Jeff Kusner – Page 2 – Bits and Bytes

Wooster Christmas Photo

Chris and I have a favorite restaurant located in Wooster, Ohio called Broken Rocks Cafe, while I don’t think we’ve ever had a bad meal there we both love the grouper! On a recent December visit the pavement was wet from recent rains and it was starting to get dark. When we left the restaurant we walked down the road to look at some of the Christmas decorations. The lights were really beautiful the way they reflected off of the wet pavement.

I decided the moment was perfect to switch the camera over to manual and force myself to quickly think through the best settings for speed and aperature. I usually work with the camera in aperature priority mode and let the camera decide the speed. I didn’t have too much time since the sun had already set… but I’m thrilled with how it turned out.

Moving Mom

Well it’s been almost an entire year of talking about moving mom into an independent living facility. I told her last spring that our goal was to find a place before winter set in. I know it must be hard for her after living in her home for the last 56 years. But with walking up and down stairs and all the things that need taking care of around the house… well it’s time.

Mom is moving into an independent living facility in Maumee named Elizabeth Scott. It’s a wonderful place where everyone is treated like family, in fact most of the people who work there have been there over fifteen years so it really is like family. Plus, if she ever needs additional care Elizabeth Scott is equipped to handle it.

What Now E-Book

Last month I worked with Kris Barnett to release his One Year Bible study companion, you can read more in this post. This month we release the e-book version in the most popular e-readers, Kindle, iBook & Nook.

The book was recently reviewed in “Preaching Magazine“.

You can visit the Koozzz Publishing page for more information and links.

What Now

I was contacted recently by Kristopher Barnett. He is a pastor who, in 2010, was looking to challenge his congregation to reading through the Bible in a year. He decided to utilize the One Year reading plan available from Tyndale Publishing. Along with reading God’s word he began looking for resources that coincided with the daily readings to help his church come to a deeper understanding of God’s Word, not just to read through it.

He knew that most people approached Bible reading for information rather than transformation. He wanted his congregation to move beyond simply reading the word of God and experience the joy of living out the word of God. The search for application based resources yielded little fruit.

Disappointed in the results of his search, he decided that he would take it upon himself to provide application oriented questions to publish in the church bulletin. Those questions provided the foundation for the book “What Now?“.

Kris soon discovered that the most likely publisher for the project was not interested, and then to my surprise, the publisher actually referred him to me. I am the owner of the website oneyearbibleonline.com, the same site he recommended his church utilize for reading through the Bible online. Since I had recently started Koozzz Publishing, a small Christian publishing, I was excited to learn how the project began and more of the details of him working with a publisher. After discussing different alternatives we agreed that a print copy that included space for journaling would be best. We also planned to release the book in the major e-reader formats. For more information on his book please visit the Koozzz Publishing site.

2012 Calendar

Is it too early to be thinking about 2012? In years past I’ve used my photography and combined it with relevant scripture passages to produce calendars. I’ve used them as gifts, donated some to good causes and actually sold a few to support the online ministry of oneyearbibleonline.com.

Though I’ve used photos from different parts of the country before, in 2010 I limited the images to only include those taken in Knox County here in Ohio. I took a break in 2011 but did help the church out with their global outreach calendar.

Because I’ve received several inquiries I’ll be creating another calendar for 2012, I’ll be using more photos from here in Knox County but also including some from other parts of the state. Go ahead and click on the cover image to expand it… how many locations do you recognize (don’t let the image placement influence you)?

Not only did Chris and I have a tough time deciding on which images to use but we also had to narrow down the scripture verses to go along with each one.

For the cover I took a slightly different approach from those in previous years, incorporating a photo of an Ohio road map, then adding polaroid replicas of each of the images used on the inside. I picked up the proof from PIP Lewis Center on Friday, August 19th and its looks fabulous! A limited quantity have been ordered and should be available around the first of September. They’ll also be available at the Gospel Supply Shop and the Knox County Art League in downtown Mount Vernon.

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Delivering The Proof To Anisa

Anisa with her proof of Diary of a Cabin Girl

Eric, Anisa & Jeff

For the last couple of months I’ve been working with Anisa Hardin and her folks to publish her first book, Diary of a Cabin Girl. It’s a Christian fiction story intended for 9-13 year-olds. On August 6th I was able to deliver the proof copy to Anisa with artist Eric Mize also on hand.

The story of 12 year old Nicole takes place in the early 18th century, she works as a cabin girl on the Storm Haven, a sailing ship. Nicole doesn’t know her last name because of being separated from her family when she was very young. She writes each days’ events to her diary, not realizing that she is recording the most drastic changes of her life. When she finds out what has been missing in her life, it turns out to be much more than her family.

Check availability at your favorite bookstore or purchase a copy online from;

Amazon

Diary of a Cabin Girl is published by Koozzz Publishing of Mount Vernon, OH, it’s the first book in a series titled The Heritage Diaries. I’ve already been briefed on volume 2 and anxious to begin working on it.

Eric Mize was the artist providing the illustration for the book cover, he and Anisa worked together to make sure that the drawing was authentic to the period.

In downtown Columbus, Ohio we’re fortunate to have a replica of the historic sailing vessel The Santa Maria. I was able to schedule a photo shoot one morning and received approval from The Santa Maria Ship Museum to use one of the images for the back cover.

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Tug & Arnie Launch

July 1st, 2011 is the official launch date for Tug & Arnie, In The Gardener’s Hands. It was written by new author Kyle Cook who dedicated it to his son Eli. Together with illustrator Dan Euans we collaborated to publish the first instalment of Tug & Arnie where the duo begins their adventure exploring the Gardener’s tree. Read how they meet and come to know the Gardener, and discover the Biblical truths he teaches regarding true friendship and safe travels.

Title: Tug & Arnie, In The Gardener’s Hands
Author: Kyle Cook
Publication Date: Jul 1, 2011
Published By: Koozzz Publishing
Hardback ISBN: 978-0-9830760-0-1

Amazon