Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! You may remember that I did an article like this last November. I enjoyed it so much, I decided to do it again this year! This year, I will name 10 different things I’m thankful for! Enjoy!

1. God’s protection during Hurricane Florence and Michael. These two threatened our home church and radio station, and yet we are still broadcasting! Everyone is safe and we had an amazing share-a-thon! In addition to operating costs, we were able to raise $25,000 for storm victims! God is good!

2. My new nephew. June 26th was very special for our family. It was the first time us still at home had been at the hospital while a new member of the family was coming into the world!

3. The King James Bible. God’s preserved Word for English speaking people has been such a blessing to me my whole life, but I’ve looked at it with a new appreciation this year. His Word shall stand!

4. More Radiance Blog. Oh, ladies, if you have not read this blog before, I recommend that you do! Rebekah Joy does an amazing job encouraging women of all ages (especially young ladies) in purity, waiting for the right one, modesty and Bible study. She is such a blessing. Can’t recommend her enough. www.moreradiance.com

5. My Local Library. Rediscovered the wonders of the library this year 😊 Love it!

6. My Piano Teacher. She is amazing, y’all! If you went to Gera’s wedding, she was the pianist!

7. Clean Water. We should never take this for granted. So many people go without it!

8. My Laptop. Without it, I couldn’t get post on my blog or publish my books!

9. The United States of America. Can we pause a moment to thank God that we live in the greatest nation on earth?

10. You! If it weren’t for each of my readers, I would have no reason to write!

Have a very happy Thanksgiving! Why not make a list of things you are thankful for this year? If you have a blog, share them with your readers. If not, share them with your family!

God Bless!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

Hello everyone! I’m here with another writing post in the “I have a Story” series! (If you are new, click here for links to the previous posts.) Today is a fun post! The Team Edit is a part I look forward to, because this is the beginning of the end! My book is actually turning into something people will one day read! Something that will be published! But, that being said, it’s still a lot of work. Here’s what it looks like…

Unlike my other methods, I don’t have a step by step process for this stage. Each book is different, so I have to adjust to meet the current need.

My mom is my editing teammate 😊 Some say that’s not a good idea, but my reply is that, “You’ve not met my mom!” She doesn’t play favorites and can be painfully (but kindly) honest when the situation calls for it. I can honestly say that my books would be a mess without her! (Today is her birthday, btw! Happy Birthday, Mom!

One thing that never changes is the nervous feeling I get giving mom my book for the very first time. It gives me chills! Sometimes we read it together, sometimes she reads through it once by herself, and still other times, she’ll go part way through then pull me in midway. The best times are when we sit together and read through the book together, discussing the problems and finding the solutions. She has the best story ideas. Those who have read The Land of Cotton, remember that scene between Jeremy and Drew in chapter 18? Yeah, that was mom’s idea! Know and love Burdy Boyles? Again, Mom’s idea 😊

Often times, working with mom is like doing another round of color coded edits. I take the corrections, go through and fix them, then we read through the book again…and again and again until we are ready to send it off to…my grammar editor!

Stay tuned!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today is the 3rd day of our week-long FBN Fall Share-a-thon, so I thought it would be appropriate to post today rather than Friday. I mentioned that I was planning to share about how we became involved with the Fundamental Broadcasting Network and today I’m keeping that promise! Enjoy!

Ever since I was born, my dad has been a preacher. I always seemed to know that. But we didn’t start in full-time ministry until I was five years old. 9/11 had just happened when the Lord called us to Maryland. My dad served as the pastor’s assistant there for four years, as well as serving as the administrator of the Christian school our church ran.

God used us there for four years. In 2005, my dad was voted in to pastor a church farther west in Maryland where we would serve for two years. One evening, we were each busy doing something outside…so busy in fact that we didn’t realize my little sister (3 at the time) was inside by herself. The phone rang and she answered it. Following a rather amusing conversation, she hung up, very proud of herself for having answered the phone. When she mentioned it later, we had no idea what she was talking about, since she had made up a funny name for the caller. At last, dad used the redial setting on the phone and contacted the caller. It turned out to be Pastor Dennis Leatherman of Mountain Lake Independent Baptist Church. He had called to invite us to a revival service. He laughed as dad explained what had happened with my little sister and said, “I told my wife, ‘I don’t know who that little girl was, but she sure loves me!’” We all had a good laugh and mom marked our calendar for the revival.

We made a true friend in Pastor Leatherman and his wife. They were such a blessing to us over the next two years as my dad battled health issues. It was also at their church that we learned about the Fundamental Broadcasting Network. They had a station on their property and told us about the mother station, located in North Carolina, four hours away from our hometown!

We fell in love with the King James programing and beautiful, conservative music. And when we heard our first share-a-thon, we knew that it would be our favorite time of year from then on!

It was also Pastor Leatherman that introduced us to the Sword of the Lord Conference. He hosts one every fall at his church, but he said the one in Walkertown, N.C. was even bigger and such an encouragement.

In 2007, we moved back to North Carolina and attended the Sword Conference. There, my sister Gera and I ran across the FBN booth and met Bro. Dwayne Ebron and his wife. He is the General Manager of FBN! We were so excited!

The following year, we attended the meeting again. While walking around the gym looking at all the booths, an older lady approached us and said, “Oh, look how your children have grown!” None of us knew who she was, but we talked with her for quite a while. She said, “I want you to meet my husband.” We rounded the corner and met Pastor Clyde I. Eborn, founder of FBN and pastor of Grace Baptist Church! One thing led to another and we decided to visit the church that fall. We loved it! We toured the station, met the voices behind the broadcasts and even got to take a trip to see the ocean, something none of us younger ones had ever done. Thank the Lord it gets cold at the coast, so we could enjoy the sights! 😉

We loved FBN even more having seen the place that had encouraged us so much over the years. We returned in 2009 to visit and on this trip, Pastor requested that we represent FBN as dad preached in other churches in our area. We agreed gladly.

In 2010, we were able to attend our very first Fall Share-a-thon. Oh! We knew we had to be at them every year after that! It was amazing! Answering phones, running papers back and forth, working the controls, the desk and dad getting to be on air…it was so much fun! Little did we know that by January of 2011, we would be living on campus, serving in Grace Baptist Church and FBN full time! Pastor talked with my dad at that Share-a-thon and by the end of Autumn, we were making plans to move.

In January, the same month I started writing my first book, The Land of Cotton, we moved in the “White House,” and started serving in our new church. We loved it! We worked in the radio (dad helped build a tower in Georgia!), the bus ministry, the nursery and anywhere else we could! We helped man FBN booths at fairs/events, traveled out of town to tell others about the network, helped with Share-a-thon, and knocked on doors inviting people to church. We were able to help with our church’s military ministry too (That would be an interesting story, lol! Working with Marines is never dull!)

Even though we were homesick for our hometown, we believed we would spend the rest of our life in Newport, North Carolina. But God had other plans. In 2013, Pastor called dad into his office and made an offer to him; since our hometown is smack-dab in the middle of the state, would we be willing to move back there and go out from our church as Missionary Representatives for FBN? We would retain our church membership, but now we could more easily travel out to tell others about the radio, hopefully raising support as we went.

In early 2014, we moved back home and put Pastor’s plan into action. And we have continued to represent FBN ever since! God has blessed and over the last few years our listenership has grown! We have the best of both worlds, serving through our church and living in our hometown near family. We still get to be involved with ministry at our church, including Share-a-thon and VBS!

This week, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. our Share-a-thon will be live on www.fbnradio.com. Please tune in and be a part of this amazing ministry, reaching people around the world!

Stay tuned!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

Hello there! Welcome back to Life of Heritage Corner! I’m so glad to have you here! Today is my parents’ anniversary so what better way to celebrate than with a homeschool post? (Thanks for homeschooling us, btw, Mom and Dad!)

As many of you probably know, I am a homeschool graduate. My mom and dad have graduated four of their seven children from homeschool, with the remaining three still hitting the books 😉 Homeschool is all any of us have ever known and to be honest, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything!

As a homeschooler (once a homeschooler, always a homeschooler, lol!) I am naturally curious to find out what other people think about homeschoolers. Consequently, I did some research. Today, I’d like to share five questions about Homeschoolers that you need to know the answer to (if you aren’t homeschooled) or that you can relate to (if you are a homeschooler). Let’s dive in!

1. If you are homeschooled, how do you socialize? I always want to laugh when people ask us this 😊 We socialize the same way everyone else does: By talking to people 😉 Seriously though, I know the method varies family by family. For us, we socialize by a.) spending time with each other (there are currently five of us kids at home, plus Mom and Dad, phone calls from our married sisters and trips down the road to visit our grandparents) b.) our family is in the ministry, so there are plenty of people to talk to at the different churches we visit, and c.) writing letters to friends we don’t get to see as often. As I’ve gotten older, I have transferred to email for some of my correspondence (one of my friends is a MK {Missionary Kid| to Japan, so…) but I love snail mail! Nothing brightens up my day faster than a letter in the mailbox!

2. Do you get to do your school in your pajamas? Hahaha…no. 😊 Maybe somewhere out there, there are homeschoolers who do this. Personally, I don’t know any 😊 At our house we have our “First Five” and part of that is getting dressed and fixing your hair BEFORE you start your school. We never know what a day holds. We may have to go somewhere or have unexpected company. I can probably count on two hands the number of times I did school in my pajamas. Sometimes I got up early and did my school before the others got up. In this case, I may not have bothered to change, not wanting to wake up anyone. The other times would have been when I was sick and did school in bed. That’s literally the only times I remember not getting dressed before school started for the day, so…yeah, that idea is highly over-rated, haha!

3. How do you learn anything at home? This one threw me for a loop! I honestly had to think fast to answer, because I hadn’t heard this one before. But thankfully, the answer was easy. For me, it was easy to concentrate on my work in a home setting, because we had few distractions. I’m sure each home is different😝, but for me, I don’t believe any other learning mode would have worked 😅 I am easily distracted! 😂

4. Is Homeschooling Legal? This question is what actually introduced my family to homeschooling…my mom was the one asking 😊 The answer is, Yes! In the United States, it is totally legal to homeschool your children! Every state has different requirements, however. In North Carolina, you are required to have a high school diploma/GED in order to qualify to teach. In fact, if you possess these credentials, you can homeschool your kids and one other family! You do have a certain amount of days you must account for as school days, but when you do them and at what time of day is totally up to you. Also, once you are 7-years-old, you are required to take achievement testing once a year. We use the California Achievement Test. Once you get to High School, you need to keep a transcript of your classes/credits, just like any other school. Like I said, this is North Carolina, so the rules are different depending on your state. (*Disclaimer: If you are from N.C. and plan to homeschool, please do research on it before you start. This is not an exhaustive list of requirements. *)

5. Do you like Homeschooling? Definitely! I absolutely loved being homeschooled and now enjoy helping in our family’s homeschool as a history teacher and substitute (e.g. Mom has to take a call or step out for a bit). I cannot vouch for all homeschoolers, but I love my personal experience and would never trade it! I get tickled when I get this question, because it’s almost like people are trying to find out my true feelings. Do I really like this, or did my parents force me to do it? I assure you, there has never been forcing about us homeschooling. 😉 To be honest, our parents probably would have had to force us to go to any other alternate form of schooling! We love the quality of our education, the freedom of our schedule and the love that goes into leaning at our home! 😍

Homeschooling isn’t for everybody, but for us, it fits like a glove! I thank God that we live in a Country that allows us to take our education into our own hands! It’s not something to take for granted…many countries do not offer this freedom. Education is a precious gift that is no joking matter. Take a moment, no matter what kind of educational path your family chose and thank your parents for caring about your education. Thank your teachers for investing a huge part of their life in yours. And thank God that you have the opportunity to learn.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2 Timothy 2:15-16
(King James Bible)

Have a blessed day and never stop leaning!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22
*Emoji art supplied by Emoji One

Hello everyone and happy last day of August! Back in May of 2017, I posted an article about the main family in The Battle For Heritage Series, the Mason family. I told y’all some random facts about the family and how the family had changed from my original plans. If you would like to read that post, click here 😉

Today, I’d like to share a few more facts about this family, or more specifically, about Dixie and how she got her name. It’s an interesting twist of events.

Writers Tip: When writing a story set in a historical time period or a different country…do your research before getting to attached to the names you’ve chosen for them. It will save you heart break later on, trust me. 😉

When I had my cousin, Travis Stevens, proof The Land of Cotton for historical accuracy, he told me the only thing that he found that wasn’t right was Dixie’s name. Dixie obviously wasn’t a name back then, at least not for a girl her age. (She was born in the 40’s; The song Dixie’s Land was written in the 50’s).😐

He told me not to change her name though. It had the appeal of the South to it and is easy for people to connect with. It sets the tone for the book: sweet, Southern, country and genteel. That classic Southern flavor. She’s easy to like, I hope.

But there is a bit of a story behind her name.

I love the name Dixie. I would love to name one of my daughters Dixie someday. So naturally, I had to name my main girl character Dixie. But I also wanted to have something with a Southern Belle edge. So, Dixianna. But to get around the time-period issue, I formed a bit of Mason Family backstory to explain her name, though this didn’t make the final cut of the story. ☺

After studying some etymology, I found out that the name Dixie used to be a boy’s nickname for Richard. Don’t ask me why! But anyway, I decided to have Dixie named after her two Grandmothers, Dixianna Mason and Susan Rains. The elder Dixianna, who went by Anna, was named for her grandparents, Richard and Anna MacIntyre. Problem solved, right? Well, at least it sounds good! 

I considered changing Dixie’s name when I found it wasn’t accurate. But, like I said, Travis thought it would actually be a good thing to leave in. And I think her name will endear her and her whole family to the reader, even if they don’t realize it.
Oh, and the modern meaning of the name Dixie? A Lady of the South. Fitting, huh?

Something to think about: Do names in books or of people you know have a special meaning to you? Take a look at a baby book and find out what the name actually means. Does it align with your thoughts on the name or are they totally opposite?

Have a lovely day, and I'll see you tomorrow!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22
*Emoji art supplied by Emoji One