Introducing . . .

Here it is, folks! Consider this like an . . . ultrasound of sorts! I'm SO tickled with the way it turned out and I've gotten lots of positive feedback, too. I think it totally captures the essence of what this book is all about. And I just love the pink, too! I'm such a girl!

You haven't heard much out of me lately because things have been pretty quiet. The rough (and I do mean ROUGH) draft of The Heart's Journey Home was completed earlier this month and we are now knee deep in the editing phase, which is so fun! I explained it to my very good friend, Jana, this way: writing it was like running a marathon - fun and rewarding, but it took every last ounce of my creative juices. Editing is taking something that is already there and making it better. I LOVE that, and I'm still not very good at it yet, but my wonderful publisher is teaching me a little more about the craft as we go along. This has been an exceptional experience all the way around.

The very best part of the whole thing has been getting to know my characters. They are all so special to me! Point in case, I needed to write a scene that involved quite a bit of medical knowledge (of which I have NONE!), and so I called my sister who's an awesome RN to pick her brain in order to make the scene real and accurate. Do you know I started crying right there on the phone because of what this character has to go through? Sheesh! (Thankfully, Bonnie didn't think I was a nut . . . or, at least, any more of one than I already am! Ha! Ha!) I hope and pray that you grow to love these characters as I have, that they impact your life and touch your heart in some way.

Other than that, we've had a pretty uneventful summer. We visited with our family in Ohio for about a week which was wonderful. I posted a TON of photos from our trip on facebook. The girls have had swimming lessons for two weeks and are swimming like fish! Oh, and earlier this month when Olivia's platelets were rechecked they were up to 144K! 150K is considered normal so she seems to be completely out of the woods! Yay! It was a L-O-N-G 5 months!!! She'll be playing soccer in the fall which is what she really wanted to do so extra praises go up for that! I'm still going to keep her on the list of prayer concerns though until she gets her blood checked next month. Hopefully that'll be the last time and we'll just watch her carefully if she gets sick during the school year. Pray that this ITP never comes back!

Speaking of prayers . . .

PRAYER REQUESTS: Please pray for Leann. She is an 11-year-old who has been through quite a bit in a short amount of time. Now she has very real fears. Please pray that the Lord will work through those around her to ease her troubled heart. Pray that the Lord will just give her a peace that passes all understanding. Pray that the Lord will wrap this sweet young lady up in a warm, fuzzy blanket of His love and she will be comforted resting in His promises.

I need you all to pray for Billie Ensley. Billie is in her 80s and has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully, it was caught in the early stages, but she will be undergoing surgery in 3 weeks and that's not easy at any age. Pray for healing. Pray for peace and comfort for Billie and her family. Pray for wisdom for her doctors.

Please also pray for Nadja Welch. She is in her mid thirties, with four children and has recently been diagnosed with some serious health problems. Pray for complete and quick healing for this mother. Pray for her to have super natural strength and divine comfort. Pray for her doctors to have wisdom to know exactly what to do to make her better. Pray for her children, that they won't be scared or worry about their mommy but rest in God's promises.

Please, continue to pray for the others listed to the right, and, as always, pray for God's will to be done in all things. If you or someone you know is in need of prayer, please send me a message and I will be more than happy to add them to this list. There truly is POWER in prayer!

A Parable of a Parable . . . at the Ball Park!

Sunday night Chris and I took the girls to a Nashville Sounds game. (The Nashville Sounds are our minor league team - a farm team for the Milwaukee Brewers.) We had the best time! We had GREAT seats - second row right behind the Sounds' dugout. It was so close! It was also autograph night where the kids (and kids at heart :o) ) could bring their paraphernalia and get it signed by most if not all of the players. Ali and Livi ate this up! They loved being so close to the big boys! It was a gorgeous summer night. We could hear the CRACK of the ball on the bat, the SMACK of the ball into a glove. Of course, ball diamond food is worth the price of admission alone. I mean is there a place in this world where a hot dog tastes better??? The Sounds played an excellent game, had beautiful plays, and won 14-5! Everything was as perfect as it could be, but . . .

There was a man sitting right in front of us that bumped our experience up one more notch. We don't even know this man's name, but he wore a jersy with the word EXTREME on the back so we just called him Mr. Extreme, and he seemed to be totally cool with this. Well, Mr. Extreme was a very friendly guy. He seemed to know every player. He got them to come to him to get autographs. Of course Ali and Livi loved that because they'd get their little programs out and lean over to get more autographs than they already had! I think some of the players actually signed twice. *Shrug* It was fun. Anyway, we are a pretty friendly family so we were getting along well with Mr. Extreme.

Well, a couple innings into the game, our Sounds were in the outfield (which wasn't that far away from us as we were in the 2nd row and Mr. Extreme was in the first row) and our third baseman made a play (I think he chased down a fould ball, though I can't remember) and he did what all of the fans love. He tossed the ball into the stands . . . right at Mr. Extreme. When I got over the shock because for a split second I saw a ball coming right for my head, I was overcome with appreciation because Mr. Extreme, without hesitating, turned around and gave the ball to my girls! Do you know that just a few innings later, the EXACT same thing happened??? A player tossed him the ball and he turned around and gave it to my girls so that when we left that game BOTH Ali and Livi had a GAME BALL! Of course, we thanked him and he just smiled his goofy, happy smile. But I got to thinking, there's a lesson to be learned here.

The lesson I came up with? Let me bring to your memory the Parable of the Rich Fool. Luke 12:16-21 says, "Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

If you let your imagination take a little walk with me, you'll see that Mr. Extreme was NOT like the greedy, rich man. He did NOT lay up those treasured game balls for himself. He gave them away and caused "extreme" happiness when he did so. As Christians, we MUST be like Mr. Extreme. We must learn Scripture like Mr. Extreme learned the players so that when we have an opportunity tossed at us, we can give away a little piece of Heaven. How much more happiness would it cause for a nonbeliever to enter the gates of Heaven just because we did NOT lay up the treasure for ourselves, but shared the best gift we've ever received?! I don't want to keep the love of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, all to myself. I want everyone to know what He did for me and all of humanity. I want to be like Mr. Extreme and just . . . give it away.


This is where I have gotten stuck for two nights in a row because this computer has frozen up on me. I want to update you on our list of prayer concerns and I will on another night. For now I'm going to add two new urgent requests and I will make some changes to the list of prayer concerns.

PRAYER REQUESTS: Please pray mightily for Cathy Sue Hodges, who has been diagnosed with cancer in several areas of her body. Pray for complete and total healing. Pray for the strength she'll need to make it through the days ahead. Pray for peace and hope and comfort for her and her family. Pray for her doctors to have wisdom and know exactly how to treat this cancer. We know that our God is bigger than any illness, that there is NOTHING too big for our God to handle. I pray that faith in Him is strengthed through this and that Cathy and her family will use this sweet time to bond together comforting each other and the Lord comforts them.

I also ask you to pray for the family of Linda Schafer. Linda and her family attended the church that I grew up in. I was friends with her daughters, Melissa, Robin, and Becky. Sadly, sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, 54-year-old Linda very suddenly passed away. Please pray for her husband, Don, and her three daughters. Also pray for her mother Laureen. Pray that they can find hope in God's promises and that through that hope their broken hearts will gradually heal. Pray for them not just today and tomorrow but in the weeks and months ahead when life just keeps moving on and they have no choice but to move on with it, though they may still be so deeply grieved inside that it hurts to think of one more minute without Linda. Pray that they find the strength in themselves, in their faith, and in each other to keep pressing on until the day comes when they can see Linda again.

I'm going to post this before I lose it again. As I said I will post the updates soon. Until then . . .

"Extreme" blessings to you and yours,
Jen

GMC

Um . . . sorry. This post IS NOT about the General Motors Corporation. It's not about how the government is or isn't bailing them out (because to tell you the truth, I lost track of exactly what the status was with that). In this post, GMC stands for: Goal Motivated Conflict.

I attended the monthly MTCW (Middle Tennesee Christian Writers) meeting this morning. It is a group of writers - some published, some not yet - who meet to help each other hone their craft of writing. I get a ton out of these meetings, learning something new each month, but I think I can speak for even our veteran writers that everyone takes something away from the two hours we spend together.

This morning, multi-published Tamara Leigh presented us with the importance of incorporating GMC in our works in progress and how to do it effectively. Basically, the heroine and the hero must have a GMC AND each scene must have a GMC. Sound complicated? It's not really. Let me explain further by using my heroine, Kate, as an example.

Kate Sterling has a goal of trying to start over and begin a new life for her and her young daughter three years after her husband has passed away. Her motivation is that she is tired of grieving, tired of being alone. Her major conflict is just that she's not ready to let him go yet. Other goals, motivation, and conflicts come into play throughout the book to keep the reader interested and to propel the story along.

As I was pondering Goal Motivated Conflict tonight, I had the thought that we can apply this same formula to our everyday lives. For example: I have a goal to finish The Heart's Journey Home and get it perfect for my February release date. My motivation? Truly and honestly, to change hearts and bring people to a closer relationship with the Lord. My conflicts? Ha! Ha! That's funny! It's called LIFE! Olivia getting sick with ITP set me back. During the school year, my time is really divided up. I could keep naming conflicts that I have to work through to reach this goal, but you get the point. Sometimes in stories (and often in real life), the goal doesn't get reached, but it gets changed. That is typically a result of personal growth, and is a very cool thing to witness in real people and in characters!

I just wanted to share that with you tonight, and, in closing, I'm just wondering what are your Goal Motivated Conflicts? Have you ever had a goal that has changed instead of being met?

Stay tuned. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to be updating you on the status of The Heart's Journey Home, updating my list of prayer concerns, and posting book reviews. Right now I'm reading My Son, John by fellow Sheaf House author, Kathi Macias, and, let me tell you, folks, it is a gripping read! If you like deep, heart wretching, soul moving fiction, get ahold of this book.

But more on that later. For now I'm off to the wonderful world of fiction! :o)

Graduating

Do you remember your graduation?


Last month my baby graduated from preschool. It was a very sweet little ceremony. The kids sang "Jesus Loves Me" and recited memory verses and then did a little diddy about how they're "ready to go off to Kindergarten". Of course my heart was swollen with pride, and of course I wondered how my baby has gotten so big. Where does the time go? Yet, at the same time, I can hardly remember what my life was like before my precious Olivia. Olivia is already reading simple sentences and doing simple math! Yes, I'm a proud mama!

I wouldn't be a very good mama if I didn't tell you about my Alison. At the end-of-the-school-year awards ceremony, Ali made all "A" Honor Roll and received second place in her class in Bible, English, Spelling, and Reading. Plus, she learned ALL of the books of the Bible and received the charater trait award of Attentiveness. I thought that was interesting. *Shrug* As long as she is attentive as school! :o) Next year, she will actually be in my class, so we'll see what kind of awards she gets then! Ha! Ha! She's a very good, smart girl!

This year my high school graduating class is celebrating our 15 year reunion! 15 YEARS! Yes, I know I'm dating myself, but . . . HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE??? I remember very vividly wearing that cap and gown and clowning around with my good friends thinking that it would take F-O-R-E-V-E-R for me to get married, have kids, and a career. Surprise! Forever is here! I lost track of many of my classmates (Including my very best friend, Patty, for a while, but that won't ever happen again!) but recently I've been reunited with several of my classmates through facebook! It's been like a very special treasure to be in contact with the people who I spent so much of my childhood and teen years with! And this October, we are going to have a reunion. I just can't wait!

Between my reunion, Ali's awards ceremony, and Livi's preschool graduation I've begun to understand that life is a series of "graduations", isn't it? Moving from one stepping stone to another. Each one is exciting and scary and fulfilling, but none is more important the graduating into Christianity.

The Heart's Journey Home is moving into very exciting stages!!! We will be starting the editing process very soon and by the end of the month hopefully we will have a cover to proof. Can you believe in less than 8 months I will be holding it in my hands?!?! Please stay tuned and check back often for the latest updates as I have every intention of posting regularly from now on.

I will update my list of prayer concerns very soon also, so please be looking for that, too! Now, back to work. Until next time . . .

Love and blessings to all,
Jen

STORMS!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I've postes last! Thank you to all of you who are still checking in regularly. All I can say is I've been working on The Heart's Journey Home like a mad woman . . . when I'm not being a mama, wife, or teacher. "Being busy" is such a lame excuse, but I promise you, my friends, I have never in my life been busier. Right now I'm tired, but satisfied, and that's a good feeling.

What's NOT a good feeling is knowing you have a storm coming, and, WHEW!, it has definitely been a stormy spring here in Middle Tennessee. The picture you see is actually a picture of our local news channel's website DURING OLIVIA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY! Talk about nerve wracking! It all turned out okay, though, as is the case with most storms. The hard part is weathering it, witnessing the power of Mother Nature. How often we forget the our God is bigger than any storm. Our God calmed the storm not with a huge, showy performance, but with thee simple words: "Peace, be still."

In chapel several weeks ago, Alison's teacher (who has also become my very dear friend), Mrs. Connie Roy, talked to the elementary about how we all go through "storms" in our lives. Now you can imagine that this idea varies greatly from child to child. You may have one child whose "storm" is that their cat ran away, and that really is a "storm". I'm certainly not down playing it. But then you have the child whose parents are getting a divorce or whose daddy lost his job or whose grandparent is very, very sick. I've wondered before how do you explain "big people" stuff like the ecomony, divorce, sickness, and death to children? Fortunately, for me this year, Connie taught that chapel because I took it into my classroom and we talked in depth, I mean really in depth, about life's many storms. How they aren't fun to go through, but when it's all over, you are bigger and stronger and that much closer to becoming exactly who the Lord is shaping you to be. As much as I hate going through a storm (Hate is a very mild word to describe how I feel about storms. Really.) I can't tell you how much I love the freshness and newness of the world outside when it's over. The same is true when I go through a life storm. Hate it during the wind and the rain. Love the freshness and newness in my spirit when it's over. Unfortunately, my students received an application of life storms this week that I didn't want to have happen. My student, the grand daughter of Janet Kraski on our list of prayer concerns, is going through a really, really hard storm right now. Janet lost her very short battle with brain cancer this yesterday (Thursday). Please note that I have moved her family to the list of prayer concerns that have lost a loved one. And please, please pray for them.

PRAYER REQUESTS: Larry Harris (and wife Kathy) have been on my list before. Larry recently had a procedure done on his heart and has been recovering well. So weel, in fact, that they went on vacation earlier in April. On the way back however, he got really sick and had to have emergency surgery. He's still in the hospital recovering from this procedure very, very slowly. Please pray for Larry that he can continue to heal and recover and pray that the Lord will just wrap his wife Kathy in peace and comfort.

UPDATES: Trey Grant is being moved to a rehibilitation hospital already after his motorcycle accident! That is wonderful news! It will still be a long road for Trey so continue to pray for him, his wife, Jen, and their three children. My Olivia had blood work today and it seemed that her platelet count has dropped some over the month. Everything else in her blood work looks perfect so it's still this ITP. It's just going to take time, quite a bit of it from what I understand, and I'm not very patient. Please pray her prayer: "Dear Jesus, Thank You for healing me and please put more platelets in my body. Amen." She'll go back in a month for more blood work. Our little friend, Katie Leach, has reached a point in her chemo treatments that her hair has started to fall out. I know this is hard for adults to have to deal with because hair has so much to do with one's identity. Well, it is for a child, too. The difference is than an adult can at least rationalize that this is a direct cause of the chemo which is directly fighting the cancer. Rationalizing is a lot harder for a kid. They just know that everyone is going to "look at them weird now". People, especially women, value hair and it starts at Katie's age. Think about it, little girls watch fairytale movies and how many of the princesses have no hair??? ZERO! They all (well, okay, except for Mulan, which just may be my favorite) has long flowing thick gorgeous hair and every princess is sought after and beautiful. Well, Katie, you ARE a princess! You are fighting a battle bigger than the one Mulan fought! The Lord will use you in His army one day, Katie. I believe He already is, and I believe He is looking down from Heaven with eyes shining with pride for His special princess! I believe that. I also believe that God is going to work a miracle in out little buddy, Ethan Bibb. The last report I received was a fabulous one! He's going through treatments AND physical therapy and making incredible progress on all fronts. In both Ethan's and Katie's cases they are surrounded by extremely faithful parents and family and countless friends who are supporting the families and PRAYING for them both. Yes, there is power in prayer! So keep praying for them and all of the others on my list who are weathering their own personal storms.

Thank you!