Sunday, December 21, 2014

HopeSprings Giveaway!

 
 
 

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Thanks to all of you who visited our various blogs throughout the month of December and commented. We appreciate you taking the time to do that and hope that you'll continue to stick around. Each of us try to provide interesting and entertaining content weekly and would love your continued presence!
Without further ado, our grand prize winner is

June Horne

June, please contact me via email - elizabeth dot maddrey at gmail dot com (replace "dot" and "at" with a . and an @) And in even more delightful news - everyone else who commented is eligible for a free audiobook download of one of the following HopeSprings books:
Please contact me (same email as above) with your first two choices (supplies of each title are limited, so get in touch quickly.) Your participation in the Advent giveaway will be verified and then you'll receive an email with information about how to claim your free audio book. Thanks again for spending a bit of your Advent with us. Have a very blessed Christmas!
 

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Congrats, Katie!

 

Congrats to Katie Clark for winning a copy of Worth the Time!
Everyone who commented will be put into the drawing for the 150-dollar gift card! The winner will be announced Monday!
 
Merry Christmas, everyone.
 
 

If you didn't win this time, you can still check out Worth the Time on Amazon. :)

Monday, December 15, 2014

HopeSprings Giveaway: Hope in Jesus

 


Immigration Debates
ISIS
Racial Tension
Violence
Depression
Bullying
Broken or hurting marriages
 
 
 
The world is messy. It's broken. Wait, it's more than broken, it's in shattered pieces.
 
And we search in all the wrong places to fix it: the government, anger, social status, education, relationships, etc.
 
And they don't solve it. They will disappoint us every time we place our hope in them.
 
 
Where's the hope of a better future? The hope that tomorrow will be brighter?
 
Jesus.
 
He is the only hope, the only way, the only truth. He takes our brokenness and restores.
 
He is hope. The brokenness of the world may still swirl around us, a tornado of sin, but inside we can still grasp onto the hope of Jesus.
 
Titus 2:13 (ESV): Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ
 
Our hope is not in the things of the world. Our hope is not in the people around us. Our hope is in Jesus alone and His appearance--His promise fulfilled.
 
What a glorious day that will be!
 
What does the word hope mean to you? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Worth the Time. (Be sure to leave your email address.)
 
Each comment will also enter you into the Author of HopeSprings giveaway (150 dollar Amazon gift card).
 
I'll draw a winner on the 20th.
 
 
 

 
 


 
 

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Bookmarks and Pens!

 
 
I've got pens and bookmarks for anyone who'd like some to keep for yourself or pass out.
Just send me your info to laurajacksonwrites at gmail dot com and let me know if you're passing them out or just want a few for yourself.
 
 

Friday, December 5, 2014

Confessional Friday

 

Linking up with Leslies over at http://www.blondeambitionblog.com/.

I confess that I was super nervous about my first book signing, and I'm so glad I was just one of 5 authors because it was so slow. Bad weather swirled through Houston, and not many people came to Barnes and Noble. But, at least it's out of the way, right?



I confess that I've been to two Rockets games in the last two weeks, and I want to go every week. I'm spoiled. (Both times I went with the girl I babysit, who loves basketball even more than I do!)






I confess that I lack Pinterest talent. People kept sending me pictures of Book Christmas Trees, suggesting I do them for the library. I tried. I really did. I like it, and the kids like it. That's what matters.

 
 
 
I confess that I laughed as some of my students made a tree for me. I tried to talk to them about making things level, but they kept piling books half-hazardly. It looked great.
For 30 minutes. They left, and it completely fell. a volcano eruption.
Sometimes we just need to learn by doing and failing. And laughing.
 
 
I confess that I miss my dad more around the holidays, which is natural. He was a hunter, and after his death, my mom got rid of his mounted animals. The people I babysit for own a couple of restaurants in Houston (Spaghetti Western--great food!), and they took my dad's bear.
I get to see the bear fairly regularly, and I know my dad would be in a panic over his bear decorated, but I LOVE it!
'

Thursday, December 4, 2014

HopeSprings Giveaway Continues!

 
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It's the end of week one in the HopeSpringsBooks Advent Giveaway and...we had a few kinks. These things happen, but happily for you, it gives you a chance for some additional free stuff as our way of saying "Ooops! Please forgive us."
 
But first up, Teresa Pollard had a great post on Tuesday about hope. We hope (ha!) if you haven't already swung by and commented that you'll do so today. She's giving people until this Tuesday (12/9) to leave a comment to win either of her books (Not Guilty or Tokens of Promise. Both are wonderful reads and if you've not read them, this is a great opportunity to do that!) PLUS - every comment on one of our author posts on Hope gets you an entry into the Grand Prize giveaway.
 
 
You may be asking: are there other ways to enter for the Grand Prize? And that's a fantastic question, but the answer is nope. Rafflecopter and Facebook made some changes to the way they do things and between that and a few other logistical issues, we decided to kick it old school the year.
 
 
As a bonus, what we really want to do is connect with you! So asking you to leave a comment and chat with us works to that end as well. You may now be asking: I thought you said there were going to be two author posts each week? And that's where we get to additional free stuff. The second post with giveaway didn't happen this week - so sorry! But, because of that, we have the added bonus of offering up some audible download codes for free audio books. So - comment on this post for a special giveaway of 5 different audiobook codes. You have a choice between:
So leave a comment and let us know which FREE audio book you'd like! (Commenters from all the locations where this is posted will be put into a spreadsheet and then we'll use random.org to choose the winners - one for each audio code.)

We'll contact winners via email (and mention them in next Friday's post) on Friday (12/12.) Be sure to swing by Elizabeth Maddrey's blog on Monday and Mary Hamilton's blog on Wednesday for more chances to enter the Grand Prize Drawing and other author giveaways!

Monday, December 1, 2014

HopeSprings Advent Giveaway!

 
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It's officially Advent! Counting down to Christmas is always such a delightful time of year. It's also a call to take time to reflect on what it means that the Christ child came to earth, born in such lowly circumstances, all so He could die on the cross to bear the punishment for our sin. We are truly blessed.
 
Over the next three weeks, five authors who are also published with HopeSpringsBooks and I are going to devote a post to our thoughts on the hope of Advent. We hope you'll join us and join in on the conversation.
 
Here's the schedule of posts:
December 2 - Teresa Pollard
December 3 - Stephanie McCall
December 8 - Elizabeth Maddrey
December 10 - Mary Hamilton
December 15 - Laura Jackson
December 17 - Patrick Johnston
 
To enter individual giveaways as well as to be entered in the grand prize drawing, you just need to comment on each author's post. On Saturday, December 20th, all the comments will be put in a spreadsheet and Random.org will draw the winner. Check back here on December 22nd for the grand prize winner announcement!