Exciting News!

Last night was the final high school soccer game for the third eldest child, marking the end of a chapter for us. From the beginning of my marriage, I have endured rain, sun, and cold watching the four young ones run up and down soccer fields. Mind you, I am not from a sports family. My husband is one of three boys (all sports guys). Needless to say, it was a bit of a culture shock for me.

But I can tell you, I know way more about sports than I ever dreamed I would. I can also tell you that my husband loves the Cubs. I can name a few of the refs' hand signals when we watch football. I can also tell you that I still have no idea what offsides is, no matter how many soccer games I've seen. All I know is that certain players are too far ahead of other players. But I'm proud of myself for knowing that much!

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Speaking of learning things, I have wanted to learn how to make a Word document into a picture for a long time. This week I googled it, played around with it, and you know what? It was easy. SO easy.

What was I waiting for?

I think what finally prompted me to try was a combination of my book release and other authors tweeting mood boards of their books. I got a little jealous! I wanted to make a mood board. And I did!

Behold!

Not bad for a first try. My encouragement to you today is: Try the scary thing. The thing you think you can't do. The thing that sounds difficult. That thing you really, really want but are too afraid to try.

Go! Do it!

You might surprise yourself.

It should be noted that in this picture . . . 

I was trying not to cut, poke, or jab my face. I took my glasses off for this picture, which meant I couldn't see myself. I made a number of attempts to get the picture just right. I tried different angles, etc. All of this while holding a phone, a kitchen knife, and no glasses to help me see what on earth I was doing.

I don't recommend it.

P.S. I did not cut my face. Praise God.

This one is my favorite. I'm considering putting my quote on this photo and framing it for my office.

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Thing I'm reading this week:

I'm still reading "Waking Beauty," but I'm near the end. Next up, "Kingdom of Ash and Briars" by Hannah West.

Favorite quote of the week:

This one comes from a friend and a discussion we were having about young adult books. My friend was commenting that guys tend to not like a lot of romance in their fiction. Her thought on that was, "A good book has both sword smashing and lip smashing."

I totally agree!

Song I've got on repeat this week:

"Head Above Water" by Avril Lavigne

I know, you're thinking, "What? Avril Lavigne?" But hang with me a minute. A Christian friend posted this on Facebook. I saw later that it was a trending video on YouTube. I listened to it and, oh my!

Avril sings about needing God and finding Him at the altar. The official video features Avril in a flowing white dress on a cliff over the ocean. The background and lyrics are lovely.

As another Facebook friend said, this video/song is "stunning."

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If you didn't catch my interview with fellow Mantle Rock and historical fiction author Cynthia Roemer, please check it out. Cynthia is author of the Prairie Sky series. 

You can find her blog, "Sowing Seeds of Hope," at cynthiaroemer.com

For my local friends, there's still time to enter to win the book gift basket (Flora Library). You have until October 11 to enter. Winner announced October 12. *Family is, unfortunately, not eligible to win.*

If you've read A Desperate Love, pretty please, leave a review for me on Amazon. Reviews help authors! To those of you who've already done so, a thousand blessings!

**Internet hug**

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Finally, if I were giving out badges this week, my husband would get one that said, "Master of Marketing." He's been such a blessing by telling others about A Desperate Love, even sending a link to a coworker so he could tell his wife about it.

He told me he's earned twenty brownie points this week.

#blessed

Have a great week, guys!

God bless,

J 💜