DONE!

After countless grueling hours at the computer, "Amanda's Hope -- A Choice For Life" is finished!
When I started this process, I had no idea how intense it would be, and I can honestly say I'm relieved to have it completed.  I'm ready to sign off on the galley and covers after I get the final word from a friend who is reviewing the manuscript one last time.
Writing a novel 300 pages long isn't something I ever dreamed of doing.  When I was a child, I wanted to be an artist when I grew up!  But life has a way of interrupting plans, and out of necessity I went into the legal secretarial field.  Now, however, a passion to write and speak is burning in my soul, and I believe God is going to use this book to launch my later-in-life-and-more-fulfilling career.  I've felt trapped in a box for months and am eager to see what God is going to do!  I may be over 60, but God isn't finished with me yet!
Thanks for your support and prayers, and I ask that you continue to pray for God's leading as I step out of the boat and walk in faith on the waters placed before me!

Simple Lesson

Okay, I know it's been way to loong since I posted, but I've been busy!  My job has required a level of work for me that makes it difficult to leave my desk and get a drink of water or coffee!  As most of you probably know, when you come home, you want to just sit and not do anything, but most of us don't have that luxury.  Dinner to prepare, laundry to wash, kids who need time and attention, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. calls to us, and we MUST answer!  I'd dare to say that most of us have other things to do besides the ordinary, too, and my project has been my book.  I've spent tedious hours going over the manuscript and came up with over 60 errors/changes that had to be made, but those are done and now I have to look at it again to make sure everything is set so it can go to press.  The jacket is ready, and once I sign off on both the jacket and interior, things will move forward.
I had a little scare at the beginning of the week.  I developed back pain beginning Saturday afternoon, and it intensified so much so that I left work at noon on Monday, called my orthopedic surgeon, and went to see him at 4 p.m.  X-rays showed I had soft tissue swelling at the surgical site due to calcification of the spine.  I was given tapered Prednisone and a muscle relaxer and told to take it easy, so I took Tuesday off and did nothing but sit at my computer and work on the book with the heatpad on my back.  Friday morning was the first day I had no pain, so I was greatly relieved that there's nothing else going out of whack in my back!
When I woke Friday, the alarm wasn't set to go off for another 45 minutes, so I crawled out of bed, dressed and headed out the door for a brisk walk.  We were enjoying very warm weather for several days in this area so I wanted to take advantage of it because storms were on our doorstep and would sweep in much cooler temperatures.  As I walked down the street that connects to ours and which is the main street through our development, I saw an old truck parked at the curb.  I'd seen this truck before -- last summer some men were working on it in the driveway of one of the houses.  It looked much better now as the interior had been restored and the exterior was in the process of being done, leaving the truck body with gray and red patches. 
Then God revealed a simple lesson to me.  We're like that truck.  It had been wasting away somewhere when someone came along and decided it was worth value, pulled it from the dump, and started giving it a new life.  How like that is God!?  He finds us where we are, lost in our sin, worthless and falling apart, and sees our value and what we can become.  He pulls us from the dump and changes us from the inside out, restoring our hearts, which is then reflected in our bodies.  Soon, we're functioning again, working for His kingdom and His glory.
A rescued vehicle which is beautiful just on the outside isn't what someone expects.  When a vehicle is restored, the interior is also done, which is the way God works.  If you feel like you've been discarded and left to decay, remember that God knows where you are and wants to pull you from the trash heap of Satan's kingdom to bring you into newness of life and complete restoration in Him.  All you have to do is say yes to the price He paid -- Jesus!

When?

Life is moving at both breakneck speed and a snail's pace!  Work has been extremely busy these last two weeks.  The stress has been almost unmanageable.  As a result, I have a lovely sore on my upper lip which was finally healing, or so I thought.  Now, however, it feels like another one is breaking out right next to it! 
Mondays come quickly after weekends that seem to fly by.  The work week drags along but before I know it, it's Friday again!  Going home and doing my "other" job drains me completely, leaving me no energy to review what I really need -- and want -- to do. 
"Amanda's Hope" will be ready to go to press as soon as I can proof the manuscript.  This isn't an easy task as the story runs 304 pages in novel size.  The cover is completed, and I must say I think it looks great!  Reviewing the manuscript requires meticulous scrutiny, and any errors and/or changes must be compared to the original manuscript to see if it was an error I made or one which the publisher made.  I can't do this type of work when I'm exhausted from a long day in the office.  I was able to do some review the other day when I left work early to watch my grandson play in a basketball game with his school's team.  I realized that there are errors in the manuscript, but I hope there aren't too many.  So I'm wondering WHEN I'm going to get this task accomplished?!  WHEN will the book go to press?  WHEN will I be able to seek speaking engagements for promoting the book and its subject?  WHEN will I be able to do what I love to do?
I know it's not for me to know when, and that's the hard part -- waiting and trusting God to bring these things about.  I'm praying for patience.  I believe God has called me to be a writer and a speaker, and I trust that everything will come together in HIS time, not mine.  But oh, how I want to finish reviewing the manuscript and get this into the hands of my publisher!!
On a lighter note, my grandson made several baskets in the game, and his team was up one point at the half, but they lost by 9 points.  It was a very tough, well-played game.  I was impressed with the skill level of these 8th-grade boys.  The last time I saw Luke play basketball on a team, I think he was 6 years old, and it was actually laughable!  Not anymore!  I cheered so much I almost lost my voice!  But that's what a proud grandmother is supposed to do!

Sammy's Snack

Cats are bound to catch mice if they are allowed to go outside.  Our black cat, Samson, a/k/a Sammy, has done his fair share of mousing through his 13 years of life, but he hasn't limited his hunting skills to mice.  Besides mice, he has brought us frogs and toads, lizards (small ones), one huge rat, two young oposums (one dead and one alive in the same night), multiple birds, and small voles.  Saturday he brought us a mouse which was still very much alive.  Being a nice day outside, we quickly shut the cat door to prevent him from taking his catch inside and then we went outside to congratulate him.  Soon he dropped the mouse on the grass and proceeded to bat it around.  I felt bad for the mouse; it was still alive and squeaking madly.  At times Sammy would walk away and watch his catch from afar, but he always came back to it, especially when the little crittered tried to get away.  That, however, was not possible as the mouse was injured and unable to run quickly.  I videotaped the episode in clips and took some photographs just for the fun of it.  During what turned out to be my last videoclip, Sammy started gnawing on the little critter, who finally had met his demise, and then he ate it -- every last bit of it!  Now, I've seen Sammy eat mice before, but it's been years since he's done that.  I can honestly say I haven't seen him eat a mouse for the last 4 years, ever since he had several teeth removed.
This mouse, however, must have been too good to pass up.

The Pursuit of Money

As we face a presidential election this year in the U.S., we're again confronted with the issues which plague our society.  During the current administration, we've seen the collapse of the housing market and the decline of car sales.  We've seen thousands lose their jobs and then their homes through no fault of their own.  We've watched helplessly as banks and mortgage lenders have gone under through their practices of making bad loans.  We've witnessed CEO incomes skyrocket while the average person's has declined or stayed level at best.  Prices are soaring everywhere.  We've lived well beyond our means. 
I'm over 60 years old now, and I'm literally shocked when I go into a grocery store to do my weekly shopping.  Things don't cost cents now -- they cost dollars!  When I was young, bananas sold for ten cents a pound; 59 cents per pound is the current price.  Eggs used to be 29 cents a dozen.  A loaf of bread was also 29 cents.  Milk was less than a dollar a gallon.  I remember gasoline being 24 cents a gallon, and that was in the days when someone pumped it for you, checked your oil, and washed your car windows for free!  Disposal diapers were invented around the time my daughter was born, but I used cloth diapers, rinsed them in the toilet, soaked them in a bleach solution, washed them and then hung them to dry in the sun.  Now they're practically unheard of.  Tennis shoes were basic foot wear, not the fancy brandname shoes of today.  I don't even remember "designer clothes" being prevalent in school.  Those who came from well-to-do families simply had more and nicer clothes.
As the years have passed, prices have soared while incomes have not kept up with the cost of goods.  Yet we think we must have it all -- right now!  Newly-married couples purchase homes that require two incomes to meet the mortgage, and in doing so, they mortgage any free money they could have with which to help others.  They lock themselves into a lifestyle that keeps the woman from being an at-home mother when the kids arrive.  They must have two nice cars in the driveway and a house full of new furniture to make the statement that they are doing well.  Everyone has been chasing money, and the collapse of the economy is proof that God's Word is true.  People cannot serve, or pursue, two masters; pursuing God and pursuing money can't be done (Matthew 6:24).  When everyone is out for themselves, to line their pockets, to make their lives more comfortable, and to take luxurious vacations while other people try to figure out how they're going to feed their kids that day, we enlarge the gap between the have's and have-not's and sin against our Creator.  We have become people who no longer distinguish between "needs" and "wants."  We've become a people who place more value on our income level than on the people who don't have an income.  We sit in our well-appointed homes and consider not the plight of others who simply have been born in the "wrong" country.
When we hoard money for ourselves while others die from lack of food and/or water, we are sinning.  It's as simple as that.  I'm not saying that having nice things and going on vacations is wrong, but I am saying we need to give away as much as we can to help those in need.  When the offering plate is passed at church, do you tithe?  Or do you throw in a $5 or $10 bill and feel good about your generosity?  I firmly believe that if people who call themselves Christian would tithe their incomes, the church would have no financial concerns and would be able to be the hands of Christ to those who desperately need it a thousand times over. 
Our pursuit of money has caused the financial crisis in this world, and when the main point of concern becomes the economy and not our moral fiber, we are heading down the path to destruction.  God's Word is true -- always has been, is and always will be.  We cannot pursue wealth at the expense of others and a relationship with Him.

Done!

After very long hours of editing, "Amanda's Hope" is done! 
I'd submitted this to my publisher, WestBow Press, and had received the editor's suggestions about 8 days ago.  I took Friday off last week to work on the manuscript, thinking I could wrap things up today without working on Saturday and Sunday.  Such wasn't the case.  I worked 7.5 hours on Friday, editing about 60 pages when my goal was 100.  So I worked about 5 hours on Saturday and 2 hours yesterday, when I had a computer scare.  When I turned on my laptop, the screen was blue with an error message.  It told me to turn off the computer and try again, but it wouldn't shut down.  Something inside it was running continuously and overheating, sending out an odor that made me put it outside, where the temperature was about 43 degrees, to stay cool.  We called my son-in-law whol told me I had to hold the power key for about 10 seconds to shut it off, and that worked.  When I rebooted, everything was fine, but that was a scare. 
I saved the edits on a thumb drive and worked in it from that point on.  Today I worked for about 8 hours and finally completed the edits.  I'm pleased that the book is now a lot better and will read better. 
I'll e-mail the document to WestBow Press tomorrow evening; I'm too tired to do it tonight. 
The book should be completed within 4 weeks!  I'm excited about the fact that it will be marketed nationally, as well as available in hard cover, soft cover, and e-book.  I'm just happy to be done with it.  I've done nothing but stare at a computer screen for days!
By the way, the cat that comes to visit got shut in our garage today.  My husband had come home for lunch and had gone back out to work.  About an hour later, I heard a cat howling, but my 2 cats were in the house, Delilah on a kitchen chair and Samson on the rocker in the living room.  After following the howl, I discovered the cat in our garage.  He was very glad to see me and the open door!

Cat Walk

Life presents some strange happenings at times, and yesterday I witnessed one of them.
I took the day off yesterday to work on my manuscript of "Amanda's Hope."  I got the editorial review from the publisher and am in the process of editing the entire book according to the review of the first 1700 words.  Reading the manuscript with an editorial eye is quite exhausting and time-consuming.  I wanted to get 100 pages done yesterday but managed to do only 60 in 7.5 hours of work.  I situated myself in our small office which is at the back of the house and wrapped on three sides by four sliding glass doors, which lend an outdoor feeling to the space.  With my laptop literally on my lap, I sat facing the birdfeeder suspended from a wire outside the west-facing sliding glass door in order to enjoy my feathered friends as I worked.
During the morning, before Bob left for work, we noticed a cat that didn't belong to us wandering through our back yard.  It was a rather large cat, striped gray with a white chest, white chin, and white legs.  Obviously not a feral cat, it slowly wandered around our yard and deck.  Not wanting my cats to get into a fight with it, I went outside thinking that it would run away at my approach.  But it didn't.  He sat down and looked at me and then came up to me and let me pet him.  He was well fed and clean and had an obvious scar across his nose from a previous fight.  I told him that it would be a good idea if he left, and he wandered off, following the stones that lined our grassy areas all the way to the side of our house.  I went back to the computer and to my work.
Later, about half an hour before noon, I heard the cat door flapping and quickly glanced up to see Delilah coming through the door.  Delilah is my female cat, grayish-brown tabby with a white chin and very long fur derived from her Maine Coon Cat ancestry.  With my quick glance to the cat door, which was located about eight feet from where I sat, I thought to myself, "I didn't know Delilah was outside," but didn't think anything more about it and resumed my editing.  Several minutes later, I heard the cat door again, and I glanced at it again and saw that Delilah was going outside, but something caught my gaze and held it.  It wasn't Delilah!  It wasn't even my cat!  It was the cat that had been wandering in the yard that morning.  I laughed so hard as that cat calmly exited through the cat door.  It was obvious that he knew how to use a cat door and had probably used it before. 
Stunned silly, I realized that Delilah hadn't come in earlier; she was laying in her usual place on a kitchen chair the whole time!  This other cat had simply come into our house through the cat door, wandered around unbeknownst to me, and gone back outside of his own accord.  After I got over my initial shock, I went outside onto the deck, where the visiting cat had settled in the sunshine.  Again, he allowed me to pet him (don't know if it's male or female).  I relayed to him that it probably wasn't a good idea for him to come into my house univited.  He doesn' come in for food because our cats are fed canned food twice a day; there's never dry cat food sitting in bowls.  I have no idea what possessed that cat to do such a thing yesterday.
This strange visit might explain why I've been awakened several times to the sound of the cat door being pushed open during the night when both cats have been on the bed with me.  It makes me wonder how many times this other cat has come and gone through our house without us knowing.  And since we're gone during the daytime, this could be occurring on a regular basis without our knowledge.  Our strange visitor didn't do any harm yesterday, but I'm concerned about him coming in and fighting with my cats while we're gone.  By the way, my cats were sleeping, one on a kitchen chair and the other on our bed, while this non-resident wandered through our house!
I had to call Bob after this happened yesterday; it was just too funny to me!  And the fact that I cast such a quick glance at the cat and didn't notice that it wasn't mine was even funnier!
This reminds me that unwelcome people or things can enter our lives without our permission.  Instead of looking intently at situations or people for what they really are, we cast quick glances only later to realize that we should have prevented such an intrusion.  Oftentimes people enter our lives and wreak havoc and then quietly leave.  We need to be mindful of what enters our lives, our hearts, and our homes.  We must keep guard over our literal doors andyour spiritual doors lest the enemy of our souls quietly and unobtrusively enters and does us harm.