This weekend I had the amazing privilege of teaching at the Perinton Community Church’s Womens Retreat (Rochester, NY). What a fabulous group of women…
We laughed, we cried, we shared our stories. But mostly, we feasted on God’s Word and immersed ourselves in what Jesus says about forgiveness in Luke 15—all while looking at these three parables through a middle eastern lens, which is life-changing.
They all read A Million Little Choices before the retreat, so we did a deep dive into that dual timeline story, too—the characters, the setting, the themes of marriage and infidelity, and I shared where God met me on the page as I wrote and rewrote that story.
I’m so grateful to my dear friend Polly Alexander (no relation, we just happened to both marry boys with the last name Alexander) for inviting me to lead the study time. Polly and I go way back to high school. We roomed together at Harding University, too…
Then were each other’s maid of honor at our weddings…
Gracious, how the years have flown. I’m so grateful for our friendship—and for all of our laughter this past weekend…
And if that wasn’t enough, the week before that I got to see Karen Schurrer, my former editor from Bethany House, who was in Nashville. But we forgot to take a picture together! Ugh. So when I realized that, I texted her and said, “Quick, take a pic, and I’ll put them together.”
So here we are last week…
And here we are in 2007 at the RITA Award when Revealed won in the historical romance category. Again, how the years have flown…
Karen and I worked on nine books together. She really is so incredibly gifted, and I’m grateful to have benefited from her talent (and to still be benefiting from it). 
My cup overflows with fabulous sisters in Christ, and I’m still thanking God for all the time together in recent days. But now I’m back at my desk, razor-focused, working to finish this current novel that will release next year. I’m eager to make it the best it can be and am almost to the finish line!
Have you had some special sister time lately? Any special gatherings? retreats? Are you still connected with high school and college friends? It’s an incredible blessing to do life with women in the Kingdom of God, isn’t it? And that includes our fabulous community here at IBL&F. 
Much love from Nashville—and that’s no foolin’!
Tammy
Tamera blogs every first and third Tuesday at Inspired by Life . . . and Fiction, a group blog she shares with a wonderful community of authors. If you'd like to join the conversation on this post, Tamera would love to see you there!