A Great Start to the New Year

First of all, Travis came home from his mission in early January.


He's the last of my brothers-in-law to come home. The next missionary out will be my own John. Egads. I can't tell you how extremely grateful I was that Brian's family (and Brian) let me be a part of his return. Travis is such a sweetheart. I really love that kid. I mean man. Whatever. It's been good to have him home.


And here we have Boot Boy:

Christopher is making up for his status as the last child by being the first to get stitches and now, a broken bone. Well, a fracture. In any event, we lived with this fine specimen of high fashion for four weeks. Christopher has had one day without it and is slowly getting his strength back. Getting him to put weight on it was a bit of a struggle. We saw a lot of hopping and crawling there for awhile. Now he's limping but at least both feet are on the ground. Oh, I neglected to mention how it happened. He jumped off the top bunk over at his dad's place. A week later I caught him almost doing it again at his cousin's house.

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Are you kidding me?

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These next two pictures are here for my own entertainment. After giving a Christopher a shower and realizing we forgot a change of clothes, I left him in the bathroom while I fetched said apparel. This is what I came back to:

He was chewing gum and blew a bubble which popped all over his freshly-washed face. He even had gum in his eyelashes. He thought it was hilarious.

These are pics from our trip to Rawhide yesterday. Thanks to the 40th Anniversary celebration, we were able to enjoy all the attractions for free. (Yeehaw for free!) The lines were a bit long though, so after poking around, riding the train and watching a fabulous gun fight, the boys decided they'd had enough Western adventuring and we went home.

On a more personal note, I continue to receive plenty of encouragement and support from those around me, sometimes from the most unexpected sources. I have been greatly blessed by the Lord and am extremely grateful for it. I'm doing well and am feeling healed and adjusted. I've entered the dating scene and am really enjoying it. I'm tempted to go into more details about that, but I won't. ;) A blog just isn't the place.

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I WILL say that I've discovered (or maybe rediscovered) a passion for dancing. I'm talking the real dancing. Salsa, waltz, nightclub two step, merengue, stuff like that. I didn't even know those dances but I'm learning and I can follow a strong lead just fine. Who knew so many men my age knew how to dance like that? That's a new requirement for Future Mr. Whomever, BTW. ;)

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Along the lines of discovering or rediscovering things, I feel like I'm rediscovering my old self. There were parts of myself which I had allowed to be buried by my circumstances over the past many years, or which I buried all on my own. Turns out I'm a lot more relaxed, fun-loving and confident than I once thought. I'm having fun discovering new interests (I did mention the dancing, didn't I?) and I'm putting together a whole new way of living my life, which is exciting. There are many things I've longed to do over the years (like hike) which I'm finally getting to. I have a bit of lost time to make up for, but I'm having a blast doing it.

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Another thing I'll say, which sort of relates to the dating arena, is this: it's fun to flirt. If you married ladies aren't flirting with your husbands, you should be. ;) LOL

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Also, I started working on a new novel last Fall. A series of events caused me to set that aside and pick up the novel I sent out a few years ago, Gift of the Phoenix. I've spent quite a bit of time revising the manuscript and am currently preparing to send it out again. The list of agents I'm considering is short. I'm also sending to the only fantasy publisher who welcomes direct submissions from authors: TOR.

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If you love me at all, you will pray for my book.

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:)

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Because let me tell you, I've yet to find a career path that will provide for my family AND allow me the flexibility to actually be a mother to my children AND which does not first require 2-5 years of full-time schooling AND which will be something I actually want to do.

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Unless you consider becoming a successfully published writer as an option.

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Which I do.

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So please pray for me.

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Once I send the manuscript out, I'll return to the new book I started in the Fall. As part of my preparation for that book, I'm planning a research trip to Sedona. My good friend Tammy has agreed to be my chaperone. Should be fun!

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As for the America Jane site, I've had no time for it lately. Which is sad. Maybe if I were willing to sacrifice some of my dancing time (which I'm not) or my writing time (which I'm definitely not) I could get something done on it. Oh well. I can't do it all now can I? ;)

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Until next time!