Monday, March 21, 2016

CONGRATULATIONS----YOU'RE THE PROUD PARENT OF A BABY BOOK---by Guest Eleanor Gustafson

My guest today is Ellie Gustafson, Ellie is doing a giveaway of her novel The Stones. Leave a comment below, share this blog post on social media somewhere, and spell out your email address in the comment. Then your name will be entered in the hat. I'll draw the name on the Sunday following this post date. 

And now my guest....Eleanor Gustafson

The birth of my first child was a God moment in many ways.

With my husband not yet out of Wheaton College, we weren’t planning to start our family until his last year of seminary. Roughly two months after our wedding, however, I was pregnant. What does that say about our family-planning skills?

I remember sitting on our bed, facing reality: you’re pregnant; now you have to have that baby—no way out.

I was due April 28; didn’t deliver until May 12—a Saturday and 15 days late.

Labor started Monday night. Called the doctor next morning. He said if I wasn’t hanging onto the doorposts, nothing was really happening. Saw him a couple of times during the week, and he was right.

Thursday night I sought diversion in a speech recital at the college—a Joan of Arc monologue. My thighs burned right along with Joan’s.

On Friday, a friend picked me up just to drive around. I’ve never forgotten her kindness.

Saturday morning, tiring of doorpost hanging, I went to see if the doctor could give me any hope of having that baby before the end of the century. He checked me out, then leaned over and kissed me on the mouth. “You’re going to have a baby!” I blessed him and trucked off to the hospital.


Still a lot of labor before Eric Jon was born at 6:30 PM, but I won’t go into those details. Suffice it to say that our eldest child has been worth every bit of that long, hard week. He, too, went to Wheaton, then on to a Masters and PhD and is now at the top of his field in research biology, giving seminars around the world. More importantly, he is a good husband and the father of our granddaughter, who currently teaches school and lives with us. 

Most important, though, he is a man of God, a worship leader in his
church, and a model of the goodness and grace of God. We aredeeply grateful for God’s creative introduction to parenthood.


This memory set off a connection in my mind between the birth of a child and the birth of a book. My novel, The Stones: A Novel of the Life of King David, was 15 or more years in gestation. 

Tried and tried but couldn’t find a publisher. 

Then one Sunday, Tim Tennent—a former interim at our church and now president of Asbury Theological Seminary—came as our guest speaker. He knew about my efforts and had even written an endorsement. When he learned I had not yet found a publisher, he whipped out a business card. His son had just taken a position at Whitaker House, and maybe if I contacted him… 

YES! Delivery was at hand, and at that moment, God leaned down and kissed me on the mouth. 

“You’re going to have a book!”


Another of Eleanor Gustason's books
ABOUT ELEANOR GUSTAFSON: A graduate of Wheaton College, IL, I have been involved in church life as a minister’s wife, teacher, musician, writer, and encourager. Additional experiences include gardening, house construction, and tree farming. A major writing goal is making scriptural principles understandable and relevant for today’s readers through the power of story.



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