Windmills, old barns, ancestors and history…

Spent the weekend on a trip with my daughter and two granddaughters to Nebraska.  It was my daughter’s trip and I was along for the ride.  I love going back to Nebraska.  It reminds me of my roots.  My grandparents were the children of pioneers.  Grandma was born in a sod house in Frontier County in 1894.  The barn shown above is on the place my mom was raised.  Windmills like the one above stand as a symbol of former times as well.  What are your roots?

Sara and I will be at the Midwest Parent Educatiors Convention again this year.  It is April 5 and 6 in Kansas City.  I am offering a workshop on independent/self-publishing.  Not that I’m an expert, but I can maybe help someone who is just beginning the process.  I will have the RJ series, the Pony Express story and the Hawk book at our booth.  Sara is tirelessly working on editing Nelson’s Pond so it will be available also.  The adventure of writing involves creativity, ability, determination, research and time…lots of all these and the help of a wonderful daughter who reads, edits, uploads to Kindle Direct Publishing and encourages me to keep going and get better and do more than I ever imagined I would do.

Enjoyed the fellowship at Howard UMC over the past weekend (March 9-10, 2019).  I presented a workshop on Matthew 24, the signs of Christ’s return.  Among other things in that chapter, Jesus said we are to be “alert,” to “watch” and “be ready” because we “do not know the day or the hour.”  It was  blessed time in the Lord with this faithful congregation.  The 40-Day Devotional/Journal I wrote as a supplement for this workshop is on amazon.com.  Put Ardith Nelson in the Amazon search box and it should come into view along with my other books on Amazon. The title of the devotional/journal is Jesus Said Signs of Christ’s Return.  Thank you to all who attended and participated in the workshop.  Thank you to Pastor Linda and Frank Hoover for the invitation and hospitality.

In the summer of 2018 my grandkids met an old friend of mine.  Lita Hottel and I had many horse-related adventures from the time we met in 1990.  My daughter was just an infant and her kids were young, but in the next few years we all became friends.  I started my daughter, Sara, in riding lessons with Lita. I think Sara was three at the time.  Lita trained several horses for me and let me learn from her about things related to training horses, teaching riders and even some judging.  We went to horse shows and did some horse shopping together.  She was and is an extraordinary horse trainer and teacher of riders.  She also is a horse show judge for 4-H and breed shows.  She has traveled the world with her judging.  The last time I saw her years ago was at a Miniature Horse Show in Houston, TX.  Her family was the first to move, then ours so we haven’t seen each other for a long time.  When I knew Sara and Jonathan and their four kids were going to be in MN near where Lita’s barn is, I suggested they go and have Lita put them on some lesson horses.  Sure enough they made the appointment and my four grandkids got the thrill of riding with Lita’s instruction.  Three generations of us have had the benefit of Lita’s patience and expertise with horses and their riders.  So much fun! Thank you, Lita Hottel! And thank you, God, for creating the horse!

Last summer my husband and I had a picnic at Brighten Beach near Duluth, Minnesota.  This winter on FaceBook, I have been seeing many beautiful photos taken of Brighten Beach and Duluth.  The lake is frozen and there are huge chunks of ice piled up on the shoreline.  Duluth is picturesque anytime of the year.  If you are on FaceBook, I urge you to search for Destination Duluth and see what I’m talking about.

A few days ago my latest book became available on Amazon.  Put Ardith Nelson in the search on Amazon.com and you should come to a page listing all my books.  The book is a devotional/journal on Matthew 24.  It is a look at what Jesus said about the signs of His coming again.  The above picture is on the cover of the book.  As you can see by the date stamp, it was taken 12 years ago when my husband and I traveled in Israel.  It features the Golden Gate across from the Mt. of Olives.

This is what being at 12,000 feet looks like in the Colorado Rockies.  I don’t plan to get to this elevation, but I am looking forward to being in Limon and Last Chance, Colorado in one month.  There is a small congregation of faithful followers of Jesus in Last Chance and I get to be with them on March 9 and 10 talking about what Jesus said in Matthew 24 regarding the signs of His return.

No, I am not in Belize.  I am not enjoying this beautiful beach on the Caribbean.  All I have are the memories.  I was in Belize.  In fact, I went there three times during the year and a half my kids and grandkids were there.  I was there long enough to have to extend my visa several times.  It is cold and snowy where I am now, so I dug out this picture to remind myself there are places in the world where it is not cold and snowy.  This picture was taken in the “winter” of 2013.  Six years ago almost to the day.

My first book, RJ’s Journey, started me on a journey of writing books.  RJ’s Journey is  a story set along the Oregon Trail.  It is full of adventure, history, geography, relationships and faith.  It can be read for enjoyment, fiction set in a historical context and even as an assignment for an American History class.  It can, also, be used for creative writing assignments, vocabulary words, art projects, etc.  If you are a teacher, let your imagination dream up curriculum ideas to go along with the book.

Writing has become a journey of adventure, history, etc. for me.  I have enjoyed researching for the books I have written and am writing.  It reminds me of historical times much different than the time we live in now.  I have always enjoyed geography, so it is fun putting my stories into a geographical setting as well.  I have several books in the works right now.  I plan to have two or more of them available this year.

I plan to branch out into fiction that is not necessarily historical fiction as well.  I, also, have a memoir of humerous and embarassing moments in the pipeline.  I will publish it as soon as I’m not too embarassed to have such stories out in the world.  So, writing is a journey for me.  What journey are you on right now?

When I was in 8th Grade I made a scrapbook for an assignment for Home Ec.  I’m sure no one under 60 knows what a Home Ec class is, it was back in the 1960’s…ancient history.  Anyway, among other things in my scrapbook were pictures of Ford Mustangs and horses.  The caption to those pictures was…Some Day I’m Going to Have Lots of Horses and Lots of Cars.  Well, all together I’ve had 12 horses when we lived in Minnesota…rode many more than that, of course, through the years.  I have owned 11 different cars/trucks/vans at various times.  BUT, I still yearn to own a Ford Mustang convertible.  The closest I’ve come to it was the day I rented this one in deep south Texas and spent the day with my daughter on South Padre Island.  I think it was in 2004 becaue it was a 40th anniversary model.  It was glorious! My dream lives on.