Jamie Janosz

Reposting this introduction to my blog for Among Friends - by Igniting Women publishers. If you haven't seen their site - they have some wonderful, short essays by some of your favorite authors (like me, perhaps?!). Follow the link at the end of this introduction to read the full essay. My teenage daughter is filling out college questionnaires, and they all ask the same perplexing question: “What do you want to be?” The problem is, she doesn’t know. Not yet. I think it’s the wrong question. Too often, who we want to be gets mixed up with a job title or a more personal goal—we want to be a pediatrician or somebody’s girlfriend, wife, or mother, for example. Maybe a better question to ask is, “Do you know who you are?” In my self-description on Pinterest, I settled on a series of words: Girly. Nerdy. Vintage-loving. Writer. Wife. Mother. Christ-follower. Truth be told, my clever little list is incomplete. You could add some not-so-flattering words: klutzy, ...

I asked you to nominate brave women for my book giveaway. Wow! I am inspired and humbled to hear their stories - and the obvious ways they have nurtured your lives. While my book was about inspiring women who lived in the late 1800s, it is clear to me that God continues to show Himself today (in 2014) through modern-day women, who live quiet, faithful, and generous lives. In my own life, I have watched my sister (Julie Storms Lunt) and my mom (Jan Storms Czapla) go through incredible trials and yet remain strong and loving and beautiful. Julie survived a brain tumor that could have taken her life - but today she is a walking miracle: thriving, married, living in Chicago, and teaching school. My mom faced the loss of her husband (my dad), and her parents in an incredibly short span of time, yet she kept pushing forward, completing a lifetime of teaching and inspiring children - and even daring to find love again. I admire them both deeply and love them beyond words. Let's ce...

Was there a woman in your life who nurtured you? A teacher who told you how great you were at math or writing? The Sunday School teacher who prayed and listened? Your aunt who took you to her workplace? Your grandmother who showed you how to make a recipe? It might be your mom, a best friend, a neighbor, a sister? What woman in your life would you like to honor? I'd like to giveaway two copies of my book, When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up - one to you and one to the woman you admire. Write a comment below, or on my Facebook page , telling about this brave wonderful woman! Also, please share this post or my  Facebook page on social media! On Thursday, May 1st , I will draw a winner and send the book to both the winner and the honored nominee. Let's celebrate the important and wonderful women in our lives!

On this snowy, Chicago, Saturday morning, sitting at my kitchen table and still wearing my fuzzy bathrobe, my heart is filled with gratitude for all of the people who made publishing my first book a reality. On this day of my book release, I just want to say that I am tremendously thankful for all of you who helped make this little dream of mine a reality. First, to each of these eight women – Fanny, Emma, Evangeline, Amanda, Nettie, Sarah, Virginia, and Mary - this book is about them and because of them. I want the honor to land firmly at their feet, for they are the ones who walked the long and difficult road of faithful service. They have my utmost admiration. I hope, some day, to be just a bit like them.   Second, I am thankful for my Moody Publishers editor, Holly Kisly. She believed in this project from the start and understood how important it was to tell the next genreation of women these stories. My editor, Karen Waddles, made sure my ideas were clea...