Skip to main content

Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter

I worked on my first Kickstarter and it got approved! It’s for the Special Edition Hardcover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer and the release of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster. I contacted my graphic designer about the Special Edition Hardcover of vol. 1: Archer—it’s going to be SO beautiful! The Kickstarter focuses on the Special Edition Hardcover, but it’ll also include vol. 7: Spinster so that it’ll sort of be like a launch day for vol. 7, too. A third special thing that’ll be in the Kickstarter is Special Edition Paperbacks of all the books in the series. They won’t be available in stores, just in the Kickstarter (and later, from my website, and also in my Patreon book box tiers if I decide to do them). The Kickstarter is not live yet, but you can follow it to be alerted when it has launched. (You may need to create a free Kickstarter account.) Follow Camy’s Kickstarter

CWO -- Seeds

Captain’s Log, Stardate 11.07.2006

Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Thursday book giveaway is Coldwater Revival by Nancy Jo Jenkins.
My Monday book giveaway is Lost in Nashvegas by Rachel Hauck.
You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the Coldwater Creek and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page!
Click here to join Camys_Loft
Click to join Camys_Loft




Check out Christian Women Online (click on the button above) to see what other women are blogging about this quote:

"Just as an inferno begins with but a spark, a field grows vast and plentiful from the sprinkling of seeds"
~ Stephanie Fries ~
Steph's Poetry Corner


I've been doing youth group work for about 10 or 11 years now, I can't quite remember. The kids have probably sucked out all my brain cells by now.

When I first got interested in youth group, it wasn't some huge "calling" that stopped me in my tracks. It was the fact I sucked at Sunday School and wanted to serve at my church in some way.

At the time, my church had a full music crew and ran on oiled wheels. The only places open were Sunday School teachers, and I was terrible with kids. So I thought, well, what about youth work?

My friend's friend's church had a need for youth group workers, so I visited one day. And immediately I clicked with a group of junior high school girls who somehow thought I was cool.

It was then I actually felt the calling. I realized how much I enjoyed this work and could feel God's pleasure when I worked with the kids.

Not all the time. As different groups of kids came and went, we had a full range of personalities and spiritual maturities. Some days I really wanted to strangle them all. Other days, I was just tired.

I kept at it, because I knew this was what God wanted for me. No matter how bratty, whiney, stubborn, rebellious, melodramatic, sullen, frustrated, or confused they were, I stuck with it. (They're teens and pre-teens—can we say hormones???)

It wasn't until that first group of junior high girls had grown up, graduated high school, and gone off that I realized what those trying years were for.

Some of the girls went off to their own thing—other friends, other lifestyles, slowly phasing God out of their lives.

But some of them went on to colleges. To new cities. To new churches. To leadership in those churches. To missionary work across the ocean.

I thought I was just pitching seeds and they were raining on nothing. But all God needed was one seed in each precious heart. He grew them. He used us to water them. He transplanted those plants and they're flourishing in other places, doing His will.

People in Japan whom I have never met have heard the gospel because God used me to plant a seed and water it in one of those junior high girls. That just floors me. I feel so insignificant and yet elevated at the same time.

God uses all of us. He demands faithfulness—even in the face of bratty, whiney, stubborn, hormonal teens—so He can use us.

God, use me more.

Although if You could make them a little less hormonal . . .

TMI:

Bible in 90 Days: Day 9. I think the whole thing about faithfulness has struck me because I'm reading Numbers (and may I say, I'm totally stoked it only took me two days to get through Leviticus).

Those ritual sacrifices and those laws reflected God's holiness, so they demanded perfect faithfulness. Because of the covering of Christ's blood, I think I take the whole issue of holiness too lightly because I never had to spill blood to achieve it.

I am more aware of God's holiness, and I desire to give Him more perfect faithfulness. The day in, day out service. It might feel like drudgery some days, but seeds can grow from that.

Writing: I'm still working on plotting this darn thing. No more words yet. Please pray for some supernatural writers duct tape for all these darn holes.

Diet: I exercised yesterday! I want to exercise every day the rest of this week. Still can't shake this cough, though. But it's starting to get better. Why is it always the cough that lingers for weeks after a cold?

Comments

Miriam Pauline said…
God Bless youth workers. I had a solid family heritage leading me to faith, but it was my youth workers I looked to for guidance more than anyone else. Maybe I need to look one of them up and encourage him with how his seeds have grown in my life? Well done for watering those seeds in hormonal ground.
Anonymous said…
I laugh because here I am 48 feeling all those same hormones raging! They aren't exclusively for the teens I fear! And like those kids I have whined and fussed but a seed does grow in my heart! I think you have a special talent to work with the youth. I find them very difficult to communicate with. I am still looking for where I am supposed to be spreading my seeds. Wonderful posting!
Ame said…
hehehehehe ... i wish He would make ME a little less hormonal sometimes, too!!!!! :)

that's awesome ... God is SO good to allow you the privalege to see your seeds grow and bloom! you're doing a great work trudging thru those hormones and loving those kids :)
Anonymous said…
Hi Camy,

Haven't visited in a while. I sure like stopping in here for a smile. Hope you are well!! See you soon. Lynn
Anonymous said…
guess what! i got my letter in the mail today that i got accepted to grad school!!! thanks so much for your prayers. now i must just pass this final semester......
Thanks for sharing this Camy - and I totally see why they thought you were cool;-)

I'm supposed to be writing...
Deborah:
Contrats on Grad School! That is amazing!

Camy - I exercised today too. With writing, my schedule gets so hectic it's hard to make time...

Tina
Pfingston said…
Lev and Numb . . . hhmmmm . . . only two days to get through Lev? eh? Cool.

You go girl!
Anonymous said…
Camy, that floors me too how many seeds grow from one. Awesome!

I exercised today and I've been doing it for a few days. I got an ipod, and I listen to worship music while I walk the treadmill. I feel so refreshed when I'm done!

Popular Posts

Camy's Big News about a new (old) series!

I joined two Christian suspense multi-author anthologies that will release next year in May and October! The May anthology is Danger in the Shadows , and the October anthology is Don’t Blink . I have taken down Year of the Dog from my blog and will instead finish editing/rewriting it for the May anthology, Danger in the Shadows . I decided to do this because I was only working on Year of the Dog sporadically, and I wanted to set a deadline for myself to finish it sooner. To complicate matters, I’ve been unhappy with my decision to leave Sushi and Suspicions as a stand-alone rather than putting it in a series. And I’ve also been unhappy with putting The Lone Rice Ball as a 5th book in the Sushi series when it’s more romantic suspense than the other books in the series. Now that I’ll be writing Year of the Dog for the anthology, and because I haven’t yet released Sushi and Suspicions and The Lone Rice Ball as individual ebooks, I decided to switch things around. I’m rem

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And

Grace Livingston Hill romances free to read online

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci

Irrational loves

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.09.2007 Today I went to lunch with my friend Dineen, and afterwards, we headed into Borders just to browse. Borders has this section full of cute little notebooks. Small ones, big ones, colored paper ones, you name it. They also have pens and wallets and zippered bags and iPod cases. I must have spent at least thirty minutes just going ga-ga over the stupid little notebooks! What is it with notebooks and me? I can count the number of them that I’ve actually filled on the fingers of one hand. I have them all over the house, most with only a page or two written on, and an entire BOX of new ones in my closet. And I keep coveting more! This thing with notebooks is completely irrational. I cannot understand it, and I cannot stop it. I also cannot seem to fill them with any speed. And considering how much I like to talk, that’s pathetic. I should at least be able to spout nothings enough to fill a few. But when I open it to write inside, a part of my brain sud

I'm a favorite blog!

Captain's Log, Stardate 06.28.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is THREE WEDDINGS AND A GIGGLE by Liz Curtis Higgs, Carolyn Zane, and Karen Ball. My Monday book giveaway is CONSIDER LILY by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt. You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for THREE WEDDINGS AND A GIGGLE and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. I'm a favorite blog! Tricia Goyer conducted a small blog survey, and she compiled a list of favorite blogs from the survey participants. Tricia also blogs at Gen X Parents and WriterQuotes (where I'm a contributor--every Monday is my Health and the Writer column). Novel Journey - Gina Holmes, Ane Mulligan, Jessica Dotta - author interviews blog Author Intrusion - Lisa Samson Faith in Fiction - Bethany House Fiction Acquisitions Editor Dave Long The Uprising - Lisa Koons Rhythms of Grace - Marilynn Griffith Ch

Romance, Adventure, Beauty

Captain’s Log, Stardate 06.17.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Monday book giveaway is RV THERE YET? by Diann Hunt . My Thursday book giveaway is A SOUNDING BRASS by Shelley Bates . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for RV THERE YET? and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Blog Bible Study on CAPTIVATING : The guided journal is good, although it does bring up more questions for me than answers. The authors talk about Shame that inflicts women because we don’t measure up to what people or the church tells us we should be—godly women, patient, sweet, yada yada yada. The problem is, I don’t feel shame. I feel more rebellion. I don’t desire to be like that. I’m happy the way I am. I’m very happy not being a sweet person, serving in the church kitchen. I’m very happy being blunt and straightforward, telling people “no” if I don’t have time to help. I’m very happy being a little i

French trellis scarf

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.19.2008 Just to warn you, I might have several knitting blog posts this month since I’m finishing gifts. I just completed a beautiful scarf from Victorian Lace Today in a taupe heather color wool laceweight yarn. I’m very proud of this scarf because it’s the first time I knitted with beads. I used these “crystal honey” color beads that I added to the florettes on the two end borders and in lines along the sides of the scarf. (If you’re on Ravelry, more info on the yarn, needles, etc. is here .) This is what it looked like while I was still knitting it. And this is the finished product. These are low resolution pictures. If you want to see higher resolution pics, you can visit this album in my Photobucket.com account .

One-Skein Pyrenees Scarf knitting pattern

I got into using antique patterns when I was making the scarf my hero wears in my Regency romance, The Spinster’s Christmas . I wanted to do another pattern which I think was in use in the Regency period, the Pyrenees Knit Scarf on pages 36-38 of The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting, and Crochet Work, volume 1, by Jane Gaugain, published in 1840. She is thought to be the first person to use knitting abbreviations, at least in a published book, although they are not the same abbreviations used today (our modern abbreviations were standardized by Weldon’s Practical Needlework in 1906). Since the book is out of copyright, you can download a free PDF copy of the book at Archive.org. I found this to be a fascinating look at knitting around the time of Jane Austen’s later years. Although the book was published in 1840, many of the patterns were in use and passed down by word of mouth many years before that, so it’s possible these are

Snickers pictures

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.16.2009 Hey, I figure if other people can post pictures of babies and grandkids, I can post pictures of my dog, right? This is Snickers with her favorite toy, her yellow ducky. Actually, its color is more of a "bright" slobber ecru. Try to smile, don't look so sad, this really isn't that demeaning... Let's try to distract her with food so she'll look perky. Oh wait, put the food near the camera, not in your hand... Except now she looks sad and pathetic as she stares at the hot dog, waiting for it and wondering why we're torturing her. "Are you stupid humans done YET???" "While you try to figure out your camera, I'm going to sleep, which I could do better if you'd stop sticking this stupid duck under my head."