Words may be cheap, but...

I need everyone to start to pray for me and the writing of my book. I started the book about a year and a half ago and I am ashamed to say that I only have 17 pages written. That’s a borderline disgrace, especially when I tell you that I am writing this book for God’s glory.

I have always considered myself a writer of sorts. Although my career is in publishing, I write nothing for my job. I am a reasonably good writer and really have always had the talent. I consider the talent one of my gifts from God, if you will...My grammar is not always as good as it should be (and I majored in English in college no less, although I always tell people--English majors read books and poems, no one was showing me how to write grammatically correct sentences in college. Maybe they assumed I already knew that!)

I am a good writer because I am good with words. I am a pretty good story teller and I write in a similar manner to how I speak. I submitted 80 pages of a novel in progress as my senior thesis for the honors program I was in in college. For several years right after college I actually tweaked that book in many ways, but kept working on it.

Then my entire life changed when I came to allow the Lord to start to work on me and I let Him into all of the areas of my life. A couple of years after that (about a year and half ago) I knew the kind of story God wanted me to tell. It was a completely different story from what I had been working on for all of those years, but I trusted God and started the story over from page one. My story. A memoir about my “conversion.” The first 17 pages are exciting (even E thinks so--he edited the first 16 pages a year ago, but is literally furious when we talk about it now because I have had no forward momentum. He expects better from me). It’s a story that secular readers will really enjoy and holy rollers can get into too--kind of like me--relatable to all sorts of folks.

I know God wants me to do this. I want to do this. I just have to actually commit myself to a regular writing schedule and I have to make this happen. I have to make it happen so I can be true to something I believe God wants me to do for Him and for others. I ask for all of your prayers that I will not be lazy and I will see this project through. It doesn’t have to be finished in a few months, but it has to be worked on on an on-going basis.

Please pray for my commitment to this. As always, I’m praying for all of you.

When in Rome...

It’s official--I am heading to Italy later this year!

My parents and I are going on a family vacation to Rome, Venice, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast (a couple small towns along the coast).

It’s really exciting for us because, if you can believe it, none of us have ever been out of the country (we were all in Canada once when I was 12 or so, but I certainly don’t count that as international travel). It’s just a great opportunity for all 3 of us to experience something new and beautiful together. It means a lot to me to be able to share the experience with them and not just tell them about it.

I would love to hear anything from folks that have been to Italy—thoughts, tips, ideas, etc. We are going with a tour group, but the nice thing is that we chose a tour that is only going to a few places so we can actually spend some time in each city and have some free time too. I know there is a lot to see in Italy, and we are only seeing some of it, but I think that if I was constantly on the move from city to city to city that I would wind up exhausted and not really getting to savor anything.

That’s a big part of this trip too, you see--RELAXATION. For the first time in the almost 12 years I have been a part of the “work world” I have never been away from the office for 2 solid weeks. It’s really a once in a lifetime opportunity to get away from everything (literally) for a meaningful length of time and immerse myself in something different. I may forget I have a job while I am away—and as much as I like my job, I am hoping that will happen!

Worry...

I started thinking that I am too much of a worrier to ever be able to be a parent.

Anxiety runs in my family and although mine is in check most of the time, I feel like being responsible for one or more entire human lives may be what pushes me over the edge. Once I have a child, it will be too late for me to turn back and my anxiety may wind up taking me over and runing my life, my future husband's life, and any and all of my children's lives.

But then I realized that worrying about something that may or may not ever happen is no way to keep anxiety in check! Hello!

This weekend, I will be rooting for my Philadelphia Eagles! Let's make something happen!