Looks like K names are the new winner (unless the S’s can knock it out of the park). I’m Stunned by the Sheer variety of names your mothers came up with. Thanks for playing Keli, Kylee, Kimberly, Kellie, Kathlena, Kat, Kelly (both Cousin and Zoo), Kara Kay, Kim (all 3 of you), Kristi, Kara, Krisha (yep, you’re the only one!), Kay, Katie, Karey, Kathryn, Krista (aka, Krisco), Kristy, Karen (both of you), and Kelsie. I think that’s 24.

Wowzers. Let’s See what you’ve got, S girls!

~~S is for Stephanie and Sarah and Shelly and Susan and Sacajawea! (and all the rest of you!)

~~S is for Swirly Saturday.

~~S is also for Soccer. After Starting the Season off with losses, Livi and Ava both won their games tonight. Sweet! (and Livi Scored a goal)

~~S is for Science. I had a blast-and-a-half with Nina and Ava and 4 other darling Seven-year-olds today, walking around the coolest Science Museum in the country. Well, I can’t really Say that, because I don’t know for Sure that it is. And honestly? Science is not my favorite. I can handle this place once a year max. (And I know Someone’s going to ask me why in the world I like zoos then. I have no idea.)

~~S is for Supervision. Which is what your 4-year-old apparently needs in the Life exhibit, or you might happen upon her with headphones on, watching a video documentary on circumcision. I promptly removed her from the TV Screen, and we moved on to Something more appropriate–a gorilla c-section.

~~S is for Snot and Stinky and Scat. The new Grossology exhibit was a big hit with the girls. You’d love it, if you’re into Sniffing a hole and deciding if what you’re Smelling is armpit, feet, or anus. And that’s just the beginning!

~~S is for Short(ish) and Sweet and See you Monday! Have a great weekend!

If your name starts with S, give me a Shout!

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.

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!

~~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!

~~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?

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.

~~Thanks to everybody who has RSVP’d for the Zoo Party! Keep ‘em coming! We’re up to 123 guests now with lots more saying, “Let me check with so-and-so or on such-and-such, and then we’ll be good to go!” I’m getting awfully excited! We still need lots of door prizes if you have something fun you’d like to donate. If you create something for a living, I’d love to give one away–and set your business cards out! And my friend Jen is coming all the way from Phnom Penh, Cambodia! SWEET!! I have every intention of returning the favor and visiting her next year in Cambodia when she goes back.

~~Gabe and I got a “Top Secret” letter from Livi’s teacher this week. She asked us to come to an assembly today at 10am because Livi was getting an award. I was thinking Art, because slacker mom that I am, she didn’t participate in Invention Convention or PTA Reflection or Ohio Energy Project or Kemba Community Service, so what else could it be? Turns out she got the Citizenship Award, given to 1 boy and 1 girl in each grade. For students who “show great character” and are “kind to others.” Awwww… I love it.

~~Thanks for your encouraging words about my Blushing Bride Publication Story. I know most of you have heard this 10 times before, but that same book went out of print a year later. Bummer, huh. What a waste. Why, God? After all that work. And the miscarriage. And Grandpa. And what about all the women who wrote to me saying what an impact it had on their marriages? What about that? Huh?

~~In retrospect, there are lots of reasons I’m glad it went out of print:

~~~~I got 2000+ copies for just $1 a copy. When I meet someone who I’d like to thank tangibly, or someone whose marriage needs a boost, or someone who’s thinking of getting married, or the UPS man, I can hand them a gift that’s special but didn’t cost me a fortune. (well, if you add up the 7 million hours I spent writing it over 6 years…)

~~~~Or when people do buy it, I make a couple bucks. Way more than my usual 80-cents (or whatever it is) royalty.

~~~~I’ve learned a lot since I wrote the book. If it ever does get re-printed someday, I have lots of ideas for making it even better.

~~~~I learned the hard way that I have to work hard to spread the word (ugh). The job’s not done when the words have been written.

~~~~And last (though I’m sure there are more), it’s yet another failure I can point to when someone tells me that my life is like a bowl of cherries (which not many people do, but just in case).

~~So, if you haven’t read the book, and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, you can order it for yourself. Just $6 (including shipping). After postage costs and paypal fees (and the $1.09 it cost to buy the book), I’m making about $1. But, hey, that can go a long way at Aldi. Or get one of my kids halfway around a Zoo Carousel.

~~It really is a good book (like I’m going to tell you it stinks).

~~East Coast Zoo Plans are coming along nicely. The schedule is: leave Tuesday (yes, in THREE DAYS!) after school, get home Sunday night, hit zoos in Buffalo, Bronx, (maybe Central Park), Philly, DC, and Baltimore (in that order, Wed-Sun). We’re staying with Denise’s in-laws, Kim, Sarah, and my cousin Johanna, so we’re all set there. If you live close to one of the zoos and want to join us, let me know!

~~Have a great weekend, all!

~~Oh, yeah. We have a winner of Kaye’s fabulous choose-your-own-tile! It’s #28…jennikim! And I actually know Jen in real life–how fun! Congratulations, Jen! I’ll get you in touch with Kaye!

~~Toodles!

the blog virgin

I love to write. It’s one of my life’s greatest passions. I have been writing for as long as I can remember. But, for whatever reason, I have avoided blogging like the plague. It’s probably my perfectionistic nature. My writing tends to be quite personal, and most of it I don’t want anyone to see. The words I do share are ones that have been proofread and edited. And edited again. A blog is writing off the top of my head and sharing it with the world seconds later. Scary.

My darling husband blogs. Why, he wants to know, would someone like me not jump at the chance to blog? Well, I’ve decided to jump. He just designed a fabulous web site for me (will be ready within the week), and I know that my entrance into BlogWorld will make him smile. So, here I am! This isn’t so bad.

My first real published book comes out in 2 months. I’m really excited. It’s been my dream for a long time, and as it turns out, it was part of God’s plan for my life as well. The book is called “From Blushing Bride to Wedded Wife” and hopefully, it’ll be pretty cool. Book #2 has been approved for publication by Harvest House Publishers http://www.harvesthousepublishers.com as well. Yeehaw!

That’s all for now. Don’t want to use up all my words on my very first entry.

p.s. I’m 2 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and baby’s head is “way down.”
p.p.s. Don’t tell my husband, but I really, really want to try to have this little one au naturel (i.e. no epidural). I’ll let you know how that goes!
p.p.p.s. Are postscripts just for letters and such? I’m not well-versed in blog protocol.

Then one week later (January 5, 2006)…

It’s 9:40 am, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Nina will be born today. On the other hand, I’ve thought that same thing for the last 12 days. Today seems different though… Time will tell. I’ll let you know either way…

She was born that day. It seems like a lifetime ago.

Then my 7th blog post ever (January 31, 2006):

Motherhood is a breeze. Having three children is easier than I ever dreamed. So easy, in fact, that every three weeks or so, I have five spare moments to write a blog.

I’m not sure what I thought would be so difficult about it. Surely not being up all night nursing an infant while your middle child fights a fever and stomachache, and you yourself are stricken with violent diarrhea. “Sorry you’ve only been nursing for 20 seconds, Nina, but Mommy has to poop and NOW.”

Surely not going out on a date to Los Cabos with just your husband and newborn and eating the world’s greasiest chicken taco with your right hand and holding a fussy baby in your left. Nina’s favorite pink blanket will remain forever stained.

Surely not writing just seven sentences on your blog, then having to get out of your chair to comfort the crying baby that you just spent 20 minutes getting to sleep. I’m back!

Surely not spending the entire 3am hour trying your darnedest to get your gassy baby to burp. Who says people can’t survive on three hours of sleep for infinite nights in a row? I’m doing just fine, thank you.

Surely not changing your baby on the floor, making sure to put a diaper under her in case she pees, and being the target of an explosive projectile liquid poop, not unsimilar to a horizontal erupting volcano. Picture a squeeze bottle of mustard lying on its side, open. A big man takes a running leap and lands on the mustard bottle. That’s how big and fast and yellow it was. Gabe has pictures.

And sadly, I cannot remember one single more event that transpired in the last month. I cannot remember anything. Not my children’s names. Not simple vocabulary words. Not the time of day or what I opened the refrigerator for. I only pray that my loss of brain functioning is temporary.

Thanks for all of you who check back regularly and wondered when in the world I would write again. I’ll talk to you all again in March-ish.

Oh, the memories. This blogging thing is a gift from God. Really truly. Thank you, Lord!

Speaking of, God rocked my world today with some outlandish provisions that have no earthly explanation whatsoever. From the Pack-n-Play I bought four years ago for $7 and sold today at Once Upon a Child for $12.50 to the unexplainable price mark-downs when I got to the check-out at another store today, God’s fingerprints were ALL over my day.

Praise Him! And happy weekend, everyone!

Mom, Dad, Stewart, Bethany, Isabelle, Daniel and Stephanie spent the day at our place. Metro Gardens, euchre, remote-controlled trucks and airplane, food, laughs, turtles. I love spending time with my fam. And we’re doing it all over again tomorrow at Bethany’s. (Steph and Daniel are in town from SC for a few days–making the most of it.)

~~Thanks so much for praying for Ava. She had a fever again Thursday night but seemed much better Friday. And thanks for praying for my presentation at Livi’s school. It went SO well. I know it was your prayers–and our awesome God.

~~I had Pei Wei AND Chipotle today.

~~The fine folks over at the Sea World Blog blogged about us and our 52 Zoos Adventure this week. What an honor! And what a fun post!

~~Have you entered Kaye’s Engraved Euniques Give-Away yet?? She’s giving away THREE beautiful personalized titles over the 3-day weekend. You don’t want to miss it!

~~And the winner of the Personalized Quilted Backpack from Initial Designs is…

46

Timestamp: 2009-05-23 02:26:10 UTC

Chris!! E-mail me (see sidebar), and I’ll get you in touch with Jenny! Congratulations!

~~More pics of our fun weekend on Word Sabbath tomorrow. And since some of you freaked the last time I showed a pic of one wild animal snacking on another, I’ll just link to it this time. If you’re squeamish, whatever you do, don’t click here.

Have a great weekend, friends!

For starters, blue is my favorite color. Lots of blue at Sea World.

Secondly, I LOVE big animals–the bigger the better. And killer whales do not disappoint in that department. So huge, so powerful, so majestic.

So sleek, so smooth, so shiny. I desperately want to touch one someday.

No matter how many times I see these whales perform, I can’t get over the fact that humans have developed such an intimate relationship with them. I can’t believe all the things they’ve been trained to do. I just shake my head and let my jaw hang.

The girlies before the Viva! (dolphins/aerialists/high divers) show. I looove the anticipation of waiting for a Sea World show to begin. Especially if there’s popcorn and Pepsi involved.

And beluga whales? Wow. Maybe not the most attractive folk (they’re just so… lumpy), but my goodness, they’re fascinating.

Sadly, the other two girls thought they were too old to be posing with marine mascots. Are you kidding me? I’m pretty sure I was still getting my picture taken with Dolly and Shamu when I was in high school.

We saw our first Pacific white-sided dolphins. Rare, stunning, and oh, so graceful. Aren’t they just gorgeous?

The Viva! show was really incredible. Our favorite of the day–even beating out Shamu (which is no small feat).

So, we were waiting for the Sea Lion show, and I start getting Tweets (Twitter lingo) from my blog friend, Kimberly, on Gabe’s iPhone. She lives in San Antonio and was at the park the same time we were! I tweeted our location, we met just as the show was starting and hung out the rest of the day. How cool is that? Here’s her recap of our day.

The five of us girlies posing by the beautiful BLUE water.

The Shamu Coaster was all kinds of fun. Livi and I rode one of the big coasters earlier in the day–more my style. I love the kind of coasters where the harness comes over your head and your feet are dangling.

Nina was not a fan. A month later, she’s still talking about how much she didn’t like this.

I love, love, love feeding and petting animals–after giraffes, dolphins might be my fave. Someday I WILL swim with them.

We just had the greatest day. We HEART Sea World!

EDIT: Here are some pics from Sea World Orlando back in December in case you missed that post. Woohoo, Sea World!

Sea World San Diego, here we come!