Jody French's Blog: http://www.jodyfrench.com/blog.html

I just vacumed under my couch and chair cushions...found three guitar pics, a hot wheel, some playing cards, 32 cents, and enough cheerios, raisins, etc. to make a huge batch of granola.   Gross~

I was home alone this morning.  Something fell and made a loud noise...I grabbed a harmonica and went to investigate.  It was the only metal object I could find.  Could I have hummed them to death?  Have a great week all!!

Mothers love your sons. Tell them that you love them every day. Spend as much time with them as you possibly can while they are growing up ---(and even when they are fully grown.) Raise them to be sensitive and empathetic. Raise them to be strong---to stand like a rock, and to someday be a Godly influence and loving head of their own households. Tell them often, how proud you are of them for the good things they have done---I believe that you can never tell them enough. There is an epidemic of lost, young adult souls in our world. Just love your children...show them your love every day of their lives when you're with them. They will carry that love and security with them forever~~words cannot describe how sad I am today. But for every night there's a day, for every storm there's a calm, and for every ounce of hate and strife there is love and peace. Prayers with so many today~

My grand son Landon and I just got through doing something that some of you with toddler children and grand children might like to do. I find it such an abstract thing to try to teach very young ones about the true meaning of Christmas---that it is a celebration of Christ's birth, (they really get excited about Santa though, which is fine.) Well, last year I bought several boxes of assorted, glittery, sweet, religious themed Christmas cards for probably 50 cents each. I also have lots of Holiday stickers and return labels in the mail (since I donated to Special Olympics every organization is sending me little incentives and requests for donations.) I sat down with Landon and asked him if he wanted to fill out a card for his mom and dad. He was so excited, I let him pick out which card he wanted to give to each parent and he decorated them with stickers, colored them, and I helped him write his name in them. As we looked through the cards, I told him about each scene on the front, the Wise Men, shepherds, angels, Bethlehem, the star in the sky, baby Jesus in the manger with the animals all around...all the pics that were on the front. We opened the cards and read the simple Christmas messages that were imprinted in them. His little eyes were shining as we went through the bright colored cards. He really seemed to pay attention and repeated things that I asked him about the cards as he decorated them. After he got his mom and dad's done, I gave him the box, stickers, etc. and them let him color, sticker, etc. all the ones he wanted. I think I'll do this every year. You can get Christmas cards and stickers for a dime on the dollar after Christmas. We had so much fun, and it wasn't just all about Santa. (We did have some Santa stickers too though...we put him in the manger :) Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!!

Hey all you middle school readers out there..."Red Dirt Rocker" is now a part of the Renaissance Learning Accelerated Reader Enterprise. Pick up your copy of "Red Dirt Rocker", (and if they do not have it in your library, feel free to request your librarian to order it), log on and start testing away!  The wonderful sixth graders at IGC Mission Middle School in Coweta are testing as we speak!  I'm soooo excited!

Happy reading y'all!! And I'd love to hear from you.  If you have any questions about the book, what inspired me to write, etc. please feel free to email me!!

You guys rock!
Jody
www.jodyfrench.com

I am so honored that my young adult novel, "Red Dirt Rocker"  will soon be a part of the Renaissance Learning Accelerated Reader Enterprise. Middle school students will have the opportunity to read "Red Dirt Rocker," and then take a test on its contents in order to achieve more points toward their yearly reading goal. This program is a great tool to aid in reading comprehension and confidence.

A big thank you to Coweta Mission IGC librarian Mrs. Susan Landers, and to my publisher Neverland Publishing for their efforts in placing "Red Dirt Rocker" into the program.

Happy reading to all my middle school fans out there.  I can't wait for you to be able to begin testing!

What a fun morning--Monty and I took or Senior Sunday School to Sticky Buns Donut Shop for donuts, (and my daughter Jess, Caleb, Clara Jane and Landon were just pulling up to get some sprinkled pastries before church too!) Then had all of my Grand babies (except for baby Annabelle, who will make her church debut on December 16th for her dedication,) in extended session for Children's Church---We had a great group, and I loved Forrest's expression, "it was like herding cats!!" ...After we went to McDonalds with Maddy and Eddie Jett before taking them back home. Maddy had a beautiful white dress and sweater on and didn't get one drop of ketchup on her---Forrest however was wearing his best white button down. He had a napkin stuck in his tie and was bragging how he'd also not gotten a speck of ketchup on his white shirt either...enter Eddie Jett hugging him with tomato mouth right on the collar--ha-ha----Then got to cuddle with Baby Bell for a bit when we took them home (and Sky removed the ketchup from Forrest's prized Express white crisp shirt)~ Ready to put my feet up and read now~Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Add captionI always enjoy listening to, and watching CMT music videos in the morning while I'm getting around and ready---what I don't enjoy is the moment that happens each morning when Valerie Bertinelli pops on after a cool Brad Paisley or Zac Brown video and says, "don't touch that dial!!" Then a 10 minute Cindy Crawford Infommercial ensues for her "miracle skin serum." (every day at the same time.) We get it Cindy---your rich, you're beautiful, you have great genes, you're a model, you're iconic, you have a mole that I'm sure is insured, but I DON'T want your expensive skin care serum...I want Dirks Bentley!

I loved the last one---as unbelievable as it sounds to my kids, I actually had a "party line" out in the Choska Bottoms. I lived as far out between Porter, Haskell, Coweta and Taft as you could get on a section line of bad road. Haskell where I went to high school) was actually considered a long distance call for me to telephone my friends, and I'd usually have to ask the neighbor if she could hang up so I could call a friend!! "Cells" were just microscopic particles in or bodies that we learned about in biology back then---but I sure loved living in the peaceful country. I knew Monty loved me when he would drive his beloved  pride and joy candy apple red, 1973 Camero out to my house to pick me up for dates----most of the time after a storm, you'd just have to pick a rut in the mud, gun it and hope for the best!  After date two, he started borrowing his dad's pick up truck!
HAPPY WEDNESDAY EVERYBODY---AND BE SAFE AT THE GROCERY STORE! IT'S A MAD HOUSE OUT THERE~

 I thought I would share my favorite excerpt from my book~ and a cool pic that I took in New Orleans at The House of Blues~                                                                                                              
                                           

                                    Excerpt From Red Dirt Rocker.  Chapter 5,  pgs 40-42

   Aunt Carmen says or band is as organic as the horse manure in her south forty.  I think that means that it all came together in a very natural way.  We decided on our band's name after high speed winds forced me and the boys into the farm's root cellar one stormy afternoon.  We were practicing when Aunt Carmen came busting through the barn door.  She had a sense of urgency on her face, and ordered us to follow her while maintaining a controlled panic.
     As we ran across the farmyard, I noticed the sky had turned a sickly grey-green color.  Hail the size of quarters began pelting us.  I spotted Mollie trying to squeeze through the lattice under the front porch and sprinted to pick her up.  Aunt Carmen screamed for me to let her be, but I just couldn't.  I grabbed Mollie, soaking my shirt with the skunky smell of wet dog, and jogged back to the shelter.  I handed her down to the other  boys as she grunted and groaned from arthritis.  I then insisted that Aunt Carmen climb down the steep rickety steps before me.
     As I held the door open for her, the hail stopped.  It was as if someone had flipped a switch and blackness came.  It became eerily calm.  I started my descent down the cellar stairs.  It was like a scene from a nightmare.  I looked up to see the wicked side-winding twister that had emerged from the ominous squall line.  The door fell shut with a sharp crack and we all huddled together in the darkness.  The smell of garden onions and dusty potatoes was thick in the humid air.
    Next came the sound...the forbidding sound that only a tornado makes.  A growling, rumbling, whistling sound as though the 10:00 Frisco freight train had been diverted directly across the top of the root cellar door and was ready to fall in on top of us.
    We were all paralyzed with fear as the twister roared over like an angry monster.  I've never felt so small, so scared, so close to God.  Aunt Carmen held the boys and me in her motherly arms and prayed out loud to Jesus.  Dirt and wood splinters spun violently over our heads and it sounded like someone cracking open a pop-top can.  The sucking winds ripped the door off the root cellar, but we didn't budge.  It was all over in a matter of two terrifying minutes.  The untamed twister disappeared back into the dark and thick rolling clouds.
     Jake was the first to go back up.  The boys and I hoisted Mollie up the stairs brigade-style.  We expected to see a war zone as we emerged from our bunker, but to our shock and relief, the tornado hadn't done much damage to the barn or the house.  They were both left virtually unscathed.  The only things the twister took with it were an old rusty plow, two black shutters from the house, and the creaky wooden door to the root cellar.
     The boys and I stood in disbelief as we surveyed the property.  all the color had drained from Cody's face.  He repeated over and over, "The cellar door is gone...the cellar door is gone."
     "Cellar Door Is Gone...that's it...that's our band's name," I said in no more than a whisper.  The hair on our arms seemed to practically stand up and shout, "Yes!"  The boys heard me loud and clear.
     The sun began to peek back out from behind the smeared, grey clouds.  The cold drops of rain dissipated.  Wispy chicken feathers, or perhaps bits of the snowy down of the angel wings that protected us that day, swirled around our tennis shoes. My band brothers and I shook our heads in agreement---Cellar Door Is Gone it was.

RED DIRT ROCKER~ by Jody French