Totally inspired by E’s collection of yellow-bound books (I just sent her 3 of my Grandma’s to add to her stash), I decided to browse through my own bookshelves to see if I had any books in my favorite color: cornflower blue (a.k.a. the color of my blog).

Cornflower was my favorite crayon when I was little, and I’m still in love decades later. (Disclaimer: I’m no Queen of the Color Wheel, so any variation of cornflower is cornflower to me.)

Ah! Livi just brought me some cornflower crayons! Bliss!

I scoured the house, and here’s what I came up with:

Mmmm… I could stare at those books all day (and do, because they’re sitting right by my laptop).

Now, I’ve already decided that my motto is going to be “All things in moderation.” I know me and my tendency to go overboard with this kind of stuff. Ask anyone who knew me my junior year of college. I went through an orange phase. I wore orange every single day (I’m not kidding) and my half of the dorm room was floor to ceiling orange (including an orange rotary phone from Goodwill). Mmmm… orange books might be fun!

So, I’m going to proceed with great care and caution. The bottom four books on the pile were my Grandma’s (and the very bottom 2 are about writing), so they’re special to me. And the one on top was written by my dear friend Joanne (The Simple Wife), so also very special. I won’t say I’ll limit myself to super-meaningful cornflower-bound books; I’m just going to be more selective than I would’ve been 15 years ago.

Case in point: I found a shiny cornflower-bound medical textbook at the thrift store the other day, but put it back (even though it was only a quarter), because it just didn’t look loved enough.

I’m half-tempted to collect red books too, but I don’t think I will. Maybe I’ll just group together the old red books I already have.

If you were going to collect monochromatic books, what color would they be?

p.s. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a book-swapping party with friends who all like different colors??

We’ve got ONE MORE DAY to get this baby out! Can we do it? YOU BET YOUR BOTTOM WE CAN!

That was my lame attempt at a pep talk. It’s much better in person.

Okay, so today is the FINAL DAY to secure copies of Changing Your World One Diaper at a Time at a MIND-BLOWING (no one cares if I exaggerate, right?) discount.

Of course, there are always exceptions:

1.) you can e-mail me and ask me to hold some until March/April/May when you get paid. 2.) you can come crying to me next week and tell me you missed all my posts about the book, and can  you please have another chance?

Speaking of, if you’re new here, let’s catch up. One of my books went out of print. Read the sad story here. Then check out this post to see how you can buy 1 or 5 or 21 copies.

And a lot of you asked for a sneak peek at the book to see if you’d like it. Here’s Chapter 1 for your reading pleasure. (The Table of Contents is there too.) I will say that the first chapter is all about getting pregnant. The other 9 chapters are much broader in scope and deal with all the emotions–fear, exhaustion, insecurity, bliss, blues, blah–of mommyhood. It’s a fun book, if I do say so myself.

In other depressing news, I just found out from the publisher that I have to pay for the 2 boxes of Is That All He Thinks About? that I just received BEFORE they’ll ship me the 1100 Diapers books. SO. I’ll take the $ from your Diapers/Blushing orders, pay that bill ($689) as soon as I can, then sell Is That All? at my upcoming speaking events to pay for the Diapers books. It’s a lovely cycle really.

Feel free to order a copy of Is That All He Thinks About? for yourself (but ultimately for your hubby) for Valentine’s Day. It won’t arrive by Sunday, but for any order placed by then, I’ll include a free copy of Blushing Bride.

Here’s Chapter 1 from Is That All? if you’re bored at work today.

Are you feeling totally linked out? Totally pressured to make an important decision RIGHT NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE? I feel ya. Wish I could help.

Got room in your brain for one last thing? If you’d like to help me spread the word today, I’ll be oh, so grateful. How, you ask?

Well, if you’re on Twitter, you can Tweet about it (just post a link to my blog). You can mention it in your Facebook status. You can say something about it on your blog. You can send out an e-mail to your friends. Just make sure you point them here and let them know the offer is only good until today (Friday, February 12) at 11:59pm EST.

If you have any other brilliant ideas for a super-quick promotional campaign, please let me know! (most of my brilliant ideas pertain to things like how I can avoid cleaning the bathroom for yet another month)

Thank you SO much, friends. Without you, what I do (whatever that may be) is pointless. Love you much! See you back here tomorrow for a smashing edition of Swirly Saturday!

Turns out I only needed permission to mope. I didn’t actually need to mope. Go figure.

I woke up this morning with that nagging feeling that something was wrong. Then I went back to bed while the girls did a Snow Day Dance. Got up at 9:00, spent some sweet time with Jesus while my kids did who knows what, then sat down at my computer.

Oh, the tears.

As soon as I started reading your comments, a wave of peace washed over my whole sad self, and it hasn’t left. Bless your sweet, sweet hearts. I’m sorry it took such a bummer deal for me to realize how good I have it. Man.

So, let’s get down to business.

1100 copies of Changing Your World One Diaper at a Time are on their way to my house from Oregon. I have 30 days to pay the publisher for them. You might think I’d be concerned about this. I am not.

I do want to give you, my faithful, darling friends, a one-time opportunity to buy some copies of the book at a discount. All proceeds will go toward paying The Man at the publishing house. After that, I’ll just sell them for $12 until they’re gone.

See, 1100 books is not that many. Not really. A couple years ago, I watched, jaw agape, as the poor UPS man unloaded 52 (FIFTY-TWO) boxes of Blushing Bride into my garage. Since Diapers is thinner than Blushing (and there are 1100, not 2300), I’m only expecting a small, teensy-tiny load of 20 boxes.

I’m kind of excited that you get to purchase some books for cheap (if you want), and I get to make a profit I wasn’t expecting. The only one losing out is the publisher (which I only feel the slightest smidge guilty about).

Speaking of diapers (weren’t we?), Happy 1-Week Birthday to my beautiful niece, Mia!

So, until Friday. here’s my offer (these all include shipping costs):

1 Diapers book = $7

2 Diapers books = $12 ($6 per book)

4 Diapers books = $20 ($5 per book)

5 Diapers books = $22 ($4.40 per book)

21 Diapers books = $70 ($3.33 per book)

If you don’t need them shipped, I’ll deduct the amount it would cost to ship them.

If you still want Blushing books,

4 Blushing books = $10 ($2.50 per book)

17 Blushing books = $30 ($1.76 per book)

Want a combo?

2 Blushing + 2 Diapers = $15 ($3.75 per book)

9 Blushing + 10 Diapers = $50 ($2.63 per book)

All you need to do is click here sometime before Friday at midnight and enter whichever amount you want (they’re all different prices, so I’ll know which special you’d like).

If you’d rather write a check, shoot me an e-mail, and we’ll get that worked out.

If you’d like some books but won’t have $ by Friday, let me know, and I can hold them for you. I’m all about the grace period. The GP and I have grown tight over the past year.

Any questions?

Seriously, friends. Your words touched my heart in a way I can’t articulate. God used you to affirm His love for me, His calling on my life and His promise that He wants the very best for me (even if it’s much, much different than what I envisioned). I love you guys, and I don’t deserve such wonderful friends.

The pity party’s over early. I’m so excited about what’s next.

The news wasn’t surprising. Not at all. But it still stung.

I didn’t cry like last time. Well, not at first.

I might as well just say it. You know my book Changing Your World One Diaper at a Time? It’s going out of print. Sales had slowed too much for the publisher to justify keeping it stocked.

I know. Sad stuff. Disheartening, discouraging. It hurts.

I do know it’s not the end of the world. But I feel like I’m at a crossroads in my life/ministry/career. I can’t seem to see through the fog. Everything appeared to be going along so smoothly. One published book a year for the past four years.

And then I hit a wall. And now another wall.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. The speaking thing was an afterthought, something I did to keep my writing alive. Now, the speaking thing is taking off (with no help from me), and the writing is at a standstill.

Part of me wants to figure it all out right this minute. Part of me wants to keep plodding mindlessly along and trust that God will reveal His plan as I go. Part of me wants to take a big, long break from all of it and come back in a few months. Or never.

I’m speaking from a very raw place right now which might not be the brightest idea, but I don’t really care. It is what it is. I am what I am.

The publisher offered to sell me the rest of the copies in their warehouse at a deep discount (just like Blushing). I hate the thought that I just got rid of all those books in my closet just to make room for another failed title. Oh well.

Anyone want some cheap books to give away to new moms?

My dear husband tried so hard this afternoon to “fix” everything. I finally asked him for just one day of being depressed and discouraged. Just one day. He said no. I got mad. Awhile later, he went on a photo walk. When he got back, he said, “How about this? I’ll give you two days to be sad.” Perfect.

See you in two days.

Disclaimer #1: Notice that I changed the title of my post from “The Five Books That Have Most Impacted My Life” to (see above). Unfortunately, I don’t have a running list of all the books I’ve ever read (boo). And I’ve read more than a few (thousand) in the past 30 years.

So. These are five books I own. (Three non-fiction, two fiction.) Five books I’ve read more than once. Are there others I’ve read that have impacted me more? Quite possibly. I just can’t remember them at the moment.

Disclaimer #2: And like I said yesterday, the Bible is a given.

Disclaimer #3: And I’m reading Randy Alcorn’s Heaven right now and probably would’ve switched one of the others out for it if 1.) I had already finished it and 2.) I didn’t already have 2 Alcorn books on the list.

Disclaimer #4: Which is actually more like a Claimer. Nobody gave me these books in hopes that I’d blog about them. I owned 4 of the 5 long before I knew what blogging was.

Without my infamous “further ado,” in no particular order…

Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes

Of the five, I’ve read this one the most times. For quite a few years, I’ve read it every December. It’s a fiction account of two very real people–a pregnant teenage girl and her young carpenter fiance. Holmes does an incredible job of bringing the Nativity Story to life. When I’m tempted to think, “Yeah, how sweet, baby Jesus was born in a stable…,” she reminds me how difficult, how unglamorous, how heartbreaking, how amazing the story of his conception and birth really was. Does she “make stuff up” to fill in the gaps from the biblical account? Of course. But a story that makes me so much more grateful for God’s sacrifice and for Joseph’s and Mary’s as well? Awesome.

Money, Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn

The two things I love most about Randy Alcorn’s writing? He backs everything up with Scripture, and I always close the book with more of an eternal perspective, asking myself, “How does what I know about my eternal future affect how I’m going to live today?” Did you know there are 2,350 verses in the Bible about money? I know! The way we handle our money says so much about what’s in our hearts. This book is sooo convicting, yet somehow such a joy to read. So much I’d never thought about before. So practical. So down-to-earth. Fabulous.

Sacred Travels by Christian George

I don’t even know where to start with this book. I’ll tell you this though. The subtitle of the book is Recovering the Ancient Practice of Pilgrimage, and ever since I read it for the first time two years ago, anytime I hear or read the word “pilgrimage,” I feel giddy. Similar to the way I now feel about the word “zoo.” Speaking of zoos, as I’ll talk about in my Zoo Book, I’ve got this itch to see the world God created. Christian George has seen much of it, and his descriptions of these places he’s been (largely destinations that have spiritual significance) are pure poetry (except they’re prose). This dude can flat-out write. I re-read this book as we prepared to embark on the 52-in-52 adventure, and oh my word. I would literally jump up and down and clap my hands each time I put the book down. It’s that inspiring.

The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan

I’ll admit, this is a book I need to read again ASAP. The subtitle? Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath. If there’s one thing (oh, that there were only one thing!) I struggle with when it comes to doing something I know is a big part of God’s plan for my life, it’s REST. This guy, too, is a brilliant writer. And I could see myself (not in a good way) on every page. “Sabbath is elixir and antidote. It is a gift… to prolong our lives, to enrich our relationships, to increase our fruitfulness, to make our joy complete. And we’ve neglected it.” For whatever reason, I love books about the Sabbath, and this is my favorite. I don’t really know how to rest. This book is a must-read if you share my dilemma.

Safely Home by Randy Alcorn

I’m pretty sure this is the one fiction book that has most impacted my life. It’s a riveting story of a persecuted believer in China, his family, and his cynical American friend (I won’t say much more about the plot–don’t want to give it away). The book is based on real-life stuff that’s happening right this very minute to Christ-followers around the globe. I have no idea how many times I’ve read this book, but I’ve pulled it off the shelf many a time when I’m feeling sorry for myself and BAM! That’s the end of that. I always finish the book with renewed purpose–and this crazy desire to sell all of my possessions and become a missionary. I dare you to read this book and not walk away changed.

So, tell me–which one of these books do you think you’d most like to read? Or maybe you’ve read one or more already? I’d love to hear about your Top 5 Books too!