The Wedding of all Weddings

My dearest sis-in-law Susie tied the knot yesterday with her soul mate, Rob--the best guy ever (apart from mine, of course). This is the wedding we have all been hoping, dreaming, and praying for for many many years. Here are some highlights.

The dresses....








The kiddos....











The family....

















The groom....





The Bride!

















And of course me and my hot date

Two Pages

I just got an email from the central coast chapter of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) about a contest for the summer conference. I've already been thinking of attending the summer conference in LA again this year, and am scheming on how to fund it. Winners of the contest get $1000 for the conference.

All I have to do is submit the first 2 pages of my work in progress, and 3 blurbs about it that you would find on the book jacket (if it became a book). Sounds simple enough, but I better make sure those first 2 pages are darn, stinkin' good!

What've I got to lose? Nothing--except maybe $1 in postage. What've I got to win? A free ride to the SCBWI summer conference, and potentially more life-changing magic!

One and Counting...

Lately I've been watching 19 and Counting: the Dugger family. It's insane. They've got 18 kids and the mom is still fertile and not thinking about birth control whatsoever. They're super conservative, and there is plenty to nit-pick about them--even for me, who is pretty conservative! But after a few episodes, you can clearly see that there is something special there. The parents are super patient and upright, the kids are well-behaved but full of personality, they're organized, thrifty, and generous. If anyone's gonna have an army of kids, it should be people like them.

Michael and I always get the question "So how many kids do you wanna have?"

We've never had a definite number in mind. It's funny to me when people do: "Two." Or even "Five". Where does that number come from? Based on our ages, our income, etc. we've had the number 3 in mind, but we're not committed to it.

During the year of trying to conceived Westly, I prayed, "Lord, I will be happy with any number of kids You give me in whatever time frame." When I prayed this, I was thinking about more than less. But now that we're having trouble conceiving again, I remembered my prayer and thought of it differently: I should be happy with any  number of kids, even if that number is ONE. I'm sure we're meant to have more, but if West was our only one, I need to stick to my prayer.

Though I doubt I'll have 17 kids!

Feb Nature Outing

You'll remember I made a New Years resolution this year to take West on a nature outing each month. This month we went to Shell Beach park, a first for us.

Wait...What?

If you've been keeping up on my posts here, you know I've been working on a new book since September. I finished a first draft just before Christmas, and have been working on that. But I'm not crazy about it. I'm trying to pinpoint what's wrong with it, or what it's lacking. And then to complicate matters further...

I got another idea for a book! It literally came out of no where and hit me like a bolt of lightning. It's kept me up at night, and I can't stop thinking about it. I've made a few notes and am feeling excited about it.

But does that mean I completely abandon my other completed story? Do I give up on it for this new idea? Am I ready to start all over again?

One thing that has stuck with me is what David Weizner (author/illustrator) shared at the summer SCBWI conference: "The creative process is messy, but always follow the story."

I think I have to do it. I have to follow this new story.

Going Viral

Only close family and friends know this about us, but I've decided to go viral with it. We've been trying for some time now to get pregnant again. We started trying in May of last year, and I started on a fertility pill (chlomid, which is how I conceived Westly) in October. So far no luck. It's been emotionally exhausting, disappointing, and frustrating.

We've decided to take a little break from the fertility pill. I don't want this to consume my focus. I don't want to miss out on this year and Westly. I want to move on.

But that doesn't mean our desire for another baby is gone, so we would covet your prayers for us in this area.

Happy 5th Anniversary

Not Michael and my anniversary--our house's anniversary! We've owned and lived in our house for 5 years now! What great times we've had, and fun changes we've made to our 'Manor'. The biggest one was re-doing our backyard with a patio.

We did some fun changes like turn the guest room closet into an office space

And of course the best change was turning one of the spare bedrooms into a nursery

May we have many more wonderful memories made at home!