionals that touch my heart.

About eight weeks later, I received an announcement about a contest for a free slot at a writer’s retreat at Laity Lodge. I entered and won. Once I was notified that I had won, I visited the site to really dig in and find out more about The High Calling (THC) and this place called Laity Lodge (LL).

This is what I found. LL is a structure on property in the Texas Hill Country that was purchased and developed to be a beautiful, peaceful retreat site by Mary and Howard Butt, Sr., the founders of the Foundation for Laity Renewal, and owner of the property and camps in Leakey, Texas, just west of Kerrville, Texas. Howard Butt, Sr. began HEB grocery. In addition to LL, several foundation camps are located on the same 1900 acre property.

THC is the website representing LL. One of the hallmark characteristics of LL is hospitality. This is a retreat facility where you are treated like family. THC tries to attain the same goal. They treat their internet partners like family.

This is how. THC magazine has a place to register. In addition to the theme of hospitality, one of the other main themes is combining spirituality with one’s vocation. This is a unique combination, because in our world, the spiritual is usually at odds with one’s vocation, unless one chooses a spiritual vocation. I have found this to be true in my life.

THC features articles in five different subject areas: faith, family, attitude, culture and work. These articles are written by the editors and members of this site. Membership is comprised of writers, many of whom are bloggers. Upon site registration, a member profile is completed, including a blog url and website feed. The site then captures the posts of the member’s website and pulls it to the magazine for the readership, who are then directed to the individual’s blog.

The Welcome Editor, Cheryl Smith, usually contacts new registrants via email, and invites them to write a post about their association with THC and the uniqueness of this partnership.

Certain writers are featured based on criteria established by THC. In addition to the featured articles, blog posts and devotional, the Special Projects Editor, Laura Boggess, leads an online book club with articles on Mondays.

My favorite feature is the community post, in which a particular topic is selected by a team of editors and the members are invited to write about that particular topic and then link back to the post. I have done this. The first that I did was about laughter. I linked my article entitled "Childhood Friends: Laughing Our Way Through Life" to Diedre Riggs’ site at Jumping Tandem.net. This was fun to write and I also got to read a lot of other cool posts by the other writers as well. The second one that I joined was entitled, “Willie Mae”. This was my attempt to join with other writers to paint a portrait of someone from my past. I joined this at Jennifer Dukes Lee’s site at Getting Down With Jesus. This too, was fun.

The thing that I like about the community links is having a chance to fulfill a writing assignment without the stress of school. In school, if you opted out of an assignment, you received an ‘F’, had to worry about your GPA, your future career, wasting your parents money, etc. Here, if you want to participate, you do. If not, you don’t. It is that simple. Choice begets freedom.

I think back to the night that I ran upon this site by accident. I don’t think that it was by accident at all. I didn’t just join a website. I gained a new group of friends and joined a whole new community.

Amen.






copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins

A High Calling

Wow. What a difference an exception makes!

On Monday of this week, I posted a blog explaining why I needed to be at a Writer’s Retreat at the end of the month. See http://robbinswrites.blogspot.com/2011/09/retreat-re-treat-retweet-and-retreat.html This retreat is at Laity Lodge in Leakey, Texas. This retreat center has been described to me as holy ground. From all I have heard, I am sure it is.

This isn’t just any writer’s retreat. The editorial board of The High Calling will be there in addition to editors from Christianity Today. Other writers who are members of this site will also be in attendance. For more information, see http://www.thehighcalling.org/win-free-trip-laity-lodge-writers-retreat

　

The previous blog post was a requirement to enter a contest for sponsorship to this conference, including travel expenses. In addition to writing the blog, I had to post it in several places, and then put a link back to my blog in the comments section of the announcement on The High Calling website.

As my blog states, I don’t usually do this. And I don’t usually enter contests. But, I did make an exception in this case. For this contest was for something very worthwhile to me. I have never attended a writer’s retreat before and I need the opportunity to network and learn from other writers. Hopefully, I will grow and improve in my writing skills.

Yesterday, I got an email with the subject line saying, “You won”. I thought, “Yeah right, what did I win this time?” After all, I receive spam everyday telling me all that I have won. And I always wind up empty handed. But I knew that they were going to announce the winner for the contest any day, so at the risk of feeling like a sucker, I decided to click on the link. And to my amazement, I was the winner.

I was stunned. There was a phone number in the email to call, which I did in record time and I am now registered.

I am shocked, and excited, and amazed all at once. But more than anything, I am humbled and very grateful for the opportunity to mix, mingle and learn from experienced Christian writers. For truly the opportunity to serve God as a writer is definitely A High Calling.

Here is the link for the announcement: http://www.thehighcalling.org/work/announcing-winner-our-laity-lodge-writers-retreat-drawing

　


　copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins

Re:Treat; Re Treat; ReTweet; and Retreat

OK, so I don’t usually do this, but just this once I will make an exception. It is a contest for a weekend at Laity Lodge retreat center for a writer’s retreat. To be entered into the contest for a drawing, I have to write a blog post about why I need to be included in this writer’s retreat. The winner of the drawing gets free accommodations at the retreat center plus travel expenses.

Laity Lodge is a highly desirable location located in Leakey, Texas. It is an outstanding retreat center for Christians. For more information, visit http://www.laitylodge.org/writers-retreat-ii/.

As a Christian writer, I have a burning desire to attend one of these writer’s retreats to network with other writers and editors. This would be a rare opportunity to learn new techniques and concepts for keeping fresh ideas that I can convert into unique, inspiring copy.

I would be challenged in new ways to stretch my mind and heart; to grow; to improve myself; to learn; to commune with God in an unique setting away from the normal cares of this world.

I believe that we are here to commune with God. I believe that we are here to grow. I believe that we have a spiritual mandate to accomplish these tasks during this short time on earth. We are called to be the hands and feet of Christ to help to facilitate this growth for others; to help to bring to fruition that which God has ordained. This retreat would help me to improve toward those ends.

copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins