A good book can be broken by a bad cover. I am not an artist and I don’t pretend to have an artist’s eye. That’s why I’m so thankful for my cover artist, Debi Warford. She has tirelessly worked to present my ideas created with the best possible artistic look. Because I’m not an artist, it’s not exactly easy to work with me. She makes it seem effortless.
Year: 2013
I love our church. When we walked in the doors of that building, we knew we belonged there. After we’d been there for about a year, I said something in a class one time about it, and a friend there said, “You’ve been going here longer than a year, haven’t you?” It feels like we’ve always been there.
Thursday, I opened my computer in the morning and started writing. I ignored that I was doing this daily blog post, I ignored the section in the cookbook that really needed attention, and I ignored the two loads of laundry that needed to be folded and just wrote. Friday morning, I showed up at the appointed time and place for jury duty, wasn’t picked to sit on any of the four trials that day, and went to the library to keep working on the story. I wrote and wrote, came home, fed husband and children, shut the door to my office, and wrote and wrote some more.
Out of four children, I’m the second oldest (and at 5’11” the SHORTEST!) My brother, Jim, is 16 months older than me, my brother, Ty, is 3.5 years younger, and my sister, Misty, is 5 years younger.
Our parents encouraged us to follow our dreams, to create, to imagine. We lived in a household where movies were adored and discussed and dissected. A household where books were consumed with equal passion.
My parents were high school sweethearts. If you’d have asked my mom, when she was 17, what she wanted to be when she grew up, her answer was, “Bill’s wife.” Their high school year books are filled with references to their relationship. “Have a good summer! Good luck with you and Bill!” They’ve been married 45 years, have four children, and seven grandchildren. Somehow, they managed to create a functional, Godly home amongst the cultural revolution of the 70’s and 80’s.
I love our home. It’s a compact house on a rather busy residential street in small town Kentucky. We had to convert a bedroom to create a dining room, and I have to share that dining room for my office, but I love our home. The backyard is big enough to hold the dog, the kids, and a relatively large garden. We utilize every single room inside, and have a huge basement that holds way too much storage (I am so enamored of the simplicity & less is more mindset and am making the basement my goal for the year.)
I have a love-hate relationship with social media. I hate it because it sucks my life away. In order to have a presence there, you must be a presence there. So, when I could be doing a million other things, I have to be present.
I love it because I have made so many incredible friends through social media (including meeting my husband in a long ago pioneer form of social media called an AOL chat room). I also know that I know that if it weren’t for social media, this blog and my writing career would only have a fraction of the success they’ve had.
I often think about how fortunate I am to have clean, running water in my home, especially when it’s canning season. You have to wash the jars and lids, can whatever you’re canning, then fill the canner with water and process the jars. Washing everything and keeping it clean is one of the secrets to canning success. To do this much work with the added work of having to haul water from another source is an incredible thought. Yet, just a few decades ago, hauling water from another source was the norm.
As I’ve worked on this list of 30 things for which I’m thankful, I’ve found that I often quote Bible verses to elaborate on the subject. That’s when it occurred to me that I’m extremely grateful for the gift of God’s word.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
I believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, that He used the Holy Spirit to move men to write the Bible, (2 Peter 1:21) and that it is a living, breathing document that is always relevant. I think that with any situation in my entire life, I can find where the Bible will speak to me. I believe that the “Old” Testament is just as important as the “New” Testament. I believe that the Word of God is a weapon against evil (Ephesians 6:17).