1000 gifts: Thanksgiving edition

The 1000 gifts is a list of all the gifts God has given me that I'm thankful for.

105. the Buzz Lightyear Spanish Button
After watching Toy Story 3, I posted on Facebook: "ladies, wouldn't it be nice if our husbands had a "Spanish mode" button like Buzz Lightyear? When Buzz got switched to Spanish mode, he suddenly turned into a sweet-talking Latin-dancing romantic fool! A friend on Facebook replied: "Personally I think they should come with GPS locators so when they wonder off when you are out with them, it's easier to find them!" Another friend posted: "I would love the French button too!" I added another comment: "while we are at it, how about an Italian button" (why not have a guy that can speak all the romantic languages? ;)

106. Amy Grant's song "Better Than A Hallelujah"
The video made me cry. I love this song! It's worth watching on YouTube.

107.  Horses trained to dance with bulls
Beautiful and heartbreaking in an entirely different way is this video of a famous horse trained to fight bulls in these Portuguese fashion. It is basically torturing the bull, but you can see why people love it: the action of the horse is absolutely breathtaking. I love this horse's name: "De Orpheo a Merlin de Rafi a Pablo"

108. Dogs aren't the only ones who mark car tires
At my friend Treva's birthday party, I ran into some old friends I hadn't seen for a while: Pete and Debbie. Somehow I got Pete to talking about how and Debbie got together. He said the reason why she went out with him is because he scared all the other interested parties away. In fact, he "marked her car" so that everyone would know she was his girl. I about died laughing.

109. Dragons on Facebook
My friend Jim posted this on my Facebook page: "Please put this as your status if you know someone who has been eaten by dragons. Dragons are nearly unstoppable and, in case you didn't know, they can breathe fire. 60% of people won't copy and paste this because they have already been eaten by dragons. 38% of people are sitting in the shower armed with fire extinguishers, and the remaining 2% are awesome and will repost this. Happy Gobble Day!" He knows I have a great love of dragons... but its also a spoof on those earnest Facebook requests to re-post some dramatic fact or event that we think everyone should know about it!

110. "Just beat them with your cane"
We drove to South Dakota to spend Thanksgiving with B's parents and his brother and sister's families. My sister and brother-in-law, Monica and Tyler, helped me plan a surprise 40th birthday for B. We bought a bunch of gag gifts and "Over the Hill" balloons. But the best decorations were the posters that my nieces Taryn and Breanna made, with sayings like "if they tease you about your age, just beat them with your cane."

111. Exploding birthday cakes
And the birthday cake - oh, the birthday cake! Tyler set four rat traps in a cake pan and then covered them with cake batter and baked them. Then we made B. cut the cake, of course. He sliced into the cake with a funny look ("doesn't feel like it got baked all the way, or something") He had it all sliced up, and still nothing had happened. Then Monica gave it a few more probes with a knife, trying to get it go off. Finally after we'd pretty much given it up as a failure, the traps started going off and flinging cake across the room. B. didn't get hit, but he was surprised!

112. A pinochle "consultant"
One of my husband's family traditions when we all get together is to play partner pinochle, but this year I refused to play because the game just gets too cutthroat for me. Of course everyone harassed me all weekend about not playing! Tyler even kidnapped my laptop and held it hostage to try to force me to play. So I kidnapped his laptop in return. I assured everyone that I was more than happy to be a pinochle "consultant" instead of playing myself. A "consultant" of course looks at every body's cards and then drops hints about what they might be holding.

113. Finishing NaNoWriMo right before the deadline on November 30
...for my third win. I'm so excited about this novel. It's a love story that I got the idea for over12 years ago. It's finally coming together now that I found a historical setting for it at the end of the Roman Empire.

114. Getting a friend to do NaNoWriMo with you
This year, my friend Nicole joined me for NaNoWriMo and finished her book about genies - I can't wait to read it! (I still have 1/3 of my book left to write, but then we will exchange manuscripts).

1000 gifts: fall edition

The 1000 gifts is a list of all the gifts God has given me that I'm thankful for.

91. Stars falling in love with a new horse
Stars finally got her horse sold after trying for over a year (for twice as much her family originally paid for her - all the hard work with training paid off!) She needed a taller horse because she's gotten so tall, almost 5 foot 9 inches. We were able to contribute some money to help buy her new horse. Roy is a 16.2 hands tall Quarter Horse and he has an impressive show record in both English and Western pleasure and equitation - Stars is thrilled! Unfortunately show season is over for the year, but watch out for this pair next spring!

92. A palomino horse for the girls
To help purchase Star's horse, B. sold one of the horses he trained for a decent profit (though not quite as impressive as Star's profit). He started looking for a new "investment" horse and found a 7 year old palomino mare that the owner had been trying to sell for a long time. He got her for a mere $800 (registered name "Political Whistler"). B. gave her a what I thought was a wonderful stable name: "Spring" (a breath of fresh air). The mystery to us is why we got her so cheap; she was supposedly a problem horse but B. rode her several times and couldn't discover her problem. So he let Blaze start riding her, and she's turned out to be a great horse for her. The kids were so excited - they've been asking for a palomino ever since Stars brought her palomino horse to stay with us a couple years ago. The twins will still look out the window at the paddock and cry out "Palo-mino!" if they see Spring.

93. Top 10 things overheard at the dinner table that show your child is becoming a pirate
Found this at funny website, Piratejokes.net (thankyou, Jess Lawson)
#9 "I've buried me treasure in the mashed potatos"
#5 "I'll need another ration of grog if you expect me to eat these peas."
#4 "If I eat all my food, can I plunder the neighbors before I go to bed?"

94. Is that where the Indian shot you?
Gracie was flirting her very best and showing off her bellybutton to our friends and Danny says "oh, is that where the Indian shot you?" I've never heard that saying before, it must be a western thing but it still cracks me up!

95. J.K. Rowling's speech at Harvard's commencement
A great quote from J.K. Rowling: ‎"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you fail by default." From her speech at Harvard's 2008 commencement. This was an amazing inspirational speech, I have a whole new respect for J.K. Rowling as a person, instead of just as a bestselling author.

96. Hogwarts vs. Harvard
On the lighter side regarding Rowling and Harry Potter, I found a new quote to love: "you pick books over television, libraries to malls, e-books to PSPs and given the choice, YOU'D CHOOSE HOGWARTS OVER HARVARD EVERY SINGLE TIME." (This is from T.H. Mafi's blog, http://stiryourtea.blogspot.com/; she blogs the funniest analogies and stories about being a writer struggling to get published).

97. Building enough bookshelves
Yet another wonderful quote: “I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” Anna Quindlen

98. A new kind of sibling: the "brother-sister"
Starlet tells her sitter that she has a brother. "Who's your brother?" Heather asks. "My sister! She's my brother-sister!"


99. When three year olds mix up names
Serious sometimes gets mixed up and calls my mom "Grandpa" and my dad "Grandma"

100. A new road sign featuring Gandalf
Road signs like these would make long trips so much more interesting:

101. the Bellagio fountain show
In early September, my work sent me to Vegas for training; I was amazed by the Bellagio fountain show. After the training, I was able to spend the evening and the next day with Dianna and her kids. They took me to see the Valley of Fire, fantastic sandstone formations.

102. Integrated remote polling devices
At the end of September, my work also sent me and a co-worker to Orlando for a conference. I didn't actually get off the hotel grounds, though. I was tempted to go see Harry Potter World, but it wouldn't have been much fun by myself. However I did enjoy a couple evenings relaxing by the elaborate pool and garden. A half-mile long lazy river snaked around the entire pool/garden area, complete with pretty arching bridges and misters. My co-worker Shawn and I gave a joint presentation on our project related to geospatial data standards. The fun things about this presentation was that we used powerpoint with integrated remote polling devices. We got to poll the audience just like in "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" and then the software would instantly produce a graph of the results in our powerpoint. So cool!

103. Fall colors at Kebler Pass, Colorado
 By the time I got back from Orlando, the fall colors had already reached their peak in Laramie. I was eager for our traditional fall-color drive. This year I mapped out a route for us in central Colorado (past years we've gone to Estes Park or Aspen Alley in Wyoming). I did some research on the web to find a new area to visit and found this amazing website, http://mycolorado.org/fall_drives.html which listed the top five or six fall color drives in Colorado. We drove down to Steamboat Springs and spent the night in a hotel there. The next day we drove south to Paonia and then over Kebler Pass to Crested Butte. This pass goes through the biggest stand of aspen trees in Colorado, and even though we hit past peak color, it was still amazing. From Crested Butte, we took a beautiful little forest road that ran alongside the Taylor River. We stopped and had lunch right along the river, cooking steak and hotdogs over a small bonfire. Then we continued up the road to Cottonwood Pass, which is one of the highest passes in Colorado (12,119 ft). The views from this pass of the Sawatch Range (which include Mts Princeton, Harvard and Yale as well as the highest Colorado mountain, Mt Elbert) rival the amazing views from Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.

104. A river baptism with bagpipes
Absolutely unheard of in Laramie: no snow for halloween. The girls loved trick or treating of course, but this is what I loved: after church, a young boy Blaze's age (9 years old) gave his testimony and got baptized in the Laramie river. Extra special: a bagpiper present to celebrate by playing Amazing Grace. I eagerly hope for the day when I see my girls get baptized, because that will mean they have a testimony of coming to know Jesus as their savior.

1000 gifts: a VERY late summer edition

The 1000 gifts is a list of all the gifts God has given me that I'm thankful for, to live out the command "give thanks in all things" (1 Thess. 5:18) in my daily walk.

76. No snow in September
Up until just this week it still felt like summer, which is very unusual for high-altitude Wyoming. In fact, September and the first week of October were sunnier and warmer than June! For the first time in 15 years, we didn't get any snow in September. Usually we get a little hissy-fit of snow, not enough to frost anything to death, just enough to remind us all that Wyoming weather is fickle.

Here's a re-cap of some of my blessings from this summer:

77. Fireworks and French silk ice cream
I'm so lucky, I always get fireworks on my anniversary! (July 4th, 11 years) And oh, Dreyers must have had ME in mind when they came up with French Silk ice cream. Heavenly! (and it's light too)

78. Backyard pets
My youngest, Serious, told the ladies at daycare that she has lots of animals at home. Horses, ducks, Blazes and Dreamers (e.g. older sisters).

79. "These aren't the droids you're looking for"
Going to see the Sorcerer's Apprentice with my stepdaughter. Still laughing over "these aren't the droids you're looking for" - any movie that references Star Wars and choreographs lightning is way cool. We both love the song “Secrets” by One Republic. My stepdaughter also rode with us on one of our mountain trail-rides that I love so much, and she said she really enjoyed it, too. She's not a big fan of Wyoming (because of our fickle weather) but she was very impressed by our mountains.

80. My best friend dating my husband's best friend.
One of my best-friends has been dating one of my husband's best friends (and we totally didn't try to set this up). Once I got over the initial "wow, that's really weird, I just don't see them together", I was really pleased by this development, and sincerely hope it works out...

81. Finding lost items you've been searching a long time for.
Found my glasses that were missing for 3 weeks. Even better, found a videotape of the twins first year that had been missing for nearly two years! (I cried over that one a few times). You know how it got found? The twins got into the pile of videos and dvds behind the TV and made a huge mess. And in the process, unearthed the missing tape. So sometimes huge messes are blessing!

82. Debating lordship salvation vs. Free Grace
I got into a rather deep and potentially explosive theological discussion with another dear friend of mine (maid of honor at my wedding). If you are familiar with opposing Free Grace and Lordship Salvation points of view, you'll know that this was a very heart-felt and emotional debate, but I'm happy to say our friendship survived and I feel like I learned some good things out of it. At some point I may try to blog about it, but it's not an easy subject. In fact, I'm not even going to state which side of the debate that I'm on. I'm not extremist about anything; I'm always open to other people's points of view.

83. Avatar in 3-D
My daughters Blaze (9) and Dreamer (6) wanted to see the Avatar Special Edition so bad that they paid for their own movie tickets out their allowances. Blaze loves this movie so much she asked for a bow and arrow set for her birthday. Some people might read this and gasp "she's listing this as a blessing??" Should I be worried that my kids love a violent science fiction movie with strong pantheistic themes? I would be, except the movie has been a source of great discussion with my daughters. A great teaching tool, actually. They actually know the C.S. Lewis arguments that show the strengths of Christianity versus pantheism.

84. My "Give it to God" list from 2006/2007
I found my journal from the months before and after the twins were born. I had started a list called "Give it to God List" and there were some major things on that list: first, my fear - would I be able to love these originally unwanted twins, esp. when I found out they were girls and we were hoping for at least one boy; then when they were so premature and Gracie had some issues and worrying for her health and development; then the insurance not paying for my ambulance flight and the twins' ambulance back to Laramie... and others. All answered. All taken care of. God is so good.

85. Tofu = Toad Food
As I'm teasing my husband about how he should try tofu, he comes up with a great alternative name: toad food. I loved the look on his face as he exclaims, "my roping buddies would never respect me again if I ate that stuff."

86. Queen of Quickbooks
The Lord knows I hate doing the books for my husband's business and He mercifully gave me five years off from doing them. This summer I finally came to terms with His calling back into this part of being a helpmeet to my husband. And, surprise - surprise! Once I got started, I found I actually enjoyed being the Queen of Quickbooks again. Sort of.

87. Horny toad lizards
Blaze went with me on one of my early morning walks and we discovered a baby horny toad (which is actually a lizard). Blaze was so excited and I have always thought lizards were cute, even before the Geico Gecko became popular. We put it in a tank with some grass and water and kept it for a couple days before letting it go again.

88. Building a rock garden
My husband helped me re-landscape our front yard, collect rocks for a rock-garden, and lay sod. It was fun to watch his expertise with his backhoe, and to hear his compliments after I finished setting the rocks and planting the flowers. The picture above is of our four beautiful little women in front of my new rock garden.

89. Hoping for healing in relationships
We had a couple very touch-and-go situations develop this summer - situations that could have turned into real family disasters. But we took them to prayer, and God took care of the situations. We are still praying for healing in relationships between certain extended family members, but there have been little drops of hope along the way.

90. "Love Like Crazy" by Lee Brice
My husband asked me if I could look up this song on YouTube This is one of his favorite songs and he wanted me to hear it. I really can't go into the details of our relationship as to explain why I list this as a blessing, but I will say that I have seen some remarkable developments in my husband this summer that I am still amazed by.

Life goals and laundry

I came across another writer's website where she posted about her goals for the summer and what she'd accomplished.

Which made me sigh. First of all, because I guess I have to admit summer is over, now that school has started again. And second of all, because my goals seem to have all slipped away. (But please don't think this is a gloomy post. I did have a wonderful summer. And it still feels like summer, despite the school buses causing traffic jams again).

I set myself a bunch of goals at the beginning of the year. Really good goals. Like spending more time with God and spending more time sharing what I've learned about God with my kids. And losing weight and writing more and not always showing up 10 minutes late to everything.

I should know better! When have I ever kept working on my new year's resolutions past February? Why would this year be different? Why would INCREASING my number of goals actually make think I had a better chance of accomplishing them?

I came across another post, Goals are Dumb, and I think this guy had the right idea (if may be not the best title). Hope he doesn't mind me quoting:

I know goals help people and are probably not at all bad. In fact they might be necessary in some situations.

I just don’t think Jesus really had goals in the sense of accomplishment. That’s what I mean when I say goals here. I feel like usually when we talk about goals its some new accomplishment to strive for. Now there’s nothing wrong with living like that. I mean I do every day probably.

I just think that Jesus lived differently.

Not that surprising to think that he lived differently. But even now I know some of you are totally disagreeing with a lot of what I’m saying.

Before you do that though, take a second and just think are you making Jesus out to be who you want him to be, or who He was and is.

Jesus lived a life completely led by the Spirit, at least thats what it seems like to me. I hear pastors and speakers say this some times too.

Jesus didn’t come and say by the time I die I want to feed five thousand people. Maybe he did. But I think He just listened to what God was telling him to do.

I want a life like that.

Contradictory huh? My goal is be completely led by the Spirit and thus having no goals because I am too busy doing what God is asking me to do.

The great thing about this is I know that when I let this happen, that a lot of the goals I have now will probably just come to pass.

A couple weeks ago, I came to the same conclusion myself. No, I didn't cross out my nine original goals. In fact I printed them out and hung them on my bathroom mirror. But this time what I did was circle the first one.

Spend more time with God.

That's the only one I'm working on right now. Trying to listen to God more about what He wants me to do.

And oh, I should mention the laundry part of it. Here's another great post, Striving Laundry, on kind of the same idea.

What do you think about setting goals?

1000 gifts - wonderful books edition

Warning, this a ridiculously long post! I really don't expect anyone to read it in entirety. Just skim my list of wonderful books, and check out a few of my many links if anything looks intriguing. I haven't posted in a while, so I just got a little carried away.


Can't believe it's almost July! Here in Wyoming, at 7200 ft, summer has only just found us, but the good part of that is it never gets miserably hot and humid here. It's a gorgeous summer, but too quickly flying by. As result I don't post as much because I'm so busy outside trying to soak up every delicious bit of summer. This picture is of my two older girls with their dear friend Lori, daughter of my dear friend Karen. It's taken at the beautiful gardens at Glen Eyrie Castle, Colorado Springs.

But I don't want to neglect my 1000 gifts list, because it's such a blessing compiling it and sharing it. The 1000 gifts is a list of all the gifts God has given me that I'm thankful for, to live out the command "give thanks in all things" (1 Thess. 5:18) in my daily walk. I've been reading so many good books lately, I thought it would be a good theme for this part of the list. Especially since I just won my first book (at a writer's/reader's website), was given my first two books to review, and got my first two signed books!


61. Lighting a fire again in marriage can be more than you bargain for
At the Christian writers' workshop at Glen Eyrie I was at earlier in June, I met Megan DiMaria, an author with two newly published books. She was working on the plot for her third book, which is a about time-travel - right up my alleys since the story I'm writing has a time-twist in it. She gave me her first published book, as long as I promised to tell people about it. Which I am glad to do! It's called Searching for Spice and it's beautifully written, a down home story about rediscovering love in marriage. I highly recommend it. I will devote an entire post to this book here soon, but wanted to include it here as part of my 1000 gifts.

62. Meeting an author and buying her book
At the same writers' workshop, I spent most of my time workshopping with another Christian author, Kathryn Mackel, and she had lots of writing wisdom for our wonderful group of about 15 ladies. I had never read anything by her before, so I picked one of her books for sale (hard to choose, but this one had a horse on the cover): the Hidden. And Kathy signed it for me. I think I would call it a suspense novel (there are several mysterious deaths and a lot of mystery and tension) with a bit of supernatural wonder in it, not to mention several beautiful Arabian horses. The quality of writing was excellent. I highly recommend this book too and will be definitely be getting more of Kathy's books.

63. Brainstorming ideas a writers' retreat
Which reminds me, another gift are those same ladies mentioned above, my fellow writers/dreamers and followers of Christ. They had some absolutely amazing writing projects and ideas. It was so neat to hear excerpts and brainstorm with them. I have all their emails, and hope to stay in touch.

64. Discovering the Fire in Fiction
Picked up another book at the workshop, the Fire in Fiction, by Donald Maass. The author wasn't present to sign it, but so many people were talking about this book I'm excited to read it.

65. Discovering how to win books
I won a book at Steena Holmes's blog, Chocolate Reality, (don't you love that name?) another fellow writer and member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) - which I will be joining shortly after hearing so many good things about this organization at the workshop. There are so many blogs where you can win books and other goodies, all you have to do is leave a comment and you are entered! I won The One That I Want, by Allison Winn Scotch. Okay, I haven't even gotten it yet in the mail, but I'm still so excited!

66. Harry & David Moose Munch chocolate bar
This isn't a book, but I also won a gift box of fancy chocolates from another blog, YA Highway (a blog for Young Adult writers). The chocolate showed up a couple days ago, and it's almost gone already. I've never tried Harry & David's chocolates because they are so expensive, but I must say now that they are WORTH EVERY PENNY. Well, it was prize - I didn't pay anything, but WOW. The Moose Munch chocolate bar was the most amazing, silky, delicious chocolate I ever tried. And I had tried A LOT of fancy chocolate.

67. Books that get your kids to think about Jesus
My first book that I received free to review is a darling little children's picture book called Our Home is like a Little Church, by Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles. This book is being promoted by Ministry-To-Children, a wonderful site with TONS of resources for teaching children about the Gospel and God's Word. Okay, this book doesn't get requested as often by my girls as the Big Red Barn (Margaret Wise Brown), but it always starts some good talk with my two older girls. The book is beautifully written in simple verse, presents the Gospel clearly and the importance of walking with God, and takes less than five minutes to read.

68. Another personally signed book from Karen
Another signed book I'm in the process of reading now is Two Days Longer, by Beth Lueders - "discovering more of God as you wait for Him". My friend Karen down in Colorado Springs, whom I stayed with while attending the workshop, gave me this book for my birthday - she met the author through a Bible study and got it signed for me. This will be another book I plan to devote a full post too. Let's just say pretty much every book in this list will get a post. If I ever find time.

69. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Knowing God, by J.I. Packer. My friend Heather gave this to me for my birthday (my friends know how much I love books!) What a classic! Yup, this one is also on the list for a post of its own. Oh, and I just remembered that I meant to post more about another amazing book from Heather, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller. This book inspired me to set some pretty lofty goals/resolutions for this year. The year is half over now, and I need to do an update on my goals soon.


70. CS Lewis on the The Weight of Glory
Heather lent me this collection of essays by my FAVORITE AUTHOR - believe it or not I still haven't read all of his books! I loved it so much I bought the book as a gift for another book-loving friend, Nicole. I need to buy a copy for myself so I can give Heather's copy back to her! This book is SO GOOD and I planning on devoting at least TWO POSTS to it, one about the essay "Transposition" and another on the essay "Weight of Glory." I've already mentioned the book in another post about why myths appeal to us so much, using a quote from the essay "Is Theology Poetry?" All of the essays in this book are beautiful, unique, and thought-provoking as only C.S. Lewis can be.

71. Still Life, by Mary Jenson.
I heard on Chip MacGregor's blog that Mary was one of best Christian writers he'd ever encountered, and the description of her writing so intrigued me that I looked her up on-line and found this book for $.01 (plus S&H of course... but still, who could resist?) "One freckled apple on a china plate. A chipped white pitcher. A blue cloth draped in a graceful swirl. Like a still-life painting, a women's soul longs for tranquility in a busy world." That back-cover blurb was such a mix of poetry and longing that I knew at once I would love this book. It'll get it's own post, absolutely.


72. Evidence Not Seen, by Darlene Deibler Rose.
Nicole has raved about this book for years, and I finally tied her down until she promised to lend it to me (kidding). Your heart will break for this idealistic young woman as she sets off for Indonesia and Papau New Guinea with her new husband, to share the light of the Gospel - only to have World War II intervene in their plans. She spends five years in Japanese prison camps, separated from her husband, who eventually dies in prison. But her strong faith in God eventually wins over the prison camp commander. He becomes a believer! Everything about this story amazed me. Just a short snippet to give you an idea of the love and beautiful expression of Darlene:

Anyone can babble along in Pasar (market) Malay after a few week's study, but proper Indonesian is beautiful, without harsh gutturals. To hear the language well-spoken is like listening to symphony played upon the instrument of words - like enjoying a Renoir painted with a brush of fluency, a masterpiece of lights and shadows.

73. The first book my daughter locked herself in room to read.
Okay, I lied. More about books, but I'm lumping them together here as part of the gift that has been a summer reading program for my girls. Restricting the girls to just one movie a week and making them keep up with the library’s summer reading program was really hard at first. Dreamer is always quick to grab a book – but Blaze grumbles and rolls her eyes. However, three weeks into our new reading/no movie policy, I think she is finally getting used to the idea and starting to have fun. She read 54 pages of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" today, in 50 minutes!!!! A new record! She has also discovered read-a-long audio books at the library and really loves those, where she can listen to the story and read at the same time. I stopped reading out-loud to the girls for a while this spring - depression and stress got the better of me! - but I have started this special time with my kids again this summer with reading the Bible one night, and a chapter from the Lightning Thief (by Rick Riordan) the next night... then back to the Bible the following night.

74. Library fairies, talking wishing wells and teacup sail boats
 I have also been charmed by some of the picture books the girls have picked out at the library. When I’m Sleepy by Jane R Howard is about a little girl who likes to imagine curling up to sleep, cat-sized, with her kitty, or baby-bird sized in a downy nest; in a hollow log hugged by a raccoon, or tucked into a bear hug in a bear den; sleeping standing up like a giraffe or drifting through the ocean like a sleeping whale. Claire and the Unicorn by B.G. Hennessy is a story about a girl whose stuffed unicorn turns into a real unicorn and carries her into a whimsical fairytale world with a teacup sail boat, a tower sitting in the clouds, lollipop trees, a library fairy that lives in a wood with bookshelves carved in tree trunks, frogs and swans with crowns, a fairy godmother that practices magic in a pumpkin patch (making pumpkin tea pots, dresses, umbrellas, and a half-pumpkin frog, and last but not least, a talking wishing well. Oh, the imagination! The library fairy reminds me of something else...

75. Home libraries and cozy reading nooks
Writers often post pictures of libraries on their blogs. Their own libraries, or libraries they dream of! I can so relate! My ultimate dream house would have a room with high ceilings, wall-to-ceiling bookshelves made out of dark, glossy wood and full of books. There would be a ladder to reach the high shelves, a fire place, a big bay window overlooking an English-style garden with a fish pond and a fountain, and several beautiful reading nooks (plan to post more about dream reading/writing nooks and library rooms more)

I had more on this list, but this is getting ridiculously long! I'll save the rest for July's continuation of 1000 gifts. Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings.

A writers' retreat at Glen Eyrie Castle

I had the wonderful blessing of a retreat last week that was both a writers' retreat and a spiritual retreat - a perfect combination, in my opinion! And it couldn't have been in a more beautiful location (click on the pictures to see them full-sized). Glen Eyrie Castle is situated right next to Garden of the Gods, in the foothills beneath Pikes Peak. As if the natural scenery isn't beautiful enough, we were surrounded by gardens, hummingbirds, wild turkeys, and a herd of bighorn sheep.


Colorado Springs is a four hour drive south of Laramie, Wyoming, and the home of one of my dearest friends (who was my maid of honor). I could never have afforded four nights at the Glen Eyrie Castle (their rates are pretty reasonable, but still, four nights adds up!) if not for K.A.'s hospitality. Not only did she provide hospitality - but the ultimate - kid-sitting! She offered to have my daughters Blaze & Dreamer stay too so they could get lots of play time with her daughter, Lori. Truly an amazing friend to take on two of my kids in addition to three of her own, for three and a half days.


It ended up being more of a writers' workshop than a retreat, though we did get two hours every afternoon to either write, pray, or hike one of the many amazing trails. I spent one afternoon with my laptop in the rose garden (starting with prayer for God to bless my writing. Which He always does, when I remember to ask), one afternoon stream-walking up Queens Canyon to Dorothy Falls (I can never resist the opportunity to see a waterfall), and the last afternoon strolling around the grounds with Karen and the kids taking pictures.


The workshop part of the retreat was both inspiring, but also hard. The truths of the publishing world are never easy to deal with. The workshop was led by four amazing Christian authors: Nancy Rue, Kathyrn Mackel, Angela Hunt (author of the Tale of the Three Trees, one of my kids' favorite books), and James Scott Bell. I've read dozens of books on writing and publishing, have been to two writers' conferences, and I regularly follow most of the major writing, editing and publishing blogs - but I was surprised at how much I still had to learn.

Here are some quotes from the authors that caught my attention:


We write a novel to evoke emotion - Angela Hunt


Creating art is an interaction between you and God - James Scott Bell

Good writing is where precision meets passion - Nancy Rue

If even your writing never sees the light of day (publication), you can make it see the light of life. - Kathryn Mackel


They all stressed how to the road to publication is like an apprenticeship - you have to work hard and follow the rules for years, without any compensation. And there is still no guarantee. Even if you do finally get something published, the road doesn't get easier. I saw first-hand how stressful and difficult it is for a recently published author: all the work you have to put into marketing in addition to writing on strict deadlines, plus dealing with the disappointment of meager sales. God was definitely showing me that even if my writing is nearing a publishable quality, I am still not ready for publication at this time in my life: with four small children, the amount of work I would have to put into marketing, promotion and travel, in addition to writing, would be prohibitive. But at the same time, I felt like I had several significant "breakthroughs" in my story. So I came away feeling God was still directing me to keep writing faithfully and to keep honing my craft.


God had some other important things to teach me, outside of Glen Eyrie. I met one of Karen and Ed's good friends, Double D. Ed has joined a biker club called Men of Praise and his biker name is FedEx (long story) and Double D is one of his closest friends. I learned all the details of biker lifestyle ("ride it like you stole it"), what biker church is like, and and the complexities of club interactions, including the especially tricky interactions between Christian bikers and hardcore groups like the Sons of Silence! But I also learned some spiritual wisdom from Double D. We got to talking one evening and I could tell this guy had an amazing story behind his life, so I asked him to share his testimony. It was both heart-breaking and amazing. He didn't stop with himself, either. He looked at me straight in the eye and asked me if I was carrying any baggage.


Oh yes have I been carrying baggage! Anyone who has read any of my posts so far in 2010 has seen some of my baggage - financial stress and depression. There's other burdens that I haven't shared, too. Insecurities that I started to recognize via Beth Moore's excellent book So Long Insecurity - things she helped me recognize, but I hadn't come to complete terms with yet. At times I do give my baggage over to God (and sometimes I even manage to leave it with him for a few days), but somehow I keep picking it up and carrying it again. Double D told me to envision giving my suitcase of baggage to Jesus, and then to envision Jesus throwing your suitcase into the fires of hell – it’s gone. Permanently gone. Not something you can pick up again. He told me, with genuine seriousness, "it's really gone now. As of this moment. Do you believe what Jesus has done?"


His directness and earnestness took me off guard. Envisioning something does not make it so; but Double D doesn't think that way. For him, it's real. His earnest faith really made look with eyes of faith - "we live by faith, not by sight." I'm not saying I'm cured of depression or that all my financial problems will just melt away. God will never completely take away our problems because they are necessary to help us grow and become more Christ-like. But something happened that evening. Jesus did take some of my baggage and burned it so I can't take it back. Double D is going through some painful trials of his own right now, and I am praying for him. The Lord has put him through a furnace and turned him into an amazing man, and I will never forget him.

Walking by the Spirit

The following quote is the topic of discussion this week In Other Words. Please visit this week's host, Tami @ the Next Step for other writers' takes on this quote.

“Our view of the Holy Spirit is too small. The Holy Spirit is the One who changes the church, but we have to remember that the Holy Spirit lives in us. It is individual people living Spirit-filled lives that will change the church.”
~ Francis Chan, Crazy Love

I haven't read Crazy Love yet, but I do have a wonderful book about the Holy Spirit, The Silent Shepherd by John MacArthur. So when I saw this week's quote related to the Holy Spirit, I looked back through The Silent Shepherd for an overview of how the Spirit works in our lives, especially in relation to the church.

The Spirit is our helper (John 14:6-7), our guarantor of eternal life (Eph. 1:13-14), our teacher (John 14:26). The Spirit regenerates us (gives us new life), (John 3:5,6,8), santicifies us (enables us to become more Christ-like), (Romans 15:16, 1 Cor. 6:11), produces spiritual fruit in our lives (Gal 5:22) - including the ability to love unconditionally and the amazing "peace that surpasses all understanding" that carries us through our struggles and hardships.

The Spirit also gives us gifts (1 Cor 12:4-11), and verse 7 tells us specifically why we are given gifts: "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." In several different letters, Paul uses the analogy of the human body to describe how relationships within the church, Christ's body, are designed to work.

Romans 12:4-5 "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us."

The church is all about using our spiritual gifts and insights to help others. Unfortunately, I often show up at church with the attitude that the church is there to minister to me. MacArthur writes:

It is often hard in our isolated, individualized culture for us to appreciate the need we have for one another. It is easy for us... to get entrenched in such individual patterns that we do not get close enough to others to discover their needs. The real problem with such a lifestyle is that it often spills over into the church and affects the way we minister - or don't minster - to others.... God never intended for our spiritual walk to be an end in itself. Instead, He wants us to walk in a way that will have a positive influence on other believers and help purify and build up the church.

We must walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) in order to use our spiritual gifts to minister to others.

Instead of blaming the church for not fulfilling its intended role, we should strive instead to fulfill our intended role - living a Spirit-filled life.

What does walking in the Spirit mean? MacArthur writes:

The Greek word for "walk" in Galatians 5:16 could be translated literally "keep on continually walking." The basic idea is that the Christian life unfolds one day at a time. Walking is therefore a very picturesque metaphor that tells us we are to live one step at a time, as a matter of habit and routine. The Holy Spirit is already in us and working on our behalf. Our task is simply to respond and submit moment by moment, step by step, day by day according to His empowering and guiding [which we become aware of through hearing, reading and meditating on
the Scripture, through prayer, and through the ministries of other believers].

One last note about the gifts that the Spirit gives us. You cannot stop in 1 Corinthians 12 after reading about the gifts, not when chapter 12 ends with verse 31: "But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way." This most excellent way is love - 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter, set right in the middle of the section on spiritual gifts, gives us all the guidance we'll ever need as we allow the Spirit to use us in reaching out to others. We should all be familiar with verse 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." And here is a wonderful verse relating the Holy Spirit and love, that I discovered (or re-discovered) in the process of this study:

Romans 5:5 "...God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

I am praying for myself, for the other writers this week, and for our churches, that we would be renewed in our walk with the Spirit and inspired to a greater love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.