by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 22, 2018 | Church, Food, History, Love
This year, our church opted to do something a bit different in place of our usual homecoming. We hosted a party for the community. Instead of focusing on our history, reminiscing, and then feasting in the fellowship hall, we invited the neighborhood to come out for...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 18, 2018 | Appalachian, History
On October 22, 1977, the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, WV, officially opened. At the time, it was the world’s longest single-span expansion bridge at 3,030 feet across. That’s 390 feet more than half a mile. When you’re driving across, it...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 8, 2018 | History, prayer, Reading
How could I resist? I was offered an opportunity to be part of the launch team for Rachel Dodge’s new devotional Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen. Sign me up! I’ve read and reread all of Austen’s novels and while I was...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Sep 20, 2018 | Appalachian, Food, History, Writing
My friend Valerie recently gave me a treasure. It’s a copy of the 8th edition of Old Timey Recipes from 1975 as collected by Phyllis Connor. Inside the front cover someone wrote, “West Virginia, August 1976.” Since I would have been five years old...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Sep 13, 2018 | Appalachian, History, Nature
Having lived on the coast of South Carolina I’ve had more experience with hurricanes than I like. We actually moved to the mountains of western North Carolina in large part because of flooding from Hurricane Floyd in 1999. But the mountains are not immune from...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Sep 6, 2018 | Appalachian, History, Waiting, Writing
Even as I’m looking forward to the release of The Christmas Heirloom on October 2, I’m excited to be working on my next full-length novel tentatively titled Roots of the Mountain. I signed a contract with Bethany House for two more Appalachian stories with...
