Update: First-half of 2014

The Graduate & Grami

At the historic Williams House in DeKalb,
I had the most awesome launch party.

Well, it has been a while! I've been so busy with the debut of VOW UNBROKEN in March and then the NETWO (North East Texas Writers' Org) conference in April, recovering in May :) and graduation in June - our oldest of the four grandsons, Matthew Ross, graduated 10th in his class - a Class Favorite and Most Handsome and Baseball All-district and MVP - and already has his freshman college year behind him for all the extra classes taken in high school! He's just amazing!

Grami and Atticus at the
Denton Launch Party at
Zera's! My #14 grandsugar!

Gregory Brahm

Gregory Brahm, the 15 year old requested in March to go to move in with his other grandparents - the granddad (82 yrs, old) fell and broke his hip and Gregory thought he could be of some help so we let him go to live with them in March, this means that O'Pa and I are down to two precious boys, 14 yr old Christian and 11 yr old Benjamen going to Junior High (ooops, I mean middle school) next year - well, this year in August :)

Benjamen is getting to be so big, 12 this December!

Christian helping me transplant jonquils as a border.

On June 22nd, 1968, right out of high schoolAI

O'Pa and Grami, married 46 years, together 48
since the age of 16! He's still the one!

Yesterday, Ron and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. A quiet, sweet day.
We've enjoyed the years God has given us and look forward to many more, why we married so young, we could easily have a great 70th wedding anniversary! We'll only be 88!!

On his way to the barn with his "Faith"ful sidekick.

He's been working on his new barn here at the Peaceable. Goes out and does a little at a time most days and it keeps getting more and more built. Maybe I should take his example and paint a little trim work every day starting with the primer, then the enamel and over time, doing a little each day, it'd get done :) He made himself a rock path so he wouldn't track mud into the house. This end closest to us is roofed and has two walls up.

This view is the south side, the drive goes all the way through 

He's making it 16' foot in the center - plenty of room to drive his tractors through. Then each side has 12 feet. The side on the left is the one already roofed and has one whole exterior wall and part of a second up. He used rustic tin for the exterior skin, so it's dark and reddish and looks so cool. That side will be his Workshop. He's already started several projects :) The loft is going to be a fun place to be! I'm campaigning for a window at both ends!

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This is the view of the east side of house that has our private, bedroom entrance Behind me, there's a complete maybe 12 feet of natural woods so you can only see the shape of the barn and that it's dark from the house. We do love living back in the woods! It'a always peaceful and shady. But of course, I named it The Peaceable.
     "And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;" Isaiah 32:18


The boys left to go visit their other grandparents the day school was out--actually even before--and we haven't heard much from them at all! O'Pa is still enjoying the quiet, I'm missing the boys, although I must admit the quiet is nice. Just wouldn't want to have it year-round :)

I'm working hard on HEARTS STOLEN edits and getting ready to market it, too. It releases in September. Most who've read the manuscript are saying they like it even better than VOW UNBROKEN. I hope every novel that I write gets better and better and better - Ron, too :) I'll reveal the new cover pretty soon, I'm THRILLED with it! Same man did it who did VOW's, Kirk Dou Ponce has a gift from God. His company is DogEarredDesign.com.

Well, hope I caught you all up properly. God bless you! He sure has been blessing me! :) Hey, I've discovered Pic Monkey to make banners and such and you can play with your headshots and such Isn't this one fun? :)

Pretty starry, right? Notice how most wrinkles
miraculously disappeared, too? :) Fun!

Moving to The Peaceable

Mercy, Lord. Have mercy on me, a mover!

Well, it's Sunday and we've been living at The Peaceable for a full week now. I've got the livingroom going on! I've hung pictures and art and special things. I've cleaned and organized the bookcase and am amazed at how many books I have that my friends and colleagues have written. I am so blessed! I've decorated and it is a pleasant, comfortable place to sit!

This is the wall to the right if you walk in the front door. That antique mirror, Ron and his dad refinished when he was 10 years old. The next picture on top is an oil I painted of my Matt and Greg at the age of 5 and 4. Beneath it is a little box that holds little ceramic animals. Once back in the 70s, we were snowed in at Mama's house and we all painted 'scenes' in some of the little divided squares. Ron painted a fall woods (deer) and a summer tree (squirrel) Mimi Lady - my mama - painted a seascape (seal), Grandy (my daddy) painted a snow scape (rabbit) and I painged a meadow (horse) and a country road (hedgehogs, a mother with babies). So it's very special! Next to it, an art project Ron did in high school that I just love; it's of a couple sitting on a porch swing. And then a small round mirror framed with shells that MawMaw (Ron's mother) made and gave to us. It's a very special wall with that bookcase holding all the autographed books written by our author friends! And our's too, of course : )

This is the wall to the left of the front door. I put all our 'bird' art together - original oils. Ron painted the cokateil and cardinal, I painted teh snow bird and hummingbird, my sister-friend Elaine painted the seagull, then I added an eagle with scripture, the green birdhouse (it went so well), a pair of ceramic birds and a lil birdhouse picture. On the mantle, some green glass bottles from my collection, Ron's parents' windmill picture with a onyx vase my Red River County sister-friend Naomi gave me and a mirror and green bird (to tie in with the birds over on the wall : ) Then on the other side of the fireplace, pretty metal shelves that Dana gave me with family photos on it. And flowers on the hearth on the far corner. I just love to sit and gaze at that fireplace. It is a work of art, and I'm amazed at my husband's multi talents

Can't say the same for the rest of The Peaceable yet, but slowly, step by step, item by item, stuff is finding its place here - well some of it. Other stuff is finding itself in a box to be hauled to the Friends of the Clarksville Library Thrift Store one day soon. It is wonderful to be here - as of yesterday we have both Hughesnet internet service  AND Direct TV service up and running at the same time! I've been without the internet EIGHT days this week and without TV four days. Until yesterday, never both at the same time, so this is good : )

Still have lots to put up and organize but little by little, and I LOVE having a dishwasher again!!! Greg and Ben are running through playing. We've got so much R*O*O*M here!

We are staying cool as The Peaceable is very well insulated. I have lists of my lists of what I need at Walmart and Lowes and Things to be Done here at the house. We got the shower up and running Thursday, so I don't stink anymore ; ) tee hee hee We have EXCELLENT water pressure - good shower! Since we're like almost 1000 feet from teh meter, wasn't sure how that was going to be.

Our first guests were firstborn son Matthew and his Dana and her mama Margie. They came last Saturday - or was it Sunday? Could've been Monday, my days are scrambled. Anyway, they brought hamburgers and chips and we all ate together It was a blessings not to have to worry about the meal that evening. Then granddaughter Mercedes surprised us early Friday morning as our first out-of-state guest! She drove straight through from West Virginia and we were thrilled to get to hug her. Ya'll might remember she had a horrible car accident swerving to miss a deer and busted herself all up and y'all prayed for her. We were thrilled as were all her brothers to see her. She went on into town and is coming back Monday to spend the night on her way back home.

Saturday evening, last nigh, our first dinner guests were Matt and Dana who shared a Mexican casserole, salad, and fresh steamed squash Naomi Lawler - neighbor NOW and friend, brought to me from her garden. They brought us a water filter : ) but it wouldn't fit on our faucet : (   We're not used to the taste of the water here. It isn't wonderful right off like it was in Lydia. It actually reminds me of something nasty, but I'm trying to drink it - the coffee is very different! Naomi came over after they'd left to pick up a smaller casserole I made for her while I was making ours. And I made banana pudding for us and one for her and Don, too : ) 

So our first week at The Peaceable has been a good one. Lots of hard work and we're plenty sore, but "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Praise Him!

Been Busy Building THE PEACEABLE

This is the east side of the house, our private Master bedroom entrance back in the fall

! Can't believe it's been since October that I've written on this blog! But then, we broke ground at The Peaceable in November, and my days have been full to save the least! Also in October, we sold VOW UNBROKEN, my first historical Christian romance, to Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. So revisions and writing book two--and now book three--has also kept me busy. I have a photo journal of our new home since breaking ground until now on my FaceBook Pictures/albums/The Peaceable. https://www.facebook.com/caryl.mcadoo/media_set?set=a.4882025776418.199871.1470806495&type=3

God's given me a song for it, too : ) Here are the lyrics"

                   God’s given us The Peaceable,

                   His presence is here.

                         Sweet haven from Heaven

                         His love is so dear.

                                Just listen to the wind’s song

                                In the whispering woods,

                                      And spend your days

                                     ‘Side the Pool of Praise,

                                              Giving all the glory to Him!

Call me and I'll sing it for you! I love to sing and I love to share His songs, and I love to give Him glory! I love everything I do  giving Him glory, but I know I don't ALL the time, but that's still my desire. He's promised to give me the desires of my heart, so one day - - - I know one day - - - I'll look just like Yahshuah, perfect and pure without spot or wrinkle because I have a wedding to go to and "I" am the B*R*I*D*E! You can go, too! Just ask me about it and I'll tell you all the story! Love and hugs top all! 

 

God said, "So I want you to go up!"

        Oh, the Lord never ceases to amaze me. His lovingkindness is never ending toward me and my most precious husband Ron! He is providing a new home for us because He is our beloved and we are His! We'll be moving to a 34 acre property about 5 miles south out of Clarksville, Texas, the County Seat of Red River County, since the early 1800s known as the 'Gateway to Texas! It still gives me chillbumps when I bring that up as we know that we know God led us here and has a divine purpose for us to serve Him here in revival. 
        He even gave me a new song about it. I wish I could link to it, I have it on a file in my computer, but don't know how to attach it. (if any of you can help with that, feel free to e'me at caryl.mcadoo@yahoo.com or call me at 469-867-2624 : ) I can put the lyrics herein though:

               I heard my husband praying.

                   He was praying for God’s Spirit;

              Praying for God’s Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                   Said, “Lord, I want to be a part of a great revival.

              I want to share the Good News and teach Your children how to pray.”

                                             Chorus

                            Oh, the way of the Lord isn’t always easy.

                            Sometimes what He asks of you requires sacrifice,

                           But if you’ll trust and follow Him where ever He leads you,

                           You’ll know freedom, peace and joy, and all the blessings of life.

 And the Lord answered     2nd verse

             “There’s some people who’ve been praying.

                    They’ve been praying for My Spirit;

               Praying for My Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                    So now I want you to go up into Red River County.

               I’ll shine my light bright to show you the way.”

                                            Chorus then 3rd verse

               So we packed up all our bags

                    And loaded up the livestock.

               Took our sons and grandsons, too, for a brand new start.

                    Our heart’s desire was to obey, do His will, bring Him glory,

               So we headed north to parts unknown on a sunny spring Sunday.  

                                            Chorus then 4th verse

               So here we are now and we’re prayin’

                    We’re praying for God’s Spirit;

               Praying for God’s Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                    We’re going to lift His name up high, then He’ll draw all men to Him.

               He’ll forgive them all their sins; pay all their debt they could not pay.

                                            Chorus then 5th verse

              Won’t you come and join us prayin’?

                    Come, let’s be praying for God’s Spirit;

              Pray together for God’s Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                    In unity we’ll welcome God’s Holy Spirit

              He’ll teach us how to love, where to go, and what to say.

                                   Chorus         The End

        So in March of 2008, we followed His bright light to Red River County and have lived in Lydia almost 5 years now. The very first week in our little country farmhouse, we had a tornado and it snowed! It's a beautiful place we call the Lydia Branch of our River Bottom Ranch. (RiverBottomRanch.com) It wasn't an easy thing to do - leave our life-long home to go to a place where we knew no one, had no job waiting, and no 'padding' in a savings account to help us get by, but we knew who told us to go and that He alone is our Jehovah Jireh!

We could not love it more here! And while I must admit, I thought REVIVAL would have already come including miracles galore! He said we'd do greater works that He had which to me, means dead raised to life again, cancers healed, blind eyes opened and all the rest! And it hasn't - YET! But the more days that pass without it's beginning excited me all the more because I know that it's one day closer!

Fathers' Day Roller Coaster Ride

          Well, I know I'm doing things all backwards, but such as it is when you're sixty-two and because life is so busy you forgot you had a blog. Once I get through all the important stuff that has happened this year, then I'll be keeping up from now on because I NEED to get going on being dedicated to it! SO:

Treated Daddy to his favorite breakfast at Le Peeps in Bedford.

       
        Ron and I went to his brother Bruce's home in Colleyville (about three hours from our place in Red River County) the weekend of Fathers' Day so I could take Daddy (he's 84 this year) out to breakfast and dote on him a little. I used to see him all the time - like every day before we moved up to Red River County and he really misses me - and I miss him!

(L-R) Bruce, Ron and me, Grami - a.k.a. Caryl - at the Acquire table

         Whenever we get together with Bruce, we ALWAYS play Acquire. It's a game of high finance that we've been playing more than 35 years - and we've got score sheets from that far back : ). I highly recommend it : ) So, after breakfast, we were playing a few games (only takes us about 45 minutes) when Ron jumped up and started pulling his shirt off going, "Whew, my, I'm so hot." He went and hung his head over the commode thinking he might throw up. He cooled down a bit and put his shirts back on going to the living room to sit down. I went to WebMD.com and put his symptoms in while Bruce searched for an aspirin, calling neighbors when he couldn't find one. Feeling how crazy Ron's heart was beating, I told Bruce to, and we decided to get to the hospital.. Bruce (the older brother) insisted, Praise God! 
        When we arrived they took him right back and on finding his heart rate at 232 beats a minute; I heard a nurse say he was in V-tach, but didn't know what that meant. I never was afraid. Ron wasn't hurting and never lost consciousness - which amazed the doctors we later found out. They put the paddles to him and shocked him back into a normal rhythm then admitted him to ICU. The next morning, they did an angiogram, determined there were no blockages, and scheduled him for a defibrillator/pacemaker implant which took place Monday morning before noon. Tuesday, we left the hospital for a week re-cooping at Bruce and Carol's (Isn't that funny? There are two Caryl McAdoos though we spell them differently : ) 
        Ron not being able to 'work' farming or cutting Bois d'arc fence posts was the reason we were able to finish the historical Christian romance VOW UNBROKEN in such a short period of time. BTW, he had his 3 month check-up and all the docs were amazed at how quickly and how much he had improved. All the glory goes to God.
          I know that I know God is not through with my wonderful husband yet! We have had a vision and it has not come to pass yet. We know God brought us to Red River County in March 2008 for His purpose and we both believe it is for us to be here when the revival starts. What do they call Red River County? "The Gateway to Texas!" I know that I know I will have awesome testimonies to share here on Grami's Gabbin'! Stay tuned for all the excitement! God isn't finished yet!

2012  - - - ♥✞♪♫•What a year this has been✫♥* Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ¨♥*•✞What a rare mood I'm in.♪♫.• *♪¨*♥•♫♪ Why, it's almost✞♪♫•*♥ like being ¨♪*•.♪♫in LOVE!✞¸.•*♥♪

I just knew this was going to be a good year! Twelve months ago, Ron and I went to Mt. Pleasant (30 minutes from home) to a NETWO (North East Texas Writers' Organization www.netwo.org) meeting then joined in January 2012. At the end of April, we attended their Spring Conference where we met Mary Sue 'McAdoo' Seymour of New York's 'The Seymour Agency'. Can you even BELIEVE her maiden name! www.theseymouragency.com  God has such a great sense of humor and way of whacking you on the head to get your attention! A divine connection! We volunteered to carry her to the DFW Airport from Mt. Pleasant after the conference ended. We had time to visit and she said historical Christian romances were selling well.

First of May, we started VOW UNBROKEN which we finished in June and sent to her in July. She signed us to a contract for representation in August, and this past week, on 10-11-12, Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, made me an offer on it as only my name is given as author : ) This was okay with Ron since our chacking accout is joint : ) Release date, Spring 2014. I knew this was going to be a great year!

♫♪ And God's been doing even more! ♪♫Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ✞giving me more New Songs all along, some FUN ones this year!•*¨✫♥*•✞•♥stay tuned•♫♪ Happy Days!

 

BUSY is a FOUR LETTER WORD!

Well, hey!

My My My! I forgot I had a BLOG! I was trying to follow another goat friend's blog and they were making me sign in and said my email address already had an account and pretty soon, I found it! I can't blame Alzheimer exactly, but I can legally and truthfully claim Busy. I really do hate BUSY, don't you?

I've been known to say, "I'd rather be busy than bored." And that is true - - because I said it for one thing, but it is logical, too. I don't have a job-job, you know, what most people think of as a job, employment where you get a regular check as payment for working : ). When I fill out forms, I always write 'SELF' in the little 'Employer' box. Then everyone who has a job thinks I don't work, that I sit around all day playing spider solitaire and writing book-long emails : )

But my day starts before the sun comes up most days. I awake, usually to a praise or worship song going on in my head, and first give my awesome Heavenly Father some time because He loves me and I love Him so much. I do make my way to the computer and check emails. I usually pull up spider to deal once or twice while I'm waiting for Yahoo to come up. I can hardly stand to sit and wait, so I play during those times.

The four boys get up at 6:30 and the next 30 minutes are CRAZY. Even though I try to keep them organized, shoes are lost and backpacks have literally disappeared (especially over the weekend if it's a Monday! : ). They never want to walk to the end of the street (maybe two football fields worth, so I put on my Taxi-mom hat and drive them. We wait for the bus and I bless them and pray for their day.



When I get home, it's just O'Pa and me, alone. We love this time of day. We have a cup of coffee over Fox and Friends. I might answer a few more emails and send out lots of resumes for editing jobs. Ron usually plays some spider, too, then I head to the barn to care for my animals and milk the goats. Ron helps me if he doesn't have to take off real early for one reason or another.


So you have to feed the crazy cats first or they will trip you and scratch you and make the morning miserable. Then I fill the horses an donkey's buckets first and let them in from the pasture to eat breakfast, locking them in their stalls.Then I get ready for the milkers - fill the feed tray, open the neck board, get the cookie bucket out and arrange my jars and bowls. When I go to the goat fold gate (off the barn's main aisle), there's almost always a milker waiting. I open it and she runs to the milk stand and starts gobbling. I lock her in by putting the boards together and pinning in place.

I use a washcloth to clean her udder, squeeze the first squirts into a bowl for the kitties who are waiting. You do that in case there's dirt or anything undesirable at the tip of her teet. It takes 300 to 500 squeezes to get all her milk out depending on how much she gives and the size of her orifices (teet holes). She gets 2 animal cookies - all the girls LOVE their cookies and as soon as I stand up, they're stretching their neck and licking their lips : ) I remove the pin and loosen the neck brace and she jumps down and runs to the gate.

I don't put her back into the fold, but let her through the first gate only into the aisle of the barn. Then I get another milker - usually waiting at the gate. Some of them - the last ones - make me come out and look square at them and say, "Come on, Vivian!" before they'll come. But they all make the bee-line to the milk stand and they all expect their after-cookies!

When all the milking's done, feed and water chickens, pigs, buck (penned separate from the girls), weanlings, hedgehog Gus Gus and rabbit. Run the milk to the freezer. Start the dog food. I cook their food - boil bones, wild hog usually, and leftovers, season, sometimes add bullion and when it's a rich broth, I add about three cups of rice. While I'm in the kitchen, I clean it because although I would love to rise to a clean one, mine's usually a MESS because after I cook at the end of the day and feed the boys, and eat, I needs go get off me feet. So I clean it the next morning. Heavy sigh - such as it is.

Whew, then I eat MY breakfast. Two eggs fried over easy, toast, homemade jelly and a tall glass of COLD goat's milk. By now Ron's gone if he could get off sorta mid-morn, well, we eat before I get the whole kitchen clean if he's here. So I go to the computer again and finish catching up emails and getting resumes out. I always have writing or editing to do. I often have CraigsList ads to post (Texarkana area) and I check to see what they have in the farm and garden section for sale.

I work on all that, make our bed, often start laundry, but not every day since boys do their own now - as of this past summer. So far only one load really messed up when Gregory Brahm used the bleach in place of the soap. He had some weird outfits in the summer : ) SO I usually don't think about lunch til one and I heat some leftovers then watch afternoon TV for an hour or two, resting up before the boys get back home! : )

During this time, I write letters to my prison penpals or hull purple hull peas or cut up my vegetables for dinner or fold laundry, or get back on computer to edit or write. Point being, I never hardly ever just sit and watch TV with nothing else going on. But I take a break off my feet. I often use this time to visit with my 30+ year sister-friend Elaine, too, so we can talk about our programs and families : ) She calls me most the time. Everyone should have a dear person in their life like my 'Lanie!

We've just finished a new children's chapter book titled ZacMaster.com that we wrote for a new friend. He was looking for a Christian editor, but on seeing his manuscript, I told him it wasn't ready for an edit, but instead needed to be re-written. He asked if we could, so we did : )

The boys get home around 4, then it's homework, chores, animals are all hungry again, cooking and serving dinner, eating, and falling in bed to cuddle with Benjamen while he falls asleep. That's at 8 p.m. and often, I fall sound asleep then, too. If I don't, I have time to pray before I do : )

Sometimes I have to add going grocery shopping or taking a boy to a sport practice - it's football for Christian now and baseball for Matthew and Gregory. I love to go vist the widow I visit regularly. They've become dear friends. I sell some goats some days or help kids be born. Occasionally the horses get out and I have to chase them. There's ALWAYS something!

See my days? How busy they are? But I wouldn't change one iota of them. I love my boys, their hugs and how much they like my cooking and their silliness. I love all my animals. I love my husband. I love living in the country. I am blessed beyond my due. God is so good and so faithful to us. And since I pray for Him to order my days, I believe I've accomplished what He gave me to do in this day.

And right now, I better get to bed. Benjamen already fell asleep, and tonight, since Ron's watching the Cowboys' game, I got back up and wrote this blog. I pray peace to you all, the peace that only God can give, the kind that far exceeds all human understanding and settles your spirit in His love. Blessing to you. Please do come again! I'll try not to forget and make more regular entries : )