Shannon here: Caryl McAdoo shares how she and her husband met, how her characters met, plus a chance to win her Historical Romance novel, Vow Unbroken. Comment or answer the question at the end of any post dated August 25 – 29 to enter the drawing. Deadline: Sept 9th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Caryl:
Divine Appointments: Soulmates Meet
In the summer on 1966, we both worked for the Irving Parks & Recreation Department; me as a recreation leader inside Lee Parks Rec Center and Ron had come to mow the grass. He came inside to have lunch and escape the Texas heat, then decided to shoot some hoops. He came to my window, I checked him out a basketball. When he checked it back in, he asked me for a date.
The story takes a funny twist here because we both stood each other up. My beloved had an uncle die in South Texas and his parents whisked him away straight from school. My excuse . . . eh . . . wasn’t quite as understandable.
I’d had a date every night so far of the summer and didn’t want to end my record—and I would have if I hadn’t made a date with two other guys for that same night. I told Mama I’d go with the first one who got there, and she could cover for me with the other two. I know, I know . . . but I was only sixteen.
He called and apologized as soon as he returned, I graciously forgave him, and we made plans for that
weekend. Our first date was on June 24, 1966, the summer before our junior year in high school, and I had a date every night the rest of the summer—with my beloved Ron.
I found out years later, he’d told his mother the second night that he’d met the girl he was going to marry. And so the next summer we got engaged and the next summer, we graduated in May and married in June after being almost constant companions and best friends for two years.
Our firstborn—a son we decided to name Matthew Ebeling (Ron’s middle name) after dating only about six weeks—came the next June and his baby brother Gregory came September the next year. We’ve been best friends fifty-one years now and husband and wife, forty-nine.
Our ‘tagline’ is “I love you more today than yesterday, but less than tomorrow” and I wear a necklace that has a pendant in Hebrew that says, “I am my beloved’s, and he is mine.” Ron and I are indeed soulmates.
So were Broderick ‘Buddy’ Eversole Nightingale and Sandra Louise Harris, and they both knew it from the start. Love at first sight, accompanied by the sparkling gold mist that God used before to confirm for Buddy that it was Him. This is the cover scene.
He had a full gospel background due to his grandfather Charley—many will know him from book two HEARTS STOLEN when he’s introduced at age four and book six, JUST KIN wherein he’s turned 21 and is off to the Civil War—and father Nathaniel introduced in book eight COVERING LOVE—getting saved at the Azusa Street Revival.
His beloved Sandy grew up in a staunch Church of Christ family . . . the Harrises didn’t truck with holy rollers, so there are definitely many odds to overcome! Not to mention more than a few poor choices on both their parts. Here’s the scene where they meet:
Just as he started another hymn, the tent’s back flap ruffled and popped.
Swirling dust in front of a stiff breeze whipped through the canvas. Like falling snow, little sparklets
Free Book
f white light filled the opening. Awe and expectation filled Buddy’s soul. He stopped singing.
With each successive note, more and more of the congregation dropped out leaving only silence and the stars.
As the twinkling faded, she walked in, even more beautiful than the first night. By the time heads started turning, Buddy found his voice again.
“I’m sorry, but I thought I just saw an angel.” He stepped off the platform. “Miss, what is your name?”
The heavenly being blushed. “Sandra. Sandra Louise Harris.”
An auburn-haired girl almost as beautiful stepped up beside his angel. “And I’m her sister, Emma Lee.”
About Caryl: Caryl McAdoo loves God and writes four series praying each story gives God glory—all
with a strong Christian faith. She loves praising with new songs the Lord gives her and counts four children and seventeen grandsugars life’s best blessings. She and high school sweetheart-husband Ron love living in the woods of Red River County five miles south of Clarksville, the county seat, in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State. Learn more and connect:
Caryl’s Amazon Author Page Caryl’s Bookbub Page Caryl’s Simon & Schuster Page
Caryl’s Book Gorilla Page Caryl’s Southern Writers Magazine Page
Caryl’s Website Caryl’s Newsletter Caryl’s YouTube Caryl’s Facebook
Heart Wings Blog Stitches Thru Time Blog Sweet Americana Sweethearts Blog
Caryl’s Good Reads Caryl’s Google Plus Caryl’s Linked In
Caryl’s Twitter Caryl’s Pinterest Caryl’s Puzzle
About the book – Chief of Sinners:
Obedience can overcome ruinous choices, and with repentance of wicked ways, God’s faithful forgiveness and mercies never fail.
Set in the afterglow of the Azusa Street Revival, this epic addition to the Texas Romance family saga
Giveaway
sweeps through three decades of triumphs and tragedies—from the Texas Hill Country to the beaches of Normandy and beyond.
The faithful flock to his father’s tent where Buddy Nightingale leads praise and worship, but like King
David, the young psalmist battles a generational curse, lust. On his first night back in Marble Falls, Texas—the place he heard the angels sang fifteen years prior—he beholds Sandra Harris, an eighteen-year-old beauty, attending strictly for the entertainment of the Spirit filled meetings. Love strikes both, but her Church of Christ father wants no part of any holy roller.
Sometimes choices we make take us places we never intend to go, but God . . .
Question for Readers: Have you ever met someone you knew would be pivotal in your life from the moment you saw them?
On top of the giveaway drawing, Caryl is generously offering a free e-book: Hearts Stolen
Come back August 29th for Caryl’s Story Behind the Story!
Yes a close friend now but when I meet her ,I thought she was a hoodlum!
Now that’s always fun, Sheila! Pivotal…I like that Word 🙂 God brings many folks into my life like that, some not face-to-face, but online ladies I love! <3
Yes, and it didn’t turn out well at all. When I first met him, I was married and pregnant. He was married to my bosses sister. 16 or 17 yrs. later, we met again and wound up married. Worse mistake of my life. Needless to say, he’s no long a part of my life. He made life miserable for 15 yrs. When God delivered me from that situation, I was ecstatic. People, let me tell you, the devil lies. And he does it most convincingly.
He is the father of lies to be certain. Thanks for clicking over, Pam! Hugs and Blessings!
I felt the same way that Ron did when he met you. I knew that he was the one I was going to marry and we’ve been married for 41 years.
Janet E.
von1janet(at)gmail(dot)com
That is so cool, Janet. Of course, it thrilled me when his mama told me. I’ve always thought ‘how did I catch such a handsome hunk?’ I remember Ron telling me that I was the first girl who didn’t embarrass him! I guess he loved me for my brain 🙂 Sure am glad I studied hard 🙂 Hugs and blessings!
Yes, I was two years younger so I had watched a star basketball player at our high school play ball for two years before he graduated. In December ofy senior year, I was with girl friends at a game and he and some friends sat nearby. All of a sudden, he noticed me and a few nights later we had our first date. The next December we married and this December, Lord willing, we will celebrate our 49th Anniversary. I had been serious with one other person but God knew that the perfect mate was waiting for me. I have been blessed!
Aww, so you were married in 1968, too! I can testify that longevity doesn’t mean you haven’t been to hell and back together a few times–life has not always been peaches and cream. But the key is #1 having God as the third partner in marriage and #2 committment to make it through whatever comes. That’s when the years pile up and you all of a sudden, you’re about to celebrate 50 years of marriage! BLESS the LORD! and bless you, too, Connie! 🙂
I can’t say from the moment I saw them but within a very short time, a woman who turned out to be the best friend I have ever had. She was my best friend from 1978 and continues to be today even though she lost her battle with Lupus 3 years ago. She faced that battle with the attitude of “God gave me this disease now I have to figure out how to use it for his good” and that she did, NEVER once ‘blaming’ God, just accepting it and moving on with her life serving God.
wfnren at aol dot com
I’m sorry she went to live with Jesus. I know you must miss her so much. My BFF for 40+years is having some tought times and we can’t blow and go like we used to 🙂 Thanks for your comment Wndy!
I’m sorry she went to live with Jesus. I know you must miss her so much. My BFF for 40+years is having some tought times and we can’t blow and go like we used to 🙂 Thanks for your comment Wndy!
I’m sorry she went to live with Jesus. I know you must miss her so much. My BFF for 40+years is having some tough times and we can’t blow and go like we used to 🙂 Thanks for your comment, Wendy!
These books look great!
Elly -Indiana-
jcservantslaveATicloudDOTcom
Thank you, Elly! It so rewarding to hear such! Bless you!