Looking back, looking ahead....

            It is almost August!  Our summer is almost over.  I had planned to start school on August 1^st but after spending the last 1/3 of July trying to discern a call to missionary life in Africa and being so emotionally charged by that whole experience, I am sort of re-considering our start date again.  August 15 is sounding just about right.

I am still a little surprised that summer is so rapidly passing.  August does not only mean the start of our 8^th year of home schooling, it also means my “baby” will be turning three in less than 2 weeks.  She is now completely potty trained (even at night!) and she has been sleeping in her big girl bed for months.  She is really not a baby and I have been aware of that for a while, but somehow the number 3 just drives home that point all the more.  

It is these milestones-- another school year beginning, another birthday to celebrate, another season giving way to the next, that make us look at the clock and the calendar in shock and remind us that time is racing by.   As much as we’d like to slow it down, we have no choice but to float along with it. 

This summer has been such an interesting one.  June meant a new job for Tim and getting used to that- accepting that God’s plan was different than mine, adjusting to a different schedule,  helping Tim buy new business wear after four years of being away from the corporate world.  It also meant putting the finishing touches on my novel and getting it published.  It was a lot of “hurry up and wait” along the way and a lot of my personal deadlines pushed back, but finally we uploaded the finished manuscript to createspace and then at long last, I was able to hold in my hands my completed work.  Amazing!

July was all about promoting my book.  It has been a bit of a whirlwind of activity and excitement- meetings, phone calls, e-mails, e-mails, e-mails but things are coming together in unexpected and incredible ways and I am awed and humbled by it all.  Just to give you a little hint as to what all is going on- there are several reviews and blog posts circulating, there will be a radio giveaway soon, my novel has been presented to a few “big” names in Catholic media and publishing, it is under consideration for mention in Catholic publications and is being backed by pro-life organizations.  It is all still in the works but there is potential for great things.  I am learning so much about marketing and networking.  I am also continually praying and putting the project into God’s hands, He will do with it what He wants and I am just along for the exciting ride.

Then, of course, there was that opportunity to go to Africa when everything else was put on hold as we waited to see what God had in store.  I have secretly been still hanging onto hope for it, even though it has been a few days since Tim told them we couldn’t pursue the job any further.  I had decided that if somehow, $40,000 dollars dropped out of the sky over the weekend, then THAT would really be our "burning bush".  Then, we could go back to the mission and tell them that, as a matter of fact, we are interested.  But now it is Monday and no money has materialized, so I guess God really does have someone else in mind for the job.  I have been praying for that person and coming to terms with the fact that my life is here in Florida.  

And here in Florida, I have the new school year to get ready for and a third birthday celebration to plan and more exciting developments in the sharing of my novel.  It has been an unbelievably crazy summer but now it is **almost** time to try to put it all behind me and move forward to the next unpredictable season God has planned for my family….