Dying to know the history of Swirly Saturday? Wonder no longer.

Dedicating today’s post to the three little beauties who used to look like this (photo circa 2007):

And struggling to breathe through the sharp pang in my chest when I realize how much bigger/older they are now. Especially the youngest one.

Or maybe the pang is because, six months later, I can no longer fit into those jeans. (Or do my hair with the skillz of the Early Show stylist.)

~~I bought this book at the thrift store awhile ago and got it out this week for my 9-year-old. She read it on my bed while I read this book. We chatted, she asked questions, I answered. It. Was. Awesome. Highly recommend the book (the one Livi was reading–verdict’s still out on mine).

~~Speaking of Livi and books, I rediscovered a little funny from 10.18.06. Gabe was getting ready to mail some of my Blushing books, and Livi picked up one of the packages.

Livi: Is this your book?

Me: Yeah.

Livi: There are still people out there that don’t have your book?!

Ha! Yeah, like one or two probably.

~~More from Livi (that same day):

Ava (throwing an absolute fit upstairs–some things haven’t changed in 3 years)

Me (to Livi): What are we going to do with her?

Livi: (shrugs and smiles) Sell her?

~~Ava’s turn! (11.06.06–she was 4)

Me: Ava, what is that on your arm?

Ava: I accidentally wrote on myself with a pen.

Me: You accidentally drew a picture of a girl with curly hair and wearing a dress on your arm??

Ava: (grins impishly. busted!)

~~And all 3 of them from 11.15.06. The context: me putting whole milk in 10-month-old Nina’s sippy cup (which she was refusing to use) as practice for her transition at 12 months.

Livi: What are you doing?

Me: She’s trying big girl milk.

Livi: You have the same milk as me, Nina!

Me: Actually, you have skim milk. Hers has more fat in it to make her chubby.

Ava: Like her mom?

~~And Nina yesterday: “I wish Mommy wasn’t married to Daddy so I could marry him.”

~~When books go out of print and new contracts don’t come, I look around me at these three precious little (big) girls and thank Jesus for the gift of being their Mommy. Besides being their Daddy’s wife (sorry about your luck, Neen), there is no greater calling I could have. If God asked me to give up writing and speaking and blogging and the internet for them for life, I would.

Livi, Ava, and Nina–I love you so much it hurts.

If you’re not familiar with Swirly Saturday, read up on the phenomenon (cough, cough) here. And if you’re stuck inside your house in the middle of a snowstorm, you can read the first 19 “issues.” Or go sledding with your loved ones. Whichever you think will be less painful.

Jumping right into The Swirl.

~~HAPPY 59th BIRTHDAY, DAD!! I love you!! You’re the BEST dad a girl could have!

~~Up until 2005, my daddy got to celebrate his birthday with his daddy. Grandpa would’ve been 90 today. Love and miss you, Grandpa! Tell Jesus I said hi!

~~You know how my sister Stephanie Dawn had a baby girl on Wednesday? Well, did you know that Steph’s husband Daniel also has a sister named Stephanie Dawn? True story. And guess what Daniel’s sister Stephanie did right after my sister Stephanie on Wednesday? HAD A BABY. Mia and Miles. Sweet little South Carolina cousins born on the same day, 15 hours apart. I LOVE IT.

~~I’ve shipped 171 Blushing Bride books out this week. 51 more ready to ship once I get the checks. And several more left that I’m willing to part with. I can do 5 more boxes of 17 books (for $15 to cover shipping). Let me know if you’d like one of them.

~~Beth Moore’s new book, So Long, Insecurity, released Wednesday. I bought my hardcover copy from Amazon for $12. You can’t beat that! I don’t buy many books, so rest assured that I expect this one to be GOOD.

~~I was hoping to get started on the Boa and Jewelry Sales by the end of this week, but that didn’t happen. I have high hopes for next week!

~~My friend Mary Kate sent me this List of Book Titles in case I’m drawing blanks for my next book. I’m totally thinking of using one of them.

~~I got to do an interview with Moody Radio’s Midday Connection Thursday afternoon. We chatted about Expecting, which was super fun. It airs in March.

~~And did you need to see another picture of my new niece? I thought you might. This is her daddy, Daniel. A real nice guy who says “y’all” a lot.

~~May the rest of your weekend be cheery and bright!

Oh, Swirly Saturday! I’ve missed you! Let’s belly-flop right in, shall we?

~~Kathi Lipp, author of The Husband Project, has sweetly offered me TWO MORE BOOKS to give away! (for a total of 3 winners) It’s not too late to enter to win one!

~~I’m speaking at a church in Maumee, OH (northwest corner of the state) on Wednesday, October 21 at 7:00 pm. The topic: Unsolved Mysteries: The Case of the Opposite Sex. Anyone’s invited! I don’t usually get to invite people when I speak at stuff, so I’d LOVE it if some of you could come. Bring friends! Bring your husbands! Bring your youth group! It’s going to be FUN–I promise! Details here. (The church started a facebook group, and so far, there are 7 confirmed attendees. One is me.)

~~I know a lot of you know this story already, but my friend Kristen added some more details to her blog yesterday. Angie Smith wrote about her friend C. here. Then C. (Candice) wrote her story here. Then Kristen (Candice’s counselor and my dear friend) wrote more here. Praising our awesome, sovereign God!

~~I love reading. I love writing. I love reading about writing. I’ve been wanting to “give back,” so to speak, when it comes to my writing “expertise.” Maybe “pay it forward” is more accurate terminology. What I’m saying is this–there are lots of writers out there who spend lots and lots of time compiling information and sharing knowledge with other writers. Sometimes I feel like blogging about writing. Then I think, “It’s all been said already. What do I have to add?”

~~That paragraph was so swirly I need to start over.

~~Next week will be Writer’s Week on the blog. Monday through Friday, I’ll be offering hopefully-helpful tips to those of you who are writers (whether or not you dream of publishing a book someday). If writing doesn’t interest you, consider this an invitation to take a week’s sabbatical from my blog. Or stop by anyway. There might be something you can glean from all the shop talk. Writers–come with questions! I’ll have answers (they may not be the right ones, but…).

~~We have top-secret plans for the next couple days. They may or may not involve scenarios similar to this one.

~~Have a great weekend, friends!

~~Haven’t done one of these puppies in awhile. Since it’s almost 1:00 a.m. and all my thoughts are just one big swirl anyway, it will be perfect.

~~Thank you SO much for praying for me today. My problems haven’t disappeared, but my outlook on them is MUCH better.

~~I can’t wait to tell you about my Great-Grandpa Figley. He died many years ago, but he was one of my favorite people when I was little. And he did something that will AMAZE you.

–I also can’t wait to share a poem Gabe’s Grandma Marilyn wrote me when I graduated from Cedarville. As luck would have it, I even inherited my love of reading and writing from Gabe’s side of the family. (teehee)

–Speaking of poetry, do you like to write it? Ever wished you could get a poem published? Well, this might be your lucky year. I’ll give details soon, but I’m going to need some original poems–limerick, haiku, free verse, whatever other kinds of poems there are (I’m essentially poetry-illiterate). Hint: they’ll be about animals. And if I like your poem, it will go in a book. Woot!

~~Speaking of books, the Zoo Book is coming along swimmingly. Praising Jesus for a couple breakthroughs!

~~Speaking of zoos, I still have 10-ish zoos to tell you about (and show you pictures of). How fun!

~~If you couldn’t tell, this post is actually just a To-Blog list for me for the next week or two. Going to print it out when I’m done writing.

~~I did a phone interview Thursday night with May Chen, a reporter in Beijing, China. I wish so badly I could’ve recorded it and played it for you. She was a million kinds of adorable. The first thing she asked me to do was “speak slowly” so she could take notes. If you know me, you know how good I am at speaking slowly. I was proud of myself, but man, I sounded like an imbecile. (I think I exaggerated the slowness a bit much.) Anyway, May’s English was wonderful, and I just wanted to hop on a plane to China and give her a hug.

~~She was shocked by so many things. For one, that kids in America have time to “play.” Kids in China, she said, are in school or taking lessons ALL the time. Boo.

~~ The girls’ entire room is one big tent and has been for a couple days now. They sleep under it and everything. I’m making them take it down tomorrow though, because we have no access to their dressers or closet, and they’re running out of clothes fresh from the dryer.

~~God is good. All the time.

~~Enjoy your weekend, friends! Any thrilling plans?

Well, I planned on figuring out a bunch of cool stats from our Zoo Year to share with y’all tonight.

BUT.

It’s almost 2:00 a.m., and I have a big day ahead of me. I know, what could possibly be bigger than 11 zoos,1 Sea World, 14 states and 6376 miles in 15 days?

Oh, it’s not that big. Just some laundry and a family reunion and a double bridal shower (I’m giving the devotional) and some food shopping and buying shower gifts and trying to stave off the inevitable Zoo Trip After-Crash until at least Sunday afternoon.

Here’s what I’ve got:

# of zoos we’ve been to in the past 51 weeks (not counting the Columbus Zoo we go to all the time): 51

# of hotels we’ve stayed in: 7

# of families we’ve stayed with: 31

# of nights we stayed with those families: 44

# of families we had never met until we showed up on their doorstep: 17

# of families we’d met online, then in person, then stayed at their house: 2

# of families we had met briefly but barely knew: 4

# of families related to us by blood: 4

# of families who were already good friends of ours: 4

# of people who joined at one or more zoos: I have no idea.

# of zoo tickets we paid for: 6

# we got for free: 264

I have a favor to ask. If we stayed in your home or you joined us at a zoo, could you share one of your favorite memories from our experience? I’d love to include some of your thoughts in the book!

Oh, it’s good to be HOME.