My vision is blurry, my head is pounding, and I have to get up an hour earlier than normal tomorrow, so please excuse this non-post, and while I’m at it, can I ask you a favor (or four), and do you like rambling, run-on sentences as much as I do?

Favor #1: If you’re feeling the slightest twinge of “maybe I should sign up for the James Read-Along, but….” DO IT. I can’t imagine you’ll experience even the slightest regret. Invite your friends to join us too! I’m praying God moves in big, big ways!

Favor #2: If you have 20 seconds, please go leave a comment on this post. My friend Mari wrote a fun little review of The Husband’s Guide and is giving us money for our Cambodia Fund (!!!) for every comment she gets on the post. Isn’t that awesome?!?

Favor #3: I’m watching two beautiful little boys (ages 4yrs and 10 mos) tomorrow (Thursday) for a friend who’s in a pinch. They’ll be mine from 6:45am to 4:30pm. And I’m a teensy bit nervous about meeting all their needs while getting Livi off to school, walking Nina to and from the bus stop (12:20, 3:40), homeschooling Ava, checking my blog comments (teehee), and getting three girls off to soccer practice. Would you pray for me? Thank you!

Favor #4: Tell me your favorite college football team. The girls and I are working on some new washer necklaces, and we want to do some in team spirit color combos. So far, we’ve got requests for Scarlet & Gray (Grey), Maize & Blue, and Chicago Maroon & Orange (from guess who?).

Thanks, friends! You guys/y’all/you people/all y’all y’alls are the BEST!! Happy September!!

Maybe it’s just the time of year, but I feel like we’re on the cusp of an especially large number of new/big things. (And is it just me, or is “cusp” one of the most unpleasant words you’ve ever heard?)

–Gabe just did his first of 10 photo shoots as part of his Get Shot, Stop Traffick campaign. Here’s one pic of the cute little fam. Gabe’s an awesome web designer, but what he LOVES to do is take pictures, so I’m super excited for him. He’s doing 10 family shoots for $100 each. 50% goes to Asia’s Hope and 50% to our Cambodia Fund. (If you’re interested, let me know. He was only planning to do 10, but the slots filled so fast, he said he’d do more.)

–Ava got all her books in the mail today for her first year of homeschooling (Ohio Virtual Academy). She is soooooooo excited, and her teacher-mommy is too. School starts officially on Monday, the 29th.

–Soccer started back up. Two weeks of practices, and then we’ll have 6 games a week for the next 5 weeks. It’s our first year of having 3 girls on 3 different teams. My chances of survival are slim.

–My next e-book is DONE. I just need to round up my awesome critique team and have them read through my final draft, then beg my husband to format the whole blasted thing for Kindle/Nook/iPad, figure out a plan for the cover (hoping this guy‘s up for the task again–he’s amazing), and do some marketing/promo (least favorite part but super-duper important).

–Our home is nearly de-cluttered. I say that, but there’s ALWAYS something else that can go, right? Why, oh why, did it take me this long to associate FREEDOM with LESS STUFF?

–We made our first “necessities for Cambodia” purchase a couple nights ago. Bug spray is a must for Cambodia, and I never really thought about the fact that it will be hard to find in December. I was picking up a bottle of nail polish remover for the girls when I saw 2-packs of Off for $2.13. We bought 5 packs (10 cans for $10.65). Score! In the next month or so, I’ll start sharing ways you can get involved in buying/making stuff for us to take when we go. FUN!!

–I’m speaking at my first Men’s Retreat in October. On sex. Gabe’s coming along for moral support and to help make the men less squeamish. He’s also going to speak some. I’m really excited to see what God will do. And I will absolutely welcome any/all prayers you want to offer up on my behalf.

Enough about me. What’s NEW with YOU?

Every week at church, we all wear handwritten name tags. But with a twist. I have no idea who started the madness, but there’s always some sort of special addition to our names.

Like our favorite fruit. Or the town of our birth. Or our favorite summertime drink. Or our mom’s first name.

Today we had to write whether we were an introvert or an extrovert.

I was a little torn.

Just like that ancient tale about all those blind dudes who each felt a different part of an elephant so they all had a way different description of the beast, I feel like if you polled 100 people who have had different kinds of interactions with me, you’d get 50 different responses.

Or two. Since there are only two choices.

So, which am I? What did I write on my name tag?

Pseudo-extrovert.

I don’t really even know what that means. Except that I think I’m an introvert in extrovert’s clothing a lot of the time. I feel like I should be a social butterfly, and I can play one really well, so I do. But, in reality, I’m way out of my comfort zone.

Our friend Tom helped make it a little easier to choose. “One way you can tell if you’re an introvert or an extrovert,” he said, “is by how you feel after you’ve been around people. If you gain energy by being with people, you’re more likely an extrovert. If you feel drained of energy, you’re probably more of an introvert.”

I definitely feel drained. Like I need to just come home, put on comfortable clothes, and curl up in my bed with a book.

On the other hand, I really do love people. And I do feel energized in many kinds of social situations.

I feel like my life is full of oxymorons. Am I the only one who finds this question agonizing?

Let’s take a poll:

1. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

2. I’m gonna need to see some proof.

I planned to have a calm, delightful 31 party at my home tonight with some good friends.

I did not plan to call Gabe 15 minutes into it, ask him if he could please stop what he was doing and take a quick trip to Urgent Care so our youngest could get 3 staples in her head.

I planned to have a clever, witty post all ready for Friday, August 12th on this new blog called The Word Serve Water Cooler (we’re all authors represented by the same agency, and we–by we, I mean they–started a new blog where we can share writing tips and stuff).

I did not plan to forget all about it until 11:55pm, five minutes before it was supposed to go live. It’s there now if you want to check it out. (Hint: it concerns a certain Zoo Trip and corresponding book I haven’t forgotten about.)

I planned to be in bed by midnight so I wouldn’t be a zombie in the morning.

Hello, 1:27 a.m.

Oh well. Some of the best things in life aren’t planned, eh?

So… any big plans for this weekend?

A week or so ago, there was a question swirling around Twitter and Facebook: Would you give up the internet (forever) for a million dollars?

My answer (with zero hesitation): NO.

No way, no huh, not in a million bazillion years. I love, love, love the internet.

If I gave up the internet, I couldn’t Skype with friends in Cambodia.

If I gave up the internet, I couldn’t release a sweet new long-awaited e-book in October (details forthcoming–on the internet, of course).

If I gave up the internet, I could only apologize to a handful of Democrats instead of a boatload.

If I gave up the internet, Ava couldn’t go to this “really cool school” this fall.

If I gave up the internet, I wouldn’t be able to keep in touch with some amazing folks all over the country (and world). And I wouldn’t be able to pray for/advocate on behalf of amazing ministries in Haiti and Thailand and Kenya and EVERYWHERE.

If I gave up the internet, how would I know about this INCREDIBLE woman and be able to invite her into our home in a couple weeks to share her story with anyone who wants to come?

You know I could go on for days.

I’m sure some of you think you could survive without the internet (and maybe you’re right), but for the rest of you, what’s the one thing you would miss most about the internet if you had to give it up?