2 book signings, a blog tour and a bargain

This Saturday, November 21, from 2-4 p.m., at The Door Christian Bookstore, in San Carlos, California, I get to be a part of a Revell authors book signing.

Many of you know that things of these nature make me sweat.
Since maybe only 3 people will come to have their books signed by me and most likely 2 of those people will be my in-laws.
But at the same time, I am excited to get to meet the authors who will be there promoting their books...Kristin Billerbeck, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Sarah Sundin and Debbie Alsdorf.
How fun is that? Then there is the bargain.
As of today, All I Need is Jesus and A Good Pair of Jeans,

is being sold at bargain basement prices on Amazon. For real.
Go get a book or 3 for the steal.
One of the most fun things I get to do is sign books...because I personally like to have my own books signed. We took the boys to a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book signing, they met Jeff Kinney and thought they had died and gone to heaven.
If you have bought or are planning on buying 1 or 3 or 17 (thanks, Mom!)copies of All I Need is Jesus and a Good Pair of Jeans (at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or your favorite Christian bookstore or CBD) for Christmas for all your friends and your great aunt with the weird mole that looks like the state of Florida - send the names to me at tiredsupergirl@gmail.com and I will send you a signed All I Need is Jesus card to include with your Christmas gift.
You can tell them you know the author personally and that we are best friends and that we chat almost every other day....on the blog.
And while we are at it, bff, if you want to get a free copy of the book by being a bloggy host in the All I Need is Jesus Christmas Blog Tour taking place in December put your name and blog in the comments or shoot me an e-mail at tiredsupergirl@gmail.com.
And if you happen to live in California and are in San Carlos and come to the actual book signing, be prepared because I may grab you up in a bear like grip and hug you and thank you profusely for coming so don't be scared....it's just because I am so glad that you actually showed up.
So just brace yourself.

that thing with feathers

I have never been one for waiting.
It tends to gnaw at the soul...the slow drip drip drip of time.
But mostly on most days of most weeks of my life I have to wait for something.
It is the nature of this life.
We wait for stop lights and dinner and children putting on their shoes.
We wait for letters to arrive and teapots to boil and friends to come over so we can laugh.
And we wait for the things that live deep in us like peace and justice and grace.
It seems we have a choice in the waiting. We can hope. Or we can despair.
The despair comes easier for me. It really does.
I can do melancholy right up there with Sylvia Plath.
I told my sister, Jenny, the other day,
"I've been to some dark places in my mind. I'm not going to lie."
But unfortunately, being desperate and depressed tends to wear one down.
So while it is easiest to isolate myself and cry into my pillow
and shake a fist or two at the ceiling, I hardly ever feel better afterwards.
It seems turning inward closes off the door to hope.
And hope is what gives our souls room to breathe.
When we are waiting...when we feel crushed and helpless and at the mercy of all the craziness of this world we need someone...anyone...to offer us a small slice of hope,
that we can ruminate on...dwell on...that will lift our head up off of the soggy pillow, as it were, to look toward what could be instead of what is at present.
David said, "I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1-2)
It's a prayer to bring our heads up...even in the waiting...in the darkness of the moment....
the bleakness of our today... to see the hope of the tomorrows aways off in the distance and to keep our eyes peeled for the one who breathes those tomorrows into existence.
So today, in the midst of waiting, I am grateful for hope.

"Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all." Emily Dickinson

that Paul had some good thoughts

Sometimes I wake up in the morning, re-living yesterday's failures.
Not on purpose.
They just seem to flood over me as the sun begins to crack the sky on a new day.
Pictures float through my mind of the wrong things I have done like being impatient with my kids or dropping the ball with planning an outreach for church or not loving Scott the way I should or forgetting to buy cheese at the grocery.
In a mere matter of seconds, I am teetering on the brink of depression and I am thoroughly disgusted with myself.
This all goes down before I manage to brush my teeth.
And this morning, as I woke up in a haze of self-incrimation,
I had the thought to ask Jesus what he thought about it.
All my failures and short-comings and less-than-ness.
And He brought this scripture to mind.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

So then I had to go read the whole chapter to see what Paul was referring to.
He is talking about his stuff and as believers, where we come by our confidence.
And that he doesn't come by righteousness on his own.
That it comes through God and our faith in him.
I keep forgetting that Jesus didn't call me to a life of perfection,
he called me to a life of faith.
I keep forgetting that I am to keep my eyes on who he is in my life today
and that there is not a single thing I can do to change yesterday.
So this cold foggy morning, I am grateful for a chance to take my eyes of my past and a good reminder to chase after what he has for me today.

sunday morning thoughts on chaos

One really should write about holy things on a Sunday.
Metaphors for grace. Or thoughts on peace. Maybe a pondering on love.
However, my children are bouncing off of the walls, singing a new song they made up called "Super Bootie" which does not lend itself spiritual thinking.
That's the problem with my life in general....it is hardly ever spiritual.
There is just a whole lot of real living going on.
It's hard to think about forgiveness when the one nice piece of furniture in
our house just got a giant ding in it.
Or about grace when I have asked the children to make their bed...
for the elevendieth time.
(And why do the children always want to build forts and make messes and work on my last nerve on Sundays? Don't they know it is the Lord's Day?)
What we have here in our house is mostly rebellion and dirty socks and a strong will or 3.
(I am listening the 8 year old and 3 year old throw down even as I write....
better make this speedy....)
But maybe this is exactly where grace and peace and love come into play.
Maybe the spiritual part is that I have to invite Jesus into my chaos since surely I have not found a way to become holy like he is.
(The 3 year old has just come into the kitchen completely naked.)
I am grateful that he is not put off by my un-spiritual-ness.
Maybe the Holy Spirit feels most at home in a mess. It is where his work begins.
I'm going to think on that as I start the next load of laundry.