Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Orchard of Hope”
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky Wow, somebody interviewed Dad to find out more about what he believes after those Heart of Hollyhill books about us came out. Do you think we’re famous now? Dad would say I was thinking wrong. That I shouldn’t be thinking about being famous but about our story maybe helping other people. He’s right. …
Do you love riddles? Sometimes when I use them on my Friday Smiles posts on my Facebook page, my readers call them groaners. That’s what makes them fun. Silly but still fun. Especially if you are young at heart. Last week when I posted some of those riddle groaners, a reader confessed that she used to love telling her family …
Have you ever had a dream that seemed so big, so impossible that you were almost afraid to admit you were thinking it? That’s how I was when I was a kid and first decided I wanted to be a writer. I had no idea how I was going to make that happen. I just knew I wanted it more …
You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things.” –Nate Berkus Have you ever wanted to try something new? Even if you weren’t really sure you could do whatever it was? I suppose we’ve all met challenges like that. Perhaps when we first sat …
Christmas Week 1965 Jocie Brook here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Christmas is almost here. I don’t see how Christmas 1965 can top Christmas 1964, but maybe it will. I guess I’ll have to wait and see. You can read all about that Christmas 1964 and more in the book Summer of Joy. I know, it seems a little weird to have …
When I give a book talk, I like the question and answer part the best. One of the questions I’m often asked is “What is your favorite book?” I always tell whoever asked what a hard question that is for an author to answer. It’s something like asking a mother which is her favorite child. All these books shown in …
I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, …
This summer my first inspirational novel, Scent of Lilacs, has been a free e-book download. You can find it at most e-book sites like Amazon Kindle; Christianbook.com or Barnes & Noble. And if you’ve made that first visit to Hollyhill, you might want to go back for more visits. Those books, Orchard of Hope and Summer of Joy, are on …
A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. (Proverbs 17:22 NKJ) Usually when I repeat the above Bible verse, I just say the first part of the verse. I like thinking about the good medicine of smiles and laughter, but it’s not as good thinking about those with broken spirits and sadness in their …
January 19, 1966 Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. What does this picture make you think of? Mr. Brown, my social studies teacher at school, told us to look at this picture and write a paper on what freedom means to us. Not to the country or to somebody else, but to each of us as individuals. Mr. Brown …