National icons collaborate on Christian songs!
By the time we convene on the next Girl’s Get-A-Way Cruise, Nov. 15-19, 2007, chapters will be opening and closing in the lives of two really great story-tellers.

Award-winning song-writer Richie McDonald will be ending his tenure with the country music band Lonestar. At the end of 2007, McDonald plans to embark on a solo music career with the blessings of his former band and long-time Lonestar friends.

America’s most beloved inspirational fiction writer Karen Kingsbury will be celebrating a new venture of story-telling – song-writing – something she has done for a few years “in her spare time.” She and McDonald, along with Grammy-winning song-writer Gary Baker collaborated on several songs that tug at the heartstrings, and will share those on the Girl’s Get-A-Way Cruise.

One of the songs is “Heaven Never Felt So Far Away,” which Kingsbury originally penned as a tribute to her brother who recently passed away; another song is “Dandelion Dust,” (also the name of one of Kingsbury’s books) that paints a picture of the quickly fading years of childhood.

“I told him (Richie) that once in a while I’ll see a swing set overgrown with weeds and I'll feel sad for a minute,” Kingsbury wrote in a journal entry on her website (www.karenkingsbury.com). “When it comes to our kids, nothing shows the passing of time more than that picture. I said I could imagine a song about a swing set overgrown with weeds, a tricycle turned to rust, and the days that disappeared, like dandelion dust.”

So, they collaborated on that song, as well.

McDonald’s key to being a great song-writer is writing about the people and things that mean the most to him, he said in a recent interview. “What’s worked best for me is to write from the heart,” he said.

Kingsbury and McDonald are sure to draw quite a crowd on the Girl’s Get-A-Way Cruise. He’s the singer/songwriter known for such hits as "Already There," "My Front Porch Looking In," "What About Now," and "Walking in Memphis." She is the author of more than 30 books with nearly 5 million copies in print known for such great inspirational fiction as “Oceans Apart,” the “Redemptions Series,” and her recent, “Found.”

Meet them during the artist Meet & Greet session on board the ship. Hear them speak, and share their stories. Join them on the next Girl’s Get-A-Way Cruise 2007.

For more information or to book your stateroom on the Girl's Get-A-Way Cruise call 1-800-889-5265 or go to http://www.premierchristiancruises.com/gga-07/.