Hannah Alexander's Blog

WE ASKED, YOU ANSWERED.

We asked which of our novels you wanted to see as an audiobook first, and Fair Warning was the clear choice. Hannah Alexander is happy to announce that Fair Warning: A Christian Romantic Suspense is now available in audiobook format at Amazon.com at the special introductory price of $4.99. To get your copy, click https://amzn.to/46qvus2

We are working on producing an audiobook for Death Benefits, the sequel to Fair Warning, and hope to release it in the next 1-2 weeks.

God bless you and happy reading.

Note: Hannah Alexander encourages you to click the above link and check out the 5 minute Virtual Voice sample to see how good an AI edited version can be.

Yesterday was party time! It was St. Patrick's Day, when people like to wear green and celebrate. Some of my friends back in Missouri wore green. I told them I would, and then I forgot when I got dressed and I was too lazy to change. So here's my green.

I remember this day so well. This picture was taken in the mountainous wilds of Wyoming where we went ATVing along backroads and trails and then tracks. Then we bushwacked through the forest and hiked to a beaver dam. The footing was precarious because the root system of this grass was overgrown and there was water everywhere. I had to hold onto Mel to keep from falling, but oh, what fun. This is how I like to party.

I also love to meet with old friends from high school and catch up. And I love to get together with members of my church and play board games on a Friday night. We get pretty wild!

Care to share how you like to party?

P.S. Hannah Alexander regrets that the picture cannot be posted on this blog site. This is Hannah's latest blog which will be posted at www.hannahalexander.com

Hannah Alexander is delighted to share with you the book description for Ashes Over Yellowstone, book 7 in our Hallowed Halls of Medicine series.
*****
MUST SHE FORGIVE BEFORE SHE CAN LOVE?

When Kathryn Stone’s estranged mother died, she thought that part of her life was over forever, but four months later she’s having nightmares. When her dear childhood mentor asks her to give Rowena Stone a chance at redemption from beyond the grave, Kathryn wonders: Must I come to terms with my mother’s death to move forward with my life?

Julian Carmichael is crazy about Kathryn. But she recently suffered through a bitter divorce, and he is determined to keep his distance and give her space to recover. During her quest to scatter her mother’s ashes, Kathryn is gravely injured and Julian must go to her aid. With the beauty of Yellowstone surrounding them they discover an ugly secret. When the final story is revealed, can even love survive?

Follow their search for the treasure of truth—no matter where it takes them.
*****
Coming next (and very soon)—the LAUNCH.

God bless you and happy reading.

Hi,

I love extended family! I love all the quirks and tilts of the head and laughter when one cousin recognizes the traits of another cousin, which was passed down the family line from an aunt, who inherited that from the grandma. My cousin Glenda is the spitting image of our Aunt Bonita. My cousin Rita looks so much like my mom and grandma.

Can you tell we attended a huge family reunion this past weekend? From thirteen original siblings came over fifty first cousins just for me--or so I've always believed. At the reunion there were around a hundred people. I'm still floating on the high from that cherished time.

I never had siblings, so my mother made sure I spent as much time as possible with my cousins. What a blessing that was! I had brothers and sisters galore whenever we would visit one of Mom's siblings. And they all welcomed me with open arms as a bonus sibling. Now I enjoy looking back on all the good times, because when I was visiting there were only good times. All my cousins were on their best behavior when I was there--most of the time. And when they weren't, I was in the middle of it with them.

Something that also struck me this weekend was the fact that the majority of my cousins are siblings in another sense--they are believers. We aren't all the same denomination, but we are of the same faith--in Christ. That brings double joy. Imagine one day when we aging family members will attend our final reunion, with no creaking bones, no aches, no illnesses, and no fighting or anger.

Mel attended this family reunion with me, and several of my cousins wanted to keep him when I left. He might not be blood related, but he's been adopted into the family with love and acceptance. That's the way God's family works--we are all related by the blood of Christ.

Who is your family? They don't have to share your DNA to be your family. What are some of your favorite memories?

We have some colloquialisms in the South, and "hunker down" is one of them. It means get out of the way and brace yourself, kind of like this armadillo is supposed to do when danger draws near. Unfortunately, he doesn't. I mean, God made that armor to protect him, right? But I've never seen one curl up to protect himself when I happened to hike too close. Instead, he would panic, jump high in the air, and occasionally run directly toward the perceived danger—which was me. The highways in Missouri and most other southern states are littered with armadillos that reacted badly to threats, especially when those threats were semi-trucks.

Speaking of danger, Mel and I grew up in Tornado Alley, so we learned early how to hunker down in the root cellar during the storms. I'm so glad we don't have to depend on root cellars these days, because they were always creepy and dark and filled with spiders and webs and centipedes and who knew what else—probably snakes crawling around or swimming in the water that seeped in from the storm. I was more afraid of the cellar than I was the tornado.

A couple of decades ago our small town in Southwest Missouri was blown away by a tornado. Our house didn't take a hit, but three blocks from there everything was destroyed. It was a shocking night for a lot of people because that tornado stayed on the ground for many miles. We weren't home at the time, because it happened on a Sunday evening, and we were five miles southeast in church. We did, however, see the tornado as it made its way past to do more damage farther northeast, where our friends Deb and Les huddled under their dining room table in their farm home. They lived through the tornado because they were hunkered down. The damage to their place was extensive, but they were spared because they knew how to get out of the way. It took a long time to clean up the mess, but they still farm that same land and live in that rebuilt house.

You might have encountered some storms in your life. Some of them could be from the weather, and some could be more spiritually motivated. Often it's the spiritual storms that cause the most damage. Human interaction can often cause the most lasting harm, especially if you attempt to face it down on your own. Have you ever become embroiled in a personal conflict and allowed your emotions to control your tongue? I have. My tongue can lay waste and cause more destruction than an F-5 tornado if I'm not careful. I'm still learning to view those conflicts the way I would view a tornado—danger. I'm learning the hard way to pinpoint the problem, then keep my mouth shut, get away, hunker down and pray. If I can allow God to control my tongue—and control the situation—I'm so much better off. He knows how to handle these storms. I do not.

Next time you find yourself in a personal conflict, don't try to face it on your own. You have a much better protection than that armadillo ever did, and God is far more powerful than any tornado shelter, especially a creepy root cellar. If you find yourself getting drawn up into a spiritual storm, just get away, hunker down and pray. God still answers prayers. He is our firm foundation.

After living in Wyoming cold for eight months of the year for several years, we decided to move to a place where we would never deal with snow again. So we came to Phoenix. Don't laugh. Even when it's the hottest here, in July and August, we can at least leave town. The only thing we have to worry about here, which we didn't have in Wyoming, was melting tires on the hot freeways. So far, we prefer that to being snowed in for seven to eight months.
However, we've had to battle the heat with double insulation over the windows, meaning blinds plus curtains. We recently put up curtains in one of our bedrooms in preparation for our third year of Phoenix summer. Mel is the genius in the family. I (Cheryl) am SO not. That becomes very obvious when we're doing something mental. This week, Mel was at his desk doing the math to figure out how to place clips to hang our blackout curtains. He wanted them to hang evenly, of course.
I said, "Honey, why don't you just do it the easy way?"
"How's that?" he asked.
"You cheat. Fold each panel in half, then in fourths, then in eighths, and clip the corners at each fold."
He frowned. "But that's cheating."
"That's what I said." So I took him back to the bedroom and showed him. And it worked!
Our blackout curtains are up, hanging evenly, and it looks quite pretty. All we had to do was cheat.
Mel has always been known for his intelligence--which is a good thing, since he's a doctor. Me, I'm known for my common horse sense. We have found that our strengths complement one another. I love that in a relationship.
Do you have a relationship in which your strengths complement each other? Are you still learning to work through the differences?

Seven years ago today, our big black and white boy, Data, was living his best life as an only cat, receiving all our love. We had just moved to Nebraska from Missouri a few months before, and were settling in. Then one night the forecast was for temps below zero, and we discovered a tiny beggar at our front door, a little ginger tabby.

She was only a few months old, and she asked for food and shelter by prancing in place. She was adorable and we couldn't resist her. We didn't name her because we didn't plan to keep her, but we did take her to the garage for an overnight. She got a nice soft bed with towels.

The next morning we received a shock. She was giving birth to four wet little babies. She was only a baby herself! But of course, then we had to keep her and raise the newborns. What else could we do?

We named the mama Prancy for obvious reasons, and maybe that sounds like a lame name, but we had a lot to handle by then, so we weren't picky. We named the babies Ruff, Reddy, Sasha, and Roamer, and we moved them into the heated garage space to keep them warm, because Nebraska springs can be very cold.

Prancy turned out the be a good mama, gentle and patient, especially with us, as we were out there with the babies a LOT, playing with them, watching them, cleaning up after them. Mama taught them how to use a litter box and she kept them clean and nursed them often. Unfortunately, as she was still a kitten, herself, she was far too young to be able to physically nourish them as much as they needed.

We noticed that she was losing far too much weight and that she was getting weak. The babies tried to nurse, but after a while they couldn't get much milk. They cried. We went to the farm store--we lived in the country--and bought kitten milk replacer. That didn't work. We couldn't get them to drink from the little bottles. Prancy, however, showed great interest in that milk replacer, so we gave it to her. It saved her life and the lives of the babies. But PHEW! I don't advise feeding a cat milk replacer unless it's a life or death situation, because...wow. Prancy did not digest it well.

Soon we had six cats roaming the house, exploring the huge yard outside, climbing trees. Uncle Data hovered over the kittens and herded them when they got too far from him. He had never wanted the kittens in the first place, but he grudgingly accepted them when we told him to.

After Prancy weaned her babies, we found loving homes for them, but Data decided he wouldn't mind a companion, so he chose Prancy.

Does anyone ever live happily ever after? We moved again, and life went on, and Data and Prancy became best friends.

Data has been gone nearly three years, but he lives on in our hearts as Prancy lives on in our home. If you ever have a chance to adopt a stray kitten--we found Data when he was about ten weeks old, stranded on a semi truck tire in a Walmart parking lot--remember that you could do worse. They can bring life into your home and joy into your heart.

Our new church held a game day on Saturday, and we played the(Still) Newlyweds Game. Mel and I volunteered to be contestants, and come to find out, at 28 years of marriage, we had been together the shortest amount of time. So here we were, competing against older couples who had a lot more experience.
I'm not a competitive person, so I attended just to have fun and laugh. I didn't realize we'd be sitting in front of the rest of the church--we had a great turnout--airing our marital secrets and weaknesses. Mel is very competitive, but when we made third place out of three couples, he laughed as hard as the rest of us.
The couple who had been married the longest won, of course, and that's as it should be. Those who've been married the longest know one another the best.
Exposing our weaknesses--as I like to say, our underbellies--turned out to be a wonderful way to grow closer to others in our group. We've only been members for a few months, while many of the others have been active in this church a majority of their adult lives. And yet they welcomed us--and welcome us still--as if we are family. Which we are.
Our church is very old fashioned. We sing hymns, we have a choir, we meet Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and the men have coffee every Tuesday morning for a couple of hours. We greet each other at every service, especially the visitors. In fact, this church is so warm and friendly that it has grown significantly in the past year. I fell in love the first time we walked through the doors and that love continues to deepen. I prayed to find this very church for quite some time, and this is an answer to prayer.
Do you have a church you love? I'd like to hear about it. What drew you in the first place? Are you seeking a church home? What are you looking for in a place of worship?

I was sitting with one of my best friends yesterday having tacos when she got a text telling her that her house had just sold. I mean, it wasn't even supposed to be on the market until today! I knew she was putting it up for sale, but I thought we might have at least a couple more months. But no, a young family saw it and loved it. I don't blame them because that house has all the warm Kristin Billerbeck touches that make it feel like a home.

This family needed the house to close quickly, so it was a done deal. I'm so happy for Kristin, but selfishly, not so happy for me. She needs to move back home to her family. They need her, and this was a blessing. So why am I sad? We've been friends for 25 years. Kristin is a giving, strong, kind person who has been here for Mel and me since before we made the move from Wyoming to Phoenix over two years ago. She met us here when we were looking for a place to live, and she drove us all over town to find something.

She is a very strong person who fixes things in her house by looking it up on Youtube. I have always admired her resilience. She is generous to a fault. We fight a lot when we eat out because she tries to pay too often. She tips generously and is kind to the servers--doesn't that tell you a lot about her?

After Mel and I arrived here in Phoenix and settled in, he and I spent a lot of time with Kristin, going to rodeos, parades...and did I mention eating? She and I met often at coffee shops to write. Unfortunately, neither of us is a disciplinarian, so we had more fun than we should have, and sometimes didn't get any writing done. But we continued to have fun, explore the city, play, eat out, play some more, shop, get our nails done. Girl stuff.

We plan to play a little more before she moves back to California, but I dread the time when she has to leave for good. I'm going to miss her like crazy. Long-time friends are so precious. You learn you can depend on each other and you become more like family than just friends. I'm not so good about making friends these days, and there's going to be a huge hole in my life very soon. Still, I remind myself that Kristin and I kept in touch before we moved here, so we still have that. It's just not enough.

If you have old friends you know you can depend on, cherish them. Spend time with them. Let them know what they mean to you. You might not always have them in your life. True friends are a special gift from God. Enjoy those gifts.

Now...there's a restaurant Kristin has discovered in Scottsdale. I think it's time for another trip into the city.

 Elaborate celebrations seem to be increasingly popular these days, and I admire those who cook all day for family members and friends to have a traditional meal. There is comfort in that tradition, and who doesn’t love a good Thanksgiving meal?
    We’ve done this often in the past, but with Mel’s job taking up many of his holidays, we’ve also had quiet days. Once, when we were scheduled to host a large family gathering, we had a blizzard and had to call the whole thing off. We spent the day home alone and found that we enjoyed the peace of that day. There have been times in past years when I was so busy preparing food and managing company that I spared no time for prayer and actual thanks for what God has given us.
    Many decades ago I decided to prepare Peking duck for the Thanksgiving meal instead of turkey or ham. I enjoyed it, though I’m not sure everyone else did. This year we plan to take a hike in the desert. The weather is perfect, and I find that I’m most thankful to God when surrounded by God’s creation.
    The key, I think, is to be thankful. It isn’t a sin to skip the meal completely, or to even have pizza or chicken wings or chicken and dumplings or sandwiches. The whole idea of the day is to be thankful. If you want to fast the whole day and focus on God’s goodness, or if you want hamburgers and fries, the point is to be thankful. I am in awe of the God Who created our world, Who created us to be in fellowship with Him. Let’s enjoy that fellowship on Thanksgiving day…and every day.