Christmas 2008

My family is blessed this Christmas season. Our older daughter Alison and her husband are having a new baby soon. Lauren is now a college graduate, and even though she hasn't yet found her dream job, I know she eventually will. Wally and I are both actively working.

As I reflect back on 2008, I realize that I'm approaching Christmas with blessings I never dreamed would happen this time last year. Since I write books for a living, I rely on my agent Tamela Hancock Murray to keep me employed. When she called back in July with a lilt in her voice to announce that my book Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida sold to Summerside Press, I was ecstatic! She told me she thought there might be more good news soon, and she was right! Her next announcement came about two weeks later with a 3-book sale to Heartsong Presents. Then later that same month, Paige Winship Dooly, Lisa Ludwig, Beth Goddard, and I sold a Christmas anthology to Barbour Publishing!

All these sales are wonderful. They also mean that I'll be busy for a while. Fortunately, I'm somewhat organized with my time, and I've been able to stay on target with my personal deadlines set much earlier than my publishers'. With three of these projects completed, I can take some time off to focus on Christmas before I jump back in to work on the other two.

Another blessing is my job as an instructor for the "Breaking into Print" writing program with Long Ridge Writers Group. I have some of the most amazing students, and I'm honored to be with them on their journey toward publication. There's no doubt in my mind that many of them will reach their goals because of their dedication and willingness to do what it takes in this exciting yet often frustrating business.

As the year draws to an end, I'll continue praying for my family, other people I love, my church family, my agent, my writer friends, my students, my editors, the USA, our president-elect, and the economy. I also want to keep the Rovenstine family in prayer as precious little Von goes through cancer treatment.

Holiday Traditions!

Growing up as a military brat (my dad was in the Air Force) had both a good side and a not-so-good side, and a lot of that was perception. Since we moved often, I learned to not hold on to traditions because they’d change with every new place we lived. Sometimes we stayed home, and other times we shared the festivities with other families. I often longed for feeling settled and knowing what to look forward to. Now I know two things: The most important thing to look forward to is spending eternity with the Lord, and changing things up prepared me for my future that is ever-shifting around me.

I’m happy that I’ll have my husband, my younger daughter Lauren, my mother-in-law Bobbie, my dad and my stepmother Eileen to share Christmas with. However, my other daughter Alison and her husband Jason are in North Carolina, and they’re unable to travel because she’s almost full term with my little granddaughter. This will be the first Christmas I won’t see Alison since she was born, but it’s not all sad. We still have the baby to look forward to, shortly after the New Year.

Jason has been doing a good job of posting events as they lead up to their baby's birth. Check out Alison and Jason's blog, and you can follow their excitement as it grows throughout this pregnancy experience. I have no doubt they'll make wonderful parents!