Happy Tuesday, Reader Friends!
I hope you’re week is continuing to bless you. Here today is Jodie Wolfe, this Tuesday’s host for Takeover Tuesday. Please show her some love in the comments as she gives you some behind the scenes fact of To Claim Her Heart.
Behind the Scenes: To Claim Her Heart
I’ve been thinking a lot about heritage lately. It’s part of the reason how my book, To Claim Her Heart came about. Twenty years ago, my mother-in-law was excited to share her family history with me. She was proud of the fact that several of her relatives had staked claims during the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893. Perhaps, like me at the time, I’d never heard of this historical event.
Since then I learned that this race for land was the largest and last of the great runs for land in our country. About 42,000 parcels of property were available and over 115,000 people showed up at the nine different starting lines spread along the Kansas and Oklahoma Territory borders.
That summer I visited my in-laws 20 years ago, I got to see the permanent structure my husband’s relatives had built in 1894 on the land they’d claimed. By then the house was crumbling and in a state of disrepair, but I could already picture characters living there.
I’m so thankful that my dear mother-in-law shared her stories with me, especially since we no longer have her with us. Those memories and the importance of a personal faith in God are ones that I’ve shared with my sons and also hope to impart in my grandchildren as well.
Food for Thought:
Many places in Scripture talk about the importance of our heritage and passing ‘our stories’ on for the next generation. How are you doing with passing along your faith to your children and loved ones? What do you need to change to make a point of doing this?
About the Book
The Blurb: “In 1893, on the eve of the great race for land, Benjamin David prays for God to guide him to his ‘Promised Land. Finding property and preaching to the lost are his only ways of honoring his deceased fiancée. He hasn’t counted on Elmer (Elsie) Smith claiming the same plot and refusing to leave. Not only is she a burr in his side, but she is full of the homesteading know-how he is sadly lacking.
Obtaining a claim in the Cherokee Strip Land Run is Elsie Smith’s only hope for survival, and not just any plot, she has a specific one in mind. The land’s not only a way to honor her pa and his life, but also to provide a livelihood for herself. She’s willing to put in whatever it takes to get that piece of property, and Elsie’s determined to keep it.
Her bitterness is what protects her, and she has no intentions of allowing that preacher to lay claim to her land . . . or her heart.”
About the Author
Jodie Wolfe creates novels where hope and quirky meet. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA) and has been a semi-finalist and finalist in various writing contests. A former columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine, her articles can be found online at: Crosswalk, Christian Devotions, and Heirloom Audio. She’s a contributor for Putting on the New and Stitches Thru Time blogs. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, walking, and being a Grammie. Learn more at www.jodiewolfe.com.
Toni Shiloh 
Thanks for allowing me to ‘takeover’ today. 🙂
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