Look at these two.
The girl on the left is me (My husband saw this picture and asked if I ate a lot of cheese when I was young. You may wonder the same thing. The answer is yes), and the girl on the right is Beverly. Beverly is a lot of things fabulous, and Beverly is also my cousin.
Growing up, I wrote. That’s what I did. I wrote terrible angst filled poems. I wrote a community newspaper for my trailer park. I wrote fiction that was bad and nonfiction that was worse. I wrote on windows with my finger and on bridges with spray paint. I wrote.
Growing up, Beverly created art. Beverly painted green vines along her bedroom walls. She molded sculptures out of clay. She painted on mirrors and rocks and shoes. She made wall hangings and ornaments and of course, she created on canvas. Beverly made art.
Not only did our younger selves rock excellent hair (please scroll to the top for another peek at the hair) and killer dance moves at shady, underage Chicago clubs, but we were full of spirit, spunk, and dreams. Our younger selves had endless amounts of time and unending ambition.
Until we didn’t.
As the years passed, there wasn’t time to grab a tube and float the Dupage River or ignore the world and feed our creative sides. Instead, like you, we had jobs and husbands and bills and babies, and then we had teenagers. We had to make dinner or in Bev’s case, run to the store and buy cereal. We squeezed our passion for writing and art into late nights and early mornings.
And then, something strange happened. Bev and I turned forty.
At forty, we decided it was time to be gutsy (Yep, that’s us to the left. Me in the glasses and Bev in the sassy blonde hair). We decided to be brave. We decided to take our passion for writing and creating and give these gifts more priority, and we decided to work on a project together.
Let me be upfront. In the publishing world there are rules and having your cousin illustrate your book and then having one of your forever friends complete the layout and design on your book pretty much breaks all of the rules.
But guess what? We don’t care. And guess what else? When we created Gutsy Girls: Strong Christian Women Who Impacted the World, we created something special. This series isn’t special because Bev and I got to work together, but this series is special because we believe in raising strong girls. We believe our girls deserve to hear the stories of real women who lived big for God, and we believe their stories should be told in a fun and engaging way.
Our book is for the kids in your life. It’s a call to them (and to us) to live big for God even when the world tells us otherwise. Each book in the Gutsy Girls series focuses on a new women. Book One is about Gladys Aylward. Do you know Gladys?
People told Gladys she was too old, not smart, and didn’t have the skills needed to tell the people of China about God. Instead, of listening to them, Gladys set out on an across the world adventure. Gladys is the ultimate gutsy girl.
Bev and I are excited about getting Gutsy Girls into your hot, little hands, and therefore, we have developed early ordering freebies. These freebies will only be available until 9/25/2015.
EARLY ORDERING FREEBIES:
You get the book early! Yay! But if that isn’t enough (what?), here are the other shockingly fabulous incentives.
A PDF of Gabfest, conversation starters for girls. Simply open-up the PDF of Gabfest and print it. Later this fall, I will sell a printed version of Gabfest from this site, but for people who order Gutsy Girls early, Gabfest is free, free, free! Here are a few sample cards.
3. You will be entered to win one of two Live Gutsy paintings completed by the illustrator of Gutsy Girls: Strong Christian Women Who Impacted the World, Beverly Wines.
4. You will receive a PDF of a five page enrichment packet which includes activities to extend Gladys’ story long after you finish reading the book. This packet of enrichment activities is perfect to use with Sunday School classes, students who are homeschooled, small groups, or at the kitchen table with your own kiddos.
HERE’S HOW TO GET THE FREE LOOT:
Go to Amazon and order either an ebook or a paperback copy of Gutsy Girls: Strong Christian Women Who Impacted the World.
Email Lisa at LisaVanEngen@gmail.com by Friday, August 25th, and let her know you purchased a book. We are using the honor system, friends. No need to send Lisa the Amazon receipt. She just needs to hear from you via email. Again, you must email Lisa for the freebies or we won’t know you purchased a book.
Lisa will send you the shockingly amazing freebies. The winners of the Live Gutsy paintings will be announced via social media on Monday, September 28th.
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Thank you for letting us share our book with you and your family. If you have any questions about the freebies, please leave them in the comments below. If you are working hard to live gutsy, please know Bev and I are cheering for for you.
Much Love,
Amy and Bev
*If you want to keep in the loop about future books in the Gutsy Girls series (available summer 2016) and other FREE enrichement activities, simply subscribe by email (scroll down to the bottom of this page and enter your email) or connect with me on your favorite form of soical media: FB, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.