New Book Trailer for Grandparenting Through Obstacles

Happy National Grandparents Day! If you haven't found a gift for the grandparent(s) in your life, our new book makes a great gift for Christian grandparents.

Please follow us on Twitter: @GParentObstacle

Visit our Grandparenting Through Obstacles Facebook Page.

Check out our blog: http://GrandparentingThruObstacles.wordpress.com/

Enjoy this short book trailer about our book!

Recenty Interviewed on Blog: Ink from an Earthen Vessel

My coauthor, Renee, and I were recently interviewed by Ada Brownell on her lovely blog "Ink from an Earthen Vessel: Stick-to-Your Soul Encouragement."

You can read the interview here: Grandparenting Through Obstacles.

Please stop by for a moment and a read and leave a comment if you like. Thanks!

Book Signing at Mardel Christian Bookstore on Saturday

Just in time for National Grandparents Day, Renee and I will be at the Mardel Christian Bookstore tomorrow, Saturday September 8th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM signing Grandparenting Through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Challenges to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ.

Mardel is at 4887 S. Wadsworth Way, Littleton, Colorado.

Remember that Sunday September 9th is National Grandparents Day. This new book makes a great gift for any Christian grandparent.

For a description of the book, please see the previous post. This book is for every grandparent who longs to share his or her faith in Jesus Christ with their grandchildren but needs inspiration for the "how-to," ideas, suggestions, or simply to know they are not the only one who struggles with challenges.

I hope to see tomorrow, Saturday, at the Mardel Christian Bookstore. Stop by for a free cookie!



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Book Signing at The Greatest Gift Bookstore on Friday

Hey, if you're in the Pueblo area, stop by The Greatest Gift Bookstore tomorrow, Friday 9/7, between 12:00 noon and 5:00.

I'll be there signing my newest book, Grandparenting Through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Challenges to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ.

Remember that Sunday September 9th is National Grandparents Day. This new book makes a great gift for any Christian grandparent.

These twenty true stories depict challenges grandparents face in influencing their grandchildren with their Christian faith and how they are overcoming those challenges.

The book addresses four specific challenges grandparents face:

• The Challenge of Parents Not Walking with God;
• Long-Distance Relationships;
• Non-Traditional Families (blended families and more);
• Challenges in Partnering with Parents

Each chapter includes, "Grandparents in the Bible," "Points to Ponder," "Steps to Take," "Scriptures to Study," and "One Way to Pray." Also includes resources, discussion questions, ideas and more.

For every grandparent who longs to share his or her faith in Jesus Christ with their grandchildren but needs inspiration for the "how-to," ideas, suggestions, or simply to know they are not the only one who struggles with challenges.

I hope to see you Friday afternoon at The Greatest Gift & Scripture Supply, 505 North Grand in Pueblo.



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Dianne's New Book Releases: Grandparenting Through Obstacles

My newest book, Grandparenting Through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Challenges to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ, coauthored with Renee Gray-Wilburn, released August 17th. Boy have we been busy with marketing it! I'm blaming that for why I haven't been able to put it on this blog until now!

National Grandparents Day is September 9th this year, and this book makes a great gift for Christian grandparents. It's available through all the online outlets (you'll find some links below). Or you can order it from your local bookstore.

Inside you'll find twenty true stories by real grandparents about the challenges grandparents face, including long-distance grandparenting, when the kid's parents aren't walking with God, the challenge of nontraditional families, and partnering with parents.

Based on the true story featured in the chapter, each chapter also includes "Grandparents in the Bible," "Scriptures to Study," application or discussion questions, "One Way to Pray," lots of room to jot your own notes, ideas, and prayers, and more. Also includes resources and ideas. A very practical guide.

Find it here:

• On Amazon
• On Kindle
• At Barnes & Noble
• On Nook

Follow us on Twitter: @GParentObstacle
Find us on Facebook: Grandparenting Through Obstacles
Visit the book's blog: www.GrandparentingThruObstacles.wordpress.com

Vacationing in Orlando

After the Advanced Writers and Speaker's Association conference and the Golden Scroll banquet, Hal and I enjoyed a few days in Orlando. We visited the Universal Resorts theme park and had a great time riding the rides for two days! Including getting totally drenched in Jurassic Park.

Then we spent a day at the Holy Land Experience, which was just plain awesome. If you ever get to Orlando, I hope you'll go. Here are some highlights:



Worship center before the Temple.

Worship starts every day here in front of the Temple. If you know me at all, you know that my passion is studying the Holy Temple, so it was fantastic for me to sit before this replica of it. I'm hoping to write what I've learned about the Temple, and there are some possibilities for doing so on the horizon which I am very excited about.

Me and Hal with a replica of the Jesus Boat at the Holy Land Experience.

Here is me and Hal, with Magnificent Hope, in front of a life-sized replica of the Jesus Boat. It was fun to see this since I recently wrote an article about this very Jesus Boat for www.FindingGodDaily.com.





Replica of first century Jerusalem with Herod's Temple

Here is a replica of Jerusalem just after the time of Christ. Of course front and center is the Temple where Jesus often visited, known at Herod's Temple. Of course it wasn't to worship Herod at all, but was so called because Herod the Great built it. Herod added greatly to the grounds. I'm sure you know the Temple is no longer standing, destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., but the western wall is still there. One day this Temple will be rebuilt, according to Bible prophecies.

One place I couldn't photograph was the Scriptorium. If you visit the Holy Land Experience, you truly must take the hour tour of the Scriptorium. It is a museum of Bibles and their history. Most impactful for me was the Matthew's Bible with the brown stain smeared across it, which is the blood of the owner who was martyred simply for owning it.

It was a great trip and a fun place to visit. I hope you'll make the trip to the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, some time soon.

Deliver Me a Finalist at AWSA's Golden Scroll Nonfiction "Book of the Year"

No way! Has it really been nearly three months since I posted to this blog?! It has been a busy, busy but exciting summer. Let me fill you in, but it will take several posts.

Waaaay back in my May 28th post I told you I had just learned that my book, Deliver Me, was selected as a finalist for the 2012 Golden Scroll Nonfiction Book of the Year award. The award is presented at the annual banquet hosted by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA). This year the banquet was in Orlando on July 15, 2012. It was wonderful to have Hal there with me for the first time on one of my business trips!

Hal accompanied me to the 2012 AWSA Golden Scroll banquet in Orlando, Florida

I felt so honored to be one of four finalists for the Nonfiction Book of the Year award! The other three finalist books were all published by well-known traditional publishers, so for me to be standing on that platform in front of about 150 agents, editors, publishers, and authors with my self-published book was a wonderful recognition of my book and its quality and worth to readers.

In then end we didn't win the award, but to simply be a finalist was huge. I was awarded a beautiful framed certificate by the founder of AWSA, Linda Evans Shepherd. It was a moment I will truly treasure for a lifetime.



Dianne with AWSA founder Linda Evans Shepherd who presented a certificate to Deliver Me
 for being a finalist in the 2012 Golden Scroll Nonfiction Book of the Year awards.

This was Deliver Me's second nomination for Book of the Year. Earlier this year Deliver Me won the Christian Small Publishers Association's "2012 Book of the Year" in the Family/Relationships category.

Thank you Linda and AWSA for such a beautiful award and for the wonderful recognition.