Journalist Chases Story

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  I was an aggressive young journalist chasing the big story. A young woman had come from Nazareth to Bethlehem with the man she’d pledged to marry. Obviously pregnant, she hadn’t let rumors about her unusual circumstances keep her from making the journey to register for tax purposes. I always did extensive research before an interview, and I’d tracked every tip about these two individuals, Mary and Joseph, unexpectedly cast in the most significant drama in human history. A relative, Elizabeth, confirmed Mary had visited her following a strange occurrence. An angel had appeared to Mary, a virgin betrothed to…

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New Releases for Fun, Creativity, and Fresh Perspectives

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Close out your Christmas holiday with some fresh and fabulous finds from our CAN authors! Coming January 8th from Dayspring, Sweet Tea For The Soul-Down Home Devotions to Comfort the Heart by Linda Kozar. A great way to kick off your new year with a taste of the south!            *********** Vickie McDonough also has a new release – Stained Glass Mandalas, a coloring book with a twist! Stained Glass Mandalas contains over 50 unique designs. It also features fascinating vignettes about the history of stained glass and interesting facts about tools, technique, and the glass used…

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A Muse and the Writer….

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Muse: Help? Writer: (Doubled over laughing.) You’re wearing a Santa hat? Muse: Really? That’s your question? Writer: At least it’s not a string of lights. I mean, the grandkids might have plugged you in! Muse: Are you going to help me? Writer: Hang on, I need the picture. Muse: I can’t wait for you to go to sleep. You never know what you’ll find in your stocking. Writer: Uh…one pic is enough. Here, let me help you.  Angela Breidenbach writes romance through the ages, hosts the radio show Lit Up, and is in college to get her genealogical studies degree. She’s…

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Simple Christmas Joys

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  Have you ever wondered what it was like that first Christmas? Let your imagination wander. A young engaged couple have to go to Bethlehem and register to be taxed. When they arrive, there’s no place to stay. Finally, they find a stable to bed down. Then Mary goes into labor. What obstacles! (Did Joseph find a midwife or did he help Mary himself? In those days, men didn’t attend a birthing, so what did Joseph think?) Then after all that excitement dies down, shepherds show up saying they heard the news of the birth from angels singing in the…

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A Gift for Your Writing

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by Judith Couchman It’s a few days before Christmas and honestly, we’re caught in the activities, expectations, and last-minute details before ribbons and wrapping paper decorate our floors. But eventually, after gathering the torn and discarded, we sometimes participate in a quieter post-holiday ritual. How will we spend that gift card, cash, or check? If you’re blessed with plastic or money, I’ve a writerly suggestion. Purchase items to usher you into a new writing year. Items that affirm your calling and confidently usher you into the new writing year. How about these ideas? A book that inspires your call and…

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Fiction and Nonfiction Choices for Last Minute Gifts!

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It’s a busy season full of wonder, miracles, and–let’s be honest–at least a little stress! Gift cards are an easy option when we’ve run out of ideas or energy, but how about the gift of literature? After all, a book is like a present that you get to open again and again, right? Here are two new titles that have recently released from our CAN authors!  Care to put a little mystery and suspense in your holiday shopping? Try Pendant, a new release from M L Hamilton. A field trip gone awry. A student gone missing. Haunted by her student’s…

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A Starry-eyed Kid

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One day, my friend, Kim, was teaching her toddler about the American flag. She pointed to the stars on the flag, and told the little girl that each star was for one of the 50 states in our nation—like Arizona, Texas,California, Ohio, Wisconsin, and so on, until she listed all of the states. When Kim finished, her little girl looked up and with wide-eyed innocence said, “Which star is for Baby Jesus?” Thank  you, Jackie M. Johnson, for sending us this and sharing it with us! Jackie M. Johnson is an author and blogger. Her books include Power Prayers for Women, the breakup recovery resource When Love Ends…

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A Healing Heart is now in large print and audio!

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 A Healing Heart is now available in audiobook   and hard cover large print! A Healing Heart by Angela Breidenbach A workaholic woman must trust her business to the one man who tried to destroy it when she suffers a heart attack. Mara Keegan is an uber-successful mother and a widow of three years. She’s been chasing success and all the "good things in life" for her family to make up for the cruel whim God played on them by taking her husband. In an effort to be the perfect mom, she decides to make a photo memory quilt, a graduation…

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After-Christmas Bargain

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I love after-Christmas sales! Wrapping paper, ornaments, and Christmas cards are available at greatly-reduced prices. One year while buying groceries in a super-store, I steered my cart to the Christmas aisle—just out of curiosity. And there it was—a beautiful, hand-painted ceramic nativity set on display at seventy-five percent off! Several boxed sets were on a shelf, so I took one and placed it on the bottom rack of my cart. When I got home, I left the box intact and slid it in my Christmas closet. The winter months came and went, as did spring, summer, and fall. Soon it…

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Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Book Reviews Galore

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Looking for unique book ideas for that special reader this Christmas? We’ve got three book reviews from three very different genres to present today! A medical thriller, a devotional cookbook, and a Christian fantasy offer some less-than-mainstream choices for the bookworms on our list. See what others have said and then check them out at your favorite outlet! ******* Medical Judgement by Richard Mabry, M.D. Abingdon Press   Medical Judgement, a medical suspense novel by Richard Mabry, M.D., kept me in a state of suspicion to the end. I suspected everyone of harassing Dr. Sarah Gordon, a woman who had…

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