
Black Bear (BC, Canada)
This week I wanted to share some of the wildlife we saw on our June trip to the Chilcotin area of BC. Please continue to keep the region in your prayers, as forest fires have been blazing through for over a week now. Over 40,000 people in various BC communities have been evacuated. (We don’t have any nearby, and our skies are clear.)
This afternoon my family will be celebrating my father-in-law’s 80th birthday with a pool and ice cream party! It will be fun for our little grandgirls to play with the second cousins they don’t see very often. Having family is so, so important. The book I’m writing right now features a heroine who’s an only child and a hero who grew up in foster care. Family is becoming a major theme in the story! I’m so thankful for all three of mine: the one I was born into (who are scattered around the globe), my husband’s family (who all live nearby), and our kids and grandgirls (who live within a couple of hours’ drive).
How about you? Do you have a large or small family? Are you close with them? What are the blessings? Challenges?

Stallion standing guard (Nemiah Valley, BC)
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Black Bear (BC, Canada)
Last Week
On Monday, Ginger Solomon shared Part 6 of Love is a Verb.
On Tuesday, Janet W. Ferguson offered an Interview with Francine Rivers… and Giveaway!
On Wednesday, guest Toni Shiloh said, “Let’s Talk about Fear.”
On Thursday, Roxanne Rustand discussed her writing inspiration: Country Life, Horses, and Fiction!
On Friday, Carol Moncado shared an Excerpt of Heart of a Prince (coming soon!)… and Giveaway!
On Saturday, Jill Weatherholt presented a guest post by JoAnn Durgin about her new release, Thee Will I Cherish… and Giveaway!
Next Week
Monday: Jackie Castle
Tuesday: Valerie Comer
Wednesday: Autumn Macarthur
Thursday: Merrillee Whren
Friday: Staci Stallings
Saturday: Jolene Navarro

Fox (BC, Canada)
On Board for Romance (Homegrown Love 1) (Arcadia Valley Romance 7) by Annalisa Daughety
Memories of Mist (An Urban Farm Fresh Romance 3) by Valerie Comer
Cherish by Autumn Macarthur, Heather Gray, Elizabeth Maddrey, and four others
Learning from Experience (re-release) by Ginger Solomon
Season of Hope (Rios Azules Christmas 3) by Alexa Verde
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Hi Valerie, thanks for sharing more photos, the horses remind me of the wild horses on the Bogong High Plains where we love to hike. Sorry to hear the fires are still raging, unfortunately, that is often a feature of summer. I am close to my family and am blessed with my husband’s family who are awesome; unfortunately, our family is spread across Australia, some in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales, while we are in Victoria, so we don’t see each other nearly enough. I look forward to Heaven, when we will all be together:)
Blessings:)
Hi Valerie! Thanks for hosting Sunday Edition this month. Your wildlife pictures are inspiring. Thanks for the update on the fire. Enjoy celebrating with your family. Unfortunately for my husband and I are families are small and not close. As newly weds our jobs forced us to move out of state and family did not want to make the drive. Keeping family ties was a one way street. There are certain family members that are the glue to hold families together. When my father in law passed, the glue dissolved. My family was small and extended family was in Germany. Unfortunately neither side of the ocean had funds to visit and therefore it is difficult to be close. Best wishes and looking forward to your next release: Memories of Mist.
Great pictures. Our family is not very close. I visited my 100 yr. old Mother a year ago. It’s quite a drive. We keep in touch by phone. My siblings are on Facebook, as are some cousins and our children. Our children visit once or twice a year. One son lives close and we are helping them build a new house ( clear the land) on some acreage out in the woods. Thanks
The Nemiah Valley, where the horse photo was taken, is famous for its wild horses as well. There are also lots of the First Nations’ horses wandering around in herds, so I’m not sure which this was, but the stallion was very watchful!
Oceans can make it difficult… and so can family, really. I know you’re close with your kids/grandkids, though!
100 is quite a feat! My mom made it to 88. A few of my cousins are on Facebook. Our family always lived away from the cousin core, so I’m not as close with them.
I was an only child until my parents adopted my sister when I was 11. Thankfully, I had lots of cousins living close by, so they were like siblings. My mom had 5 sisters & brothers, and they all had good sized families, and one of my uncles was real good about arranging family reunions every 3-4 years. So lots of good memories and good relationships. Now we keep up on Facebook, and try to get together as often as we can. Having a spiritual family in Jesus is great too!
Love the photos. I’m from a small family, my husband a bigger family, but we mostly keep to ourselves. His family is spread out though mostly towards the east coast. My mom and brother are about 5 hours away along with all but one of the stepsons.
Absolutely on the church family!
Five hours is a reasonable distance – easy for long weekends. :)
Love the photos!!
For more than 60 years my mom’s side of my family has been having family reunions. They usually take place over a long weekend and gather family members from a few states. I always look forward to those weekends.
Enjoyed your photos! I am an only and hub is one of eight (3 are deceased)!
Hub & I only have one (daughter), and she only has one (son)! Don’t get to see them often enough due to college and/or work….we are not physically able to travel. Thankful for phone, texts, e mail..lol.
Thanks :)
Sounds fun! How many people, on average?
I have over one hundred cousins (seriously). My hubby has a couple of dozen, ish. Our kids have about ten on each side. Their kids? Have only each other! Since neither of my kids’ spouses’ siblings have any children. Crazy!
25-40 depending on location and schedules.
Love to see animals in nature instead of in a zoo!
Beautiful horses! :)
Me, too!
I know, right?!?!
So fun!
I’ve lived on the Oregon coast almost 20 years but grew up in Illinois. All my family are still back there or within a State or two away. My grandma had nine kids and there’s lots of cousins, most of them younger than me. Only four of us are around the same age so we played together a lot as kids!
My husband has only one sister he stays in contact with ad she’s only a four hour drive away. His mom and dad had several kids but unfortunately something happened years ago which split the family up. Sad but it happens more often than not.
Great pictures, though those bears scare me! Happy SONday everyone, looking forward to another great week on Inspy Romance.
HI Trixi! We were very close to the bear, but safely in our vehicle. The road was just barely two lane gravel, and the bear completely uninterested in getting all the way off! So we crept on by, taking photos all the way.