Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #11

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 298 Comments

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #11

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

  • The hunt BEGINS on 3/14 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
  • Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
  • There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 3/17 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
  • Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

Hi! I’m Ann H. Gabhart and I started dreaming of being a writer way back when I was about ten. Since then I’ve written a few zillion words and some of them came together to make stories that got wrapped up in beautiful covers and sent out to readers. My stories all have Kentucky settings with history mixed with romance and sometimes mystery. You can learn more about me and my books on my website and on Facebook, X(Twitter), and Instagram. One place I love to go for stories is the Kentucky Appalachian Mountains. My May 2024 release, The Song of Sourwood Mountain, is a historical romance set in a remote mountain community called Sourwood. Here’s a little about it:

Though the century began with such promise, a few years later Mira Dean’s hopes of being a wife and mother are dashed to pieces. Her fiancé dead from tuberculosis, Mira resigns herself to being a spinster schoolteacher—until Gordon Covington shows up. No longer the boy she knew from school, Gordon is now a preacher who is full of surprises. First, he asks Mira to come to Sourwood in Eastern Kentucky to teach at his mission school. Second, he asks her to marry him. Just like that. With much trepidation, Mira steps out in faith into a life she never imagined, in a place filled with its own special challenges, to serve a people who just might end up becoming the family she always yearned for.

One of Mira’s prized possessions is a ceramic bluebird her mother gave her before she died. Since I love birds, I had fun making bluebirds part of my story and now sharing about bluebirds with you.

Photo by Joseph J Cotten, Unsplash

The Bluebird of Happiness

“Happiness has always seemed like a bluebird, and consists of moments.” ~ Lin Yutang

Birds are such a special gift to us all. They delight our eyes with their beauty and our ears with their songs. Some float high on the wind drafts with huge wingspans. Other tiny ones flap their wings madly to keep in flight. Birds come in an amazing array of colors and sizes, all special in their own way,

My mother loved to feed the birds, and I followed in her footsteps. I have birdfeeders and a birdbath right outside my office window. When I’m writing, I can look up from my computer screen and watch the cardinals, doves, titmice, sparrows, woodpeckers, chickadees and more that fly in for some seeds, Bluebirds eat insects and berries, not seeds at a birdfeeder, but now and again, the pretty birds flash their blue wings and orange red breasts across my yard or stop for a drink from the birdbath as these did a few years ago.

Bluebirds are called bluebirds of happiness for a reason. Catching sight of those sky-blue feathers can make you think about hope, love, and joy. I know it does for me. Mira, my character in The Song of Sourwood Mountain, feels the same. She has a ceramic bluebird handed down with love from her mother. In my story, Mira gets comfort from holding the glass bluebird while she remembers her mother’s love and somehow that kindles hope in her heart even in her low moments. But she is also eager to see bluebirds in flight and hear them sing when she goes to the Appalachian Mountains to teach in a mission school.

When my mother died, I kept the bird figurines she accumulated over the years. Seeing Mom’s birds, including her glass bluebirds, brings me happy memories of her. Sometimes we need to hold a little happiness in our hands or feel the joy when we see beauty in nature. Do you have a favorite bird?

Here’s the Stop #11 Basics:

If you’re interested, you can pre-order The Song of Sourwood Mountain at Baker Book House, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD or at your local bookstore! 

Clue to Write Down: this is a

Link to Stop #12, the Next Stop on the Loop: MaryLu Tyndall’s site!

But wait! Before you go, I’m offering two winners  a set of my Appalachiam books, These Healing Hills, An Appalachian Summer and Along a Storied Trail.  To enter the giveaway  leave a comment here saying you signed up for my newsletter (blue box on the top right of my post) or note that you are already a subscriber.  Giveaway starts 3/14/2024 at 2 p.m. Eastern time and ends 2 a.m. EST 3/18/2024. Winners will be chosen by random and notified by email. (USA & Canada only)

Have a great time on the Scavenger Hunt!!

Comments 298

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  8. Some people like to clean their house from top to bottom every spring while this is a clues, register n for All giveaways

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  11. I am already a subscriber. A number of years ago, I came home from my first hospital visit bedbound. I was put in our family room where I had a good few of our backyard. While gazing out the windows one day, I saw a rukus going on in the far corner of our yard. The bush there was full of male cardinals (I could tell they were male from their bright red feathers). They were swooping in and out of the bush, and there were at least a dozen or more. It was early springtime, so their bright red colors were easy to see. I had never seen so many cardinals together at one time. It only lasted a little bit, and then they were gone. I have never seen anything like it since. It was an amazing sight.

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    1. I am already a subscriber, and very happy to be part of the giveaway. A number of years ago, I came home from my first hospital visit bedbound. I was put in our family room where I had a good view of our backyard. While gazing out the windows one day, I saw a ruckus going on in the far corner of our yard. The bush there was full of male cardinals (I could tell they were male from their bright red feathers). They were swooping in and out of the bush, and there was at least a dozen or more. It was early springtime, so their bright red colors were easy to see. I had never seen so many cardinals together at one time. It only lasted a little bit, and then they were gone. I have never seen anything like it since. It was an amazing sight.

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  13. Hello Ann! I’d love to be entered for your drawing as I adore your books. I’m from Appalachia and your stories are always dear to my heart! I’m a newsletter subscriber already. Thank you.

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  16. I love your post about bluebirds! Though many birds visit my feeders, I rarely see bluebirds. But sometimes I see a flash of blue, and I’m always amazed at how vibrant they look.

    I just signed up for your newsletter. 🙂

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      I’m so glad you enjoyed reading about bluebirds on my post, Jen. I had fun researching about them for my book, The Song of Sourwood Mountain. There are many folk sayings about the beautiful bluebirds. Bluebirds might come to a suet feeder but not for seeds. The other birds are fun to watch at the feeder too. Blackbirds are trying to take over at my feeder now that spring is here.

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