Happy Veterans day! Those two handsome men are both Marines and both Veterans. The younger man is my son Lance Corporal Penders, and the older man is our very dear friend Retired First Sgt Lew Dusett. Lew served in Iraq in '03 at the beginning of the War; Brennan was in Iraq most of this year and as you know returned only a few weeks ago.

If you know a veteran or a veteran's family - go up to them, call them, email them, whatever you need to do but thank them for serving our country. Don't forget too its the families behind these veterans who deserve our thanks as well.

To all Veterans our there; thank you for your sacrifice for us. To your families, thank you for supporting these brave men and women so they can keep all of us free.

Not much to say except Thank God this year is almost behind us. While it hasn't been the worst year of our lives - it certainly has been the most challenging. We are so very very grateful to have our son back home with us. As my husband said, "its like a huge hole has finally been filled". Brennan's return from Iraq almost two weeks ago already has been truly the highlight of this year. We are enjoying having him back in our home and back in our day to day life.

To all military families out there, thank you for the sacrifice you make every single day by sharing your loved one with the rest of the country. No one can possibly understand the heartache and the pain and the sheer terror a family goes through when their loved one is deployed overseas. I have two dear friends about to go through what I've been through and only someone who has been there can possibly understand how hard this is.

Next week we will celebrate Veteran's Day. This year is has even more meaning to us as we now have a true Veteran in the family.

Hug a military family member today - make their day by asking if they are doing ok. Yep at some point I will get back to writing now. lol.

He's home! As of this morning, my son has returned to US Soil after a deployment to Iraq. I will blog more later but right now I just wanted to share my good news. He should be home to our house within a week. Its been a long year and we are much relieved that this journey has come to an end.

Thank you to all the military men and women who serve our country on both domestic and foreign land. Thank you to the families and friends they leave behind who love them and pray for them and miss them.

No one. NO ONE understands what these families go through and the pain they endure unless you have experienced it. If you know of a family with a loved one serving overseas call them up, ask how THEY are doing, ask what THEY need. Sometimes they just need someone to care that they are hurting and missing their someone. They need somebody to say its ok to cry, let me help you. Its a HUGE burden these families carry whether its a son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife, cousin, doesn't matter - they aren't home and they are missed and worried over in a way few can understand.

This is an open invitation for all of you to set the date for next Friday - October 9! I'm throwing a down home Texas Barbecue (virtual of course which after all is the only way not to gain weight with all this good food!). I hope you will all come and join me. Here's the link so that we all remember to stop by. I'll be there all day and I"m giving away a PRINT version of any of my books including the one not yet released called "Trouble in Texas" which should be out by Thanksgiving.

http://authorroastandtoast.blogspot.com

Hope to see you all there we'll be having a foot stomping good time!

Roni

There he is the Captain of our family. LOL. That's my husband, Scott, in his new boat that we picked up this summer. Its nothing fancy, just a little 22' 1984 Baja but its perfect for waterskiing and tubing. We knew when we saw it that it would mean a lot of fun summers on the lake for our sons and us. Scott and I met over 25 years ago this summer, when we were both pretty young - not quite 20! We met on vacation at a lake in Ontario, Canada. He loved how I looked riding on the bow of the boat in a green bathing suit. What can I say? I liked how he could water ski with one ski. What else did a couple need for happy ever after? All these years have gone by and we've never owned a boat - now we do and I have to tell you when we're on the water it really is like time goes backward and we're those 19 year old kids again falling in love.

Although real life is not a romance novel, for the most part, no matter how annoyed I might get with him, or he with me, its comforting and secure to know we love each other. Toby Keith who is one of my favorite singers has a song on his latest album and one of the lines is ..."its too late, you already love me." I laugh whenever I hear it because it sums our relationship. No matter what he does to make me crazy (and not in a good way!) its too late - I already love him. Nothing to do but accept him.

I think that's the good part about being together this long, I've long ago given up any notion of "fixing" him or tweaking him. I just accept him and he me.

That's a real romance novel right there.

Tell me that photo doesn't just make you swoon. When I tell you that its my 19 year old "baby" who just happens to be a Lance Corporal with the Marines and he's standing in the dessert of Iraq, it adds another layer of emotion. You single gals out there are drooling, you Mom's are tearing up because you can't imagine what I'm feeling. But yep that's my boy. The romance author in me sees the perfect cover! Wonder if I can convince him to let me use it?? lol.

Two months to go. Two months until he's home in our house, less than that and he'll arrive back in the states. Saturday was his Dad's birthday and he was able to call home. Best gift in the world for both of us.

I look back and shake my head at all that's gone on since he left home in January, the changes - good and bad. A year is a long time in a family's life, but for this family certain parts of life have been on hold and we're finally coming to the end of a journey that while we were honored and proud to take, its not one we wish to go through again. When someone in your family serves his country, the entire family and their friends all sacrifice for that service. We worry and we miss him, but we are proud that these young men and women are determined to do the right thing and protect our freedom.

58 days to go.

A four leaf clover tattoo, three old friends; 1 guy, his sister, her best friend, a business, a heartfelt promise, a late night phone call, a quick plane ride, a plush office and ...nothing.

Does any of that mean anything? Nope. Its just gibberish, or at least to anyone who isn't a writer it is. To me and to probably those of you who write a story is already starting to take shape. I've had these phrases, these snippets of scenes floating in my head now for weeks and they are driving me crazy. If I wasn't a writer; I'd be worried.

As writers, we're used to ideas hitting us from literally out of nowhere. We're used to hearing "voices" in our heads and seeing movies play out in our minds before we ever put the first keystroke down. For me, the frustrating part isn't where to get ideas but rather how to find the time for all the ideas I've got. I've learned, through trial and error that when an idea hits, no matter what else you're working on, you have to at least take some notes, put down the scene on paper and get it out of your head or you'll never get any rest. Certainly, you'll never get back to the manuscript you're supposed to be working on.

I'm supposed to be hard at work on the fourth book in the Double B series. I'm supposed to have it all wrapped up before the holidays so it can get into edits and release in early 2010. I'm trying. Honest. But the reality is this "four leaf clover tattoo story" as I refer to it is driving me half insane. I wake up in the middle of the night and think about it, driving in the car, I think about it. There doesn't seem to be a time when I'm not thinking about some part of this story.

Its becoming an obession. Somebody has a story; it needs to be told and apparently I'm the lucky writer. Sigh. I just wish I knew....the rest of the story.

Hope your writing is going better than mine today.