Much in my head, much on my heart. A Whirly Wednesday post might just be in order.

Read the parts that interest you, skip the parts that don’t. Of course, you’ll have no idea which is which until you’re already too far in. Stinks to be you.

1. I sent the check to my publisher Monday (for the order I had to pay for before they’d release my Diapers books). Woohoo! As soon as it clears, they’ll send my 1100 books, and I’ll start shipping them your way!

2. I’ve been getting lots of questions about my Zoo Book lately. Like, “Man, this is taking a long time. When’s it coming out??” Oh, how I’d love to give you a satisfying answer, but things just aren’t going all that hot. For starters, we still haven’t found a publisher who’s willing to take a risk on it . But I’ve been reworking it and giving it a little more zing, and I’m for sure not giving up hope. More next week.

3. Speaking of promises I don’t keep (at least not in a timely fashion), I have NOT forgotten about the necklaces, apron and boas for Cambodia (and Kenya). We’re just about ready to go with it.

4. And speaking of just about ready, FUN NEWS! You know my NaNoWriMo novel? The one I said Gabe was going to make a website for and I was going to sell as an e-book and give 50% of the proceeds to missions? IT LAUNCHES FRIDAY. I know! Isn’t that fun? Basically, you’ll be able to read a section of it each day for the next 10 months. If you can’t wait that long to get to the end, you can buy the whole thing at once for $80. (or $8)

5. More fun stuff! Do you know Laura Wilkinson? 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Platform Diver? Well, she’s just an amazing, godly woman, and I love her to bits. I heard her speak at a conference a few years ago, and then we struck up a Twitter/e-mail friendship a few months ago (follow her on Twitter here). We had plans to meet while I was in Texas in January, but it didn’t work out.

ANYWAY. Gabe interviewed her for his podcast today, and you can listen to it here. She’s got lots of cool stuff to share about kids and sports, the Olympics, following your dreams and taking leaps of faith. Can you believe she got kicked off her high school diving team? Her coach said she was a WASTE OF SPACE. Well.

6. Before I forget, see those ads on my sidebar? When I started my new blog last year, Gabe put ads there in case we wanted to make a little extra $. And we have. Except mostly I forget to have people pay me or I let them have an ad for free because they’re AWESOME (and/or my relative). Anyway. There’s a new one. My cousin Jonna has started her own business as an educational consultant for Discovery Toys. She’s excited about this new opportunity and you can click on her ad for more info. (I do have one more spot if anyone’s keen to buy one. It’s like $2/year or something.)

Last thing–and it’s a biggy. If you skipped the rest of this post, please start reading here. A little girl in Ava’s school was just diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor this week. Her name is Faith, and she’s in first grade. Her oncologist is giving her six months to live. My heart is breaking in two for her and her mommy and daddy and two sisters (9 and 2). I know our God is a God of miraculous healing power, and I’m praying He heals her completely. But if He chooses to take her to heaven, I’m praying He does a miraculous work here on earth in the hearts of everyone who witnesses the next few months of Faith’s life.

EDIT (8:19am): I hadn’t seen this latest post from Faith’s mom, and I can barely type through my tears. The tumor is so aggressive that doctors think it must have just started a few weeks ago. They say that in six weeks, she’ll stop breathing on her own. Oh, Lord, please be merciful to your precious child!

Will you do me a favor? Will you write a quick note to Faith (and/or her parents) in the comments? Just tell her that you’re praying for her and that God loves her (or whatever He leads you to say). I’m going to print out your comments and send them in a card (they’re collecting them at school) for sweet little Faith. And just so you can picture her while you’re praying, Ava says Faith is about “this tall” (4′ 2″ maybe?), has white skin and short, black, straight hair.

Please put your first name and city/state (totally optional) so Faith can see that she has people all over the country praying for her.

Praying blessings on your day, friends! Now, go hug someone special and tell them you love them!