Today my baby is 20! How did that happen?

Like many mothers, I suppose I remember him as that toddler who had more energy than the sun and seemed to be everywhere at once. So, in honor of my baby boy, here's my version of "I remember. . ."

I remember the funny things - like the two year old who announced in church one Sunday that something was "impossible." What he said had nothing to do with church, but it garnered attention because of the size of the word and the size of the kid who said it. And there are the pictures of him: in the dishwasher, positioning a small chair near the sink and climbing up on the back of it to reach the faucet, "cleaning" the toilet at 18 months (cleaning is relative here - he had the brush and it was in the toilet and he was moving it around with all his might), and riding his first bike with training wheels at three (at breakneck speed down an uneven sidewalk).

I remember the sobering things. Being "kicked out" of two different daycares (he just had too much energy and was stubborn to boot), the kindergarten teacher who really "got" him and showed him that school and learning could be fun, but retired after his kindergarten year and was killed in a car accident a few years later; the first grade teacher who also retired after his first grade year; and the second grade teacher who "didn't get" him at all and caused us to remove him from school and homeschool him for the next four years.

I remember the heart-stopping things. The time I just happened to notice the back of a blood-soaked shirt on a two year old who wasn't crying, and couldn't tell me how he managed to hit his head and end up requiring three stitches; the one year old who had no fear, whether it was heights, stairs, or a swimming pool; and the one day old who nearly inched his way off a hospital bed while the doctor watched.

I remember the heart-warming things. The cuddler, who loved to crawl into bed with me and snuggle in the mornings; the five month old who took out two Christmas trees - with a big smile and could open the refrigerator from his walker ("No, I don't need any eggs right now."); and the four year old who went to a Halloween party as Thomas the Tank Engine (my sister made a cardboard cutout for him to wear over his overalls) and let an entranced two year old stranger wear the costume for most of the night.

So, to my amazing baby boy, I say Happy Birthday!! I love you and wish you all the best.

Mom

Labels: birthdays, Memories, my son

So, I've only been back for a couple of days and it has taken me this long to get into my blog to post the blurb - enjoy!

Gypsy Legacy, Book 3

A panther. A prince. A promise. Can destiny tie the knot?

During a magical childhood summer, a gypsy woman gave Lady Amanda Cookeson a black panther statuette, promising that the man who came to claim it would also claim her heart. Amanda believes the Earl of Wynton is the prince she has awaited. Yet his reluctance to declare them anything more than friends leaves her wondering if she waited in vain.

If he wasn’t the last of his line, Jon Kenton, Earl of Wynton, wouldn’t marry at all. Since leaving his inheritance to the Crown is out of the question, however, he is compelled to search for the statuette his great-grandmother promised him. His quest leaves him empty handed—and secretly relieved. Finding the statuette would mean embracing the gypsy roots he has long denied.

Amanda is perfect countess material: lovely, admirable and—he thinks—statueless. Their passion is unquenchable…until the gypsy magic Jon thought he’d buried nearly destroys his future with Amanda.

Labels: Blurb, Gypsy Legacy Series, The Earl

So, today I got final approval on the cover for The Earl. What do you think? I hope the blurb will be approved soon.



For those of you who have read the other books in this series, the article that is supposed to lead Jon to his destiny is a panther statuette made of black onyx.

Labels: Cover, Earl Cover, Gypsy Legacy Series, The Earl

I'll be away for the next ten days or so on vacation in Germany, so I thought to leave you with a re-run of a previous post on one of our favorite smaller city in Germany. Freising sits outside of Munich and is the perfect place to spend the night before flying out of Munich's airport. Enjoy, and I'll see everyone in a couple of weeks.
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Freising is a city situated near two hills. Back in the Middle Ages, Freising was an important city as the seat of a bishopric and a major religious center. St. Corbinian settled at a shrine in Freising around 724. On the city's coat of arms is a saddled bear. This stems from the story of St. Corbinian in which it was said that while traveling a bear attacked and killed his packhorse. Corbinian is said to have told the bear that since he'd killed the horse, he would have to take its place. All over the city there are adorable statutes of bears painted in a variety of ways. It received city rights under Emperor Otto III in 996, but with the founding of nearby Munich in 1150, it gradually lost its economic power. Today it is a quaint city that is best known for the Abbey and church on one hill and the oldest brewery in the world situated on the other. Enjoy some pictures of this picturesque town.

Labels: Freising, Germany, vacation

The following is a devotional from Words of Hope. I read it about a week ago and just loved its message, so I'm passing it on.

Philippians 3:1-16

No Confidence in the Flesh

¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

²Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. ³For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

⁷But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing on Toward the Goal

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, 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, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶Only let us live up to what we have already attained. (NIV)

Joy from Having a Personal Relationship of Faith in Jesus Christ

Paul's testimony sounds different from the "gutter to Christ" stories we have often heard. Paul came to Christ as a high moral achiever. He was an Olympic gold medal winner in personal righteousness, a Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer of morality. Yet he regarded his trophies of self-righteousness as so much garbage compared to the glory of knowing Christ Jesus.

We work hard to accumulate credentials: degrees, honors, professional recognition, status, wealth. But when the Christ of the cross turns his gaze toward us the only thing we can cry is, "Lord, remember me when you enter your kingdom." As the gospel song has it, "Nothing in my hands I bring; only to thy cross I cling; wash me Savior or I die."

If God wanted to save us by adding up our achievements he would have sent a bookkeeper. Instead he sent a Savior. Laws, rules, regulations, rituals: they all have their value and place. But at the end of the day and the end of life they all fade away, while our relationship with Christ, by faith, shines as bright as the morning sun.

Prayer: Dear God, fill me and help me value the simple joy that comes from knowing Christ my Lord.

Labels: devotional, Words of Hope, Worship on Wednesday