Category: Passion

Surprise on Amazon!

I was looking up my book files on Amazon yesterday when I noticed a strange addition. At first I panicked thinking someone had hijacked my books. But in fact it was where I have one of my paperbacks in expanded distribution through CreateSpace. Seven wholesale book companies have picked up my book and have it on their sites. Needless to say I was dancing around the office. So, that inclined me to do this very shameless post. I haven’t posted my books lately, so here goes. Sorry for anyone who does not want to or care to know this. All of these are available on Smashwords, Amazon, Google Books, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Kobo, Apple, & Sony.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

 

 

 

Ghost Lover

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Having a father who thought business came first and his daughter last had affected her. But when Jess turned 21 he gave her a gift that would change her life and add an unexpected love. What was behind such an extravagant and unexpected gift? Would her father’s business partner put a stop to any happiness that she could have or would the man of her dreams take her away from it all. Jess would soon find out her father’s sinister plan. When tragedy strikes will she find her Ghost Lover or will all be                    lost.

 Tender Flames

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Sara has loved Wes all of her life, but she only sees sisterly love in his eyes. What happens when in a moment of anger she makes a hasty decision? Will it turn his head or turn him away? When tragedy strikes will the tables turn in her direction? Will love finally fan the tender flames of love?

 

 

 

Moonbeam & Roses

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Sara secretly had a crush on Wes and had most of her life. Then when Wes rejects her love and moves to Montana, she jumps into her work as an artist and into the arms of another man. It is not until a tragic accident happens that things start to turn around for Sara. Could she finally have true love with the cowboy in her dreams or will her blindness cause her to throw it all away.

With All My Heart…

Stephanie Payne Hurt

When Amanda moves to a small town to pursue her career as a Children’s Minister, she never expects to find the man God has sent for her. But just as she opens her heart up to him something terrible happens to her causing her to shut the world out, including the love of her life. Will he be able to help her find her faith or will she forever be lost?

 

 

A Love Never Lost

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Friends since early childhood, Lilly and Zane have always been inseparable. After four years apart, will their relationship change? Upon seeing Lilly again after such a long absence he realizes his heart belongs to her. When a wealthy ranch owner from Texas offers Lilly the job of a lifetime, will she leave knowing the effect it will have on Zane and their relationship? Will her new boss expect more than just an employer/employee relationship? Just how far will he go to win her over? Will Zane be able to pull her from the ties of the ranch or will it be A Love Never Lost?

Well if you have read my profile, you know I’m a children’s minister. It has been a wild ride I can say that. There’s never a dull moment. You go from laughing to amazement to fear in just a few moments. When God made me He added an extra dose of patience, or at least that’s what people say.

Today was one of those days. Usually on Sunday I just teach children’s church which takes place during adult church. Today was my day to also teach the preschool class during Sunday School. They are just funny. Their attention spans last about five minutes, ten if you are extremely lucky. I thought well I will teach about Balaam and his talking donkey. Thought that would keep their interest, WRONG! I finished the story and they played three sessions of musical chairs. I finally gave in and took them out to the playground. Well being Fall in the south you never know how the temperature will be. Let’s just say the wind was blowing my hair over my head and I was freezing. Not the kids though.

Then children’s church started. Had four visiting children along with my regular wild crew. I have the 1st through 5th grade class. Well the music and worship went well, but the closing prayer was a real hoot. One of the boys decided he wanted to pray, started off well, but by the time he ended you could not hear him. I just grinned and took them back out in the wind.

Everything was going well as the preschoolers class let out and they came out too. The other teacher and me and my helpers were talking watching the kids. I constantly do head counts as it is a horror of mine to lose a child. Well, guess what, I lost a child today. One of the visiting children. His mom came out to pick up her two boys and one came running up but not the other. Well I started calling for him and the other children looked so innocent. That should have been my first clue. The mother and I went inside looking in the restroom and then as we started back outside he walked in smiling totally happy with himself. He had been hiding on the playground.

Needless to say I was beyond upset. I looked at the mother and begged apologies. I guess she went through this a lot because she patted my arm and smiled. I had to sit down. It was not a good feeling.

Some days it comes to either you laugh or you cry.

Have a great night to all.

Bragging Rights…

I usually don’t post directly about my family, but I was reminded last night again how lucky I am to have a wonderful son. I hear a lot of parents complaining about their teenagers. I’m not saying my son is perfect, but he’s close (in my eyes).

His life started out pretty rough. He was a twin, but his twin never developed past a blip on the sonogram screen. We were lucky they were in separate membranes. Well, that started the doctors putting me off my feet and on steroids to build him up. He was my miracle baby because he beat the odds and won.

He is an only child because I could not have any more children. Sometimes it bothers me that he doesn’t have someone other than me and his dad to entertain him, but he’s a trooper. He loves to fish and hunt. He participates in the 4-H Shotgun team and went to State this year. He did awesome shooting 22 out of 25. He is a country boy all the way.

He is also the Video Ministry leader at our Church. He is only 13, but he’s so mature and responsible for his age. He had two adults that work under him. It makes me so proud. He also works in the nursery. All the babies love him.

Last night I was tired so I got in a bubble bath with my Kindle for some relaxation. I was going to load the dishwasher when I got out, but my wonderful son took care of it while I was relaxing with a good book. He does things for me all the time to help out. Now, I’m not saying he doesn’t go “Teenager Attitude” some, but not much. I just give him the look and he knows it’s time to calm down.

So, parents, look at your child and be proud. They are our future, so train them up to be great.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You! Oh, and IT’S FRIDAY!

Levels of Love…

As I write this I ponder the different levels of love I’ve had in my 43 years of life. I am by no means an expert. This is just my outtake on the subject, so take it as you may.

Here goes:

Baby Love: I feel like as a baby you feel love, not positive because I do not remember being a baby, but I do remember how my son was as a baby. He would brighten up when I would walk in the room, so I feel like he was feeling love for me. So…

Child’s love: As a child you have such a reserve for real love. You have not been challenged by the things of the real world so you can be open to love with your whole heart. Children love unconditionally, well most of the time.

First crush love: You know the love I am talking about. Usually you experience it in your early teens or earlier for some. It is that feeling when you look across the aisle in class and lock eyes with a cute boy. You instantly think you are in love and you will just die if he looks back. Yeah, you remember that don’t you. Ok, you can quit laughing now.

Idol love: Well as a teenager usually you develop huge love issues for movie stars, musicians or even someone older in your life. It is the kind of thing that causes you to post pictures all over your walls and spend your whole allowance on anything with their picture on it. Yeah, been there done that…

First young love: Well this is the one that usually hurts and makes you think you will never love again. You are usually dating by the time this one hits and you think that nobody else can ever take their place. Well, you have not quite got to the real love stage, so you soon learn there is more out there. (Was engaged for 4 years to my first young love. Boy am I glad that went away.)

First real love: This is the love that comes and your heart just is taken away. It no longer belongs to you. Sadly, sometimes this is the love that we mistake for some other feeling and we don’t act on it as our heart tells us to. This is usually the love that if you don’t keep, you end up keeping it with you forever in your dreams. If you don’t realize it is real and you let it go, you spend a lot of time later in life thinking about that lost love.

LOVE: Sometimes when we think we feel love we do things that are not in character for us. We may even marry someone thinking that it is love only to find out after the stars are out of our eyes that we were wrong. That is really sad, but it happens everyday. The divorce rate is prime example. A scary percentage of people are in marriages that started with misguided love.

Obsessive love: This is the sick kind of love where one person thinks that they can’t live without the other person who 9 out of ten times does not return their love. (I had a stalker that did that to me. I went out with him one time and Bam! he thought he was madly in love with me. He served 18 months for stalking me. I was only 17 and it was a scary time.)

Forever Love: This is the love we are strive for. It is the kind that when the person walks in the room, you almost swoon from the heart palpitations. Hopefully you all have felt this kind of love. Maybe it is with the person you are married to, hopefully. It is the kind of love that stops everything around you. When you lock eyes you know and it scares you sometimes the depths it can go. Now that is great love.

As I said before, this is just my take. There are so many more levels of love. It is endless. Hope you have Forever Love. It is always a great thing to have. Hopefully it is with your spouse or spouse to be, if you gave up on Forever Love and went in another direction, well try not to dwell on it too much, because it will drive you insane. Just my opinion.

As always, great writing and May God Bless!

Good Wednesday Morning!

It is a beautiful Georgia morning. The air has a slight crispness to it. As I sit here with the windows open, the cool breeze comes softly across me. I sip my coffee and have my laptop in my lap, just enjoying the morning. I can hear the birds chirping in the trees as if agreeing with me.

Of course I know that I need to get up and get ready for my day, but I just put it to the back of my mind. Life is so short and we run around all willy nilly not stopping to smell the roses or feel the breeze on our face. Why? If we miss life’s precious moments what have we accomplished?

I made a decision the first of the year to start stopping and smelling the roses. Sometimes it gets me behind on projects but I know the fact is I am getting older and missing out on many things. I have spent the last twenty odd years building my accounting practice and working constantly. I have missed out on so much that the sweet side of life has to offer. Well I have been doing more for myself.

One of the main things is publishing my books and writing in my spare time. It has been so refreshing and revealing to me. I did not realize how much I had missed. I actually feel better physically and mentally. It is as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Well, try it yourself. Just stop and take a deep, cleansing breath. See if you don’t feel a little better. As always good writing and May God Bless You!

Crazy things that happen to Accountants!

Well Paula Acton one of my wonderful blog friends suggested it would be funny to list the top 10 funniest deduction requests. So I decided to tell some of the funny things that have happened over the years.

1: I had a lady put down as a dependent a child named “Fluffy Ball” complete with a birthdate but no Social. I just sat and looked at her like “Are you kidding me?”

2: I had a woman ask me if they could claim her husband’s mistress as a dependent. (He was sitting beside her at the time)

3: I have had so many marriage proposals I have quit counting. (Usually these come after I get them a huge refund or straighten out their messes) I always laugh and tell them to get a grip!

4: I had a guy that handed me his list of deductions for his Lawn Care business. It included his ski boat, new pistol and his new hunting rifle. I politely handed it back to him and told him to start over…

5: I had one guy ask me to move into his office because the phone calls and visits were not helping. He had a mess!

6: I am listed in several of my clients wills as the person to find out where everything is.

7: I had one wife that did not like me because her husband kept telling me he loved me. He got nice returns every year and he didn’t realize I was just doing my job.

8: I have one client that calls me his second wife and she agrees with him. I asked him one day if I was on the insurance policy and he just laughed and winked. (Yikes)

9: One client got angry when he owed tax and stormed out of the office. He returned ten minutes later when his wife brought him back to apologize and pay me a big tip for being an idiot. (Her words not mine, but I was thinking it!)

10: I had a lady ask if I could tell from the tax papers if her husband was having an affair. (No!)

11: For some reason most of my clients think I have a degree in Psychology. I did take it in college, but not my major or minor. They will call and want to get advice. I guess I am just too easy to talk to.

12: The best one was when this lady called and asked if I would handle their tax return. I said no problem, we still had a couple of weeks left in the season. When she arrived she asked me to hold the door for her. I was curious so I held the door as she proceeded to bring in ten large plastic bins full of paperwork. I turned to my assistant and smiled. I charge by the hour to separate tax paperwork over the normal stuff. She then proceeded to tell me they had not filed in 8 years. I had to sit down. The bins had everything from birth certificates, prom pictures and bullets!!!

So how many of you are rushing out now to get that Accounting degree. It is totally hilarious how crazy these people can be. I love it. The marriage proposals bother my husband as some of these men are wealthy, handsome men. I just smile and tell him it keeps him on his toes.

Now you know why I have to lose myself in writing. I have to get it off my brain. Some of it can cause nightmares!!!

SO as always, good writing and God Bless!

Tax Season over tomorrow!!!

Well, another tax season is coming to a close. As I sit here in my office putting the finishing touches on yet another procrastinators return I wonder “why do I do this every year?” I guess because I love accounting. There is something about working with numbers and solving problems that just pulls me in. I do wish the IRS would get a handle on how they want to handle Accountants. They are constantly changing things and every year my tax books get thicker and thicker. It can get a little hectic around the office.

I guess that’s why I’m enjoying writing so much. I get to lose myself in another world for a little while every day. Well almost every day. Sometimes I can’t wait to get lost in another person’s life. I will be sitting at my desk figuring out plots and what will happen next. It’s so sad the life and mind (or lack of) of a writer. We are always churning out a story from everything we see. I can see someone on the street that is intriguing and BAM! a story comes to mind. I know, I have a problem, but if it publishes and sells books…

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday evening, or what’s left of it. Tomorrow it is back to school for my son. He has been out on Fall break. Man that clock is going to be terrible sounding at six in the morning. Oh well, life goes on. Good writing and My God Bless you tonight!