–Nina’s kindergarten teacher was just awarded a $900 grant for Kindergarten Web 2.0: Blogging in the Kindergarten Classroom. Oh my word. I could die at the cuteness. Sooooooo excited about this!

–Also excited that the incomparable and hilarious Jen Hatmaker’s new book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, has already made it to a 2nd printing before it even released (the almighty Wal-Mart placed an order–wazowee!). I don’t know that I’ve EVER been more excited about a book. EVER. I’ve read a chunk of it, and it’s been one of those, “Dang it. THIS is the book I wish I would’ve written, but reading it is a lot more relaxing than writing it, so you go, Jen Hatmaker!”

–Speaking of books I wish I would’ve written, I just finished one called Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter’s Uncommon Year. I really enjoyed it and could relate to so much of it (she also has 3 daughters and only homeschooled one). And heck, maybe I’ll write my own (e-)book about this uncommon year of homeschooling.

–After a tiny fiasco with our insurance company (not being thrilled about giving Gabe extra meds to last all the way through Cambodia), I arrived at the pharmacy today to INCREDIBLE news. $892.82 worth of prescriptions meds = $0.00. God bless insurance companies!! Praise you, Jesus!!

–We met our goal of $500 for the Asia’s Hope Super-Duper Special Christmas and Fried Chicken on a Boat Fund! Thank you soooooo much!! Can’t wait to share stories, pictures, and videos of your money in action!

– So I signed up to send a special Christmas package to a 19yo Ukrainian girl who’s living in a refugee community in Atlanta. She’s 5′ tall and loves “ear-rings. BIG ear-rings, make-up (wants to be a make-up artist), t-shirts, bijouterie, socks, nice blouse. White, red, black…” (5 points if you know what bijouterie means and 5 more points if you realize that this is going to be an IMPOSSIBLE task for Ms. No-Fashion-Sense). Enter my darling friend Mandie who is 5′ tall, loves BIG earrings, and used to work at a make-up store. She HOOKED ME UP. Black/red blouse, red feather earrings, black/silver bracelet, a funky black top, and a bunch of make-up samples. I picked up some red, black, and white nail polish and a tube of blackest black mascara, and we’re SET. God is so good to give me fashionable, generous friends.

–Livi goes from being 10 to being 11 tomorrow (Friday), and our Cambodia Countdown goes from 11 days to 10 days today. They’re passing like ships in the night. (???)

–Holy stinkin’ COW! It’s DECEMBER!! We go to CAMBODIA in DECEMBER!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! (Deep breath.)

–That’s all for now. Any tidbits of your own to share?

All that to say this: my thinker is sore, so I’m going to link to some really cool stuff that some really amazing people have written this week.

Like Jen Hatmaker’s post about her Fake Family. (I think she should start a Fake Family bumper sticker line and/or Fake Family stick figure window clings. I’d buy them in a heartbeat.) Also, Jen’s new book comes out while we’re in Cambodia, and I don’t know that I’ve ever been more excited for a book to release.

Except maybe Melanie’s not-yet-written memoir, Sparkly Green Earrings. If you like funny and you don’t read The Big Mama Blog, I feel like you are missing out in the worst way. Mel announced the news about her new book this week, and her post was beautiful.

Tara’s post from Heartline in Haiti had me holding back tears and pumping my fists in praise to Jesus. He answered our desperate prayers in a huge way yesterday, and two beautiful new babies joined the world. So, so, so thankful for the amazing folks at Heartline and Harbor House!

I read this post three times. And I’ll leave out my commentary because I’d be here all night. (You can look for my comments on her post if you’re curious.)

Last thing: a favor. I’m doing one more revision of my e-book before I send it to my three beautiful critique partners. My original title isn’t resonating with me anymore. My next idea got axed by my agent (with good reason). And I’ve been brainstorming titles ALL DAY LONG and I’ve got nothing.

If you were writing a book about how God used the internet to enrich your life by allowing you to meet people online and then meet those same people in real life and stay in their homes and share meals with them and visit zoos and live by faith and realize you’re not as self-sufficient as you thought and that you were really, truly made for relationships and community, what would you call it?

The title needs to “meet a felt need.” Like, someone needs to take one look at it and say, “I’ve been thinking/asking/feeling/wondering about that! I should buy this book!”

If I end up using your title, I’ll give you a free copy of every book I’ve ever written (and any e-books I write for the rest of my life) OR a $25 Amazon gift card.

Disclaimer: If I would happen to use “your” title, but it’s one I already have written down in my notebook at 10:33pm Thursday, it doesn’t count. You can still have free copies of all my e-books though. (Aren’t I nice?)

p.s. Tomorrow (October 1) starts a 31-day series of posts I’m doing with a bunch of other people (you’re welcome to join us!). I’m doing 31 Days of Loving the Poor. So excited!

p.p.s. How is it that I always say I’m tired and/or out of things to write and still manage to pound out 500+ words? I don’t get me.

Praise God for an amazing weekend. Thank you SO much for praying, friends. If I could trouble you once again, Nina and I are driving to Indianapolis tomorrow (Monday) evening (3-hour trip), then on to Crown Point, IN (2 more hours) Tuesday morning for another speaking thing. Thank you for all your praying!!

For you Prayer Doulas, Dalonne was in early labor Saturday with her first baby (I haven’t heard an update yet). Thanks for praying for these ladies!! I’ve got some cool things to share on Bump Day.

Hitting the hay! Have a great week!

I’m writing this little ditty to tell you why I’ve decided it’s worth it to pay $24/year for something I’ve been getting for FREE.

See, there’s this thing called Linky Tools. If you’ve followed along with either of our Read-Alongs (Radical & Your Secret Name), you’ve seen links to other people’s post at the bottom of mine. To get that little thing set up, you just go to Linky Tools and follow the so-simple-even-I-can-follow-them instructions (and believe me, I am soooo bad at computer stuff–Gabe does everything for me).

I went over to get my link for this week’s Read-Along and found out the service is no longer free. It’s $24/year or $2/month. I had 2 choices. No more Read-Alongs or pay $2/month. Hmmm. Tough call.

I’m not sure what it was, but I felt a twinge of empathy for the Linky Tools Guy. He said there are over 16,000 users now, and he can’t keep it free and keep paying all the expenses out of pocket. As a writer who tends to lose more money on my books than I make, I get it. So I paid my $24.

And I thought if all of you Readers-Along contributed 8 or 9 cents over the course of the year, my subscription would pay for itself.

KIDDING. I can picture it now. My paypal account being flooded with dime donations. DO NOT DONATE TO THIS CAUSE PLEASE.

So, why am I blogging about it? Because the Linky Tools Guy is writing a post about it and linking to all the other blogs that use it, and all those other bloggers are writing about why it’s worth it to them to pay.

So what’s in it for me?

The Linky Tools Guy promised me that all 16,000 Linky Tools Users would come over to my site today and want to be my friend.

Okay, not really.

But if you happened to pop over here from Linky Tools Guy’s blog, welcome! If you like words or missions or giraffes or people or laughing or Jesus or books or praying or friendship or the Bible or Cambodia or Scrabble letters, you’ve come to the right place!

If you’re a psychologist (or took a psych class in college), please don’t try to diagnose/analyze my problem. For whatever reason, I’ve got this rebellious streak in me that doesn’t want to do things how they’re “supposed” to be done. When it comes to planning ahead and being organized and all that jazz, I fight it like Rocky Balboa.

I struggle with knowing the difference between trying to be someone I’m not and trying to be someone I should be.

Anyway. I didn’t mean to go into all that. I basically wanted to ask you a question:

If I were to streamline this blog, make it more focused and structured, tame the wild-long posts and make everything more purposeful, what would you want that to look like?

Or put another way, what’s one thing you like to read on this blog and wouldn’t mind seeing more of?

And please don’t tell me what you DON’T like today. I’ll give you that chance on a day when my skin feels thicker. I’m going to a book club tonight where the ladies read Is That All He Thinks About? and they’re going to be sharing how they “really” felt about it. I can’t imagine they’d be cruel, but I’m bracing myself just in case.

Have a great weekend!

1. A shopping spree. Remember the $40 my sweet hubby gave me as a belated b-day gift? I spent it in one fell swoop Saturday at Ollie’s (Ollie’s = bargain outlet/book lovers’ heaven). I don’t know how they do it, but they have all kinds of books and tons of them are Christian and tons of them are new (published in 2010) and ALL of them are cheap. I got 11 books for $40. SWEET.

I’m too lazy to link to them, but I got Stuff Christians Like (Jon Acuff) for $3.99, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (Donald Miller) for $3.99 (that I’ll be giving away…), Serving with Eyes Wide Open (David Livermore), Love Mercy (Lisa and Ty Samson), Transformational Architecture (Ron Martoia)….

Anyway. I heart books.

2. Christmas. I think I might like to write a whole post on this soon (BUT I’M NOT PROMISING). Our Christmases since kiddos have been wildly different (okay, not wildly) each year. One year we got them a ton of little gifts. One year we did the Gold (big-ticket item), Frankincense (a “spiritual” gift), and Myrrh (something for your body–clothes, hair stuff) Gifts. The Year of the Zoo Trip we did Thrift Store Christmas (my personal favorite). This year we’re doing one to-be-determined gift for each girl (probably between $10-$20) and then letting them pick $25 worth of stuff from various catalogs (Samaritan’s Purse, Gospel for Asia, etc) for kiddos in need.

Please don’t think I’m bragging on them, but I love that they’re so excited to give and that they don’t really care about getting as much. They do love to get gifts, but there is so little they want (or need), and I think it’s due in part to all the talking we do about kiddos around the world who have nothing. I just can’t stress enough how important I think it is to start your kids thinking about those in need at a really young age.

Lest you think they sit around rolling bandages for Bosnian refugees (You’ve Got Mail, anyone?), they each have their own iPod Touch, and they love to count their money. But most of what they do/play is school and office and library and making crafts out of scraps we have lying around the house.

Anyway. It appears I did just write an entire post within a post on the whole matter.

3. Love an Orphan, Win a Camaro. A super-generous donor has given Asia’s Hope a brand-new 2010 Camaro S10 to raffle off to some lucky winner. Tickets are just $20 (or 3 for $50 or 7 for $100) and every single penny goes to support orphans through this awesome organization. How many times can you give $20 to kiddos in need and get a chance (they’re only selling 7,000 tickets) to win a new sports car? You could totally buy a ticket for all your hard-to-buy-for uncles and brothers-in-law for Christmas. Details here.

4. One Day Only $2 Book Sale. I got the idea to offer copies of Changing Your World One Diaper at a Time (for $2 apiece) to all the MOPS/Moms’ groups I’ve spoken at over the years, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. So, since my closet is still overflowing with boxes of books, I decided to extend the offer to my blog readers JUST FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22. It makes a great (and cheapo) Christmas gift for the young mamas in your life. If you’re interested, contact me via e-mail with the number of books you’d like (no limit), and I can tell you how much shipping will be. (I send them Media Mail which is super-cheap).

5. Some Un-Money-Related Business. Regular post tomorrow, then I’m taking Wednesday-Sunday off. Regular post on Monday, November 29, RADICAL CELEBRATION November 30th, then NEXT READ-ALONG BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT December 1.

Have a great day!

I can seriously feel my head spinning. And I’m not dealing with it all that well. So I’m just going to get some of the swirl out on the table, and maybe I’ll find the strength to go on. (I could puke at the drama and self-indulgence, yet I feel powerless to stop it.)

~~If you’re an old-timer, you know that these swirly things are what I used to use for my “Swirly Saturday” posts (whoa, my last one was in April). Does anyone know what they’re actually called?

~~I was at the thrift store today and just about bought Ava the cutest t-shirt, but I wasn’t sure what “cerveza, por favor” meant, so I didn’t. Now that I know what it means, I’m a little sad I didn’t buy it.

~~I’m reading a very interesting book right now called @stickyJesus. The other day, a gal named Michelle told me (via Twitter) that she was feeling compelled to do a read-along for the book and asked me some questions about our Radical one. Long story short, she’s hosting and I’m reading along. You’re more than welcome to join us. Details here.

~~But I should tell you… lean in… secret being hinted at here (in bold print)… I’m going to be doing another read-along here starting the first Tuesday in January. I’m pretty excited about how it’s all coming together. I can’t tell you details yet, but I will say this: it’s a very different kind of book than Radical. I’m reading a lot of books right now that are similar to Radical and I was tempted to choose one of those. However, I just felt like doing a little focus shift. This book won’t overwhelm you, it won’t ask you to turn your world upside-down (much), but it will help draw you closer to Jesus, and I’m really looking forward to reading it with a bunch of you.

~~p.s. There will be PRIZES.

~~I had a really lot of super fun with my sisters and their families in South Carolina last week. Have any of you ever played Disc Golf?? I’ll have to share some of the action shots Gabe took. Here’s a not-so-action one for now.

~~This is where we were tonight (Thursday): the Members’ Preview Night of the Wildlights at our zoo.

~~Gabe took this pic on his new camera. I’m so excited for him. He’s been saving up for it for months, and his bonus gave him the last bit that he needed. The camera also takes HD video which sounds great but can be really annoying when you’re trying to “work” and your husband is playing with his new camera. View embarrassing 14-second video clip here.

~~Speaking of PRIZES (well, way up there), if anyone wants to donate something cool to our Radical Celebration (+ Give-Away) on November 30th, let me know. I’ve got several things lined up already, and I think some of you could add some pretty sweet touches.

~~Gabe’s birthday is coming up (Thanksgiving Day), and his mom is treating him (us) to a kid-free Birthday Weekend (Friday evening through Sunday). The woman speaks my love language. Here’s hoping all the relaxation will calm my swirl.

~~ Have a great weekend!