Kiersti Giron
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New Series with Lauraine Snelling! And The Story of How That Happened…

June 8, 2021 / Kiersti Giron / books, critique group, God's faithfulness, writing
6

  Once upon a time, a shy homeschooled teen in rural northwest New Mexico eagerly anticipated the arrival of the rural bookmobile each month. She devoured most of the books in their several shelves of Christian fiction, but her favorite series became the Red River of the North historical novels by Lauraine Snelling. She fell […]

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book release, Lauraine Snelling, writing

Special Announcement: Sign Up for My Newsletter!

November 19, 2020 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, community, writing
0

  Hello, friends–I have some exciting news for you! In view of some upcoming developments with my writing, and out of a desire to connect more personally with you, my readers, I am launching a quarterly newsletter! You can subscribe here. I’m so looking forward to sharing this first issue with you…I’ve packed it full […]

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A Christmas Carol, Author newsletter, Christmas, fun freebies

Trusting God’s Timing: A Novel’s Journey (Guest Post and Giveaway with Lori Benton!)

August 24, 2020 / Kiersti Giron / books, Lori Benton, trust, waiting, writing
28

You may remember me mentioning Lori Benton and the depth and detail of her award-winning historical novels in the past–I’ve been blessed indeed by both her writing and her friendship. Lori’s novels always strike me deeply with both her sensitivity in handling intercultural history and relationships, and the redemptive power in her stories. Her upcoming […]

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Book Giveaway, Lori Benton

The Shaking: Of Arendelle, America, and Stepping toward Healing

August 6, 2020 / Kiersti Giron / family, movies, racial reconciliation
0

  My sister and I love Frozen. Okay, maybe we’ve all heard “Let it Go” enough times by now, but there’s something about this sweet story of the love between two sisters that connects with our hearts, and I almost always tear up at the climax when Elsa is hugging Anna-turned-to-ice. Plus, all the little […]

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America, Arendelle, Frozen 2, pandemic @, racial reconciliation

Our Gift: A Poem in Honor of My Son’s First Birthday

May 4, 2020 / Kiersti Giron / children, family, motherhood, Thanksgiving
12

I don’t usually write poetry–in fact, I’ve told my students many times that they write far better poems than I can! But for some reason, in this season of quarantine, free verse poems have been bubbling up in my heart like never before. So this week, in honor of my sweet little boy’s first birthday […]

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Babies, gratitude, motherhood

The Birth of a Baby Boy…and a Mommy

November 25, 2019 / Kiersti Giron / children, family, God's faithfulness, growing
4

  Nearly seven months ago, a little after two o’clock in the morning and after about twenty-five hours of labor, a soft, warm, pink, little bundle was laid naked on my tummy, with a lusty yell and damp golden-brown curls. And my life was forever changed. There’s a reason I’ve been rather absent from this […]

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Babies, motherhood

The Color of Life: A Journey toward Love and Racial Justice

March 12, 2019 / Kiersti Giron / Black History Month, books, growing, racial reconciliation
0

  This winter, I’ve had the privilege of being on the launch team of Cara Meredith’s debut memoir, The Color of Life. Cara and I belong to the same literary agency, and I’ve followed and admired her work since first hearing her as a guest on one of Barb Neal Roose’s podcasts (which are wonderful—check […]

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Cara Meredith, James Meredith, racial reconciliation, The Color of Life

Getting Ready for a Baby

December 29, 2018 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, family, Music
4

Merry 4th Day of Christmas, friends! I’m glad we don’t have to stop celebrating Christmas quite yet, even if the 25th is now past. I love the old English tradition of the 12 days of Christmas, carrying us right up to Epiphany on the 6th of January. Sometimes I enjoy the days after Christmas even […]

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" Christmas music, "Getting Ready for a Baby, Babies, Christmas

Giveaway and Guest Blog with Kathleen Maher!

October 17, 2018 / Kiersti Giron / abolitionists, blog tour, books, giveaway, history, Native Americans
41

Today I’m delighted to host a new writer friend, Kathleen Maher! We have connected through being regular contributors on the Heroes, Heroines, and History blog, as well as a common interest in Native American history and racial reconciliation, which all weave into our stories. I hope you enjoy getting to know her as much as […]

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Abolitionists, Books, Giveaway, Guest blog, Iroquois, Kathleen Maher

Of Summer Rest and Writing News

July 16, 2018 / Kiersti Giron / rest, seasons, Uncategorized, writing
2

    Hello, friends! It’s summertime…a special time of year. Does it feel like it where you live? After a June mostly in the 80s—sometimes even 70s—summer came with a vengeance for us, with one day reaching around 117 in our area. We survived thanks to our three window unit air conditioners (which kept the […]

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ACFW, Genesis Contest, Summer

Of Red Envelopes and Praying around the Globe: My 10th Grade Homeroom Boys

May 24, 2018 / Kiersti Giron / community, teaching
4

    School is almost out! Which means I see exhaustion and I’m-so-ready-for-this-year-to-end on the face of every student and teacher in the classroom or hallway.   But in the midst of being oh-so-ready-to-be-done, I have much to be thankful for from this year. Not least of which are my seven 10th grade homeroom boys—my smallest […]

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International School, prayer, Teaching

3 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month—All Year Long

February 28, 2018 / Kiersti Giron / Black History Month, books, growing, history
2

Well, it’s the last day of February—the month we take to especially honor and celebrate the heritage and history of African Americans. In the past I’ve written about why to celebrate Black History Month, and some ideas for how. My favorite article for this month remains one written a few years ago by my dear […]

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Black History Month, Hidden Figures, Sandra Barnes

Of Beautiful, Rowdy Stories (Thank you, Allen Arnold) – and How We Need Them

January 17, 2018 / Kiersti Giron / Jesus, movies, story, Uncategorized
4

When I saw The Greatest Showman with my husband and father-in-law the week after Christmas, I sat in the movie theater and cried. It was probably partly the state of my heart right then, and lingering emotion from our own theatrical production of The Promise a few weeks earlier. But the story just captured me […]

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Allen Arnold, Storytelling, The Greatest Showman

The Promise: When Dreams Come True, Stories Live, and Nothing is Impossible with God

December 14, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, God's faithfulness, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Michael Card, theater, writing
4

Last week, I sat in a darkened church and saw a story live and breathe on stage…the story of Immanuel. I saw a young girl, unsure about being betrothed to a man she knew little, have her world turned upside down when one of God’s heavenly warriors showed up in her little home in Nazareth, […]

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Christmas musical, Michael Card, The Promise

He Never Said It Would Be Easy: of Theater Productions, Marriage, and the First Christmas

November 30, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, God's faithfulness, Joseph, marriage, Michael Card, theater, writing
4

It’s almost Christmastime. In many ways, the season has already begun—Christmas music on the radio, Christmas movies on Netflix. We even got our Christmas tree this past Sunday, much to our kittens’ amazement and delight—and some scolding as we learn the Christmas tree is for looking at, lying under, and gently playing with the lower […]

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Christmas, marriage, Michael Card, Nativity story, The Promise, theater

Of Two Little Kittens and Lessons in Love

October 25, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / family, kittens, trust
0

  My great-uncle Glenn passed away last Friday. He truly was a GREAT uncle in every sense of the word—over six feet tall, an encyclopedia of knowledge on everything from science to literature to history to woodworking to plants, and always ready with a wisecrack, a story, or a hug. This past Easter, the last […]

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animals, grieving, kittens

When the Pupils Teach the Teacher: 7 Lessons from My Students

September 20, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / growing, teaching
4

    If you become a teacher, says Anna Leonowens in the classic musical The King and I, your pupils will end up teaching you. (That’s not exactly how the line goes, but I can’t quote songs on a blog without infringing copyright.) But you get the idea. 🙂 And it’s true. We’re into our […]

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A Prayer for America after Charlottesville

August 16, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / prayer, racial reconciliation
2

  Lord Jesus, We need you right now. I know we always do, but I’m very aware of our desperate need at this moment in our country. There’s so much hurt, Lord…so much hate. How we must be grieving Your heart. Yet I have to believe that You can bring good, even from this. Use […]

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Charlottesville, prayer, racial reconciliation

How I Thought I Didn’t Want to Be a Teacher (And Why I’m Glad I Was Wrong)

August 9, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / books, Little House on the Prairie, teaching
4

  Sometimes my students ask me if I always wanted to be a teacher. “I think I did,” I say. “But I didn’t realize it.” Many times in my six years of working in the Writing Center at our local community college as a tutor and TA, different English professors would ask me if I […]

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Getting to Know You, Little House on the Prairie, Teaching

Our God who Grieves: BBC’s Father Brown, Unexpected Tears, and Jesus

August 2, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / Burning Sky, Call the Midwife, characters, England, faith
2

My newest favorite BBC TV show is the cozy mystery series Father Brown, based on the character created by author G.K. Chesterton. He reminds me of a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Father Tim of the Mitford books, this balding, kindly priest with equally incorrigible compassion for lost sheep and taste for a good mystery. […]

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BBC TV, Father Brown, grief

Of Birthdays, Looking Behind and Ahead

July 27, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / dancing, growing, Laura Ingalls Wilder, seasons
2

  Earlier this week, author Barbara Neal Roose, a fellow writer with Books & Such Literary Agency whose encouraging blogs and podcasts have really blessed me—check her out here!—posted a special blog in honor of her birthday. She shared her struggles with past birthdays, how the Lord has helped her come to rejoice over them, […]

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Hiking in Canyon de Chelly: Of Kit Carson, Scorched Earth, and Our Desperate Need to Listen

July 20, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / Diné, Dinétah, history, listening, Native Americans, Navajo Long Walk, racial reconciliation
4

  It was a warm, blue-skied afternoon on our recent trip to Arizona and New Mexico, and Anthony and I were about to hike down into historic Canyon de Chelly. First Ted and Evie, our hosts and my dear friends for a number of years now, walked us to several of the most famous lookouts […]

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Canyon de Chelly, Kit Carson, Navajo Long Walk

When Love Comes Softly: The Day I Didn’t Want to Say Good-bye

July 12, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / Our Story, relationships
10

    I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these snippets of Anthony’s and my love story–“Our Story”–so far! Click here if you’d like to catch up on previous installments.   It was late at night—going on 10:30 as we stood talking in the community center parking lot. I needed to get home, and let Anthony go […]

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dating, Janette Oke, karate, Love Comes Softly

Of the Fourth of July, a Messy America, and Hope

July 5, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / community, growing, history, Mark Charles, seasons
2

  Growing up, I loved celebrating the Fourth of July. Most years, my family would head to a nearby large, grassy park late afternoon. We’d watch the small-town parade of veterans and boy scouts and antique cars and children on streamer-bedecked tricycles. One year we even entered ourselves and rode on a “covered wagon” built […]

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American History, Declaration of Independence, Fourth of July

Our God Who Knows: Blog Tour and Giveaway with Author Debbie Lynne Costello!

June 21, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / blog tour, books, community, faith, God's faithfulness
12

Today I’m excited to host historical author Debbie Lynne Costello here on my blog!  It’s been a blessing to get to know Debbie a bit as she has welcomed me as a new blogger on the Heroes, Heroines, and History blog, of which she is a hostess. In addition to sharing some of her personal […]

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Blog Tour, Book Giveaway, Debbie Lynne Costello, Sword of the Matchmaker

Our Story: Of Good Friday, Little Girls, and Opening Hearts

June 7, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / children, Good Friday, Our Story, relationships
0

  I hope you’ve been enjoying reading snippets of Anthony’s and my story so far! If you’ve missed earlier installments, feel free to check them out here.   I stood in the darkened church that Good Friday, my heart a mingle of emotions.   Beside me stood Anthony—the first time we had worshipped together. He […]

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Good Friday, love story

Music that Tells a Story: What Are Your Favorite Soundtracks?

May 24, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / fun, movies, Music
4

  It’s the week before finals at our high school. And it shows–whether in my brain-fried students, two of whom called me completely different names the other day, or in myself, who later the same day stopped at a green light for no apparent reason, yielding my husband’s alarm and taking over the driving after […]

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Graduations, Movie Music, Movie Soundtracks

Of Graduations, Rainbows, and His Faithfulness

May 11, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / family, God's faithfulness, growing, seasons, trust
0

  My little sister graduated from college last Saturday.   It doesn’t seem that long since she was graduating high school—in fact, I posted about it here. She seemed so grown up then, yet now, looking back, the eighteen-year-old Maren appears so young.       Today she has a B.A. in Theater Arts, with […]

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Our Story: Of “Getting to Know You,” Virginia Reels, and a Certain Waltz

May 4, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / dancing, Our Story, relationships
4

  I hope you’ve been continuing to enjoy Anthony’s and my love story! If you’d like to read the first two installments, click here and here.   Anthony and I were on our second official “outing,” to the local arboretum where he invited me to visit. While I still felt a bit shy and awkward—especially […]

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Getting to Know You song, love story

Inauspicious Moments Leading to Land of My Dreams: Visit and Contest with Author Norma Gail!

April 26, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, Land of My Dreams, Norma Gail, Scotland, writing
5

  Today I’m excited to have writer friend Norma Gail visit my blog! You may remember Norma from her first visit here when her beautiful contemporary romance, Land of My Dreams, first debuted. This spring her novel is “turning three,” and in celebration Norma is hosting a special contest and giveaway. See below for details, […]

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Contest, Giveaway, Land of My Dreams, Norma Gail, Scotland

Our Story: Of First Dates, Critique Partners, and Facebook Messages

April 19, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / critique group, growing, Our Story, relationships
2

I hope you are enjoying this series! Read the first installment here.   Anthony and I had just had our first date. And I felt rather discouraged.   It’s not that we hadn’t had a pleasant time—we had. He’d taken me to see the new movie Saving Mr. Banks, and I’d greatly enjoyed it. I […]

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First Dates, Saving Mr. Banks

Maundy Thursday: Through John’s Eyes

April 13, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, Holy Week, Jesus, Journey To Jerusalem
0

  “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” ~John 13:1    John I don’t understand, Lord. Since supper started, things haven’t been […]

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Holy Week, Maundy Thursday

Our Story: How I Didn’t Fall in Love at First Sight

April 5, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / growing, marriage, Our Story, relationships, singleness
12

I didn’t fall in love at first sight with my husband.   In fact, when I first saw Anthony, I thought he was interested in someone else. Which he was, at the time.   And when we first went out, I was actually interested in someone else.   But I’m getting ahead of the story. […]

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love at first sight, marriage

Come and See: Glimpsing His Presence Now

March 22, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, Michael Card, Music, teaching
4

    We stood around our students, we teacher-chaperones, our arms outstretched over them. Together we prayed, aloud and all at once, as believers in Korean churches often do. And amid sniffles from the students and tears pricking my own eyes, I felt the presence of Jesus there, covering us, surrounding us.   Have you […]

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Come and See, Michael Card

One Year Ago…

March 15, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / family, God's faithfulness, marriage, relationships, weddings
2

    One year ago, God began something new.   He took two broken people—with strengths and weaknesses, heartaches and foibles—and brought them together, bound into one by vows and exchanged rings beneath an arch of hydrangeas, surrounded by loving friends and family standing to support us, taking the bread and cup together beneath a […]

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anniversary, Weddings

And our Winner Is…

February 22, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / books, Sandra Barnes
0

  Thank you so much to all who participated in our 28 First Kisses Giveaway this past week! Today I’m delighted to announce that our randomly chosen happy winner is…Kristy! Congratulations, Kristy! We hope you deeply enjoy this delightful novel.   Thanks again for joining the conversation, everyone! I hope you will still take a […]

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28 First Kisses, Book Giveaway

Can You Have 28 First Kisses? Interview and Book Giveaway with Sandra Barnes!

February 16, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, giveaway, relationships, Sandra Barnes
11

  I have a special treat for you this Valentine’s Day week: a delightfully romantic book giveaway!   If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may have seen me mention my amazing friend, critique partner—and wonderful YA novelist—Sandra Barnes. Today I want to introduce her to you again, along with her newest […]

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28 First Kisses, Book Giveaway, Sandra Barnes, Valentine's Day

Praying for US – A Reminder from Across the World

February 1, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / community, prayer
0

  I received an email from my friend in New Zealand the other day.   We’ve never actually met, but that is one of the blessings I’ve found in our current digital, Social Media world—being able to make friends all over the place, even without meeting in person. I know online relationships aren’t the same […]

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Praying for America

Of Hidden Figures, Inaugurations, and Finding Reasons to Hope

January 25, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / black history, faith, Martin Luther King Jr., movies, racial reconciliation
0

  My husband and I sat in the movie theater watching Hidden Figures on Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year.   I loved the movie—so well written, directed, and acted, and such a beautifully inspiring true story. If you haven’t seen this uplifting film of three African-American women, mathematical and computer geniuses working at […]

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Hidden Figures

Falling like the Rain: Mercies in the New Year

January 18, 2017 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Flow like the River, growing, rest, song
0

  It’s raining as I write this, pattering gently down outside the darkened windows of my parents’ white farmhouse-style home. I’m in their cozy guest room upstairs, the one with quilt-covered bed and fireplace and the little antique desk where I’ve done much writing.   Though I no longer live in this place, it’s been […]

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Fall like the Rain, mercy, rain

That Night in Bethlehem…Merry Christmas!

December 27, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, Jesus, Journey to Bethlehem, scripture, seasons
0

A bit of a 3rd day of  Christmas gift for you, friends…thank you for joining me in some of these snippets from the Journey to Bethlehem yet again, and Merry Christmas! Joy to our dark and troubled world…our Lord is come.   “How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given So God imparts to […]

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Christmas, Jesus, Journy to Bethlehem

Journey to Bethlehem: Mary

December 16, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, giveaway, Mary
0

Join us on this special Advent journey! And be sure to comment with an idea for another character to add to this series if you want to enter the Cozy Christmas giveaway (see this post). Stay tuned for more…and a blessed Christmas season to you, friends!   Mary   “For the Mighty One has done […]

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Book Giveaway, Christmas

Journey to Bethlehem Time – and a Christmas Giveaway!

December 12, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, giveaway, Journey to Bethlehem
2

It’s Advent, friends! Perhaps the time of year most precious to my heart. Over the past few years, I’ve been so blessed by writing and sharing the “Journey to Bethlehem” with you, as I’ve taken time to slow and ponder what might have been on the hearts of the various real people who were privileged […]

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Advent, Book Giveaway, Christmas, Journey to Bethlehem

Looking to the Kingdom: Of Elections, Division, and Reasons to Hope

November 15, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / Downton Abbey, faith, spiritual warfare
2

  It was Election Day, and my Journalism students entered the classroom vigorously debating the merits—or lack thereof—of the U.S. presidential candidates.   I told them that it was fine to have opinions, but they needed to be civil to each other. Upon which some defended their freedom of speech, only to be reminded that […]

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U.S. elections

Native American Heritage Month: Creating a Common Memory

November 1, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / 5 Small Loaves, community, history, Native Americans, racial reconciliation, teaching
0

I watched my students, their faces stricken. My heart pinched for them . . . because I remembered how it felt, to learn some of these things for the first time.   This school year I’m teaching American Literature, and one of things I love about our school is the flexibility to somewhat develop my […]

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Common memory, doctrine of discovery, Native American Heritage Month

Learning to Listen: How I Wasn’t Letting My Native Characters Have a Voice

October 24, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / characters, growing, My writing process, Native Americans, Paiute, writing
0

I hadn’t been sure what was wrong.   This story-in-progress, my third full novel manuscript, has definitely been my most troublesome “child” so far. First, my heroine didn’t want to behave, taking months before she would even “talk” to me. (Yes, novelists hear people who aren’t real. But I don’t think you need to sign […]

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characters, paiute, writing

Someday, Somewhere: Of Shootings and West Side Story, Then and Now

October 3, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / racial reconciliation, song, theater
0

We stood in the parking lot, my sister and mom and I, talking animatedly though the clock ticked toward eleven at night.   It was this summer, less than two weeks after the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, followed by the shooting of five police officers in retaliation, and the country was reeling. […]

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police shootings, racial reconciliation, West Side Story

Of Change, Broken Bowls, and God’s Grace

August 23, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / faith, God's faithfulness, growing, marriage, relationships
4

Change isn’t always easy. Or perhaps better to say—is change ever easy?   This past year has held incredible life changes for Anthony and me. Being engaged . . . getting married . . . moving . . . starting to teach high school (for me) . . . the sometimes wonderful, sometimes stressful task […]

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A World on Fire and Aslan on the Move

August 8, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / Aslan, faith, racial reconciliation
0

It’s been quite a summer, hasn’t it, friends?   Not only has it been a rather full and crazy month or so in my own life (hence not much posting here!), but it’s been a hard one in America and round the world.   First there was the awful bombing and attempted coup in Turkey. […]

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Aslan on the move, Man in white, Refugee crisis

Victorian Letter-Writing Tips and Social Media: What do you think?

June 24, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / books, fun, history
6

  I have lately been perusing through a delightful antique volume I received from my grandmother, the 1892 edition of Modern Manners and Social Norms by Mrs. Julia M. Bradley. (Okay, I have a thing for old books—no wonder I like to write historical fiction. 🙂 )   It’s been helpful in researching my current […]

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Antique books, etiquette, Modern Manners and Social Norms, Victorian letter writing

Dr. Who and Jesus: How Watching BBC Sci-Fi Helps Me Know God Better (No, Really…)

June 3, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / fun, Jesus
4

  A few weeks ago one of my students asked me, “Mrs. Giron [both they and I were still getting used to that name], are you a Who-Lockian?”   “A what?” I asked.   “A Who-Lockian. A fan of Dr. Who and Sherlock.”   “Oh,” I said. “Well, I guess thanks to my husband, I’m […]

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Dr. Who, Screwtape Letters, Sherlock

Have Mercy on Us: Of Old Liturgy, Chalk Words, and When We Just Need His Grace

May 13, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / England, faith, Jesus, Music, Uncategorized
0

  England has been on my mind a lot lately—partly because my husband and I love British TV shows (really, I do like Downton Abbey and Dr. Who and Call the Midwife and Sherlock way better than most American shows I’ve seen!). And partly because my sister is going to get to study abroad at […]

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Kyrie Eleison, Trisagion

Laden with Happiness and Tears: Sunrise, Sunset in Life and Marriage (and a Few Wedding Photos too!)

May 6, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, marriage, movies, seasons, song, Uncategorized
11

In case you didn’t know, I got married about six weeks ago. (See photos!) My beloved and wonderful husband, Anthony, and I have been busy settling, and you may see some changes coming to my website (and name) in the weeks and months to come. But don’t worry, we’ll make sure things don’t get too […]

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Fiddler on the Roof, Sunrise Sunset, Weddings

And the Crazy Thing Is, It’s All True: Star Wars, Godspell, and Stories That Give Us Hope

April 13, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Godspell, Jesus, spiritual warfare, Star Wars, story
2

  I have married into a Star Wars family.   My beloved new husband, Anthony (yes, I’ll post some wedding pictures soon!), grew up on the Star Wars movies and delved into the novels as a teenager. His mom loved Ewoks, and his younger brother’s alternate moniker is Vader (though he’s an extremely good-natured guy). […]

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Godspell, spiritual warfare, Star Wars

He is Risen: Through Mary Magdalene’s Eyes

March 27, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, Holy Week, Jesus, Journey To Jerusalem
2

As we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection today, I thought I’d share the last installment from the “Journey to Jerusalem” series posted in years past. Happy Easter, dear friends–He is risen! He is risen indeed. May that truth and hope fill your hearts today.   “Therefore you too have grief now, but I will see you […]

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More Than Enough: Of a Song, Singleness, Getting Married, and Just Needing Jesus

March 4, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, marriage, seasons, singleness, trust, Uncategorized
2

  The sermon series at church lately has been on, “How do we love?” Each week, the speakers have focused on loving a different group of people. When the focus has been on marriage and singleness, a couple of points especially stuck out to me.   Marriage is good. Singleness is also good.   Marriage […]

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Enough by Jeremy Camp

5 Reasons to Celebrate Black History Month – Whatever Your Color!

February 8, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / Black History Month, growing, history, racial reconciliation
2

Originally posted February 5, 2015.    It’s February—Black History Month! Sometimes people feel that separating out a select month for African-American history only emphasizes racial divisions rather than helping overcome them, but I love how my friend Sandra Barnes addresses this issue here.  It’s only in the last few years that I’ve really become aware […]

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Black History Month

In Honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 18, 2016 / Kiersti Giron / black history, Mark Charles, Martin Luther King Jr., racial reconciliation, Selma
0

A re-post from last year’s “Stories that Need to Be Told: Selma, #BlackLivesMatter, and a Truth Commission,” posted January 21, 2015 (though with an update at the bottom) in honor of this MLK day. With all the heartache and death and division that’s continued to tear our country this year…and yet also many efforts toward […]

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Martin Luther King Jr., Selma

To Us a Son Is Given

December 25, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, story
0

  This post taken from the “Journey toward Bethlehem” series, first posted December 2011. I hope you enjoy this peek into what it might have been like to be one of those real people present the night Jesus came. Merry Christmas!                 “How silently, how silently The wondrous […]

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When We Desperately Need Christmas

December 18, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, Jesus, seasons, trust
2

  Over the past few years, I’ve shared the “Journey toward Bethlehem” with you reader friends as we’ve explored what might have been in the hearts and minds of those very real people in the quiet, wondrous, incredibly human-and-divine miracle we celebrate at Christmas. The coming into this dark and sin-broken world of Jesus…for us. […]

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Advent, Christmas

“Do Not Be Afraid” in a Scary World

December 11, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, Jesus, seasons, spiritual warfare, trust
4

  I was feeling good. My classes had gone well so far, things felt fine between my fiancé and me. After my last study hall for the morning, I clocked out for my break and opened Yahoo to check my email. And saw, “Breaking News: Active Shooter in San Bernardino, CA.”   With beating heart, […]

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Christmas, do not be afraid, mass shootings

Grieving with Paris…without forgetting the rest of the world

November 25, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / faith, suffering
0

  My family and I spent one day in Paris nearly eight years ago.   And I fell in love with that city.   I know not everyone loves the feel of Paris…some people very dear to me don’t. And I was a bit surprised myself. I’m not that much of a big city person […]

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Hope, Paris

When We Simply Need to be Held

November 7, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, song, trust, Uncategorized
4

  A broken heart is a very tender thing. I was at college. Amid being a new transfer student at my university, and all the other adjustments and homesickness of new people and new classes and being away from home, I had just discovered Facebook evidence that the guy-friend I’d been building castles in the […]

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Held by Natalie Grant

Living in a War Zone: Spiritual Battle and What’s Really Going On

October 9, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Jesus, Narnia, spiritual warfare
2

      Some of my favorite movies are set in wartime.   At the beginning of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, German bombers drone ominously over London, sending the Pevensie children and their mother scurrying for their lives into a bomb shelter. The war forces Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy away from […]

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Love and War, Narnia, spiritual warfare

5 Reasons Why I Love Teaching at an International School

September 17, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / community, International school, teaching, Uncategorized
8

A few weeks ago, I mentioned how I’ve really enjoyed the international aspect of the high school where I’m the newly-minted English teacher. This week, I thought I share with you a few more reasons why this environment of missionary kids and students from all over the world is pretty awesome.   Intercultural friendships happen […]

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When Heart and Flesh are Weary: Glimpses of Eternity

September 11, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Jesus, listening, rest
2

  I kept trying to ignore the gentle nudge.   I sat outside the building where our classes meet, under the big oak tree at the picnic table that seems built for first graders, though our high school students often have lunch there. Purple pen in hand, I was trying to annotate my way through […]

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6 Lessons from My First Week behind the Teacher’s Desk

August 21, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / faith, God's faithfulness, growing, seasons, teaching, Uncategorized
12

I just finished my first week of teaching high school English.   This job came about quite suddenly and unexpectedly—it really did seem a “God-thing.” I learned about the opening at a small private Christian international school near us only days after I realized I needed to find a new job—not because I didn’t like […]

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When He Calls You Out Upon the Waters

August 14, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / creation, faith, growing, Jesus, Oceans, trust
6

      Last Sunday my family went for a catamaran ride.   I don’t think I even knew what a catamaran was before last week. But while up on Santa Cruz for a week—thanks to generous cousins making their beach cottage available to us—my dad found that joining a group on a catamaran would […]

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But Prince Charming Didn’t Act Like That! (And Neither did Cinderella): When Real Life Isn’t a Fairy Tale

August 1, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Cinderella, growing, Once Upon a Time, relationships, story, weddings
6

  The Prince bent, and slid the glass slipper gently onto Cinderella’s foot. It was a perfect fit. And as he stood and took her into his arms, she knew this was only the beginning of their happily ever after.   They were married, and it was so…except for a few things.   Like how […]

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When Your Prince Hasn’t Come: Or, the Baby and the Sheep on the Airplane Screen

July 24, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / children, God's faithfulness, seasons, trust, waiting, weddings
6

    It was the baby that did it.   I was at LAX Airport, departing for the 2013 ACFW conference. I had lots to look forward to—seeing two of my critique partners, meeting with my agent and potential publishers, a trip to visit friends in New Mexico on the way back. My first completed […]

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Once Upon a Time: A Story and an Engagement

July 16, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Cinderella, God's faithfulness, growing, Once Upon a Time, relationships, seasons, weddings
23

    Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved to play Cinderella. She would don her grandmother’s tattered patchwork skirt and go about with her broom, or dress up in her mother’s beribboned petticoat and bedjacket and run upstairs fleeing the “palace” and leaving her slipper behind for the prince—who might […]

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After Charleston: How Now Shall We Live?

July 2, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Charleston shooting, community, faith, growing, Jesus, prayer, racial reconciliation, suffering
4

  It’s been quite the couple of weeks, here in America. We’ve had a historic and divisive Supreme Court decision, my own state of California has passed a controversial law on vaccines, and we’ve been shaken by the sharpest reminder in some time that violent, blatant racism is far from dead.   How are you […]

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Of Relationships, Healing, and Hard Work: In Fiction and Life

June 25, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / community, growing, relationships, writing
10

    Over the past year or so, I’ve realized a lot of my writing—at least my fiction writing—is about healing and relationships. Healing of relationships, or healing through relationships. Relationships that bridge cultural and racial divides, and relationships right within families. Often both.   In my first manuscript, my characters Tse and Caroline begin […]

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Praying for Charleston…When There Are No Words

June 19, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, prayer, racial reconciliation
2

  I’m not sure what to write, reader friends.   I’d already been struggling to come up with a blog for this week (as evidenced by my lack of usual Wednesday post yesterday), as my mind has been rather occupied with matters other than writing of late…more on that soon.   But now in light […]

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Of Summer Rain and Quietness

June 10, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / creation, God's faithfulness, seasons
7

    It rained last night.   Oh, I know that might not seem unusual to those of you in more eastern climes where summer rain falls often. But to us in drought-parched southern California, where rain on a warm June night is near unheard of even in good years, this moisture came a sweetly […]

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Touching History: Woolworth’s Lunch Counter, Medgar Evers, and Me in DC

June 5, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / black history, growing, history, The Help, Washington DC
8

Sometimes history seems far away. Though we know it happened, the people in those grainy black-and-white photographs or rich-hued oil paintings seem to belong not just to another time but another world. It’s hard to fathom they once lived and breathed and loved and laughed and wept on the same ground we walk today.   […]

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In the Footsteps of History: Snapshots from a Trip to Washington DC

May 27, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / abolitionists, black history, fun, history, Washington DC, writing
9

Well, I’m back, friends! And what a week it was in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC as my sister and I soaked up the green with our drought-dry California eyes, explored this area of our country so saturated with history, and enjoyed the hospitality of dear friend Sandra Barnes and her gracious family. (By the […]

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A Visit to the Home of Frederick Douglass

May 13, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / abolitionists, history, writing
4

Greetings from the East Coast, dear reader friends! I apologize for not posting last week…things have been a bit crazy, but good. And right now my sister and I have the privilege of visiting my dear friend and critique partner, Sandra. We’ve been having a wonderful time enjoying her family’s hospitality and exploring historical sites […]

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Hope When the World is Falling Apart

April 30, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / faith, listening, prayer, scripture
2

  I know, kind of a depressing title, right? But if you’ve been monitoring the news the past week or so, maybe you understand a bit what I mean.   My heart has been heavy for those in Nepal, with loved ones buried under piles of earthquake rubble…for those in Baltimore, where pain and frustration […]

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Why I Hate Tension—and Why I Maybe Shouldn’t

April 22, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / faith, growing, story
6

A fat rubber band lay on every seat in church this Sunday. The worship leader assured us at the beginning of the service that this wasn’t a mistake, but we had to wait to find out the purpose of these scattered office supplies.   Once it came time for the sermon, the pastor, after some […]

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The Impossible Dream: Newsies, Abolitionists, and Us

April 15, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / abolitionists, faith, history, Newsies, The Impossible Dream, theater, Walter Scott
4

  Recently, my family had the treat of seeing a live production of the Broadway musical Newsies. My feet tapped and heart swelled with delight as I watched the singing, dancing, show-stopping performance. Little puts a grin on my face as easily as top-notch musical theater! (If you’re the same way, watch this trailer—doesn’t it […]

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The Wood’s Edge Giveaway Winner!

April 13, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / books, giveaway, Lori Benton, The Wood's Edge
0

Thank you to everyone who commented and shared in our special interview and sneak peek with Lori Benton–and who entered the giveaway for a copy of her powerfully beautiful, about-to-be-released historical novel, The Wood’s Edge! Today I have the pleasure to announce that our winner is: Donna B.! Congratulations! And if you hoped to win […]

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Sneak Peek, Interview, and Giveaway: The Wood’s Edge with Lori Benton!

April 7, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / books, giveaway, history, Lori Benton, Native Americans, The Wood's Edge
33

  We have a very special treat today—I am hosting one of the final sneak peeks into Lori Benton’s newest historical novel, The Wood’s Edge, before its release on April 21st!   The beauty and power of Lori’s writing, as well as our shared heart for Native American history, made me a devoted fan of […]

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Journey to Jerusalem, Day Five: Mary Magdalene

April 6, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, Holy Week, Jesus, Journey To Jerusalem, scripture, seasons, story
0

Thank you for joining me for this special Easter journey! Read Parts One, Two, Three, and Four of our “Journey to Jerusalem” here. Happy Easter–He is Risen!   “Therefore you too have grief now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” […]

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Journey to Jerusalem, Day Four: Peter

April 3, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, Good Friday, Holy Week, Jesus, Journey To Jerusalem, Lent, scripture, seasons, story, suffering
0

  Join us for this special Easter journey! Read Parts One, Two, and Three of our “Journey to Jerusalem” here. A blessed Good Friday to you.   “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To […]

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Journey to Jerusalem, Day Three: John

April 3, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, Holy Week, Jesus, Journey To Jerusalem, Lent, Maundy Thursday, scripture, seasons, story
0

  Join us for this special Easter journey! Read Parts One  and Two of “Journey to Jerusalem” here. A blessed Maundy Thursday to you.     “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own […]

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Journey to Jerusalem, Day Two: Mary of Bethany

March 28, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, Jesus, Journey To Jerusalem, Lent, scripture, seasons, story
5

  Join us for this special Easter journey! Read Part One of “Journey to Jerusalem” here, and feel free to subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the series.   “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted…to grant […]

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Journey to Jerusalem, Day One: Andrew

March 26, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, faith, Holy Week, Jesus, Journey To Jerusalem, Lent, scripture, story
1

  In the spirit of Journey Toward Bethlehem, I hope you’ll join me on another special journey with several biblical characters this year as we move toward Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Remember you can subscribe (see right sidebar) if you want to make sure not to miss an episode. 🙂 Blessings!   […]

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Stories from the Heart: Finding Neverland and Winnie-the-Pooh

March 19, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / books, children, J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan, story, Winnie-the-Pooh, writing
4

I recently watched the movie Finding Neverland for the first time. I was touched and moved by this story, based on a true one, about the sensitive Scottish author of Peter Pan and the little family of four boys and a widowed mother who captured his heart and helped inspire the timeless tale of the […]

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When He Makes Us Lie Down In Green Pastures

March 11, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / faith, rest, seasons, writing
0

  Well, last week I blogged about To-Do List Craziness.   And apparently what happens when I let my to-do list get too crazy is: I get sick.   Sometimes I think the Lord lets me get sick just so I’ll slow down a bit. Does that ever happen to you?   Thankfully—one of the […]

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To-Do List Craziness and Remembering to Be Still

March 4, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / faith, growing, listening, scripture, trust
4

  I don’t know about you, but lately I feel like I’m constantly trying to catch my breath. Not physically, but just trying to keep on top of all the . . . stuff to do.   I need to finish reading a manuscript for a dear critique partner. Then I need to read a […]

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A Conversation in Black and White: Two Friends Talk About Race

February 25, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Black History Month, community, growing, racial reconciliation, Sandra Barnes, Uncategorized
18

  When I started getting ideas for how to honor Black History Month on this blog, I sent them to my friend and critique partner Sandra Barnes for her feedback. She responded with her usually gracious insight, but then she said:   “Also, IF you really want to go deep, get the conversation started, demonstrate […]

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Of Lent and Looking for the Light

February 18, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Ash Wednesday, faith, Jesus, Lent, seasons, suffering
2

  Note: Taking a break from our Black History series today to focus on Lent, but watch for a special guest to finish the month off next week!  It’s Ash Wednesday, friends. The beginning of Lent, when believers round the world will take time to look into ourselves—and hopefully, at the Lord—and prepare our hearts […]

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Five Ways to Celebrate Black History Month—Whether You Have Before Or Not!

February 11, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / black history, Black History Month, community, Freedom Riders, Uncategorized
2

  Last week I wrote of some reasons why I think Black History Month is worth celebrating, whatever our color. But how can we celebrate it? Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with—please feel free add your own in the comments below! 1. Learn Read biographies, slave narratives, historical fiction, and original writings […]

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Five Reasons to Celebrate Black History Month–Whatever Your Color

February 5, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / black history, Black History Month, community, history, racial reconciliation, seasons, Uncategorized
0

     It’s February—Black History Month!   Sometimes people feel that separating out a select month for African-American history only emphasizes racial divisions rather than helping overcome them, but I love how my friend Sandra Barnes addresses this issue here.  It’s only in the last few years that I’ve really become aware of Black History […]

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Music that Tells a Story—and Helps Us Better Tell Ours

January 28, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / movies, Music, My writing process, song, story, The Man from Snowy River, Uncategorized, writing
2

  The other evening, my parents watched The Legend of Bagger Vance for their “date night” in our living room. “It was a good movie,” my mom told me afterward.   “Sounded like it,” I said, “by the music.”   It’s funny. I had picked up very little of the storyline from the bits and […]

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Stories that Need to Be Told: Selma, #BlackStoriesMatter, and a Truth Commission

January 21, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / 5 Small Loaves, black history, faith, Freedom Riders, history, Mark Charles, Martin Luther King Jr., movies, racial reconciliation, Selma, Uncategorized
6

    Stories.   They matter, because God uses them to reflect His truth and reach our hearts. And because He Himself is the most masterful Storywriter of all. I loved some of the comments and insights you readers shared on this topic here last week!   But sometimes stories also matter because they need […]

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Once Upon a Time and Into the Woods: Why Stories Matter

January 15, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Into the Woods, movies, Once Upon a Time, story
5

      I watch movies differently than I used to. I’m not as picky about content now, though if I have children someday, I’m sure I’ll carefully and prayerfully monitor what they watch. But lately for myself, while I still pay attention to language and sex and violence red flags, I care more about […]

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He is Here: Immanuel in the New Year

January 8, 2015 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, community, God's faithfulness, Immanuel, theater, trust, Uncategorized, writing
2

  On Sunday I sat and watched as a script I’d written came to life.   A project that’s been growing for four and a half years now, this little drama explores the journey of Mary, Joseph, and the other human participants in Jesus’ coming to earth, built into a musical around Michael Card’s beautiful […]

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When We Were Gone Astray: The Gospel and Christmastime

December 31, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, seasons, song
0

  We took Communion at church this Sunday.   I followed the line of other believers up to the front, received the fragment of bread and tiny cup of deep red juice. As I held them, heading back for my seat, I passed the Christmas trees, still decked with their red and gold balls and […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Twelve: Simeon

December 28, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, seasons, Simeon, story, trust, waiting
2

  Thank you to all who have followed our Journey Toward Bethlehem this Christmas season! I hope you have been blessed as I have. (If you want to catch up on any parts you’ve missed, just click here!) May the Lord bless you each one with His Immanuel presence through the rest of this special […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Eleven: To Us a Son is Given

December 26, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, seasons, story
0

  And our Journey Toward Bethlehem has reached its fulfillment (watch for one more follow-up installment soon!). But this extra-special Christmas post is published this year on Molly Green’s online magazine. Please click here to read…I hope you are blessed. I have been by sharing this journey with you!   Merry Christmas, friends. To us […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Ten: Mary

December 25, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, Mary, scripture, seasons, story
0

  Join us as we continue this Advent Journey! Click here to read Days  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine.     “Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight…”   Mary   So much waiting, and […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Nine: Elizabeth

December 24, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, seasons, story
0

  Join us as we continue this Advent Journey! Click here to read Days  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight.   “Lo, how a rose ere blooming From tender stem hath sprung Of Jesse’s lineage coming As men of old have sung…”     Elizabeth   Mary and Joseph sup with us […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Eight: Joseph

December 23, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Joseph, Journey Toward Bethlehem, seasons, story, trust
0

  Join us as we continue this Advent Journey! Click here to read Days  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven.   “Come, Thou long-expected Jesus Born to set Thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee…”     Evening light glints on the soldiers’ […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Seven: Mary

December 22, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Immanuel, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, Mary, seasons, story, trust
0

   Join us as we continue this Advent Journey! Click here to read Days  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six.   “Of the Father’s love begotten Ere the worlds began to be, He is Alpha and Omega, He the Source, the Ending He…”   Mary   Joseph came home tired tonight. He tries not […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Six: Elizabeth

December 19, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, scripture, seasons
0

   Join us as we continue this Advent Journey! Click here to read Days  One, Two, Three, Four, and Five.     “Let all mortal flesh keep silence and with fear and trembling stand Ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in His hand Christ our God to earth descendeth Our full homage to demand.”   […]

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Of Clogged Shower Drains, Crazy Schedules, and Christmas as a Time to Love

December 18, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, Christmas is a Time to Love, faith, seasons, song, Uncategorized
2

  Note: If you’d like to follow my special Christmas series Journey Toward Bethlehem posted throughout the week, feel free to subscribe on the right side of the home page or here to get notification of new blog posts. Your email won’t be used for anything but that. 🙂     I heard a rare […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Five: Micah, a Shepherd

December 17, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, waiting
2

Join us as we continue this Advent Journey! Click here to read Days  One, Two, Three, and Four.   “O come, O come Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear…”   Nights fall cold and early now. The sheep crowd near us as we huddle […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Four: A Wise Man

December 15, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, seasons
0

    Join us as we continue this Advent Journey! Click here to read Day One, Day Two, and Day Three.     Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to the Perfect Light.   Balthazar   By the flickering flames of the oil lamps […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Three: Mary

December 12, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, scripture, seasons, story
4

Read Day One and Day Two here. “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their […]

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Stories in Community: Bespoke, Star Song, and the Christmas Chronicles

December 11, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Bespoke, Christmas, Christmas Chronicles, community, Star Song, Uncategorized, writing
4

Note: If you’d like to follow my special Christmas series Journey Toward Bethlehem posted throughout the week, feel free to subscribe on the right side of the home page or here to get notification of new blog posts. Your email won’t be used for anything but that. 🙂   There’s an old idea that writers […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day Two: Joseph

December 10, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, God's faithfulness, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, scripture, seasons
4

  Welcome to the continuation of our Advent journey! Read Day One here. Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit . . . ~ Isaiah 11:1   Joseph    She is gone . . . thank God, she is gone.   I grip […]

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Journey Toward Bethlehem, Day One: Elizabeth

December 8, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, God's faithfulness, history, Jesus, Journey Toward Bethlehem, scripture, seasons, story, waiting
2

Amid the bustle–and often, stress–of this season for many of us, it helps me to have intentional ways to focus my mind and heart on why we celebrate this time of Advent anyway. To remember that Jesus really did come to this messy world of ours, to real people in real, and often difficult, circumstances, […]

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Where Is God When the World Is Dark: Meditating on Immanuel

December 4, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, growing, Immanuel, Jesus, seasons, trust
8

  Sometimes life is not easy.   My family lived with and cared for my elderly grandmother for over eight years until she went to heaven at ninety-six. I’m so glad we had those years with her, and we have many sweet memories. But sometimes, not having a home of our own and being continually […]

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Thanksgiving Amid the Imperfect

November 27, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, God's faithfulness, seasons, Thanksgiving
4

Do you ever find it hard to be thankful?   I do, sometimes. And judging from a chat with someone else today, I’m not alone.   I’m not thinking of the struggle to give thanks in difficult circumstances, though I’ve certainly experienced that before. Right now, though, I have much for which to be thankful—loving […]

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“Getting to Know You”: Creating Characters

November 20, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / characters, Fort Tejon, My writing process, Uncategorized, writing
8

I’ve been getting to know some new folks the last few months.   In many ways, it’s like forming any new relationship. I have my first impression, and think these might be some pretty cool friends. I get to know them a little better, and see some of my initial opinions might have been off. […]

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5 Ways to Honor Native American Heritage Month (Whether you have before or not!)

November 13, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / 5 Small Loaves, Burning Sky, history, Mark Charles, Native Americans, racial reconciliation
4

  Do you celebrate Native American Heritage Month?  I haven’t become very aware of it until the past few years. And though I’ve been learning more about the stories and heritage of the host peoples of our land year-round, I haven’t usually done anything much different during November. But this year, I had several ideas […]

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God Works in a Weird Way

November 6, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, trust
2

When’s the last time God worked the way you expected Him to work? Think about it a minute. Have you thought of an example yet?   Me neither.   So why do I keep expecting Him to?   A couple of weeks ago, I started watching again History Channel’s “The Bible” series that I’d begun […]

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A Mighty Fortress is Our God: Messed-Up Reformers, Flawed Saints, and How God Uses Us Anyway

October 29, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / A Mighty Fortress is Our God, faith, history, Reformation Day, seasons
4

  I grew up celebrating Reformation Day on October 31st (no offense to my Catholic friends out there!). My teen years are peppered with fond memories of dressing up in 16th century garb, eating lentil stew by candlelight, and playing the piano for us to sing Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” together.   […]

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The Story of a Critique Group: Meet Three of My Best Friends

October 22, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / community, critique group, Marilyn Turk, Sandra Barnes, Sarah Tipton, Uncategorized, writing
8

We gathered, stiff and quiet and rather nervous, in that small room at the 2011 Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. For most of us, it was the first time we’d ever been to a writers’ conference. We were four new novelists, each working on our first major manuscript. And we were about to have our […]

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An Ever-present Help: Guest Post with Norma Gail

October 16, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, Land of My Dreams, Norma Gail
0

Today we enjoy another guest post from my New Mexico writer friend Norma Gail! I hope you enjoy her reminder from God’s Word today and also check out her lovely released-this-year novel, Land of My Dreams. If you enjoy settings as diverse and romantic as Scotland and New Mexico–and a love story deeper than many–you […]

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Mustard Seeds, Yeast, and the Slowness of God

October 8, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, God's faithfulness, growing, Jesus, trust, Uncategorized
5

  Sometimes God takes a whole lot longer than I’d like Him to.   I know this isn’t unique to me. Moses, Abraham and Sarah, Elizabeth and Zechariah, all had to wait a very long time for God to fulfill His purposes and promises for their lives. And the Israelites—boy did they have to wait. […]

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A Peek into the Past: Living History at Fort Tejon

October 3, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Fort Tejon, history, Uncategorized, writing
6

So sorry for the lateness of this posting, friends–I’ve been a bit swamped getting back in the swing of things after this year’s ACFW conference in St. Louis, Missouri.  But…I thought you might like to take a peek into the setting of my next novel! Fort Tejon, California, was an occupied military outpost during the […]

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Reconciliation is Possible: Freedom Riders, Police Chiefs, and the Grace of God

September 24, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / black history, faith, Freedom Riders, God's faithfulness, history, John Lewis, Kevin Murphy, racial reconciliation
4

  I read the most beautiful story in the newspaper yesterday.   I’m not much of a newspaper reader. For most of my life, my dad hasn’t been either, but the last few years he’s enjoyed taking in a Daily Times. And he’ll save articles he thinks would interest me, usually those covering Native American […]

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Adopted by God: Guest Post with Norma Gail!

September 20, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, family, growing, Land of My Dreams, Norma Gail, Uncategorized
3

Please forgive the lateness of this posting! Website problems. 🙂 Norma Gail has been such a blessing to get to know over these past few years through writing connections online, though we’ve yet to meet in person! Norma is a New Mexico writer, so though I don’t live there anymore, we’ve connected through our stories […]

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“Apart from Me You Can Do Nothing”–and Why I Often Need to Be Reminded

September 11, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Fort Tejon, fun, history, My writing process, Research, writing
2

It’s been quite a week!   This past Saturday, I took a wee trip into the past—and the setting of my next novel—at Fort Tejon, California, with their monthly Frontier Army Days Living History event. I used the magic words “I’m a writer” and watched as the floodgates of the interpretive staff’s knowledge and even […]

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Not Against Flesh and Blood: The Spiritual Side of Reconciliation

September 3, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / abolitionists, black history, faith, history, racial reconciliation, spiritual warfare
3

Have you ever noticed that times when God is working in your life, when He is using you, are the times most likely for relational conflict and tension to crop up? I think it’s one of the Enemy’s favorite—and ugliest—methods of attacking God’s children: to divide them against each other. I’ve seen it in my […]

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Thy Kingdom Come

August 28, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Abana alathi fi ssama, faith, Jesus, scripture, suffering
2

  Last night I was at a prayer meeting where friends shared burdened hearts, feeling lost and without a sense of God’s direction for the future, aching over the pain of others and in the world. Then today I got an email prayer request for Christians in northern Iraq, where the militant group ISIS is […]

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Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy: Racial Reconciliation and Our Sinful Hearts

August 21, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, Claudia Mair Burney, growing, Jesus, racial reconciliation, Zora and Nicky
7

    “Come ye sinners, poor and needy, bruised and broken by the fall Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pardoning love for all…” ~ from an old hymn by Joseph Hart   Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard from an African-American friend of how her children have been hit and […]

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A Rock in the Midst of Change

August 13, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, scripture, trust, Uncategorized
4

  I tend to like change. Until it actually happens.   My sister is more realistic. She doesn’t like change, and she knows it. I’m a bit more all over the place. When a potential life change looms on the horizon, I get excited—perhaps it’s the latent pioneer girl in me. Then it actually hits: […]

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Stories that Help Us See: Transformational Fiction

August 6, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, story, Transformational Fiction, writing
2

  I didn’t used to care that much about Native American history and culture. That might surprise people who’ve met me in the past few years. 🙂   Oh, I knew some. I studied a little in school, knew the Native peoples of this land hadn’t been treated very well, and even lived near the […]

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The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn: Giveaway Winner and Follow Up

July 30, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, giveaway, Lori Benton, racial reconciliation, The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn
4

  Thank you so much to all of you who commented on the “Characters of Color, Christian Fiction, and the Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn…Giveaway!” post last week. I’ve never had quite so much discussion on this blog! It was wonderful to hear all your perspectives and insights. I’m still learning so much about all this […]

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Characters of Color, Christian Fiction, and The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn…Giveaway!

July 23, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, Burning Sky, giveaway, Lori Benton, racial reconciliation, The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn
49

  Enter below for a chance to win a signed copy of The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn! I love Christian fiction. But one thing that sometimes bothers me about the genre is its color…or lack thereof.   Oh, the covers might be beautifully colorful, with lavish historical costumes and inviting landscapes. But with a few […]

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God’s Guidance and 5 Small Loaves

July 16, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / 5 Small Loaves, ACFW, community, Diné, Dinétah, faith, God's faithfulness, growing, Mark Charles, Native Americans, racial reconciliation, trust
0

    I sat on the carpet in their living room, with these friends in their home on the Navajo Nation, and shared my heart.   Last September, I’d just come from the ACFW conference in Indianapolis and then stopped to visit friends in New Mexico and Arizona. While staying with Mark Charles and his […]

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Out of the Ruins: Interview with Author Karen Barnett

July 10, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, history, Karen Barnett, Out of the Ruins, San Francisco earthquake, Uncategorized, writing
2

  Would you like to travel back in time to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake? Well, maybe not in real life, but how about in the pages of a book?       Author Karen Barnett‘s second historical novel, Out of the Ruins, released just this spring (following her very successful 1920s suspense Mistaken), and […]

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It’s Going to be Okay

July 3, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, fun, Jesus, trust
2

  Our little gray kitty cat knows a number of words.   She knows “Outside” and “Food” and her name, “Rosie.” And of course the ubiquitous “Here, kitty, kitty!” She’ll come to that call—at least when she wants to.   Another phrase she seems to understand is, “It’s okay.” We use it often to reassure […]

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My Writing Process – Blog Tour!

June 30, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / blog tour, books, My writing process, writing
4

Hello, reader friends! Welcome to this special Monday posting for the My Writing Process Blog Tour. You might have previously followed this tour with Norma Gail, New Mexico writer friend and author of the lovely new novel Land of My Dreams.  Read her post for this tour here.   Now, on to my part! I’m […]

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Remembering the Days of Old

June 26, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, God's faithfulness, history, scripture, trust
0

  Note: I do apologize, reader friends, for the lack of a post last week and the lateness of this post today. I seem to have been a bit off-kilter of late, plus I’ve been sick, but I expect to be back on my normal Wednesday posting schedule next week. Also watch for a special […]

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A Little Fish and a Big God: Finding Nemo and the Prodigal Son

June 11, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, Father's Day, Finding Nemo, movies, Prodigal Son, Uncategorized
2

My sister and I just watched Finding Nemo for the, ahem, first time. (I know, I know, it’s a classic, please don’t hate us.)   But we really enjoyed it, and last night after we finished it, my sister said to me, “It’s kind of like a Prodigal Son/parallel to Jesus story, you know?”   […]

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When A Story Begins to Own You: Special Double-Post with Jennifer Major

June 4, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / community, Diné, Dinétah, history, Native Americans, Navajo Long Walk, story, writing
2

  Last week my friend Jennifer Major presented a question I’ve been pondering: “When did you know the story owned YOU?   Jennifer and I both write about Navajo history in our novels and have been blessed with the same Navajo/Anglo family to take us under their wings and teach us much. So today, we […]

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Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, and Me

May 29, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey, fun, story, writing
5

 Special Note: Stay tuned for a special “same day blog” with Jennifer Major next week! And now, for our current program…   For the first time in my life, I’m following a couple of current TV series.   I’ve been watching through PBS online or Amazon Prime streaming, as we have neither cable nor a […]

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When You Have to Trust One Day at a Time

May 21, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, growing, scripture, trust
0

The past couple of weeks, I’ve started watching History Channel’s The Bible series, as it’s now available streaming on Netflix. Despite some (unnecessary) inaccuracies and a lot of (necessary) condensing and cutting of the story, it still touches me, maybe because I’m such a visual learner, to see biblical accounts I’ve read so many times […]

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A Long Talk to Freedom: The Power of Conversation for Racial Reconciliation

May 15, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / black history, community, Mark Charles, Nelson Mandela, racial reconciliation
3

  Continuing the conversation from last week’s “Friendship as a Key to Racial Reconciliation.”   A few months ago, I saw the Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom movie with my dad. What a powerful story of a courageous and hugely influential man. But one thing that struck me from the movie’s title was that Nelson […]

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Special Post: Mothers of the Bible Speak to Mothers of Today Giveaway!

May 13, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, giveaway, Kathi Macias, Transformational Fiction
2

  A special Tuesday post before my normal Wednesday posting: Please check out this wonderful giveaway from author Kathi Macias! Click here to enter a special extended Mother’s Day drawing of her devotional book, Mothers of the Bible Speak to Mothers of Today.   Kathi Macias is a wonderfully faithful author of Christ-honoring books, both […]

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Friendship as a Key to Racial Reconciliation

May 7, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / black history, community, Donald Stirling, growing, Native Americans, racial reconciliation, Trayvon Martin
5

Recently the racism in Donald Stirling’s alleged remarks has created a bit of a media uproar. For me, it’s been another reminder, as with Trayvon Martin, that while we’ve made progress, racial tensions are far from resolved in America. And it’s gotten me thinking. If Mr. Stirling did indeed make these remarks, I can’t help […]

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Input Please! What Kinds of Posts Would You Like to See More?

April 30, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / community, writing
0

  Hello, friends. So…I’ve been wondering lately how to make my blog better, how to serve and connect with readers more. But I’m not quite sure the best way to do that. So since YOU are my readers, I’d love to hear from you…what kinds of posts you like the best and what types you’d […]

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Interview with Land of My Dreams author, Norma Gail

April 23, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, Land of My, Land of My Dreams, Norma Gail, writing
0

It’s been a privilege and wonderful learning experience to be part of New Mexico writer Norma Gail’s book launch team this spring for her contemporary inspirational romance novel, Land of My Dreams. I’ve just recently gotten my own e-copy to read, and the story is truly blessing me, the message of “where God is when […]

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A Series for Holy Week, Part 3: Through Mary Magdalene’s Eyes

April 21, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Easter, faith, history, Holy Week, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story, To Jerusalem
2

Click for Part 1 and Part 2. “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared…” ~Luke 24:10 Mary Magdalene The birds twitter in the pearly predawn as we make our way up the stony path to the tomb. I want […]

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A Series for Holy Week, Part 2: Through Peter’s Eyes

April 19, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Good Friday, Holy Week, Jesus, Lent, scripture, seasons, story
1

Read Part 1 here, or click here for Luke’s account of Peter’s story. Peter Darkness. I stumble through the Jerusalem streets, half-lost, wishing no one to find me. I stumble and fall, cracking my elbow against an abandoned vegetable cart, welcoming the pain. I deserve far worse. I huddle on the rocky ground and clutch […]

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A Series for Holy Week, Part 1: Through Mary of Bethany’s Eyes

April 17, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Holy Week, Jesus, Lent, scripture, seasons, story, To Jerusalem
5

This Holy Week, I’ll be posting several snippets from the Easter story imagined through the eyes of those who were there, some revised from last year’s To Jerusalem series, today a new one. I hope you enjoy! Please comment and share your thoughts as we experience this week anew together.   Mary of Bethany Laughter, […]

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And a Little Child Shall Lead Them: The Little Blonde Girl at the Pow Wow

April 9, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / children, Native Americans, pow wow, racial reconciliation
5

We heard the announcement over the microphone as we arrived at the circle of booths and pulsing drums: “Where is the little blonde girl who was dancing? We want to honor her with a special dance.” Little blonde girl? Not exactly what you’d expect to hear at a Native American pow wow. The announcement repeated […]

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Mighty to Save

April 2, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Mighty to Save, movies, Prince of Egypt, scripture, trust, waiting
1

Last week, my small group from church watched Prince of Egypt during our regular Bible study time. We’d just finished going through the story of Moses and the Exodus, so it seemed appropriate to take an evening to enjoy it on the big screen. I’d only seen the movie once before, and while it obviously […]

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Catherine Richmond and Through Rushing Water: A Story of the Poncas

March 26, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, Catherine Richmond, history, Native Americans, Ponca Tribe, Through Rushing Water, Uncategorized, writing
0

I first heard of author Catherine Richmond a few years ago, when we both became part of the Transformational Fiction group for writers who write stories that deal with tough issues in the light of God’s redemption and grace. (Check out and “like” our Facebook page here!) But it wasn’t until this winter that I […]

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But What If I Mess It Up?

March 19, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Aslan, books, C.S. Lewis, faith, growing, Jesus, Prince Caspian, trust
8

    Perhaps my favorite section in C.S. Lewis’s second-written Chronicle of Narnia, Prince Caspian, happens when young Lucy encounters Aslan one night in the forest. She had seen the Great Lion the day before, but since no one else could see him, nor would believe her that he wanted them to follow him a […]

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Let It Go: The Great Divorce, Frozen, and Psalm 46:10

March 12, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, C.S. Lewis, faith, Let It Go, The Great Divorce, theater, trust
4

I went on a bus trip to heaven the other night. We sat on padded chairs in the rearranged sanctuary of a community church and watched as a troop of Christian actors—the same group who gave Godspell a couple of years ago —brought C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce to life before our eyes. We joined […]

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Of Ash Wednesday, Remembering, and Being Still

March 5, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Ash Wednesday, faith, history, Jesus, Lent, seasons, trust
2

Ash Wednesday…a day that marks the beginning of the preparation. For Jesus, this had gone on His whole life. But around this time two thousand years ago, things were kicking into high gear—in God’s camp and in Satan’s. Once I read that the days leading to Good Friday were the only time in history that […]

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Black History, American History

February 26, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / black history, Black History Month, community, growing, history, racial reconciliation, seasons
2

My last semester of college, one of my apartment-mates invited me and another of our roommates to a special meeting of our campus Black Student Association, of which she was a member. An African-American English professor was leading a special program, and since our other roommate and I were English majors, she thought we might […]

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Stories, Spina Bifida, and How Books Change You…Especially When You Write Them

February 20, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, children, community, faith, family, growing, spina bifida, writing
2

I’ll confess I haven’t always been the most comfortable around people with disabilities. I often don’t know what to say, what to do. Sometimes I might smile awkwardly, other times look away. Through the Dickens story Nicholas Nickleby and the character of Smike, as well as working with students at our local community college, the […]

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Music of My Heart

February 12, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, community, faith, history, Native Americans, Rainsong, song
2

Singing “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” this past Sunday to our church’s “folk band” accompaniment of guitar, mandolin, and accordion, I started thinking how songs like this connect with my heart—both old, faintly Celtic or Appalachian hymns and the more contemporary worship songs I grew up with. I love songs like this that speak of […]

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Being Mean to My Characters

February 5, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, growing, Jesus, story, writing
4

  The other day I told my mom I was feeling bad about being mean to my characters. She laughed, but sympathized. Since stories are built on conflict—and more conflict—it’s a writer’s axiom that in writing a good story, you get your beloved characters stuck up in a tree. And then you throw rocks at […]

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Why We Need Stories

January 28, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / books, faith, movies, story, writing
3

I so enjoyed seeing the movie Saving Mr. Banks a few weeks ago. As a writer, I loved the “behind the scenes” angle on a story going from book to screenplay to film, plus the marvelous acting in a poignantly multi-layered story. But one line struck me in particular, and I’ve been pondering it since: […]

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Saving Mr. Banks

White Blossoms in the Dark

January 22, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / creation, faith, scripture, trust
2

It’s January, and the blossom trees are coming out. Though here in southern California we do get spring flowers while much of the country lies still immersed in winter, it’s been an unusually warm month even for here, and the pink and white tufted trees keep catching me by surprise. The other night as my […]

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When I Can’t

January 15, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Navajo Long Walk, racial reconciliation, scripture, song, trust
4

When I can’t…make hurting children cooperate. This week when I helped during after school time at the transitional housing home, I had to have a supervisor’s help with both kids I was paired with. I didn’t seem to be able to get their attention, keep them on track, or maintain control. I tried to keep […]

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New Things and a New Website

January 7, 2014 / Kiersti Giron / faith, scripture, seasons, trust, writing
0

Blossoms in our back garden when I lived in Oxford “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?” ~Isaiah 43:18-19 This verse seems to have come up a lot these past […]

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Toward Bethlehem: To Us a Son is Given

December 25, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, seasons, story, Toward Bethlehem, trust
0

Originally posted in Toward Bethlehem series, December 25, 2011. Merry Christmas, dear friends!  How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven… Joseph And He is born. I lay Him on Mary’s chest, warm and wet and wailing, and cover them both with my […]

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Christmas as War

December 24, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons
2

With a somewhat heavy heart, I sang Christmas carols in church this Sunday. Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her king Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing… But through my mind whirled the shootings of this past month and the mother we heard of the […]

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God of the Unexpected: Mary

December 20, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, God of the Unexpected, Jesus, seasons, story, trust
0

Our Christmas series continues–click to read Parts One and Two.   Part Three: Mary “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who […]

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When Christmas is Messy

December 17, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, growing, seasons
2

All our family Advent wreath times have been a bit different so far this year. The first Sunday, we rushed to do Advent wreath before dinner and my sister’s return to college in preparation for finals. The phone rang and the answering machine picked up as we read Scripture and sang carols for the Prophecy Candle…a […]

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God of the Unexpected: Joseph

December 14, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, God of the Unexpected, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story
0

Our Christmas series continues from last week! Read Part One here. Part Two: Joseph, Son of David Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit… ~ Isaiah 11:1 She is gone . . . thank God, she is gone. I grip the doorframe as […]

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Nelson Mandela and the Ministry of Reconciliation

December 11, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, history, Nelson Mandela, racial reconciliation
0

South Africa The Good News / www.sagoodnews.co.za I watched this video of Nelson Mandela’s memorial service this morning. It made me choke up. I’ve been realizing how very little I knew about this man before these past few days, except that he was a great South African president, imprisoned unfairly for many years, and hugely […]

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God of the Unexpected: Elizabeth

December 7, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Christmas, faith, God of the Unexpected, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story
1

A blessed Advent to you, friends. In this season, I hope to post a more “regular” post on Tuesdays and a special Christmas post on Fridays. But first, a little introduction. 🙂 Our God is a God of the unexpected. Certainly in the way He came into this world, as we celebrate this Christmas season, […]

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Unexpectedness and Beatitudes

December 4, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Beatitudes, Jesus, scripture, seasons, trust
2

I had hoped to write an insightful Christmas post for today, maybe even to kick off a new Christmas blog series for this month. But it just hasn’t happened, and here I am barely getting a Tuesday post in at all. After a prayer meeting tonight, though, where a theme seemed to be how God […]

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One Step at a Time

November 25, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, Jim Elliott, Psalty, trust, waiting
2

I’ve been sick for the past week. It’s been a while since I was truly sick—I’ve been fighting bugs all fall, but this one got me, with a genuine bad sore throat, slight cold, and yucky-feeling chest. At first, I’ll admit I half enjoyed it—the excuse to lie around and read Sherlock Holmes, watch a […]

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Lowlands of Scotland and Wrestling with God

November 19, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Liz Curtis Higgs, Scotland, scripture, song, story, waiting
2

Ruined castle amid the green – from my own trip to Scotland The story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah set in 18thcentury Scotland? Now there’s a novel thought…pun quite possibly intended. 🙂 Liz Curtis Higgs’s Lowlands of Scotland series has rather captured my mind and heart these past several weeks. I’d shied away from Thorn […]

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Veterans Whose Lives Touch Mine

November 12, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / family, seasons, Veteran's Day, writing
4

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day. When I saw my godsister, who served in the Air Force for a number of years, post pictures of her personal friends killed in Afghanistan, I realized how removed I really am from the depth to which Veteran’s Day can reach. Handsome 40s couple! Poppa in his uniform. Both my grandpas […]

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When We’re Tired of Waiting

November 6, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Jesus, trust, waiting
6

I feel like I’m in a “waiting” stage of life right now. Waiting for a publisher. Waiting for some direction for my future. Waiting, I hope, for a man to partner and move forward with into that future together. I feel like I’ve often been waiting. And I know quite a few friends in a […]

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Kathi Macias and Human Trafficking

October 29, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, children, human trafficking, Kathi Macias
3

Early last year, I connected with a lovely authoress after I watched an online interview she did on human trafficking, the focus of several of her novels. When I emailed to thank her for helping raise my awareness, this gracious lady, Kathi Macias, offered to send me one of her books for free, so I […]

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A Writer Goes A-Journeying…

October 23, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / ACFW, Diné, Dinétah, Native Americans, Navajo Code Talkers, writing
4

So…I realized I never shared many snapshots from my most recent writer’s journey last month, to the ACFW conference in Indianapolis and then to visit friends and go a-researching once more in New Mexico and Arizona.Well, only one way to fix that! First, a peek into the ACFW Genre Night: I modeled a 1910-era white […]

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A Writer Goes A-Journeying…

October 23, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / ACFW, Diné, Dinétah, Native Americans, Navajo Code Talkers, writing
4

So…I realized I never shared many snapshots from my most recent writer’s journey last month, to the ACFW conference in Indianapolis and then to visit friends and go a-researching once more in New Mexico and Arizona.Well, only one way to fix that! First, a peek into the ACFW Genre Night: I modeled a 1910-era white […]

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Putting Things in Perspective

October 15, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, trust, waiting
0

It sneaks up on me, sometimes. I might check facebook, and see pictures posted by friends, some much younger than I, who seem to be living the life I hoped I might by now. One posts pictures of her adorable little girls, another of her new baby boy. Another just got engaged. I’m happy for […]

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On Columbus Day

October 15, 2013 / admin / Uncategorized
1

Hello, friends. I’m generally only going to be posting on Tuesdays now as a regular thing. But today, I wanted to just re-share a couple of posts from years back, both sharing a little bit different perspective on Columbus Day than many of us have. Some of you may have read and watched these in […]

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On Columbus Day

October 12, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Columbus Day Native American perspective, Diné, history, Mark Charles, racial reconciliation, seasons
0

Hello, friends.I’m generally only going to be posting on Tuesdays now as a regular thing. But today, I wanted to just re-share a couple of posts from years back, both sharing a little bit different perspective on Columbus Day than many of us have.Some of you may have read and watched these in years past. […]

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

October 8, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, history, Lakota, Native Americans, racial reconciliation, Sitting Bull, story
2

Lori Benton, interviewed here a couple of weeks ago, first told me about the movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. We share a heart for Native peoples and their often untold history, so I knew it would be a worthwhile watch, though I didn’t expect an easy one. I also wanted to see another […]

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

October 8, 2013 / admin / Uncategorized
0

Lori Benton, interviewed here a couple of weeks ago, first told me about the movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. We share a heart for Native peoples and their often untold history, so I knew it would be a worthwhile watch, though I didn’t expect an easy one. I also wanted to see another […]

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And the Winner Is…

October 1, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, Burning Sky, Lori Benton, story, writing
0

Thank you so much to all those who participated in, entered, and just commented and contributed to community with our interview with Lori Benton and giveaway of her beautiful historical novel Burning Sky! It’s been a wonderful experience getting to know some of you a little better and others for the first time. And we […]

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An Interview and a Giveaway: Lori Benton and Burning Sky! Part 2

September 27, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, Burning Sky, community, faith, Lori Benton, Neil MacGregor, story, trust, waiting, writing
15

Welcome back to Part Two of our interview with historical novelist Lori Benton! I know you’ll be blessed as she shares from her heart. 7.     You do such a wonderful job of transporting us to the 18th century New York frontier—did you do much hands-on or on-site research? Thank you! Will it surprise you […]

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An Interview and a Giveaway: Lori Benton and Burning Sky! Part 1

September 24, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, Burning Sky, community, faith, history, Lori Benton, Neil MacGregor, writing
40

Welcome to my very first author interview and book giveaway! I have been so blessed to connect with historical novelist Lori Benton and her heart for Native American history these past few months, and I’m honored she agreed to not only be interviewed but to give away a copy of her beautiful book Burning Sky […]

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A Week, an Award, and a Story

September 21, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / ACFW, community, Diné, Genesis Award, story, writing
6

With two of my CPs at the ACFW Awards Gala Well…I’m back, friends. Back from the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference in Indiana, and then visiting friends in New Mexico and Arizona, with a good bit of research and learning along the way. It’s been an eventful week. My novel Beneath a Turquoise Sky […]

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All He Asks of Us

September 12, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / All I Ask of You song, faith, Jesus, theater
0

Do you ever find it hard to catch your breath? My dear friend and college roommate came to spend this past weekend with me. While we had a lovely, relaxing time, she was heading back to an increasing pile of responsibilities and tasks this week. Then Monday I visited my rather overwhelmed sister at college, where […]

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One Season Following Another

September 3, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, Jesus, scripture, seasons, trust
0

My sister moved to college this weekend. My best friend, my roommate, confidante, giggling and crying, girl-talk and movie nights sister…she now lives miles away. I know it isn’t so very far. I know I’ll get to see her again before too long. I know this is a good thing and where God wants her to be […]

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Messy History and Mustard Seeds

August 27, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, Diné, faith, history, Native Americans, racial reconciliation
3

Sometimes history is hard to learn. When I first read Richard Twiss’s One Church Many Tribes, at least once I stopped in tears and couldn’t pick the book up again for a while. I think it was the chapter about the abuse of Native American children at many mission boarding schools . . . central […]

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Down Beside the Sea

August 21, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / children, faith, fun, listening
1

When I was down beside the sea A wooden spade they gave to me To dig the sandy shore. My holes were empty like a cup In every hole the sea came up Till it could come no more. ~Robert Louis Stevenson I’ve been down beside the sea. Thanks to the shared space of some […]

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Of Little House and the Birth of a Writer

August 13, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, fun, history, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie, story, writing
8

It’s Laura Ingalls Wilder’s fault that I write historical fiction. Well, not entirely. God has something to do with it too.  But I distinctly remember my mom pulling the car up to the library with me when I was little. I would jump out of the car and dash in, straight back to the shelf […]

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Lori Benton and Burning Sky

August 6, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, faith, history, writing
3

Would you like to… …tread the early paths of the eighteenth century New York frontier, tugged between those who first called it home and new settlers? …feel the pull of being caught between two worlds, belonging to both, yet neither? …see through the eyes of people in a time and context far from our own—yet […]

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Remembering the Long Walk

August 1, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / Diné, history, Navajo Long Walk, writing
4

Photo from the Long Walk It was my very first interview for the story just starting to germinate in my brain and heart. Despite living five years quite near the Navajo reservation, I really knew very little about that nation of people. But my dad knew a man willing to help—Potawatomi himself, but his wife […]

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You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught

July 24, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, Jesus, listening, prayer, racial reconciliation, Trayvon Martin
9

    My mom and sister and I finished watching South Pacific the other night. We’d started it a while ago, after I gave it, along with two other classic Rodgers and Hammerstein DVDs, to my sister for her birthday, but with the busyness of life lately we’d hadn’t yet seen the second act. Though […]

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Aiming at Heaven

July 16, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, Jesus, theater
0

I was a teen when I first heard it, that C.S. Lewis quote our pastor mentioned one Sunday morning in northwest New Mexico—that aiming at heaven would get you earth thrown in, but aiming at earth would get you neither. I wrote it in my journal, the little notebook covered with dark blue fabric printed […]

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Good Summer Clickin’

July 9, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, growing
1

Hello, friends…I’ve been in a bit of a blogging fog lately, between post-show blues and general family recovery from the life-upheaval of putting on a musical–plus just life itself. But I wanted to share with you some wonderful summer “clickables” by other bloggers that have been blessing me lately. I hope they bless you too!First, […]

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Singin’ the Post-Show Blues

July 2, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, fun, Jesus, theater
4

It’s always a little hard to come down from the mountaintop of a performance weekend—all the weeks and months of hard work leading up to a show, and then it’s over in just a few days. I’ve heard it called the post-show blues, and I know many from our Josephcast have been dealing with those […]

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Another Op’nin, Another Show

June 27, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, fun, song, story, theater, trust
0

Those lyrics from Kiss Me, Kate—though I’ve actually never seen that musical—usually start going through my head about this time. Tonight marks the opening of our theater company’s summer musical—yay! And yikes! Unexpected challenges and curveballs always seem to hit when you’re putting on a theater production (well, why should this part of life be […]

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I Won’t Let You Fall

June 24, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, fun, Jesus, theater, trust
6

We’ve been doing a lot of lifts in rehearsal lately. See? That’s me up in the air. Ahh! But it’s fun. 🙂 Most of us are rather new to lifts, but there’s something thrilling about them, though they can be tricky. Both lifter and liftee have to work together, getting the right grip, balance, position, […]

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Milestones and the Sound (literally) of Music

June 14, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, family, fun, growing, seasons
2

Our house has been “alive with the sound of music” lately. We’ve been holding vocal rehearsals for our next show at our new home in recent weeks, with harmonies, melodies, and foot-stomping beats ringing from the walls. We love it. Wednesday night was our last rehearsal here, as we’ll be in the theater from now […]

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Getting Unstuck

May 28, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, fun, prayer, writing
4

So, remember that post I wrote about feeling stuck in my current story? Well, it worked—I’m getting unstuck, I think. With prayerfully interviewing my character, getting to know her better, and putting myself more in her shoes. Also letting things be a little harder on her, letting her struggle more. Amazing how that makes a […]

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When I’m Feeling Stuck

May 25, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, prayer, writing
2

So . . . I’ve been struggling with writing a bit lately. See? 🙂 I’ve started a new book, and I was really excited about it for a bit. But the last few days I’ve been feeling stuck and less-than-motivated. And only on the third chapter! Oh, dear. But I think I might have figured […]

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Those Who Wait for the Lord, Part 2

May 17, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, history, scripture, trust, waiting
2

Read Part 1 here.God is big on waiting. Sometimes I wonder why. As I told Him recently one night before falling asleep, “You know, Lord, it would be a whole lot easier to trust You if I knew what was going to happen.” I wonder if I made Him laugh. But the response I sensed […]

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Those Who Wait for the Lord, Part 1

May 14, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, history, scripture, story, trust, waiting
1

She had almost given up hope. No matter that everyone called her beautiful. What was beauty, or anything, if you couldn’t pass it on to your children? And she had no children. The shame of it cloaked her, gnawed at her insides. What was a woman without children in her time? Far worse than one […]

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When I Feel Inadequate

May 7, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, Jesus, listening
2

I’ve often felt inadequate lately. Ever since we moved, I can’t seem to get on top of things. Blogging—writing—keeping in touch with friends—housecleaning—laundry—unpacking. Each day, it seems, I’m confronted with my inability to keep up with pretty much anything, at least to the extent I think I should. Then I started realizing, maybe one thing […]

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When We Don’t Know Why

April 29, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, Jesus, trust
2

My little brother went to heaven sixteen years ago today. Most people don’t know my sister and I even had a little brother—he was stillborn so early, at only sixteen weeks. But we could tell he was a boy, which our mom had already sensed. And he is still an unseen part of our family, […]

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Blogging and a Good Book: Unraveled

April 25, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, faith, story, writing
0

When I first read about Unraveledon the ICFW (International Christian Fiction Writers) blog, the storyline fascinated me enough to prompt me to comment on the post—thus entering a drawing to win the book. And yep, I won! Funny, it’s the third time I’ve won a book in similar manner the past few years, prompting me […]

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Beauty and the Beast: Story Building Blocks

April 16, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / fun, story, theater, writing
0

As promised, here are the ways I’ve been coming to understand some of the basic building blocks of story–with a certain Tale as Old as Time as example. 🙂      1.     The Inciting Incident I first heard of this concept in a screenwriting class in college. This event is what gets the story going. […]

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Beauty and the Beast…and a Sense of Story

April 12, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / fun, scripture, story, writing
2

My sister and I are unashamed musical theater geeks. Sometimes I wonder what people sitting behind us in the audience think when we squeeze hands and sway and bounce together in time to the music during the overture—if they can even see us in a darkened theater—but we don’t care. We agree the most exciting […]

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You know you’re moving when…

April 5, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / family, growing, seasons, trust
4

You know you’re moving when… – The rooms you live in are a strange mixture of empty and chaotic – You accidentally grind up a twistie tie in the homemade ice cream—oh, dear, what are those funny green flecks of paper? – People referring to “home” or the “house” have to clarify which one they […]

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To Jerusalem, Part 4

April 1, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, history, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story, To Jerusalem
0

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared…” Mary Magdalene The birds twitter in the pearly pre-dawn as we make our way up the stony path to the tomb. I want to shush them. It doesn’t seem right for anyone […]

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To Jerusalem: Part 3

March 29, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, history, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story, To Jerusalem
0

Peter Darkness. I stumble through the Jerusalem streets, half-lost, wishing no one to find me. I stumble and fall, cracking my elbow against an abandoned vegetable cart, welcoming the pain. I deserve far worse. I huddle on the rocky ground and clutch my head in my hands, thankful for the night-blackness around me, though it […]

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To Jerusalem: Part 2

March 28, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story, To Jerusalem
2

John I don’t understand, Lord. Ever since we sat down to supper, things haven’t been right. First You washing our feet—though only Peter had the guts to speak up to You about it. Then You saying things like “He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against me” and “one of you will […]

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To Jerusalem: Part 1

March 22, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story, To Jerusalem
0

A little like Toward Bethlehem in December, I’m going to try a series leading us toward Easter–or as it was for Jesus and those who followed Him at this time of year two thousand years ago, up to Jerusalem. I hope we are all blessed as we turn our hearts to Him–to remember what He […]

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Again, Lord?

March 20, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, trust
0

A bestselling author I was privileged to learn under at Mount Hermon a couple of years ago commented how many of her stories dealt with a theme that seemed to continually come up in her own life: God saying, “Are you going to trust Me?” Sometimes, she said, she felt like responding, “Haven’t we been […]

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Hi, I’m Martha

March 16, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, listening, scripture, story
4

The heat from the cooking fire dampened her face and plastered her hair to her forehead. Duck roasting, stew bubbling, bread baking. She glanced into the front room, irritation rising like the steam from the lentil pot. Her sister still sitting. Of course, it was a good thing to listen to Jesus. A very good […]

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Richard Twiss: In Memoriam

March 9, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, Jesus, Native Americans, pow wow, racial reconciliation
1

Wiconi International I first heard Richard Twiss speak at a center for world missions a few years ago. With flowing dark hair and an impressive bearing, this pioneering Lakota scholar, missionary, and follower of the “Jesus Way” shared with us his journey as a First Nations believer, how our cultural perceptions can affect the way […]

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My Shepherd

March 5, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, trust
1

The Lord is my shepherd. Tender and patient, picking me up when I fall and pulling me away from dangerous places. Never leaving or forsaking His silly sheep. I shall not want. I should ponder that one a while. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Even when […]

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A Way I Cannot See

March 2, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, trust
3

View of Oxford from a medieval church tower. A little over five years ago, I waved good-bye to my family and stepped onto a plane to study abroad for a semester in Oxford, England. I later wrote that I’d felt a bit like an eaglet thrust from a cliff-top nest, hurtling into space with no […]

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Jazz Antigua

February 22, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, history, racial reconciliation, theater
0

The dancers leapt, reached, and whirled on stage to the rhythm of percussion and a live reading of Langston Hughes’s poem “Drums.” Moving and acting in harmony with each other, they brought to life their heritage—the dances of Africa, the billowing sails of the slave ships, the music and color of New Orleans, the heart-tugging […]

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Busyness, Next Steps, and One Thing

February 20, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / children, community, creation, faith, family, fun, Jesus, theater
4

We put on a show the other day.During both performances, I stood in my little corner at the back of the theater, near the door to handle tickets for any late-comers and close to the table of “Singing Valentines” I supervised at intermission, and watched in delight as our young performers–ages 9 to 25–danced, sang, […]

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A Valentine Potpourri

February 14, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, seasons, waiting
0

Happy Valentine’s Day, dear reader friends!In whatever life’s place this holiday finds you, I hope you enjoy this collection of posts–and even a video–reminding us of love and most of all His love. They have blessed me this week, and I hope they bless you too!First, my lovely agent Wendy Lawton had a wonderful reminder […]

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Flash Mob

February 12, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, song, theater
1

I’d never been part of a flash mob before—or seen one except on YouTube—until this weekend. Saturday evening, the senior division of our little theater company gathered outside a movie theater at an outdoor mall. The night air nipped cold for southern California, so we bundled in hats and scarves. Trying to act as if […]

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The Liebster Award

February 5, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, family, fun, Jesus
4

A lovely new blogging friend, Jessie Gunderson, was kind enough to nominate me for the “Liebster Award”—liebster apparently being a German word for “favorite,” and this being a way to help get the word out about small-scale bloggers whom others might enjoy. The idea was to share 11 things about yourself, answer 11 questions, and […]

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Of Laundry and Lyrics

February 2, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, listening, scripture, song
2

Folding laundry can be enlightening sometimes…at least when I’m listening to Michael Card. Feeling a little overwhelmed by all that needs doing in the next few weeks and unsure where to focus—including what to blog about—I decided tonight to tackle the obvious: a couple of piles of clean clothes and towels. And continue where I’d […]

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Anxious for Nothing?

January 29, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, listening, scripture, trust
4

Lately I’ve realized I’m feeling anxious nearly all the time. It’s not like anything horrible has happened. I know families facing crises right now, and ours isn’t one of them. But the daily stresses of winter sickness running through our household, our theater company getting ready for a show, selling one house while getting ready […]

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Apology to Native Peoples Petition

January 25, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, Diné, history, Native Americans, racial reconciliation
0

Hello, dear reader friends.   If you’ve read my blog much, you probably know a little about how the Lord has been teaching me about racial reconciliation and the often-tragic history of our country in relation to the first peoples of America. I’d just like to share with you an opportunity to raise our voices […]

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Of Les Mis, Narnia, and Fishermen

January 18, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, movies, story, theater
4

I rarely go to see movies in the theater—and almost never see the same movie twice on the big screen. But I did with Les Misérables. Many of my friends have loved this musical for years, whereas it’s only been this fall that it’s captured my heart–a combination of plugging through the book, seeing our […]

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Blog Hop with Jennifer Major!

January 14, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / community, Diné, story, writing
2

One of the many blessings I’ve discovered through joining American Christian Fiction Writers is the chance to connect with other Christian novelists. It’s amazing how much you can get to know, help, learn from, and network with each other online before ever meeting in person. One day last fall, one of these writers commented on […]

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Yesterday, Today, and Forever

January 9, 2013 / Kiersti Giron / scripture, seasons, trust
2

Christmas is definitely over at our house—after a joy-and-laughter-filled Epiphany party and play reading Sunday night, our house is looking rather stripped bare. Not only did I finish packing away all the Christmas decorations last night, but we are getting ready to move, and our grandma’s house, where we’ve lived the past eight and a […]

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Toward Bethlehem: Simeon

December 29, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, listening, scripture, Toward Bethlehem, waiting
2

Israel’s strength and consolation Hope of all the earth Thou art Dear desire of every nation Joy of every longing heart Simeon I pause within the temple gates to catch my breath, wheezing slightly. The milling crowd presses about me. Lord, did I hear You aright? Through the shouts of money-changers and bleating of goats […]

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Toward Bethlehem: Unto Us

December 25, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, history, Jesus, seasons, story, Toward Bethlehem
2

Originally posted December 25, 2011. Merry Christmas, everyone! How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven… Joseph And He is born. I lay Him on Mary’s chest, warm and wet and wailing, and cover them both with my robe, and kiss her sweaty […]

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Toward Bethlehem: The Fullness of Time

December 24, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, seasons, story, Toward Bethlehem, trust
0

Originally posted December 24, 2011 Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight… Mary So much waiting, and now everything is happening too fast. Dusty sandals hurry past me as I huddle in the street corner. Joseph settled me here when […]

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Two Nights Before Christmas

December 24, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, Jesus, seasons
0

‘Tis two nights before Christmas. Tomorrow will be gift-wrapping, and letter-mailing, and cookie-and-bread-and-pie baking, and Christmas-Eve-Service-ing. And then Advent Wreath, when we will light the final and white candle, the Christ candle that signifies He is born. The last couple of Christmas Eves, my mom and I haven’t managed to finish wrapping presents until after […]

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Toward Bethlehem: Joseph

December 23, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story, Toward Bethlehem, trust
0

Originally posted December 17, 2011 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus Born to set Thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee… Joseph Evening light glints on the soldiers’ helmets as they disappear in a cloud of dust. I stare after them. Lord, if I’d known you meant literally […]

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Toward Bethlehem: Abiding in the Fields

December 18, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, Toward Bethlehem, waiting
0

Originally posted December 3, 2011 O come, O come Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear… Micah, a young shepherd. Nights fall cold and early now. The sheep crowd near us as we huddle by the fire beneath our robes. When I lie on my […]

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Toward Bethlehem: Mary

December 16, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, seasons, Toward Bethlehem, trust, waiting
2

Originally posted December 11, 2011. Of the Father’s love begotten Ere the worlds began to be, He is Alpha and Omega, He the Source, the Ending He Mary Joseph came home tired tonight. He tries not to let me see, but I know it wears on him, the talk of Rome and taxes and blood […]

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Weeping for Her Children

December 15, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / children, prayer, scripture, trust
0

“Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through […]

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By His Doing

December 12, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, Jesus, seasons
0

The lights went off at our church this Sunday morning. I was in the windowless ladies’ room when it happened and fumbled my way out with the light from my cell phone. It turned out the whole senior center where our church meets—in fact, the whole city block—had lost power, right before Sunday service started. […]

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Toward Bethlehem: Elizabeth

December 9, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, Toward Bethlehem, waiting
0

Originally posted December 5, 2011. Let all mortal flesh keep silence and with fear and trembling stand Ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in His hand Christ our God to earth descendeth Our full homage to demand. This Sabbath was read in synagogue the scroll of Isaiah, the part which begins with the people walking […]

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Empty Chairs

December 7, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, Jesus, seasons, trust
0

We gathered in the living room, this first Sunday of Advent, our just-delivered, two-days-fresh-from-Oregon fir tree filling the house with its sweet-spicy scent that says “Christmastime” like no other. Bright flames danced in the fireplace, and our mom danced a little too as she strung the lights about the tree to a Christmas concert of […]

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Toward Bethlehem: A Wise Man

December 2, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons, story, Toward Bethlehem
2

Last year during Advent, I began a series of “peeks” through the eyes of various characters present at the coming of Jesus and what they might have felt in those weeks leading Toward Bethlehem. This year, I’ll be reposting those, as well as adding new installments, starting with this one. I hope you enjoy and […]

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Coming…

November 28, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, seasons, waiting
0

Advent is coming. I feel I’ve been tiptoeing around it, now quite daring to breathe it in yet, because it won’t be official until Sunday, but catching whiffs that thrill my heart with the coming promise of the season. A few early Christmas lights twinkling in the dusk…the nip in the night air when I […]

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Shall We Dance?

November 25, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / family, fun
0

My family and I had so much fun tonight. My sister dancing around–a few years ago. 🙂 Then my sister started showing us her dance routines from her community college classes leading up to performances in December. She put music on, and our dad started dancing around too, and then our parents showed us the […]

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Bountifully

November 21, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, scripture, seasons
0

He huddles, perhaps in a cave, deep in the cold darkness of night. His men sleep sprawled around him, swords always at the ready. Bending by the small flickering flame of an oil lamp, on a clay tablet or bit of leather, he pours out his aching heart. How long, O LORD? Will You forget […]

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Dominus Illuminatio Mea

November 17, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / England, faith, growing, trust
0

Christchurch Meadow, Oxford, in January. It has been a rather gray, drizzly day. Generally I love the rain, and I have enjoyed it today the few times it’s been heavy enough to actually pitter-patter, but coupled with people in our house not feeling very well—including me—and some general stress, it’s felt a bit dreary. This […]

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A Mrs. Rachel Lynde

November 14, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, growing, listening, trust
1

“I wish you’d consulted me first.”  Anyone who has visited Avonlea through L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables books knows Mrs. Rachel Lynde, the village’s outspoken, know-it-all, kind-hearted busybody—and the first to set off newly-arrived orphan girl Anne’s redheaded temper. I’ve loved the Anne books since I was a girl, and seen bits of myself […]

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To Ask Forgiveness, Part 2

November 9, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, Diné, growing, Native Americans, racial reconciliation
3

Read Part 1 here.   When we reached the Window Rock monument, I climbed out of the car to follow my Navajo host, while his wife stayed in the car to write an anniversary card for their son and his wife. The two of us surveyed the Code Talker memorial, where he showed me the […]

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To Ask Forgiveness, Part 1

November 4, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, Diné, growing, Native Americans, racial reconciliation
4

The warm desert wind whipped my hair across my face and snapped the flags above me, flags of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation waving beside the Stars and Stripes. I gazed up at the towering red rocks, the round hole to the clear blue sky, above the Window Rock Veterans Memorial. Below […]

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October Gifts

October 29, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Uncategorized
2

I’ve still been reading Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts a bit at a time, trying to absorb it. It strikes me as a little like dark chocolate—I can only take a bit at a time, savoring and trying to grasp the richness, both of her prose and of the ideas therein. She does rather make […]

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Stories in Real Life

October 23, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Diné, growing, story, writing
1

I bent forward over the lamplit table, following the fingers of my Navajo host as he sketched out words for me in my little notebook, repeating them aloud for me to try at pronouncing. Ya’at’eeh abini—the morning greeting Hagoóne’—the way to say farewell, a kind of blessing as you leave someone Again and again I […]

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Snapshots from the Diné Tah

October 20, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / creation, Diné, writing
0

I spent this past weekend in New Mexico again, in the Diné Tah, that beautiful land of the Navajo people whom I am so privileged to continue learning from and writing about.There is much on my heart to write and share with you, from this trip and others, but I came home and promptly got […]

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Another Perspective on Columbus Day.

October 12, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Columbus Day, Diné, Mark Charles, Native Americans, racial reconciliation, seasons
0

Last year I posted that I didn’t know what to think of Columbus Day anymore.This year I wanted to share this short video, made by a Navajo man seeking to further reconciliation and understanding between the native and immigrant peoples of our land today.  And again this Columbus Day I want to say it: thank […]

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A More Perfect Union

October 10, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, prayer
0

While discussing the presidential debates at Bible study last week, one of our group members mentioned that at a previous election, even his own family members were afraid to tell each other who they planned to vote for. I could kind of relate, for I hoped the other members of the group wouldn’t ask me…though […]

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Book Friends: Rather New

October 5, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, story
0

While many of my favorite authors I’ve loved since my teens, in the past year or two I’ve discovered more writers who, with their stories, have quickly found their way into my heart. I’ve mentioned these three here before, but never all together! Sarah Sundin truly has the gift of story, exacting historical detail, and […]

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He is Here

October 2, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, Jesus, trust
0

I hadn’t felt very close to Him lately. Maybe it’s been partly the aftermath of my grandma’s death, the sometimes unconscious grieving that affects us beneath the surface. Maybe it was partly still being tired, as our whole family is, from the strain of the past month. And I kept filling my mind and heart […]

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Book Friends: Tried and True

September 28, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, story, writing
0

I once read an old volume that urged young ladies to “make friends of books.” That’s never been hard for me, at least of storybooks—since little girl days when I fell in love with Little House in the Big Woods and Little Women, books have been treasured companions to me. Much as I love my […]

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Trust II

September 25, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, growing, trust, waiting
0

Trust…it’s been coming at me from all directions lately, especially in books. Trusting God seems to be a lesson He never tires of, or at least one I need to learn over and over again. …In One-Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, which I am slowly nibbling my way through bit by bit. Her observation that lack […]

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History in Hand

September 20, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / family, history, writing
3

It might have been a sad time, the sorting through of my grandma’s things. And sometimes it may be. But though the grief and trials and uncertainties of daily life would soon encroach again, in that evening of digging and discovering and sharing—aunt, uncle, cousin, my parents and sister and I—we found treasures, memories, and […]

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As a Child

September 11, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / children, family, Jesus, trust
0

Laughter peppered our ride in the family car to my grandma’s graveside servicelast week—thanks in large part to my little four-and-a-half year old cousin. Her dimpled smiles, dark curls escaping her French braid, and innocent comments helped bring out the joy God was giving us amid grief. “What did one ocean say to the other […]

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‘Twixt Time and Eternity

September 8, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, trust
3

That’s where it feels like we’ve been, these past three weeks of my grandma’s transition from life to death, from earth to heaven. It’s been a bit of a blur, and with the funeral over, all still seems a bit unreal. During the week at the hospital, and especially the nine days after she came […]

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The Valley of the Shadow

August 29, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, Jesus, trust
5

Yea, though I walk through the valley Of the shadow of death I will fear no evil For Thou art with me Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23 has taken on new—or perhaps old—and precious meaning for my family this past week and a half, as we have been walking with […]

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To Know and Not to Know

August 22, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, trust, waiting
2

You never know what a day will hold. On a day when you expect to leave on a road trip with friends, you can end up waiting in the emergency room because your grandmother had cardiac arrest. After thinking she might not take another breath, you can find yourself having a conversation with her the […]

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Learning from The Lord of the Rings

August 15, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, faith, story
0

English major though I am, I read no Tolkien beyond The Hobbit until after I graduated college (perhaps a good thing most of my fellow students in our Oxford study abroad program didn’t know that 🙂 ). I made it through the first two volumes a year or two ago, but it wasn’t until this summer […]

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Of Faithfulness and Forgetting

August 11, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Diné, faith, scripture, trust, waiting
1

God was so faithful on this most recent research trip to New Mexico. While I had a list of places to go and questions to ask, I really didn’t know how it would all work out or whom I would get to see—yet I sensed the Lord’s leading to go, and tried to trust He […]

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They Were There

August 6, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Diné, history, Jesus, writing
6

“Yáat’eh,” I said, hoping I got the tones of the greeting right. It must have been okay, for the elderly Navajo man who had opened the door shook my hand, then pulled me into a hug. Tentative, amazed this was happening, I followed the missionary I had come with and this gracious man into his […]

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Home

July 26, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, Diné, Jesus, writing
2

It has, yet again, been a while since I last posted—I’m sorry, dear readers! But I’ve been in New Mexico, the land of the setting for my novel, and one deeply imbedded in my heart. It’s strange, how a place where I’ve lived only five years of my life became so much home that this […]

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Out of Focus

July 16, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / growing, Jesus, scripture
2

During one of our early dress rehearsals for Cinderella, I determined to get some good photos to post on facebook, in order to better promote the show. So I dutifully clambered around the seats in the auditorium—empty but for a few mothers sewing costumes and younger children watching—to get the best angles, and clicked away. […]

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Transformational Fiction

July 9, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, faith, story
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Forgive me, dear blog readers, for the scarcity of posts here lately. My family and I are still coming out of the blur of Cinderella, but I hope to begin picking up the pace now! I’ve written a good deal about story here and the power it can wield. Over the last couple of months, […]

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The Prince is Giving a Ball…

June 29, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, photos, story, theater
2

Come one, come all!Cinderella opened last night to an almost sold-out crowd–and there are three more performances! (My sister, shown in dress rehearsal at top left, will be Cinderella in the matinee. 🙂 ) Check out more pictures from dress rehearsals here and here. And if you’re in the southern California area, email showlights.theater@gmail.com for details […]

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To Put on a Play…

June 19, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, story, theater, trust
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My family’s life right now is a whirl of rehearsals, emails, and phone calls, of altering costumes and gathering props, of organizing tickets and writing programs, of juggling—as are our directors and all the families involved in our upcoming production of Cinderella—all the myriad details that come with putting on a musical. We open in […]

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To Be Not Afraid

June 13, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, faith, growing, trust, writing
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Lately I’ve been discovering the heroine of my novel-in-progress and I have something in common: fear. Perhaps it’s our protective, big-sister natures—perhaps it’s from experiences in our past—perhaps it’s just our own sinful frailty. But we both struggle to let go of our fears and worries, to truly place people and situations close to our hearts […]

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June Thankfulness

June 7, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / creation, faith
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So much crazy busyness lately at our house, between high-gear pre-production for Cinderellaand the final push for finishing revising my manuscript. Thusly, dear blog readers, my posts are likely to be limited to once a week or so for a few weeks. But while sometimes it feels like we’re barely keeping our heads above water […]

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Wings of Glory

May 31, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, history, seasons, story
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On Monday, my sister had her “vintage” birthday party. She and her friends dressed in ‘40s-ish clothes (handy that those are in style again now!), danced to Big Band music, and sipped root beer floats. She reminded me of the young heroine in the Hallmark movie The Lost Valentine, with her green-flowered vintage dress, curled […]

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Sisters

May 24, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / family, waiting
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We watched the home video last night: a tiny, pink faced bundle cradled in loving arms…the bewildered cries of a newborn…proud grandparents arriving to see and hold…a ten-year-old Kiersti crying tears of joy for the first time in her life. Seventeen years ago, my baby sister was my dream come true, an only-child’s years-long prayer […]

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Swept Away

May 21, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, story, theater
2

I talk a lot about story on this blog—the power of storiesand how they change us, how God can use them to shape our lives. But sometimes, stories can just carry you away—to another place, another time, even another world, a mini-vacation in themselves. And this too, I think, can be God’s gift. The Colonel’s […]

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For Sinners Such as I

May 15, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / growing, Jesus, story
1

In a newly formed ACFW online group I’ve joined, we’ve been talking lately about how we want to write stories “with a purpose,” with the aim to not just entertain but help transform readers lives. Stories can affect us deeply–sometimes, at least for me, even more than a sermon or nonfiction inspirational writing, though the […]

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The Yada Yada Prayer Group

May 10, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, growing, racial reconciliation
7

When one of my critique partners recommended The Yada Yada Prayer Group to me, I expected it would be good. But I didn’t know I’d fall in love with it by Chapter 2. I’d never read a novel quite like it. In some ways the story reminds me of my critique group: a group of […]

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Tiny Reminders

May 5, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / creation, faith, trust
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I took a walk this morning and was struck by the flowers. Not so much the cultivated roses and azaleas in people’s yards, but the tiny ones sprinkling the parkways, almost too small to notice unless you were looking. I gathered a few of each kind—yellow and lavender, fuchsia and periwinkle, blossoms and stars and […]

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Such as These

May 2, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / children, faith, Jesus, trust
3

My mom and I taught a class of wiggly two-and-three-year-olds (though not the one to the left) about the ascension this past Sunday. It’s always a fun, albeit hectic, hour or so of dropped crayons and smashed cheerios and squealing little people and occasional I-miss-mommy tears. But as I sat in the circle of carpet […]

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Mount Hermon Highlights

April 27, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, faith, growing, writing
1

Little did I know when I arrived at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference a year ago, slightly terrified of pitching to editors and agents—and of meeting and being mentored by one of my favorite authors, Lauraine Snelling—that I would gain not only incredible knowledge and connections, but a critique group who would become some […]

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Story-Spinner

April 18, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, family, story, writing
4

My family spent this past weekend in Solvang, a town begun in 1911 by Danish immigrants to California seeking to keep their culture alive in their new home. As the great-great-granddaughter of Danish immigrants myself, I delighted in learning a bit more about my ancestry…even gained the possible seed of a new story to simmer […]

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His cross and ours

April 11, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, trust
1

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain. So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it […]

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Holy Week

April 5, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, history, Jesus, seasons
0

Early this Palm Sunday morning, I climbed to the top of Mount Hermon with two dozen or so other attendees of the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Quiet darkness covered us as we started, the air gradually lightening to pale gray as we hiked through the redwoods. Then, at the top, there it was—the cross. […]

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To be Thankful

March 28, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, scripture, trust
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So much is going on…the good, the hard, and the unknown. It’s so easy to be anxious, to let it all tie my stomach in knots. Lord, help me keep my eyes on You and be thankful… For rain Musicals Yellow tulips New leaves on the trees My sister having a good time at a […]

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Mitford

March 24, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, community, writing
2

Eating chicken salad and chatting with friends at the Main Street Grill…spending a peaceful Sunday afternoon at Meadowgate Farm…listening to one of dear old Uncle Billy Watson’s famous jokes…sitting in prayer within the quiet stone walls of Lord’s Chapel with Father Tim. These are some of the things that make you feel At Home in […]

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Trust

March 21, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / scripture, trust
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Trust…when I can’t see the road ahead. Trust…when I can’t see through tears. Trust…when some dreams seem near crushing while others near blooming. Trust…because He’s never failed us yet. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make […]

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A Bit o’ the Irish

March 17, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / family, history, Jesus, seasons
4

Top o’ the mornin’ to ye! ‘Tis St. Paddy’s day, it is, and I’m celebratin’ a wee bit o’ me Irish heritage. Aye, for though this stab at an Irish way o’ talkin’ might well pain the ears o’ any current sons an’ daughters o’ Eire, I’ve got more Irish blood in me veins than […]

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March Thankfulness

March 14, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / creation, scripture, seasons, trust
2

Just after I titled this post, I got up to settle my grandma in her favorite spot in the sun and handed her today’s paper. The front-page photo caught my eye, a man carrying a boy wounded in the current conflict in Syria. I turned the paper over so it wouldn’t upset my grandma too […]

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Of Walls and Bridges

March 7, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, history, Jesus, Native Americans, pow wow, racial reconciliation
1

I went to a powwow last Saturday. Odd that after living five years near the largest Native American tribe in the country, it took moving back to California to get me to a powwow. But one is held quite near us here, sponsored by Christian Native Americans, though many vendors and participants are not believers. […]

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Godspell

March 4, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, Jesus, parables, theater
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My family went to a production of the musical Godspell last night. One of the directors of our little theater company was in it, and none of us except my dad had ever seen it performed on stage—only the movie version, purported to be far inferior. We’d often wondered if it were a show we’d […]

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“Lift Every Voice and Sing”

March 1, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / African American National Anthem, community, faith, history, racial reconciliation, song
6

It was a Sunday near Martin Luther King Jr. day, my senior year of college, and I was visiting a church I had never attended before with two of my roommates. Near the close of the service, we sang a stirring and unfamiliar song. At the bottom of the music, I read, “African-American National Anthem.” […]

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Considering the Birds

February 26, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / creation, Jesus, trust
3

I’ve been hearing birdsong a lot lately—I guess it must mean spring is coming. This morning when my sister and I were having our quiet times, some sweet little bird was trilling merrily outside our window. My sister said, “You know that verse in James that talks about how every good and perfect gift is […]

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A Different Sort of Wednesday

February 22, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, listening, seasons
2

While studying late one evening at the English Faculty Library during the term I spent studying in Oxford, the toll of church bells began to invade my absorption in the texts. I was used to their pealing from the medieval churches all over this “city of dreaming spires” on Sunday mornings, but not on a […]

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His Faithfulness

February 18, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, scripture, theater, trust
6

My dad gave the cue. The lights in the little theater went down. My mom opened the backstage door, and she and I sent fifteen kids and teens in blue shirts and cowboy hats filing out onstage. As the first notes of “Oklahoma!” rang out, I closed my eyes and pressed my fingertips together. Thank […]

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Of Valentines and Hearts

February 15, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Jesus, seasons, trust, waiting
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When I was a little girl, I woke on Valentine’s Day mornings to a paper and doily heart by my bed with “Follow Me” printed on the back. I climbed out of bed to a room criss-crossed and webbed with string—one end of which was attached to the heart—and delightedly follow it around the house, […]

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A Prayer

February 7, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Jesus, listening, scripture, trust
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Lord— Forgive me for when… I get so focused on all that is going on around me—even good things, things you are doing—that I forget to focus on You, to take time to just be with You and listen to Your voice. And for when I get so focused on our needs, and then on […]

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Hints of Spring

February 3, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / creation, England, Jesus, listening, seasons
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A daffodil bloomed in our patio today. My sister and I bought the little pot of miniature daffodils a few years ago for our mom. In fall and early winter, it sits empty, the bare brown bulbs apparently dead. But each spring, fresh shoots of green spear above the earth. And then open the delicate […]

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Blogging Daze

February 1, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / community, growing, writing
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Happy February, everyone! Am I the only one who always has to think about the spelling of this month? Or am I the only one who doesn’t tend to pronounce that first “r”? 🙂 Well, I’ve officially missed my Tuesday blog for this week. Sometimes life just happens–or I just forget. So, I thought today […]

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What is it about a story? (Part 2)

January 27, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, creation, faith, story, writing
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Read Part 1 here. Some might say we love stories because they offer escape, a brief trip out of a meaningless and messed-up world into one that makes more sense. Certainly stories can be a form of escape—I know I’ve used them as such. But the best stories, the good and true ones (even if […]

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No Matter How Small

January 24, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / children, faith, growing, Jesus, theater
2

In the musical Seussical, one version of which our little theater company performed this summer, Horton the Elephant fights to save the tiny people on the miniscule planet of Who, so small that no one but Horton, the only one who can hear the Whos’ voices, believes it even exists atop his clover. During the […]

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What is it about a story? (Part 1)

January 20, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, faith, movies, story
2

I recently read an article in Guideposts magazine where the author shared the impact the movie Doctor Zhivago had on her as a young girl. Times were tight for her family, and she and her mom both worked at the local movie theater. After seeing a late showing of this particular film, for the remainder […]

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Long Time Coming

January 17, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / books, growing, story
2

I’m glad I picked up Long Time Coming from the Abingdon Press table at the ACFW conference this past fall. I read the book over Christmas break, and I hope its imprint will remain on my heart. It’s the story of two women, Kenisha and Deirdre, who live very different lives on the socioeconomic scale, […]

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RainSong

January 13, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / Diné, listening, Native Americans, racial reconciliation, Rainsong, song
3

In a recent discussion on the American Christian Fiction Writers email loop, various writers shared how music intertwined with their writing. Some listen for inspiration but must write to silence, while others have certain music for different stories that helps them get into the setting and characters as they write. I am rather a mixture […]

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The Fullness of the Earth

January 9, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / creation, growing, racial reconciliation
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On New Year’s Eve, my family went to the zoo. We saw the new elephant exhibit and watched a keeper feeding the tusked giant treats of carrots and squash. We stood at the tigers’ fence until the napping twin cubs, like giant striped kittens, woke up to play with their heavy-pawed mama. We saw a […]

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Christmas is Past…

January 6, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, seasons
2

“Now Christmas is pastTwelfth Night is the last…”~Robert Herrick, 17th century English poet My family likes to leave our Christmas decorations up through Epiphany, today’s observance of the Wise Men’s visit that coincides with old English Twelfth Night. I’m glad there is a traditional and liturgical reason for lingering this precious season, for it is […]

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And a Happy New Year…

December 30, 2011 / Kiersti Giron / faith, growing, seasons
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“Fast away the old year passes, FalalalalalalalalaHail the new, ye lads and lasses, Falalalalalalalala…” My critique partners and I have been chatting about New Year’s resolutions, goals, or hopes this past week. It hasn’t been something I’ve usually done, picking a particular aim for a new year…I’m not sure if it’s more because I’ve learned […]

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Toward Bethlehem, Part 7

December 25, 2011 / Kiersti Giron / scripture, seasons, story, Toward Bethlehem
3

How silently, how silentlyThe wondrous gift is givenSo God imparts to human heartsThe blessings of His heaven… Joseph And He is born. I lay Him on Mary’s chest, warm and wet and wailing, and cover them both with my robe, and kiss her sweaty hair. And we laugh through our tears, and I think I […]

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Toward Bethlehem, Part 6

December 24, 2011 / Kiersti Giron / scripture, seasons, story, Toward Bethlehem, trust
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