First, I have to give a huge (!!!!) thanks to the 25 folks who guest posted last month. Seriously, twenty-five people agreed to help fill in while I was taking my break. That is absolutely ridiculous. What was even more amazing was that they stepped up and presented quality content here. I am genuinely grateful to each person who donated their work to me to help keep things afloat during my month off. And not just afloat, but like a luxury cruise-liner. I could gush for pages about this, but for reals, know that your generosity was deeply appreciated by this blogger. And if you missed any of the posts last month, be sure to go back and check them out, because there are all kinds of tasty nuggets for your brain and your soul contained within.
So! What was I up to in August? I spent a lot of time working on editing the Not Alone book. The stories are tremendously poignant and I hope through editing, we've made them even stronger. I'm thrilled to announce that my blogging friend Elizabeth Esther will be contributing the foreword to the book. Again, I am blown away by the kindness that I've been shown through this project. People have poured out hurts, fears, abuses, doubts - they have made themselves incredibly vulnerable. In case you missed my post, know that you can head over here to pre-order. The book will release on October 1.
Because one book project is simply not enough, I also pitched a new community book idea to Jonathan Brink over at Civitas Press. We're banging out some details right now, but I look forward to sharing more about that with you shortly. If you've ever been afraid of something, you'll want to stay tuned. (It's not a book about spiders. Or clowns. Or killer robots. So you can breathe a bit easier.) I've also got another e-book on the brain and have started to sketch that out. More about that later as well.
I also had a lovely vacation with my parents. Sadly Jason was unable to join us (sob!), but we did have a wonderful time. I had a great lunch with my mom, some heated (but good!) discussions with my dad, some relaxing time at the pool, a chance to read Tina Fey's Bossypants
(affiliate link) and 20 pounds of chocolate covered sunflower seeds. It was a good vacation.I've also had a busy month with the band. Lots of great gigs and time with some of my favorite, non-relative folks. We've got a couple more weddings on the books and then a bit of a break. Well, for most of us. Our lead male vocalist is getting married, our lead female vocalist is back to another year of dental school and our bass player is expecting his third next month. So hooray for them! That said, I do love these folks. Lots of great car conversations in the driving to and from gigs, some that were so intense that I ended up getting pulled over for speeding! Thanks again, Officer Menendez for the warning. You, sir, are the rock star.
Family-wise, the kids have been back in school a couple of weeks. My oldest is in 8th grade and is playing with the high school marching band, so I've been able to relive my much younger days of Friday night football games. Love it. My son is in 5th grade, which means that he started at the middle school this year. He has made the adjustment well and made a friend the first day. What was cool was that it was a young man that my sister had wanted to introduce him to over the summer, but never worked out. Always a treat when that happens! My younger daughter is in 4th grade and is doing well. She likes her teacher and I think after the shock of 3rd grade, she's doing better this year. She's still a bit of a free spirit for the rigidity of school, but she's doing well. And my baby has entered 3rd grade. It's hard for me to imagine that my little boy is already into one of those defining grades of school, but there we have it! He also appears to be making a good adjustment to the new, more rigorous demands of third grade, and I am so grateful that he has a wonderful teacher to help him with that.
Jason is doing well at his new job. There is a lot more traveling than we thought, but we're thankful that he's got steady employment with a company that is absolutely solid. He seems to get along with his co-workers and that's always a plus! While I will miss him when he's gone, I'm still thankful that I have such a fantastic spouse who is so suited for me. Hooray for happy marriage stuff!
So I think that pretty much brings us up to the present. It's very good to be back and I thank you all for sticking around and being kind to my guests while I was gone. Lots of good stuff to come!
What were you up to this last month? Also, please feel free to include comments about how much you've missed me. Because I'm needy like that.
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