Welcome Baby Leah

She's here. Leah Kathryn was born yesterday morning at 5:50 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds 13 ozs and was 20 inches long. She looks just like her big sister Jenna. It's hard to believe her sister Jenna is 2 years old already. We are on our way back to the hospital to see the baby. It's hard to think of her yet as Leah. She's been "the baby" for so long. And it seems like Jenna has been Jenna forever. Watching my daughter-in-law in labor brought back so many memories. I'm thinking about the years ago when I was going through the same pains for Jenna and Leah's Daddy. The pain of childbirth is not foremost in my memory. What stands out were the times I held him in my arms. The little baby sounds he used to make. The way he smelled. The way his skin felt. Every Mother in the world can relate to those memories. This morning, watching Jenna play brought back memories too. We were sitting at her little table coloring. We had a tea party and she fed me a "snack". Those are the memories I have with my own children too. Sitting and coloring by the hour. Reading book after book. Trying to flip through a few pages to cut the story short, only to have them remind me, I had just skipped a page. Precious memories. Those are the ones I will always hold in my heart. I have two of the most beautiful granddaughters in the world. I'm not prejudiced----am I?

God Bless Texas

My husband and I left Florida early Saturday morning Our final destination being Denver Colorado. We're having another granddaughter. She is supposed to arrive on February 22nd. We spent a day with friends in Austin Texas and had a fabulous time. They took us sight seeing and showed us areas we would never have known about. Sometimes I feel guilty when I'm not writing, but I try to justify it by telling myself, I'm getting new material. When we left Florida, my husband thought a good goal would be 500 miles a day. We exceeded our goal everyday. Somehow the GPS was programmed for the shortest distance, not the fastest time. So we drove down several cow paths. At one point we were driving along when I realized we were on a one lane road in the country somewhere. My husband commented that we had not met a single car in over 45 minutes. When we finally arrived in Colorado, my husband had done a very good job of tracking the miles. We went about 300 miles out of our way, but we felt blessed to have seen all the country we did. And we knew that wouldn't have been possible had we stayed on the interstate. At one point on the trip, while driving through Texas he woke up and said, "are we still in Texas?" We saw parts of Texas we have never seen before. We left our friends house in Austin about 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning and arrived in Denver Colorado around midnight. We drove close to 900 miles that day. My entire body was numb. When I walked in the house, it was 10:00 their time, our two year old granddaughter screamed with delight that we were here. She ran and jumped in my arms. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and said, I love you Nana. I immediately forgot about the 900 miles.

Moving Day

I had no idea where my deodorant, or tooth brush were. I also couldn't find the shampoo or cream rinse. Having so many friends help us move was a blessing, but trying to find our "stuff" was a challenge. My husband's 82 year old sister lives with us. Not only did I have to move us, but Sis as well. During the middle of moving day, someone scheduled a book signing for me. Needless to say, I was a little frustrated in addition to being completely worn out. It has been years since I've moved. I had forgotten how much fun it is! Several friends brought food for us during the move, but I couldn't find plates, silverware or glasses. We wanted to go out to eat, but our clothes were filthy and I couldn't find clean clothes. At least not everything we needed. I could find shirts and shorts, but no underwear. I could find lids, but no pots or pans, and so it went for about 24 hours. Then little by little it started coming together. Today, the TV and Internet "magically" came back on. So now I can sit in my office, watch the palm trees out the window and reflect on "moving day". Knowing it's all behind me now.

OVERWHELMED

I have received emails or a phone call from four different people, in different professions, in the past two days telling me they are feeling overwhelmed. I looked up the meaning of overwhelmed. According to The American Heritage Dictionary: To overcome completely, either physically or emotionally. Well, I think those are pretty strong words. Overcome completely, either physically or emotionally. I wrote a poem last week, just about those emotions. I think from a writers perspective becoming overwhelmed encompasses the many hats we must wear. Writing isn't simply sitting down to write. But in fact, that's the fun part. Writing involves re-writing text you poured your heart into, thinking you would be the next John Grisham or Mary Higgins Clark. Only to learn you need to start over. That's overwhelming. You can only be overwhelmed, overcome completly, if you give in to it. Create a mental picture of you being the overcomer~ is that a word? Take the reins. Stand up and say to yourself, I can do this. I will not let (whatever you are feeling overwhelmed by) get me down. Now, go look at yourself in the mirror and smile. Take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back. Let me know you are feeling better. I'll be praying for you.

Discouraged

I received an email from a writer friend the other day. She was very discouraged. I was surprised to hear that, because she received another contract for the third book in her series. So when does the roller coaster ride we writers are on end? That's just what I wanted to know. I think the answer to that is, it doesn't. There is always something in your life to lessen the joy. Around the next corner, there is something waiting. However, don't despair. In spite of the "bad" things in our lives, there are always "good things" which off set it. My friend was disappointed because she didn't have two contracts, as she initially thought. It was disappointing. But I reminded her, she still had one contract. I'm trying to look at my life that way too. When I wake up and I'm happy and in a good mood, and then I learn my Internet service provider (ISP) is down for the count, and I'm not able to get on line, I try to remind myself, I should go clean out the refrigerator. It's not the end of the world. My computer will be up and running shortly. Maybe that's God's way of saying "take a break, girl".