Not just another day

This is a lovely September~ Sunday morning, got up early (ridiculously so it was 4 AM) checked the inbox, facebook and newspaper, brewed the coffee about 4:45 after Jeff came ambling downstairs. I went to the early service at NewPointe Community Church. Awesome service, great message. Visited with some dear friends before heading back home. Got home and walked in the house and got to hear my oldest son lead worship at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, VA. Oh, what a glorious thing to be able to worship many places in many ways! Loving the fact that I can do that via the internet with Micah. I sure do miss him leading worship around here!

We have had a busy weekend. Friday night we had a thank you picnic for helping in the cafe at NPCC. Lots of fun! Saturday night Jeff's 35th class reunion. Lots of old friends to reconnect with. Today we have opportunity to fellowship with more old friends this afternoon. I'll have to tell you more about that one later.... shhhhh it's a surprise!

Yesterday was out oldest son, Micah's 25 Birthday! Wow, when did I get that old? He was a bit depressed about the fact that he's that old, but it is a great age. He is the age his dad was when we started dating! Mature, but not old!

Tomorrow, begins a whole new week! So far there are no mistakes in it, so I am looking forward to it!

I hope to add to chapter six's rewrites. I need to listen to the tape of Liz's funeral/wedding you'll just have to read the book when it comes out to understand that comment!

Then we will just have to wait to see what the remainder of the week brings. I am in serious anticipation!

Chapter re-write

I feel as though I have just run a 5K race. I am winded, tired and lethargic. My brain is exhausted. I have written and re-written chapters for this book so many times, but for some reason this one is really hitting me hard. Perhaps it is simply the reminder of eternity that is weighing so heavy upon my heart.

I am anxious. I am fearful. I am missing Liz desperately.

Today

I am so grateful that God allowed us to have a wonderful garden and high yield from it, but I am even more thankful that I am done canning... for now. The remainder of garden stuff will be for eating only!

I have shelves heavily laden with goodies that I have "put up" for winter, not to mention that my freezer has a lot of stuff too. Ummm.

I am even more grateful that I can REST for the weekend. I am pooped.

I am going to do some fun things after I clean. I am going to get my fall decorations out and work on my nesting instincts. I love to decorate ( my husband thinks I over do it) but I love it.

I was scheduling my GriefShare classes and realized that it is only one day less than 15 weeks until Christmas. UGH. At the rate I have been blogging I will be saying in my next one "I cannot believe Christmas is over" Ha. The time truly does fly.

I have some deadlines looming: this week I need to get several devotionals written for the COF devotional that will be published by Barbour Publishing in September of 2010! The deadline for that Sept. 22 (how did it sneak up on me? Oh, I know Barbour upped the date from Dec. 1 to Sept. 22) I thought I would faint when I read that e-mail.

I was supposed to work on Through My Tears this week, but canning took precedence, so nothing got written at my house. I am hoping that Mike got something done. I talked to Mike last weekend and he informed me that it looks like we will not make our October/November attempt at a deadline for finishing TMT. :_( (That is my attempt at crying)

Well, I will just have to try to prove him wrong... maybe.

I will soon get to meet "my two Emily's". I was supposed to meet one of them (Emily J) last week but something came up and Emily and Brittany couldn't make it. I was bummed, but now I have been promised a visit from BOTH Emily's. ( Emily J and Emily S) I am so looking forward to having females around here. I love my boys, but believe me I sure miss having girls around here! Even Jeff said it would be wonderful and he was disappointed that the girls couldn't be here. I'll tell you the whole story about the Emily's in another post.

My decorations are calling to me from the basement and the barn loft, so I must get prepared!

I'm outta here for now!

It is time to blog

I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since I have had time to blog. Whew.

I have been so very busy. Canning, college prep for two boys, working and general stuff at home that I seem to be behind on AGAIN.

We will take son # 2 to IWU this week. Son # 3 started last week at UA. Then it will be back to writing, working, and just the two of us.

Amazing how quickly you get used to two. I absolutely love having my kids home, and I miss them desperately when they are gone, but oh it is nice just having to do for the two of us.

I really have to buckle down and get this book finished. My deadline is looming. The end of October/beginning of November. Plus I have writing for the COF 365 day devotional for Barbour publishing, and two stories to submit for two other compilations. Hopefully one of my stories will be picked up for Chicken Soup for The Soul, and the Guideposts Incredible Power of Prayers series. I guess we'll find out after the first of the year.

I will begin a new cycle of GriefShare next Tuesday at NPCC. This will be my fourth year of facilitating. What an awesome support group this is! I have seen so many people come to the classes and even repeat classes until they feel that they are on the road to healing. How exciting and rewarding.

I will be going to NPCC tomorrow to help prepare food to sell in the cafe before the 1st Wednesday service. I love doing this! Next month we have a Married Life Live that is a great night out for couples, and great food too! (I know this for a fact since Jean and I cook it!) We have fed as many as 650 people! Whew a lot of work, and boy are we exhausted.

Oh well gotta run. I have dinner to clean up from.

SMILE!

Hoping to post pictures soon since the photographer was here...

Yes, I have officially had my "author" photo done and I am waiting to get the proofs. Seems kind of official now don't you think? Kinda weird even though it has been so many years in the works.

Hmmmm.

This is such a busy tine of year. Tomorrow Chris and I go to University of Akron for his orientation. It will be sort of weird because he is a junior but will be orienting with freshmen...

He officially withdrew from IWU.

Sad.

I love that school!

Well dinner time calls and I am the cook, so that will add a quick ending to this post.

Then on to my GriefShare class.

It's that time of year

I am sitting here smelling the wonderful sent of homemade salsa! Ummmm. It is the time of year that is a lot of work, but ever so rewarding. So far I have canned green beans, two kinds of jam and now salsa. Before and after pictures above.

I have come up with a design for my book cover. I have a good friend that is professionally tweaking it and adding a few things that I have no clue how to. I should have the "mock up" on the 21st. I am really excited. I have chosen an outfit to wear to have my picture done for the back cover. (I am not really looking forward to that part... I don't like to have my picture taken) but this guy is real professional. He has his own photography studio in Chicago. Mike (my writing partner) has procured his services to take professional photos of several things for the book.

I have colored my hair and cut it (myself) and have prepared the clothes. If you have never cut your own hair, it stinking tough. I have done it many times, but it just is not the same as if you are doing someone else's hair. An for the color.... Preference # 6 Light brown.


It has been so hot the last few days. I am not complaining, I am just mentioning it because it is finally feeling like summer. I tried to mow for a while today since everything is growing like crazy, and I got about 1/10 done and I ran out of gas! RATS! So, now I am playing "Julia Childish" in the kitchen... Here are some pictures of my handiwork the past couple of days.



Hey, I learned something new yesterday! A friend that I met at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and I are now facebook friends. (Bonnie I am beholding to you!) Yesterday I made a comment about not having long enough arms to take a picture of myself in the outfits I had to choose from for my picture so people could see which one they liked better... any way she said use the delay on my camera. I knew some cameras had them but I have never used it and I have had my camera for about five years... I found my users guide and found out how to do it Yay!!!

So, here you can see I have actually been busy. Proof!!!

I am currently cooking our dinner (stir fried chicken and garlic & soy string beans over rice) Healthy eating yay!

I'll be on the radio Thursday (Aug. 13) sharing a portion of our story (95.9 The Light) I am on again with the Circle Of Friends at 10 AM!

Better get busy!

GO-09 Community Impact Day

THE CHURCH HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!


This is year two for NewPointe's Community Impact Day. I have a feeling there were many blessed people that had things done for them, but I have more of a feeling that there were many blessed people doing the Impacting!

It is something that changes the way I think about the community around me. I get so caught up in the mundane things of everyday life, that I tend to forget about other things. I want to post some pictures from our small group participation yesterday.
What a blast we had. It was a bit nerve wracking when I looked at the morning sky and then at the radar images on the internet... RAIN! Rain and car washes are not exactly compatible. We tend to think that just because we have something planned to do outside that the weather will cooperate... NOPE! So, we went with plan B and began an hour later and began in the garage. What a wonderful blessing to have a four stall garage!

We had several children participate, and they were all GREAT WORKERS! Thanks Evan, Everett, Noah, McKenna and Isaiah. You guys are the best!

Thanks parents for bringing them.

These kids were having so much fun and they wanted to work!

The rest of us did various and sundry things. We took turns sweeping, scrubbing, washing windows and what ever else needed to be done!

They were so serious about the work look at these faces? Serving with joy? You bet! They never complained about the rain, but Everett was one of the first to notice the really black clouds gathering. Shortly thereafter....

Puddles....everywhere! Not a good mix for clean cars to have to drive through! Nevertheless, we continued on in faith! By 1 PM we had seven cars done! And a lot of tired and sweaty people.

The kids still had energy. They were jumping across puddles.
We had wonderful participation. There were 14 of us all together.

We had three adults that are not even in our small group help with our project. Thanks Andy, Susan, and Jeremy. Thanks Angel for bringing your boys. Thanks Jeremy for bringing your three children! In my opinion...we had the perfect jobs. It worked out great for everyone we could all participate.







Thanks for a job well done everyone!