Life has become very international for us. Since the last update, we’ve been back and forth between the US and the UK several times, and moved (reluctantly) to a new flat in Oxford. Sally’s five-year visa was approved and she is now a Lay Mentor to women postgraduate students and other women and moms at Pusey House, a historic Anglican study and worship center in the heart of Oxford. She leads two Bible studies, and meets regularly with women for personal encouragement. She is there during the three Oxford terms, and back in CO between them.
Clay, as publisher of Whole Heart Press, continues to develop our “ministry in print.” We’ve recently added all our WH Press books to IngramSpark, which will enable our books for the first time to be purchased wholesale by bookstores and resellers through Ingram Book Distribution, the largest book distributor in the US. New books for our Storyformed Books imprint are in process. We’ve been championing and recommending illustrated storybooks for children for 20+ years, and hope to add our own to that storied history of imaginative literature. Of course, we are proud to have released new and refreshed versions of Sally’s classic books for mothers, Seasons of a Mother’s Heart and Your Mom Walk with God. More refreshed books are in the publishing queue.
We also continue to work with Christian royalty publishers. Sally’s third and last book for Bethany House Publishers, co-written for her by Clay during her her fall 2021 hip surgery and recovery, released in October. Giving Your Words is an exploration from our own experience of the lifegiving power of a verbal home for family faith formation. It is full of biblical encouragement and example for how to use your own words to shape your child’s life for Christ. But now Sally is working with Harvest House Publishers, and her first of three books with them is Teatime Discipleship — Sharing Faith One Cup at a Time. It is a lovely gift book filled with beautiful full-color photos from Sally’s life and home, and with her personal stories, Scriptures, prayers, recipes, and traditions encouraging women to pursue the beauty of a life of lifegiving hospitality over a shared cup. Teatime Discipleship releases on April 18.