Back from insanity-land :)

I can't believe it's been a week and a half since I posted here. Can't remember the last time I had that long of a hiatus. But it has truly been a busy time for me. And, believe it or not, the next few days are actually going to be LESS crazy (not often that I can say Christmas is the "calm part" of my December!) than they have been.

God has been SO faithful - my husband's surgery (he had it a week ago Friday) went pretty well. He had to stay in the hospital four days (he had some spinal fluid leakage when they drained the blood from the blood clot on his "old" brain tumor - so he had to be flat on his back for a few days), so has only been out a week (exactly - he came out LAST Tuesday). The doctor is sure that all the blood that needed to be drained was drained (about 5cc).

Though it could take a month or more to see the full effects of the release on his optic nerve, Marc is already seeing some vision improvement. And he's definitely on the mend (this picture was taken a week after his surgery - only three days out of the hospital. He made it to BOTH kids' school holiday parties!) We are praising God, and thanking all of you who prayed, and continue to pray, for us.

Of course, that isn't the only thing going on in our lives. For several months, my daughter has been rehearsing for her role in our dance studio's version of "The Nutcracker." Just Sunday, she did her last of two performances, a matinee (the other was Saturday night). She was a fabulous mouse, and I will likely NEVER forget when she was "stabbed" by one of the toys, and she rolled over on her back and kicked up a storm (she looked like a turtle who landed backside up!). She was literally carried off the stage. What a ham my daughter is! (the picture below is her, backstage, with the lovely girl who played Clara - what an AMAZING job she did!)

Just over an hour after this production ended, she was back on stage again - this time in our church's children's Christmas show "The Best Christmas Present Ever," where she sang (with energy and ANIMATION) in the choir AND played an angel. My wonderful son Andrew also had a part in this (a solo, even), and he did FABULOUS (another blessing - a few years ago we could barely get him to stay up onstage!). What a blessing! (only took videos of those, and have NO idea how to upload them here from my camera!)

So, we have a few days to relax for the most part, and enjoy the gift of Jesus. We're headed to Marc's folks for Christmas eve and will be back home Christmas day for our own little celebration.

As far as my book, I've been doing some agent research, and have read an EXCELLENT ebook on writing a book proposal by Thomas Nelson Publishers CEO Michael Hyatt (highly recommended - click here to see! And if you don't already follow his blog, it's DEFINITELY a must-read). So, I'm making progress. Maybe not like I'd hoped, but I am progressing.

So, that's what I've been up to. Hope to be around my blog a bit more in the next while. (and maybe even READING other peoples'!! I don't even wanna THINK ABOUT how behind I am in that!)

Praying you have a Christmas full of peace, grace, mercy, and love. Remember Who it's all about!