As Time Goes By

The last month has slipped by so quickly. I feel like I have lived in limbo since the couple days of April. We all have really. And yet April 28^th (the last day Dad was alive) seems like years ago. Mom, Sean and I have drawn closer, but the family is incomplete now. We don’t laugh as hard as we did before or enjoy the moments. Nothing makes sense. If I didn’t have faith I’d be a lost cause. Last Saturday we saw his grave for the first time since his funeral. My mind cannot fathom that my Dad is buried there. This seems wrong to me. My Aunt told us all something that has stayed with me. My Grandma was 15 years old when she lost her Daddy and she never really got over it. I totally understand. She had it harder than I do though. She was only a kid and it was during the Great Depression. But I get it, why she never got over it. Her Daddy was only 44 when he died whereas mine was 60. Still, I don’t think anyone is ever prepared to lose their parents, no matter how old they are. Grandma was braver than I am. She probably confided in her brother and sisters, but she never felt sorry for herself and never burdened anyone. My only hope is that I can live up to the example that she left me. If she survived all of that, somehow we will too.

Just when we think things might settle down a little bit, something else happens. My sister Sean has been in traction for the last month. She’s been having stomach problems for a while now and since we lost Dad, it has increasingly gotten worse. The doctor did some tests and learned that her gall bladder is not functioning at a normal rate. She is to have it out tomorrow. Sean is looking forward to it because it has given her nothing but misery for two years now. I can’t wait to see her back to her old self.

In regards to my writing: The Harper Lee article I wrote for the May/June issue of Femnista is now available at charitysplace.com. I wrote an article for the July/August issue about “The Wizard of Oz,” book and movie. I still have one article for the September/October issue that I haven’t even started on. Very excited because it is to be about someone I admire very much: Sophie Scholl. Can’t wait. I never did get around to submitting a story in for the Writer’s Digest Contest. I found another contest that would suit the story better so I may try to submit it there. We’ll see. It needs some tweaking here and there. Also there is a story I am working on for Chicken Soup for the Soul book. Not sure if it will be accepted. Time will tell. In the mean time I am revising WIP #1. An agent asked for it exclusively for the next three months. So psyched about this that it almost seems too good to be true. I’m afraid that I’ll wake up and all of it will disappear.

Again, thank you to you all who have been praying for us. I so appreciate it. Love to you all! God Bless!

The Blog Entry without a Title

I finished the first draft of my newest novel. Whenever I complete a first draft on anything, I allow myself a week’s vacation to rejuvenate. This time I am giving myself two weeks. Originally when I conceived this story, it was to be something simple and nothing complicated. But now I have gone and fallen in love with it and it is becoming epic to me. The topic is not commonly covered, at least not in the Christian market. Oh, it has been touched on, but not they way I am doing it. I fear that the heroine might be considered too feministic, but I can’t have her any other way. My heroine must remain strong, independent and intelligent. I can’t dumb her down and make her weak to mold her into one of those cookie-cutter heroines. I can only hope that once I’m finished with the novel that someone might see how true to life it is.

While I’m on this little break, I am trying something new. Throughout all of my endeavors to be published, family and friends alike have advised me to write some smaller pieces for Guidepost or Reader’s Digest. I’m actually going to try that. I wrote what amounts to a little more than a page about my paternal grandmother.

So my fingers are crossed. Wish me luck!

A New Friend

For the last few months, I have been in charge of making the snacks for AWANA. At last I have found my niche. For little more than a year, I tried to work with the children by helping them memorize their verses. I make a horrible teacher. The kids stare at me like I’m not making myself clear and they never learn what they’re supposed to. I’m glad to be working more behind the scenes and with food…I like food. Though I do well in the kitchen, I was not originally in charge. I was just a helper, but as of late I’ve taken on this small responsibility. It’s been good for me though. It takes me out of my little comfort zone.

Another person working in the kitchen is Jo, a very fine and amazing lady in her mid-eighties. I have worked with her before in VBS, but in the last year I think we have really clicked. We talk about all sorts of things, especially of the past. At one point I learned that she attended the same church that my family attended in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Then she revealed something that really through me for a loop.

Jo said that in the 1950’s she had known my Grandma and they had been friends. That may not be a big deal to you, dear reader, but it really affected me. Jo reminds me of my Grandma quite a bit and I truly enjoy working with her. I don’t mean to imply that Jo has replaced my Grandma; no one could replace my Grandma. Grandma was my friend, mentor and confidant. But it’s nice to be around someone of that era.

I’m glad to have a new friend. I have longed to have someone else to talk to and I’m thankful to God for sending Jo into my life.

Random Chanukah Thoughts

I wish that I could celebrate Chanukah, and other Jewish holidays too. I suppose that there is nothing really preventing me from doing it except my own ignorance of the holiday and laziness. Despite my belief that we have Jewish heritage, we’re Protestant and have never observed the holiday. I know some about it but not nearly enough to celebrate it properly. There is a Messianic Synagogue in town and we have attended it and could probably celebrate it with them, but the last few Saturdays have been too hectic to visit.

Thanks to my Mom, I first learned about Chanukah when I was a teenager. She had heard about it from my Grandma. Actually, the word “Chanukah” wasn’t mentioned at all; we called it the story of the Maccabees. Where Grandma picked up the story of the Maccabees, I don’t know, but early on in my parents’ marriage, she shared the story with my Mom. Then later on Mom passed it on down to me. When I started doing research about Judaism I learned that Chanukah was the result of the Maccabees. Not only that, I discovered that Chanukah was not the Jewish version of Christmas, as I had thought. It was a holiday that proceeded Christmas by several hundred years.

I wish my church, and all Christian denominations, observed Chanukah and the other Jewish holidays. I mean there is more of a Scriptural basis for the Jewish holidays than there are for the Christian ones. Jesus really wasn’t born on December 25; the 25th was originally a pagan holiday and the early church replaced that holiday with “Jesus’ birthday.” Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and I do my best to remember Christ at this time of year. But I think adding Chanukah and the other Jewish holidays to our “Christian” calendar would increase our understanding of the Bible and the Jewish roots of our religion.

Whenever I study about Judaism, I feel closer to Christ. He was a Jew; He celebrated Chanukah, Purim, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, etc. I think Chanukah ought to be as respected and as valued as Christmas. Whenever I spot a menorah in someone’s window, I think “right on.” It’s something to be proud of and I wish that I could share in that pride.

Oh well, maybe we can celebrate it next year. Have a Happy Chanukah!