Authors: Cindy Woodsmall
Plain Wisdom (28 page)
To my married children—David and Martha, Jacob and Naomi. Thanks for all you’ve done and for not giving up on me.
And to Mervin and Miriam, who married mere weeks after this book was finally finished and on its way to the printer. Watching your love grow touched my heart.
To my helper and critique partner, my daughter, Amanda. You were always truthful and yet merciful. Your notes of encouragement and I-love-yous were a bigger inspiration than you know.
To my English friend Vanessa Ellis. Thank you for believing in me, for your famous lasagna, for picking up groceries again and again, and for helping me get last-minute items to Cindy. I will be forever grateful.
To both sets of parents, my brothers, sisters, and friends. Thank you for allowing me to use your stories.
To WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group—marketing, sales, production, and editorial departments. Thank you, all of you. It’s been an honor.
To Gary Gates, our friend and driver, for running to the post office and to other delivery services to help Cindy and me meet deadlines. We’d have been lost without you.
Since this book came through faith and not my own wisdom or understanding, I give all glory to God and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
—Philippians 4:13
From Cindy
To my dear friend Miriam Flaud, for daring to trust me when I saw and believed in the hidden gift, the one you still doubt exists—the gift of sharing stirring truths through beautiful storytelling.
To Barbara Putrich, for keeping up with years of Miriam’s handwritten entries and for faithfully changing each one into a Word document, and for all the odd creative tasks you took on as a computer-writing novelist and an Old Order Amish woman worked to write a nonfiction book.
To my friend Kathy Ide, for being there throughout this writing project every time I cried, “Help!” Your skills as a freelance editor are much appreciated, and your sacrifice to me as a friend deserves more thank-yous than I can give.
To my editor, Shannon Marchese, for stepping outside your comfort zone to edit something you hadn’t edited in a long time—nonfiction—and for believing I could write in a different genre while bringing a novice writer along with me.
To my line editor, Carol Bartley, for all the things I always look forward to—your ability to see what I cannot, your guidance in honing the work to be its best, and the value you place on my writing.
To each one in the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group—my co-workers and support—THANK YOU!
To my dear friend and critique partner, Marci Burke. You are the best!
To my married sons and their wives—Justin and Shweta, Adam and Erin. You have your own stories of family life full of elation, grief, and all the things in between. Each of you continually brings me joy that I embrace without reservation. I am
so
proud of you.
To Tyler, my youngest. You were a child when I took you on my first writing research trip, and now you’re a young man with your own driver’s license. To my delight, no matter what mode of transportation we used, how far we went, or how long we stayed, you always traveled well, encouraged me all along the way, and accepted with contentment the dedication that writing requires. My heart aches when I think that our days of traveling together for research and your coming into my office to talk about favorite books, directors, screenwriters, movies, and the fun-yet-taxing school days are drawing to a close.
And last, to my husband. I gratefully say that you are everything I’m not. I thought I loved you when we married. I thought I loved you when we had each child and embarked on another journey. I thought I loved you when you stood beside me during the most difficult of times. I thought I loved you when you were stalwart in your support of my dreams. And today I think I love you as much as I possibly can.
Tomorrow you will prove me wrong.
OTES
1.
American Christian Fiction Writers promotes Christian fiction through developing the skills of its authors, educating them in the market, and serving as an advocate in the traditional publishing industry. For more information, go to
www.acfw.com
.
2.
Gina Ingoglia,
The Big Golden Book of the Wild West: American Indians, Cowboys, and the Settling of the West
(New York: Golden, 1991), 40.
3.
For more information on author Connie Stevens, go to
www.conniestevenswrites.com/
.
4.
Global Servants is a worldwide, nonprofit missions and ministry organization. For more information, go to
www.globalservants.org/
.
5.
Charles Austin Miles, “In the Garden,” Timeless Truths, Free Online Library,
http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/In_the_Garden/
.
6.
Copyright 1988 by Carol Wimmer. Used by permission.
http://carolwimmer.com/when-i-say-i-am-a-christian
.
7.
“Mothers—Wise Sayings About Mothers,” SeekFind.net,
www.seekfind.net/Mothers.html
.
IST OF
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ECIPES
Overnight Blueberry French Toast
