Shades of Blue
W
HAT
R
EADERS
A
RE
S
AYING ABOUT
K
AREN
K
INGSBURY’S
B
OOKS
Karen’s book
Oceans Apart
changed my life. She has an amazing gift of bringing a reader into her stories. I can only pray she never stops writing.
Susan L.
Everyone should have the opportunity to read or listen to a book by Karen Kingsbury. It should be in the
Bill of Rights
.
Rachel S.
I want to thank Karen Kingsbury for what she is doing with the power of her storytelling — touching hearts like mine and letting God use her to change the world for Him.
Brittney N.
Karen Kingsbury’s books are filled with the unshakable, remarkable, miraculous fact that God’s grace is greater than our suffering. There are no words for Ms. Kingsbury’s writing.
Wendie K.
Because I loaned these books to my mother, she BECAME a Christian! Thank you for a richer life here and in heaven!
Jennifer E.
When I read my first Karen Kingsbury book, I couldn’t stop…. I read thirteen more in one summer!
Jamie B.
I have never read anything so uplifting and entertaining. I’m shocked as I read each new release because it’s always better than the last one.
Bonnie S.
I am unable to put your books down, and I plan to read many more of them. What a wonderful spiritual message I find in each one!
Rhonda T.
I love the way Karen Kingsbury writes, and the topics she chooses to write about! Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us, your readers!
Barbara S.
My husband is equally hooked on your books. It is a family affair for us now! Can’t wait for the next one.
Angie
I can’t even begin to tell you what your books mean to me…. Thank you for your wonderful books and the way they touch my life again and again.
Martje L.
Every time our school buys your next new book, everybody goes crazy trying to read it first!
Roxanne
Recently I made an effort to find GOOD Christian writers, and I’ve hit the jackpot with Karen Kingsbury!
Linda
When Karen Kingsbury calls her books “Life-Changing Fiction
TM
,” she’s merely telling the unvarnished truth. I’m still sorting through the changes in my life that have come from reading just a few of her books!
Robert M.
I must admit that I wish I were a much slower reader … or you were a much faster writer. Either way, I can’t seem to get enough of Karen Kingsbury’s books!
Jillian B.
I was offered fifty dollars one time in the airport for the fourth book in the Redemption Series. The lady’s husband just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t interested in selling it. Through sharing Karen’s books with my friends, many have decided that contemporary Christian fiction is the next best thing to the Bible. Thank you so much, Karen. It is truly a God-thing that you write the way you do.
Sue Ellen H.
Karen Kingsbury’s books have made me see things in ways that I had never thought about before. I have to force myself to put them down and come up for air!
Tabitha H.
Other Life-Changing Fiction
TM
by Karen Kingsbury
9/11 Series
One Tuesday Morning
Beyond Tuesday Morning
Every Now and Then
Lost Love Series
Even Now
Ever After
Above the Line Series
Above the Line: Take One
Above the Line: Take Two
Above the Line: Take Three
(spring 2010)
Above the Line: Final Cut
(summer 2010)
Stand-Alone Titles
Shades of Blue
Oceans Apart
Between Sundays
This Side of Heaven
When Joy Came to Stay
On Every Side
Divine
Like Dandelion Dust
Where Yesterday Lives
Redemption Series
Redemption
Remember
Return
Rejoice
Reunion
Firstborn Series
Fame
Forgiven
Found
Family
Forever
Sunrise Series
Sunrise
Summer
Someday
Sunset
Red Glove Series
Gideon’s Gift
Maggie’s Miracle
Sarah’s Song
Hannah’s Hope
Forever Faithful Series
Waiting for Morning
Moment of Weakness
Halfway to Forever
Women of Faith Fiction Series
A Time to Dance
A Time to Embrace
Cody Gunner Series
A Thousand Tomorrows
Just Beyond the Clouds
Children’s Titles
Let Me Hold You Longer
Let’s Go on a Mommy Date
We Believe in Christmas
The Princess and the
Three Knights
Let’s Go Have a Daddy Day
(spring 2010)
Miracle Collections
A Treasury of Christmas Miracles
A Treasury of Miracles for
Women
A Treasury of Miracles for Teens
A Treasury of Miracles for
Friends
A Treasury of Adoption Miracles
Gift Books
Stay Close Little Girl
Be Safe Little Boy
Forever Young: Ten Gifts of Faith for the Graduate
ZONDERVAN
Shades of Blue
Copyright © 2009 by Karen Kingsbury
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
Mobi Edition October 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-56414-0
This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.
Visit
www.zondervan.com/ebooks
.
This title is also available in a Zondervan audio edition.
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www.zondervan.fm
.
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kingsbury, Karen.
Shades of blue / Karen Kingsbury.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-310-26694-5
I. Title.
PS3561.I4873S53 2009
813’.54—dc22 2009028795
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the
Holy Bible, New International Version
®
. NIV
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
The verse on page 224 is taken from the
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.
www.alivecommunications.com
Interior design by Michelle Espinoza
To Donald, my Prince Charming …
This is the fall we’ve been waiting for, my love. All our boys at our wonderful Christian school, and you there teaching and coaching in the midst of it all. For two decades I’ve watched other people’s kids be blessed by your talents as a teacher and coach, and now … finally … those kids will be our very own. I rejoice every day as I watch you and the boys drive off to school together. In this very short season, I can’t wait to see how God uses your time with our precious young men, in helping them learn, in mentoring them, in giving them the great privilege of being the coach’s sons. The list is long. I only know that after so many years of praying and dreaming about this time, I don’t want to miss a minute of it. Thank you for your faithfulness, my love. For consistently loving me and our kids, for always leading us back to the Lord again and again and again. Thank you for praying about this wild and amazing ministry of Life-Changing Fiction
TM
and for supporting me through every step. I love you more now than ever, if that’s possible. The music plays on, in this great scene in the story of our lives. Let’s keep dancing, keep singing, and keep falling deeper in love with every glorious day. I love you always and forever.
To Kelsey, my precious daughter …
I remember six months ago putting your birthday in my countdown clock on my phone and looking at the seconds as they fell away. Because even if I stared at those numbers for a long time, I couldn’t quite grasp that my baby girl would be twenty this 7 year. And now … here you are. No longer a teenager. Along the way of your wonderful childhood we ushered in so many beautiful chapters. Watching you grow to a toddler we lost the baby you once were. But we were dizzy with love over what we had gained. Then we watched you grow into a preschooler, chattering and tossing your long blonde hair and making best friends with our cat, Orky. Along the way we lost the toddler, but we were in awe of what we had gained. And it’s been that way with every stage of your life. We no longer have that sweet baby or the curious toddler. The precocious preschooler and the kind kindergartner are also gone. We’ve said good-bye to Kelsey the grade school girl, and we let go of the tomboy middle schooler with mud stains on her soccer uniform. The high school girl with braces on her teeth and a song on her lips has grown and gone away too. And yet there you stand, a part of all of those girls, but at the same time all grown up. A beautiful, faithful young woman. Kelsey, from the time you were very little we said you were one-in-a-million. Now that you’ve come this far, you’ve proven us right. You love God, you treasure your relationship with me and your dad and your brothers, and you are choosing to live for the Lord with every decision you make. We are so proud of you, honey. God’s great plans for your life are right here on the brink. Keep on, sweetheart. Because one day we’ll look back and remember the short time when you were a college girl, twenty years old, with all of life ahead of you. I love you so much, honey. You’ll always be my little Norm.