Sunday SHMILY

Jeremiah 44:1-46:28

“For this is the day of the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies” Jeremiah 46:10

Oh my friends! I had the most wonderful birthday!!! It actually started the day before my birthday. On Friday my husband gave me the best gift he ever could have given me, public praise and support of my writing. I bawled like a baby when I saw in on Facebook, and even now I’m getting choked up again. That meant more to me than ANYTHING he ever could have bought for me! I hadn’t asked for it, and I doubt that he even meant for it to be a gift, but it was. I’m sure you wives know what I mean. His accolades mean so much more to me than a thousand screaming fans ever could.

On Saturday morning, I woke up to the glorious sun shining, and it hasn’t been lately. I got dressed and ready and actually liked what I saw in the mirror staring back at me – for once – I felt like I looked *good*. The kids and I jumped into the car and grabbed some donuts for breakfast and then ran off to Staples to pick up a few things I had ordered for the book signing, along with a new fine-tip pink Sharpie to sign those books. There were NO problems with my order, Hallelujah! Although I had been prepared in case there had been problems with it. ‘Cause, you know, I’ve been there and done that already and am wise enough now to know to be Boy Scout prepared. 😉 Then we zipped off to Living Truth where there was a sweet little table all ready for me sitting right next to a shelf FULL of my products!!! It was so awesome to see it all together and displayed so neatly. I was a little impressed with myself, I’ve got to admit.

Anna and I got all set up; she was my sweet little helper for the day. (Gabe was in a tennis tournament all morning.) Once we got settled in we, OK I, meandered back to visit with the other two authors that were there for Living Truth’s Anniversary Celebration. We had a GREAT time “talking shop” and getting marketing ideas from one another. I was stunned to find out that of the three of us, I had been writing the longest at five years.

We ended up having a great turn out for the book signing and I ended up selling/signing more books than I’ve ever sold/signed at any of my book signings before. Maybe even all of them combined even! I got to talk to people about my books and they all were genuinely interested in them. I got to give my testimony and minister AND I actually SOLD BOOKS! One of you even came out to see me, which TOTALLY made my day!

After the signing my husband took us out to my favorite Chinese restaurant… right next door to the bookstore! Which is a good thing too because my feet were killing me from standing in those heels for so long! After dinner we came home and Anna made me the cake she had been begging me to make all week.

That’s a stick family in red icing. The same stick family that she had sketched on her notebook earlier this week when she was planning my cake!!!

Watching her decorate this cake with such meticulous care was such a gift to me! She worked so hard on this cake, and you can taste the love in every bite too!

That says, “Mommy”. The blob of sprinkles in the middle of it was my fault. I totally messed up her design. Oops!

While Anna was decorating, Gabe made me a paper crane. He’s very into paper folding and is getting pretty good at it. He made a crane because they’re supposed to be good luck.

After taking as many pictures of the cake as I could possibly take, I dug in! And

OOOOHHHH

MMMMYYYYYY

GGGGGOOOODDDDDNNNNEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Cake with coconut pecan frosting in the middle layer and classic chocolate frosting on the top and sides, OH! That is one GOOD chocolate lovers cake! And one VERY happy Mommy!

And wouldn’t you know it, what would my little eye spy in red frosting as I finished licking my plate?

A red heart of course! Yes LORD, I have seen how much You love me today! 😀 I am so very blessed indeed!

Thank you all so very much for your prayers! They mean the world to me and I could CERTAINLY feel them throughout the entire day on Saturday, but especially during the book signing. There was one point in particular, I think it was around 1 EST when people just started pouring in the door and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that it was all because you had prayed for them to come. Thank you for that!!! Getting to talk to people about my story and actually get to see their reactions was such a tremendous blessing to me, words can’t even come close to describing how that felt. It was a dream come true. God is good. So good. And I want everyone to know it! He is so good to us!

He is SO GOOD to us!!!

Thank you for praying my friends. You mean the world to me! 😀

And here are the rest of this week’s SHMILY pictures!