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Thursday, May 23, 2013

When the Morning Glory Blooms by Cynthia Ruchti

Be sure to read to end of post to find out how you could win a copy of Cynthia's featured book.




For Those Who Have Rocked Me

The dedication page of When the Morning Glory Blooms reads, “For those I’ve rocked and lullabied and those who have rocked me.”

Having four younger siblings, a mom who worked on the obstetrics floor of the hospital almost her entire working career, and a long history as a babysitter, one would think I was prepared for the feel of my newborn in my arms. The baby girl who made me a mom rocked my world. The two boys who followed and five grandchildren since then did the same, in their own uniquely heart-tugging ways.

If I added up how many hours I’ve spent rocking babies over the years, it still wouldn’t seem enough. You may know the sensation too, whether they’re your own babies or they belong to someone else. To take a little one, squirming and agitated, and soothe it to sleep! And then to feel the utter peace as that once-crying child relaxes into your embrace, leans into the sound of your lullaby, nestles against your heartbeat!

Some of those babies of mine are in their thirties now. Figuratively I often long to hold them like that again, smooth their foreheads, whisper “Shh. There now. It’s going to be okay” and sing “You are so beautiful to me” or “And when Your eyes are on this child, Your grace abounds to me.”

In a way, this book—When the Morning Glory Blooms—is a lullaby. No matter what angst and traumas agitate the heart of a child, hope waits to embrace, soothe, smooth, point out “There now. It’s going to be okay.”

We’ve often heard the phrase—A soft place to land.

Sometimes a book, a story, is a soft place to land.

As I wrote about Anna in the 1890s, I could almost feel her arms around me, her words speaking to my own troubled heart. I wanted to be a mom for Ivy in the 1950s, a woman who desperately needed one. And even though I knew full well Becky in the present day scenes was a product of life-mixed-with-imagination, I longed to befriend her, put my arm around her shoulders, and hug her while she figured out how to keep standing upright with all she faced.

I can almost hear the lullabies on the pages. And I see each character’s muscles—and soul—relaxing into the inexpressible comfort that is stronger and even more real than their problems.

As you read the story, please let me know if you can hear it, too. Through the tangled plot and intertwined conflicts, through the heartache and the unexpected joys, through yours, can you hear the story singing to you?



Cynthia Ruchti is an author and speaker who tells stories of Hope-that-glows-in-the-dark through her novels, nonfiction, women’s events, and outlets related to the Heartbeat of the Home radio broadcast she wrote and produced for thirty-three years. She and her plot-tweaking husband live in the heart of Wisconsin, not far from their three children and five joy-giving grandchildren.

Her latest book is the Christian fiction, When the Morning Glory Blooms.

You can learn more about Cynthia and her writing and speaking at www.cynthiaruchti.com.

Connect with Cynthia:



Becky rocks a baby that rocked her world. Sixty years earlier, with her fiancĂ© Drew in the middle of the Korean Conflict, Ivy throws herself into her work at a nursing home to keep her sanity and provide for the child Drew doesn’t know is coming. Ivy cares for Anna, an elderly patient who taxes Ivy’s listening ear until the day she suspects Anna’s tall tales are not just idle ramblings. They’re Anna’s disjointed memories of a remarkable life.
Finding a faint thread of hope she can’t resist tugging, Ivy records Anna’s memoir, scribbling furiously after hours to keep up with the woman’s emotion-packed, grace-hemmed stories. Is Ivy’s answer buried in Anna’s past? And what connects them to Becky?
Becky, Ivy, Anna—three women fight a tangled vine of deception in search of the blossoming simplicity of truth.

Purchase your copy:



How would you like to win a copy of When the Morning Glory Blooms?  now is your chance.  Leave a comment on this blog post telling me your favorite flower.  Be sure to leave a way to contact you if you are the winner.  I'll leave this open through the end of this blog tour, May 31st.  This giveaway is open to US/Canada residents.  


Want more chances to win a copy visit the blog tour here and find other bloggers that are offering a giveaway.  

This material and book giveaway was provided by...






books

6 comments:

Book Dragon said...

Carnations inside, star jasmine outside.

Gina
bookdragonslair at gmail dot com

bn100 said...

roses

bn100candg at hotmail dot com

BW said...

Tulips

lmyost@roadrunner.com

Jeanne Doyon said...

My new favorite is peonies. I planted some but they haven't bloomed yet. I can hardly wait to gather a bunch for my table

Jeanne

Jeanne(dot)doyon(at)gmail(dot)com

BookLady said...

My favorite flower is the rose.
bhometchko(at)hotmail(dot)com

rubynreba said...

My favorite flowers are lilacs. We have a bush outside our kitchen window and they smell so good!

I came from Scraps of Life.

pbclark(at)netins(dot)net