Check it out at the VOX STAGE @ Heaven Fest! July 30 at The Ranch in Loveland!   www.heavenfest.com

Best-selling author, Robert Liparulo (YA series The Dreamhouse Kings and thrillers such as Germ and Comes a Horseman) and  newcomer/author and my husband, btw, Dave Rhoades (Altar and soon-to-be-released Road Rage) will appear 3 times at Heaven Fest 2011.  They’ll talk about writing, sign autographs and sell books.  Check out the line-up schedule for times and plan to stop by and meet them!!  I am very proud! 

HF LINE-UP: click!

But,

Thank-YOU

for voting and cheering him on

and getting the word out

about it.

The funny thing is that a lot of the “hits” he got on the message boards were criticisms of things the publisher had made him do to make the book more “sellable” when in fact, his original work was probably more powerful, at least according to the dozen or so of us who’d read it.  He’ll probably change some things back now and look for another route.

Spoiler alert.

I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it is an action-packed story with loveable characters, engaging dialogue and some major demon-butt-kicking that culminates in a very tender and personal-to-Dave theme of familial affection.  Someday, soon, we hope, you will get to read it: Dave’s first novel, Altar (formerly known as Between the Altar and the Darkness, which the publisher also suggested he change).

*Dave’s and another book tied for the next place, just about 10 votes shy of making the top 3…

Dave’s book, Altar, as you’ll recall, made it through to the 2nd round of voting.  There are 18 semi-finalists and voting will be this weekend ~  

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 28, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 29, & MONDAY NOVEMBER 30!

Three things~

1. Pre-register to vote if you didn’t vote last time.
2. Download the entries and prepare to vote (but OF COURSE vote for Dave!)
3. Vote this weekend!

You can follow all of these steps and directions at www.daverhoades.com (on the home page)

I will post on Saturday, too, as a reminder if it is as weird this time as last time.  Please VOTE!

The Big ALTAR Argument

If you enjoy a good debate (or even a stupid one), there is quite the little Altar tizz going on at the Anamoly message boards.  If you are of a mind to, get on and create some buzz FOR Altar!  And?  Invite your friends and family to vote, too!  (FIRST-sign in your account, THEN- follow this link: http://wherethemapends.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mlpselect )

The winner of this contest will be published in the spring by Marcher Lord Press.

 http://www.daverhoades.com/pdffiles/step_by_step_altar_voting.pdf

Dave is one of 40 authors whose fiction book submission was accepted for a publishing promotional blitz by Marcher Lord Press (“The Premier Publisher of Christian Speculative Fiction”).  By vote of fans and the general public, one of the 40 manuscripts will be selected and published in the spring.

Your vote could be the one!  It is a 3-month process that involves just a few, simple steps (and a very small amount of your time reading each month).  Each “registered voter” can only vote once each round, but there will voting in November, December, and finally January.  Don’t quote me on these details, but I think the November voting will decide the top 10 entries, the December voting will decide the top 5 and then the January voting will determine the actual winning manuscript.

My humble request:

Become a registered voter and help Dave win!  The publishing company will not be spamming you or selling your information.  We won’t personally know if and when you registered and voted.  It is private.  But we’d be ever-so-grateful if you’d do this!

HELP!  Here is how:

PRE-REGISTER to become a certified book-choosing voter!

• Click here: http://wherethemapends.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mlpselect  The page topper is titled: The Anomaly
• Click on: Create a New Account
• Make up a Username and Password
• Put in email address and minimal personal info (you won’t be spammed)
• Agree to the terms of the contest.

They will email you to make sure you are legitimate and not just our family voting for Dave a gazillion times.   ALTAR is entry # 27.  This month you’ll get to read a blurb and a synopsis of the story, which is really good, by the way.

First-round VOTING IS NOVEMBER 13, 14, 15!

Once you’re registered, you can go back in and vote on any one of these three days in November.  And I believe Marcher Lord Press will notify you in December and January of voting dates.  At any rate, I am certain I will mention it again.  Because I KNOW you are going to help me help Dave win!  Tell your friends and family and everybody you know to VOTE!  I don’t even read fiction and I am going to VOTE!  It really is a cool story.  I promise.  (NOTE:  You must vote for 3 submissions or your vote will be disqualified…be random if you don’t want to read them all…is it cheating to say that??)

Help Dave make it to the next round!  Come on!

Half a century ago, you were born with nothing and no one to call your own, my honey.  Who could’ve known what was in your future?  Happy Birthday, David Allen Rhoades!

We are all yours, truly…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: I am the luckiest woman.  I am blessed.

Dave’s previous birthday posts for this landmark celebration (I appreciate your kind indulgence, dear readers):

• 50 things I wanted to make sure Dave knew for his birthday
• 50 reasons Dave was born
• 50 reasons I love Dave
• Twilight – Dave as E.C.
• Dave is turning 50!
• 50 words that describe Dave
• 50 songs about us

Dave at 2 or 3 months and again at one year.

Dave at 10 or 11 and again at 9th or 10th grade.

(26) I treasure the songs you have sung to me.  (27) Your hands-I love the touch of your hands.  (28) You’re as cool as the other side of the pillow.  (29) You’re as warm as the sunshine at the beach.  (30) You’re as strong as the waves of the ocean.  (31) You’re as beautiful as the sunrise on my garden.  (32) You light up my life.  (33) You’re the inspiration.  (34) I will always love you.  (35) I won’t last a day without you.  (36) I’m keeping you forever and for always… We will be together all of our days…Wanna wake every morning to your sweet face…Always.  (37) I need you to know that I know you are a good man.  (38) I know you are an honest man.  (39) I know how deeply you care about people.  (40) I know all you have sacrificed over the years to provide for our family.  (41) I have seen the sacrifices for other people, too.  (42) I can vouch for your total integrity in every area of your life.  (43) I know you have always, when you could, chosen peace.  (44) You have brought peace into my life.  (45) I haven’t always made that easy.  (46) But you kept doing it anyway.  (47) I am so honored to be married to you.  (48) I am so honored that you wanted me to be the mother of your children.  (49) You are the best friend I have ever had.  (50) In spite of the hard knocks, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world…  (51) And I want you to know how valuable you are to me, my love, my birthday boy.  You are.  And if I had it all to do again?  I would.  I do.

I have to quit because you are only turning 50 – and I could keep going!  Love you, babe…Jeanie

David Allen Rhoades will turn 50 on Monday.  Wish him well here if you want.  Or at dave@daverhoades.com

pictured:  Dave with his 5 grandkids (one for each decade!) at his family birthday party a few days ago; Gavin and Hunter, Gemma, Guini and Averi

We thought every song was about us and our love for the first, oh, 26 or 27 years (we’ll celebrate 28 years of marriage this summer)…Below are a few of the early ones that ignite some memories.

1. Endless Love  Diana Ross and Lionel Ritchie 1981.  This was a huge hit the summer of our getting together and my sister, Tami, wanted us to sing it to each other at our wedding.  We didn’t, but there is some early-marriage video of us lip-syncing to it very late one night.
2. Eddie Rabbit Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places (meaning before we got together )
3. “Some people are made for each other.  Some people can love one another for life, how ’bout us?”  How ‘Bout Us? by Champagne 1981
4. Cliff and Olivia   Suddenly…the wheels are in motion, and I am ready to sail any ocean…
5. Reminds me of youth group trips: Careless Whisper by George Michael 1984
6. Up Where We Belong 1984 “The road is long, and there are mountains in our way…”  Jennifer Warren and Joe Cocker from the great movie, An Officer and a Gentleman.  Dave and I actually sang a “Christian” rendition of it which was quite well-liked.  Hokey, yes, but Bebe and Cece did it first.
7. 1984 Tina Turner What’s Love Got to Do with it?  Got to do with it?!
8. Whitney Houston 1985 “No other man’s gonna do ~ so I’m saving all my love for you…” Saving All My Love whew!
9. 1984  I Just Called to Say I love You, Stevie Wonder, naturally
10. We lived near the fairgrounds and our first night at home as newly marrieds, we listened to Air Supply singing at the fair, but through our windows  So Lost in Love  1981
11. Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley
12. Dave and I have sang this song at many many weddings, Always by Atlantic Starr “Boy, I love you so, can’t find enough ways to let you know.  But you can be sure I’m yours for always…We both know that our love will grow…”
13. Patti Labelle and James Ingram “Baby, come to me.  Let me put my arms around you this was meant to be…”  Baby, Come to Me
14. Little Jeanie  Elton
15. “Once in your life you find her..”  Arthur’s Theme: The Best that You can Do, Christopher Cross
16. I Love a Rainy Night  Another Eddie Rabbit from 1981
17. “My friends wonder why I call you all the time, what can I say?…Because your kiss is on my list of the best things in life…”  Kiss on My List  Darryl Hall and John Oates 
18. My baby takes the Morning Train, 9-5  Sheena Easton
19. Olivia Newton-John 1981 Physical  I wanna get physical, physical…let me hear your body talk…
20. Rapture 1981 by Blondie, the first “rap” song I had ever heard.  And she was blond and white.
21. “Please remember my life is in your hands”  Woman by John Lennon
22. The Boy from New York City
23. 1981 Slow Hand  The Pointer Sisters
24. Ronnie Milsap  Smoky Mountain Rain “keeps on fallin’…”
25. IOU Lee Greenwood, the song of our first anniversary in 1982.  We danced to it.
26. Survivor Eye of the Tiger  We actually used to work out to this song.
27. Another Ronnie Milsap: I Wouldn’t Have Missed It
28. Michael Jackson just hitting his stride Billie Jean 1983  Didyou see the Motown 25th Anniversary Special?  It was historic!
29. Islands in the Stream Dolly & Kenny  channeling the sounds of the Bee Gees
30. Sweet Dreams are Made of This  Eurythmics
31. Making Love ot of Nothing at All Air Supply
32. The Girl is Mine “the doggone girl is mine…” Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
33. Laying out in the backyard getting a good tan just after Tre was born in 1983 listening to Taco Puttin on the Ritz
34. “Just you and I sharing our love together.  And I know in time we’ll build the dreams we treasure.  We’ll be alright…”  Just You and I  Crystal Gayle and Eddie Rabbit
35. Take a Look at Me Now (Against All Odds)   Phil Collins 1984
36. Kenny Loggins Footloose
37. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go  Wham
38. “I’m addicted to you, baby.  You’re a hard habit to break.”  Hard Habit to Break
39. Everytime You Go Away “you take a piece of my with you…”
40. You’re the Inspiration you still are, honey!
41. Amy Grant and Peter Cetera (he had just left Chicago and she was stepping out ino secular music The Next Time I Fall in Love  I’ll know better what to do…
42. Sorry, but yes, Barry Manilow   Wouldn’t it be nice being Lonely Together (we listened to this on our first date!  haha!)
43. It’s Sad to Belong to Some One Else when the right one comes along
44. Dave sang to me at our wedding, a Carpenter’s hit I Won’t Last a Day without You
45. That’s the Way, a contemporary Christian wedding song was another one he sang to me in our ceremony
46. So romantic Wonderful Tonight.
47. But old songs are ours, too God Only Knows The Beach Boys
48. I’ll be Seeing You, we love the old love songs of the WWII era
49. Once on a walk in Dallas (around our 2nd anniversary, I sang the entire Gladys Knight rendition of Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me to Dave, because he is.
50. I had to delete a bunch of “our songs”.  Too many.  But last night on American Idol, I heard yet another song about Dave and me by Brad Paisley, Then.  It is a song of memory,  looking back to the first kiss and having babies days.  It recalls all the love of those days, but then goes on:

Now you’re my whole life
Now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than its ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

I can just see you
When you’re hair is turning gray
What I can’t see
is how I’m gonna love you more
But I’ve said that before

Now you’re my whole life
Now you’re my whole world
We’ll look back someday at this moment that we’re in
And I’ll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then…

Keep singing to me, babe and I’ll keep singing to you!…Jeanie

Happy 50th Birthday, Dave!

1. To meet me.
2. To love me.
3. To marry me – be my husband.
4. To change my life forever.
5. To have lots of babies with me.
6. Tara…and Dave (DP)
7. Stephanie…and Tristan
8. Tredessa…and ?
9. Rocky…and Jovan
10. Stormie…and ?
11. For all the grandkids we’d share…The amazing grandkids:
12. Gavin – anything Grandpa does, Gavin wants to do!
13. Hunter – can keep Poppa talking about anything and everything all. day. long!
14. Guini – “again!  again!”  If one twirl in the air good, 2 will be fantastic!
15. Gemma - pointing out to us everything in life that is funny.
16. Averi – Poppa’s dimples and cheeks!
17. And all the grandchildren to come and great-grandchildren and the husbands we will add through Tredessa and Stormie…we are increasing!
18. He was born because God is good.
19. Because of a summer teen fling in the Heartland.
20. Because the birth mother (who was really just a girl) chose life.
21. Because the Rhoades family still had family love to share.
22. Because Garry & Dale needed a little brother.
23. Because Sandra and Sharon did, too.
24. Because Debbie would need a big brother when the time came.
25. Because Dad Rhoades had stories to tell and Dave had the heart to listen.
26. Because worship teams would need a drummer.
27. Because churches would need a pastor.
28. Because people would need to be led beside quiet waters.
29. To bring peace to any situation.
30. To teach peace and live peace.
31. To teach me the strength and power of gentleness, the value of just being nice.
32. To bless people.  When he prays God’s blessings-he knows what that means.
33. There are stories to be told.
34. Stephen King won’t live forever.
35. The grandkids need their crazy-cool-swingset-playset-climbing apparatus.
36. There are daughters to walk down the aisle.
37. The world needs more twinkling Christmas lights and Christmas spirit.
38. To leave a legacy of godly fathering.
39. To leave a legacy of the faithfulness of God.
40. To equip our children for all that lies ahead.
41. To be an example as a godly man.
42. To make a place for worship and for the One we worship.
43. To worship the One.
44. To own everything you could possibly need for absolutely anything and be able to keep it all in one 3-car garage.
45. There are still passionate kisses to be kissed, hands to hold, love to be made.
46. For indulging my ideas and new projects, all the while tempering me.
47. To make toys and play GI Joe with the kids and put up the pool  every summer.
48. To dig the deep holes for my garden.
49. Because no one else can pack like he does.  A suitcase, the trunk, whatever…
50. As proof that God is good.

Dave turns 50 on the 23rd.  You can leave him a birthday comment here or send one to: dave@daverhoades.com

pictured:  Dave and I at a backyard soiree last fall (yes, I cut Bryan out of the picture!).  I love Dave in his Latino-lover Western-Mexican snap shirt (from Stormie), though he is always timid wearing it, fearing people will really think he is trying to be a Latino-lover, which…he is. Really one.  Not ‘trying’.  *smile…

Dave’s 50th birthday is March 23.  You can tell him HAPPY BIRTHDAY here at the blog or here: dave@daverhoades.com

Pictured:   from the family party we had early (we’re out of town right now, when we get home, a bunch of the fam will be out of town – so we had it 8 days ahead of schedule!).  Stormie and Elise provided pies at the birthday boy’s request.  Steph headed up decor: quotes about writing and books and from his favorite authors (Tara included actual quotes from Dave like, “Who is burning something?” which was usually Tara burning candles in her room.  And “Jiggle the handle.”); candles and books, tree branches on which to hang photos of family and the kids with their dad.  The kids gave him things like: 50 cans of Diet Pepsi, $50 to Auto Zone, 50 Little Debbies, etc.  Tara got a Mexican meal together.  The boys arranged a laser tag event.  We ate.  We sang.  We enjoyed pie.  We did presents.  We played Movie Charades because Dave loves movies!  Then we had a fire on the patio and roasted marshmallows.  We got to do all of this because David Allen Rhoades was born.