SEVERED YET WHOLE

A novel based on a true story

by

Betty Lewis Kasperski

Betty first held her book, Severed Yet Whole, in her hand last Wednesday evening, February 8th. Since then, she has had a book signing, arranged for the book to be available through the Delaware Tech Library system, has distributed complimentary copies to others who will help promote her novel, and written an article that will be featured on her seminary website for a month. Her book is already "exploding" on Facebook, and she has set a number of other marketing balls in motion, including a speaking engagement (with her publisher) at the April 3rd Georgetown Rotary meeting. Her website is up and running (visit SeveredYetWhole.com), and she has endorsements galore, including a foreword by Dr. Tony Campolo. Way to go, Betty!

P.S. This is a Fruitbearer publication. Click on the cover image below for details. Betty will have books available at the Feb. 18th DCWF meeting.

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Betty Lewis Kasperski is an educator, business leader, inspirational speaker, and writer. had life all buttoned up, or so she thought--until the unexpected challenges recorded in Severed Yet Whole came along.



Eva just sold an article to the Lutheran Digest. It's the one she read at our December meeting, called "I Matter." Riding the school bus home with a friend without her mom's knowledge was not a good idea! She thanks God for teaching her how to write for His glory, and we thank God for the example Eva is setting for members of DCWF. Way to go, Eva!



Nancy Offen with the students at Jefferson School in December 2011

This is a picture of Nancy Offen with the students at the Jefferson School where she visited to share her book, Step-Hobble-Step. The school has invited her to come back in the spring to read her newly released book, Best Friends, and then again in the summer for their summer program. She sold seventeen books at the Jefferson School, and another eleven at Eagle's Nest where she will visit again in spring.



Flowers and Weeds

Judi Folmsbee

When you see an unkempt flower garden, what do you see first? Do you really see the flowers in all their beauty with the vibrant sun-filled colors, or do you really see the ugly overwhelming take charge weeds?

One day while I was in my yard, I noticed that I had neglected the flower garden that surrounded my deck. My deck is my refuge and favorite place to be in the summertime. When I sit on the deck, I can hear the birds singing and the wind whistling through the trees. I watch the humming birds dash around the rose of Sharon. I can smell the pine needles. I can see my beautiful impatiens with their shades of pink, purple, red and orange surrounding the deck like a picture frame.

When I realized that I had not weeded the garden in a while, I began to think. That day all I could see were the weeds. The flowers were still there, but the ugly weeds were overpowering the beautiful flowers. As I began to remove the weeds, I wondered if I lived everyday the way I viewed the garden that day. The flowers represented the beautiful and positive in everything that God has created. The weeds represented the ugly and negative in each one of us.

Do I find the positive and beautiful in my husband, my children, my students, my friends, and people I see on the street . . . or, do I find the negative and ugly in my husband, my children, my students, my friends, and people on the street?

Song of Solomon, chapter 2 verse 1 says, “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” Verse 12 says, “The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land," (or Matthew 6:30 – and if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you, o men of little faith?).

Have you ever thought about it? Are you the flower? Do you find the good, the positive, and the beautiful in everyone first, without judgment? Are you the weed? Are you the weed that finds the negative and ugly and spreads too far, too fast before it is controlled?

All of us should be the flowers spreading beauty, positiveness, and goodness.

I Samuel 16:7 says, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

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Judi lives in Ellendale, Delaware. A retired elementary special education teacher, Judi has also taught Sunday school over the years. She has three children’s books as well as stories published in two anthologies.

In November 2011, Judi visited 88.7 FM The Bridge for her first live interview with Bill and Denise about "Eye to Eye," her story in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Tough Times (101 Daily Devotions to Inspire and Support You in Times of Need).