The final full week of August already!  I know many of you are wondering where the summer went, thinking you may have caught a glimpse of it in the corner of your eye as it whizzed past.  In my corner of the world, it was a hot, dry summer with more than its fair share of forest fires and cracked earth!  However, in spite of the heat, it was an adventurous summer as well.  Those of you staying up with my monthly newsletters will have learned about July's adventures already.

The adventures for August were closer to home, but prompted me to write about the joys and challenges of setting up my grown kids to make names for themselves in their own particular niches in life.  Those efforts are ongoing as we speak, but they began in earnest this summer.


BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

Things stayed quiet on the book front until this very week when I launched a two month book bundle good from now through to October 31st.  The way the savings go, its as if you are getting two books in the bundle for FREE!  Due to how various retailers around the 'net have priced my books, this is more true than you might realize!  Get all the details here:


Month Five prayer cards for "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" are now completely scheduled through to September 10th.  That means I have to get my own tail and complete more months in the prayer card series.  It's been hard to concentrate on all the copy and pasting required to turn the book into this series with the weather being so hot this summer.  But I will get this series of prayer cards completed.  I promise!

These prayer cards will not be shared on LinkedIn any longer, as I can't force LinkedIn to accept both an image and a courtesy link via hootesuite, without the courtesy link taking over.  The focus is not to be the link, but the image.  So LinkedIn is now axed from seeing these cards.

When Month 6 is completed, Months 1 - 3 will go on sale at 25% off.  All decks, whether 30 days or 31 days, sell for $20 each and are useable as desktop backgrounds, in your screensaver app (randomly), or printed at 300 DPI on your colour printer.  You may purchase one copy for home, a second work, another for your office at church, etc.  If you have a Bible study group you wish to purchase for, contact me and we'll discuss special pricing.

Month One: https://gumroad.com/l/PC-YPWJ
Month Two: https://gumroad.com/l/PC2-YPWJ
Month Three: https://gum.co/PC3-YPWJ
Month Four: https://gumroad.com/l/PC4-YPWJ
Month Five: https://gumroad.com/l/PC5-YPWJ


Another Book Project!

Efforts on my daughter's books are coming along, particularly one we are doing together where she will be listed as co-author in order to ensure that I have my facts straight and effective sources quoted.  This book is entitled, "Horsemanship According to Xenophon" and will not only feature the translated work as done by Morris H. Morgan in 1893, but include many of Morris's own translation notes.  Ashley and I are huge lovers of history, so with so many of Morris's notes giving historical context either for Xenophon's comments or Morris's own translations at times, the historical value was too great to pass up!  A cover for this book still has to be drafted, but the interior is so far coming along nicely.  This will be the equivalent to a softcover coffee-table book due to its size and the full-colour interior.  Many of the images in the book feature both Ashley and her horse,  Bella Svanna.  

Our goal for this book is to bring Xenophon's writings into the modern day first as Morris saw them in 1893 and then as we see and interpret them now.  Our presentation will draw from Ashley's 9+ years of experience around horses both caring for and riding them English-style, as well as quotes and references to manuals, guides and other sources showing the modern adaptation, interpretation and execution of many of Xenophon's admonitions from 350BC.

Due to his various references to how the Persians handled equestrian concerns, an additional writer's influence from 1350BC in the country of Mitanni is included in Chapter 4.  This is important to note as Mitanni was overtaken by the Hittite Empire; yes, that same empire that was driven out of Canaan when Israel moved in.  In turn, the Hittite Empire was overtaken by the Persian Empire against whom Xenophon joined the Greek army to fight long before he began writing.  Many authoritative references to Xenophon's works state that there doesn't exist any writings related to the care, feeding and training of the horse that survived prior to Xenophon's book.  I'd say 5 cuniform tablets from the ancient Hittite region certainly qualify as prior writings!  

So if you are into horses and into history, you'll want to stay tuned on the progress of this book!

 
News Related to the Songdove Books Affiliate Program

Have you signed up as a Songdove Books Affiliate yet? I know some of you like to share my books with your online friends from time to time, so why not get 20% kickback for your trouble?

Click2Sell and JVZoo only offer this percentage on my two e-courses, however the recent additions this summer of Gumroad and Payhip also let you earn this percentage on sales of my books too!

Check out this link on my site for more information.  Help me get word out about my books and e-courses, and get paid for every sale made from your efforts!

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Wrap-up

I'll close off today with encouragement to check the blog links below.  I've been saying that a lot in recent newsletters, but the truth is, that these newsletters have been coming out shortly after major thoughts have already been written.  Being one for efficiency, why write them twice, right?  My blog has been quite varied this summer ranging from devotonal thoughts to family life to at least one all-out rant!  I actually do rant occasionally.  Remember that I process things through my fingers on this keyboard.  That means when God is speaking, I process via writing, when I'm puzzling something out I'll process via writing, when an issue grates on me too strong I'll resort to writing about it to get it out of my system for awhile, etc.  So my blog is a reflection of these various types of writing this summer.  If you haven't stopped by in awhile, you'll want to click one of the posts below and then look at the left-hand sidebar near the top to see recent blog posts.  Alternatively, you can click the site banner to go to the home page and scroll down to see the variety of blog posts this summer produced.

Feel free to share any posts that resonate with you too.  Each posting has a row of share buttons across the bottom to help you do that.  It's a shorter newsletter this month, but we are heading into the Fall season now, so who knows what's in store as we move forward.

 
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View past newsletters. http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/past-newsletters/

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Latest Content on the Songdove Musings Blog:


Relationship with God: Which One Do You Most Identify With?

My blogging lately has not followed my personal devotions.  The first chapter of Joshua had already been written about at length earlier in June long before I'd even finished the book of Deuteronomy.  I confess that today, my thoughts are not in the book of Joshua either.  Instead, my thoughts are straying toward the concept of how we approach God …


"Back to School Bundle for the Entire Family!"

Yes, it IS that time of year again!  For some, classes are already in session.  For others, classes are due to resume following Labour Day in September.  Regardless of when children and teachers are returning to the classroom, its hard not to observe all the sales going on in the stores right now!  Paper, pencils, rulers, backpacks, calculators, cellphones and …


The Cyclist, The Motorist, and the Law! A Rant!

It happened again!  This time while taking my daughter to work at 6:15am!  Yet another cyclist thought that a) they were in their right to be on the vehicular side of the bike lane's white line, and b) in their right to be riding tandem with the cyclist who was obeying the law and staying in the center of their …

Have your kids already returned to school?  Are you actively engaged in back-to-school preparations?  Songdove Books is offering a Back to School bundle for the entire family!  Click through to read more about it and to learn how you can take advantage of this book bundle until October 31st.

http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/2015/08/24/back-to-school-bundle-for-the-entire-family/

Welcome to the edition that generally heralds two major national holidays!  One of them sees a host of normally reserved people suddenly break out in red and white, bbq block parties, multicultural celebrations across the nation and fireworks displays by certified pyrotechnic teams.  The other holiday sees typically patriotic people putting on the red, white and blue, taking off to baseball games, breaking out the bbq and engaging in backyard fireworks displays for themselves and the rest of the street.  At both holidays flags are flown, worn, draped, hung, displayed as cakes, artwork, fruit trays and anything else that can be decorated in the national colours.  

I think by now, most of my readers know which two holidays I'm talking about, and they both take place next week!  I'm referring to Canada Day on July 1st when Canada celebrates it's 148th birthday, and Independence Day on July 4th, when the United States celebrates it's independence from the Crown of England.

To citizens of both countries, I wish you joyful, sober merry-making, and a time when you are able to gather with friends and family to remember the best of what both countries have to offer, giving thanks to God for granting us the mercies He has over the years and seeking His guidance going into another year as a nation.

These days, national leaders are more in need of God's wisdom, discernment, insight and foresight than ever before!  To my Canadian readers, remember that your Prime Minister is a fellow believer in Christ and is deeply in need of your prayers for God's wisdom to permeate his decisions.  He isn't a perfect leader, but no nation on the planet is able to make that claim.  Pray for your brother in Christ and for his family, that they will seek God in all they do.  Give thanks to God that our Prime Minister unequivocally stands by Israel when almost every other nation is against them.  In making this stand, our national leader has ensured God's blessings on our own land no matter what mistakes you may have trouble forgiving him for.  

To my US readers, I am seeing quite a bit of dismay at the things your federal government has been doing, and there is much discontent with your President in many circles of society.  Scripture commands us to pray for our leaders, and I urge you to pray for your President like never before!  Bombard heaven's gates to have God turn his head in the directions God wants him to go as Proverbs says God does.  Scripture says if we pray for our leaders, that we will invite God's blessings over our own lives and families.  So while it's currently quite popular to dump on Obama and his surrounding leadership, may I instead ask as we approach July 4th this year, that you take time to intercede, to repent on behalf of your nation and government, and seek God's face on behalf of those who lead your nation.  Stand in the gap and pray for wisdom, for guidance, for discernment, for insight for foresight, both for yourselves at home and for your government at all levels.  Examine your life, your hidden thoughts and hidden convictions, and seek God's cleansing and restoration for yourself, your family, your church and your community.  It is only as people allow God to move through the dark recesses of their individual lives that entire communities and even entire nations can be changed.  Gather in your prayer groups this July and fall on your knees before the only God who will hear and take action on your behalf.  May July 4th 2015 be known as the date when American fell to it's knees in humble repentance, and rescued a nation on the brink of disaster.

To those who live overseas, as you scan the news online or flip the channels on your television set, it is clear that there is trouble brewing worldwide at this time.  Unrest has taken over major areas of the globe as governments and religious groups try to crack down on those who do not follow their creeds.  As these scenes cross your screen, reach out a hand toward that screen and pray over those going through these troubling times.  Pray for comfort for those losing family members, pastors, and community leaders.  Pray for those committing such crimes and claim their souls for the Kingdom of God outloud so that they are unable to die until they have made Christ Lord.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will invade troublesome governments and tight-fisted regimes, that in these last days the name of the Lord will be lifted up.  Pray for peace, wisdom, guidance, discernment, insight and foresight for the governments and leaders at all levels right where you live.

Yes, this is a call to prayer.  This is a call to self-examination.  This is a call to surrender to the cleansing fire of the Holy Spirit so that you are free to do battle in the heavenly realms on behalf of those who can't.  This is a time for the army of Christ to stand up and be counted!  Nation after nation is falling prey to the forceful voices of sin demanding that their sin be legalized, accepted, respected, and not only tolerated but engaged by those who these voices know right well will not do so.  Christians in "free" countries are being dragged through courts and heavily penalized for standing up for their beliefs where once they used to be free to do so.  

Darkness is falling across the globe as we enter the wee hours before morning when Christ will return for His Church, the Bride of Christ.  The birth pangs as of a mother in labour according to Matthew 24, are upon us and getting closer and closer together.  The frequency of these pangs are causing some to think we have entered the Tribulation period, although Christ said these were only precursors to that time.  Even as precursors however, they are catching people off-guard.  They are creating panic and heartbreak and even the earth is not immune.  The saying goes that it's always darkest before dawn.  However it is also said that one small candle can light an entire room when that room is darkened.

We live in dark days that are only going to get darker and more troublesome before the great and terrible Day of the Lord comes.  The enemy of our souls knows his time is short and he has begun his offensive.  Christ when looking out across time to this period says Himself, will He find faith on the earth when He returns?  Indeed, will He?  Only you and I can answer that question for ourselves and for those we love.  Only we can engage in intercessory prayer for those God places on our hearts.  Only we can ensure our own hearts and minds and our own outward daily walk is upright and clean before the Father.  Only we can ensure that our Robes of Righteousness have been washed by the Word so that Christ can present us blameless to the Father.  

Remember that your heart-felt prayers are powerful!  Not because of what you say, but because of Who is listening!  Lastly, remember Psalm 91. . . Read it before you go to bed tonight, and read it often in the days to come.  Create a poster and copy and paste the passage into it, print it and post it on your kitchen or living room wall for all to see as the days get darker.  If you were tried in a court of law, would there be enough evidence to brand you a Child of the King?  Take time this coming week of celebration, to make sure you will be celebrating your citizenship in Heaven.

Seasonal News

June was marked by one major word for this author this year. . . GRADUATION!!!  As a soundtech at my church, I do events at various times of the year.  This month I did three graduation ceremonies, one for a nursing school and two high school graduation ceremonies.  These were followed by a middle school awards night.  Amongst all that were two funerals, which were graduations of a sort all their own.  I'm not sure where one graduated to, but the other for sure graduated into Heaven.  Two copies of "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate" sold this month as well, bringing the final total to somewhere around 33 books being given to grads this year.  It is my prayer that this little book blesses each and every graduate receiving it, long into their young adult years and beyond.

Prayer Cards From "A Year in Prayer With Jesus"

"A Year in Prayer With Jesus" prayer cards continued, with month's three and four added to the list over at gumroad.com.  I need to schedule month four into hootesuite but finally have the picture versus link figured out.  Now the focus is where it should be, which is on each prayer card every five minutes from 7am Pacific time to 7:30am PST.  These are being shared via      
-Facebook,
-Twitter,
-LinkedIn,
-and my author profile on G+. (although twitter users must click the FB link to see the images).  I've begun work on month five, but as you can imagine, life has been busy and I have either been too exhausted, or had other things to keep track of.

Month One: https://gumroad.com/l/PC-YPWJ
Month Two: https://gumroad.com/l/PC2-YPWJ
Month Three: https://gum.co/PC3-YPWJ
Month Four: https://gumroad.com/l/PC4-YPWJ

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Wrap-up

It's interesting as I look back over the past month, that subjects God's had me writing about on my blog tie in so closely with what I felt I had to write in this newsletter tonight.  Obedience, Gratitude, reverence for God's Word, guarding our heart, and remembering the nature of God Himself.  I would strongly urge, if you don't already follow my blog as sporadic as it is, that you take time to read the blog posts shared at the end of this newsletter this month.  Some of the posts below contain links to other posts because it made more sense to share previous blog post links than to write everything out all over again.

So grab a cold tall iced tea and plate of your favourite summer snacks, and take time to read through these articles.  In light of all that is going on in the world, the Church around the globe, and in our very own lives, these thoughts are timely and challenging.

One more article that isn't below, but that I pray encourages many of you, will be seen in the sidebar of any article you click on.  "I am thy part and thine inheritance".  Take a gander at that one as well.  You won't regret it.

May God go with you into the coming week.

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View past newsletters.

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Latest Content on the Songdove Musings Blog:

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Deuteronomy 4: Of Words, Hearts and the Nature of God

As I read through the Bible again, one chapter per day, I now come to the book of Deuteronomy and when it comes to firsts, the fifth book of the Torah does not disappoint.  Chapter four brings with it not one, not two, but three admonishments that we see sprinkled throughout Scripture and are more likely to recognize from other …

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Gratitude - A Many-Splendored Thing!

What is "Gratitude"?  According to dictionary.com: Gratitude is "the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful".  According to Collins English Dictionary: Gratitude is "a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation, as for gifts or favours".  When I look up the word in Nave's Bible Dictionary, I am told to look at the word Thankfulness.  Gratitude then, is a form of …

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Obedience: A Many-Splendored Thing!

Anyone who has followed my blog long enough, will know that I have written at various times about how obedience shows the Triune God that we love Him! Blog posts such as: Genesis 22: Obedience Leads to Blessings: Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto …

Anyone know where May took off to???  As I write this, the calendar says May 27th and June 1st is on Monday!  So I'm sitting here realizing it's time for yet another monthly newsletter. . . Could have sworn I wrote one just a couple weeks ago. . .

One thing's for sure, May's focus has been GRADUATION!

 
Seasonal News

The biggest event of the month was probably the discovery of 26 copies of "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate" flying off the Amazon shelves!  That brings the total paperback copies of this book sold to 31 this year!

31 graduates will receive this from loved ones in their life seeking to offer unspoken assistance as they cross the stage from school into the big wide world!  I've been told this is a great book to send kids off to college with too.


Prayer Cards From "A Year in Prayer With Jesus"

The second event to have me both relieved and excited about, is that the prayer cards for "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" have resumed production now that I have more hard drive space, and I was able to schedule month two, and both start AND complete month three, complete with scheduling in hootesuite!  All three months are now available as hi-res downloadable printables on gumroad.com.  Month four is now in the works and when that's done, I'll be a solid third of the way through!  It really is a relief to be working on this project again!  

The remainder of Month Two and Month three begin resumed daily morning postings on June 1st.  You'll be able to catch them every five minutes starting at 7am via my author page on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and my author profile on G+.  Those versions of the prayer cards however, are only 72dpi (web quality) and not very suitable for printing.  You can however, share them as far and wide online as you wish, if you so choose.  Just keep the cards intact for copyright reasons.

The $20 price of each printable deck over at gumroad works out to less than 20 cents per hi-res image.  While many graphics artists will scream at so little per image, this is my attempt to make printing them more affordable for you, as ink and paper aren't cheap either.

Month One: https://gumroad.com/l/PC-YPWJ
Month Two: https://gumroad.com/l/PC2-YPWJ
Month Three: https://gum.co/PC3-YPWJ


Promotional News

Locations online where Songdove Books may be found grew again this month.  All four ebooks can now be purchased from Best Indie Book Store.  Needless to say, if you haven't already, you'll want to review the Songdove Books Presents: list of where to buy around the world to see if you favourite store is there yet or not.

The list is both growing and shrinking, as a UK site removed their ebook section this year as well.

I won't bore you by listing all the current locations in this newsletter, just click over to the site to peruse at your convenience.

http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/where-to-buy-around-the-world/


Wrap-up

As usual, God's provisions never cease to amaze me.  I have wrapped up the "heavy lifting" for a client's website and brand new social media presence and am now handling things back on a maintenance basis.  That client almost single-handedly covered my desired monthly earnings for most of 2015 so far.  As that began winding down, soundtech events at my church began picking up!  Several events in April and May combined with an unknown donor's gift back in April, have ensured things keep rolling in this house.  Funerals, concerts, a wedding. . . A sound tech never knows what they'll be doing next around my church.  June will see me doing three graduation ceremonies as well.  

The large number of grad gift sales this Spring has meant I'll be due for my first Createspace royalty cheque come the end of June as well!  Since first publishing in 2012, this is a BIG deal!  I've sold books via other outlets over the past few years, but Createspace has a very large minimum amount before they will cut you a cheque, so I'm thrilled to be getting my first cheque from them at the end of June!  

Createspace isn't the only one to be sending me a cheque either.  I am looking forward to getting my first payout from Hubpages.com at the end of this month as well!  I haven't had as much time to engage in freelance writing this year, so it's great to see the writing I have done start to pay off.  So much of my writing isn't designed to earn a penny and appears on my blog, my facebook and LinkedIn notes areas, or even my private profile notes.  But whenever it's possible to use my gifting not merely to share, but to put milk in the fridge too, that's a big deal!

For those who might be wondering, my health has improved to a point and plateaued there for much of 2015.  I do get setbacks every now and then, and my mornings the week of this newsletter have been "dragging" physically, mentally and emotionally.  I don't know if it's the heat already, as the Okanagan is already spending more time in the mid to high 20's (celcius), or if it's sleep issues, as I get interrupted every morning to take my daughter to work, or if it's just my body's response to being busier and me not finding the new boundaries yet.  It's great to generally have more energy to do stuff, because that allows me to be more productive around the house, take on more work, etc.  Just pray I'm not overdoing it and that I'll discover where my boundaries are at this stage of healing and not cross them till I'm ready to.

Blog posts continue as I go through the Bible from front to back in my personal devotions.  An interesting thought came to me as I read Numbers 18 a few days ago.  You'll want to read that.  So often we think God's holding out on us when He chooses not to bless us with things or situations or circumstances that we feel we've done our part to receive.  There might be a higher reason why those things have apparently been denied.  Read on to discover how all this played out in my personal devotions.

 
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Latest Content on the Songdove Musings Blog:


Numbers 18: . . . I am thy part and thine inheritance. . .

Numbers 18:20  And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. During a time when, as Israel was stumbling quite badly getting into the groove of all God had just handed down to them in …

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Numbers 12: Murmuring and Railing Against God's Anointed!

Not all firsts mentioned in the Torah were beneficial firsts.  There was the first murder in Genesis, the first turning away to another god in Exodus, the first act of strange fire in Leviticus, and now the first act of openly railing against one of God's anointed here in Numbers.  Each of these unfortunate firsts carried with them drastic consequences.  …

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Leviticus 25 and the Subject of Redemption (kinsman redeemer)

For everything there is a purpose, and a time and season under the heaven.  This is a slight paraphrase to a well-known passage out of Ecclesiastes, and a nod to the song popular back in the late 60's/early '70's, Turn Turn Turn. I bring this up today, because of having landed in Leviticus 25. Leviticus 25 is one of those …

Read more.