(Parentheses)

I went to a writing conference and my mom needed medical treatment.

Once home, I found out my mom has a brain tumor.

My mom has lymphoma.

I've been with her nearly every day.

My mom seems to like to sleep when I'm with her. And that's ok. She needs to rest and heal.

(I've been writing.)

The hospital has been my office. My husband has become the homeschool mom and housewife. And I take my lunch and my laptop to the not-so-comfortable chair next to my mom and I turn on Pandora and she sleeps (and I write.)

Good days. Bad days. But the worst days have not been caused by tumors or lymphomas, but by careless humans.

(on those days, I cannot write.)

But on the days, which are most days, that mom wants a cool washcloth on her eyes and wants to nap while I'm with her (those days, I write.)

And in the (parentheses) of one planned writing conference to a surprise second one, I have finished one proposal of my own and one with a very good friend. This surprise second conference includes a meeting with a publisher who is interested in both proposals.

And today is June 1. Jill's birthday. Last year, we moved into our new home and new life on this day. This year I'm praying for my mom to recover. I'm also praying for what's been happening in the (parentheses) of my life.

His Mercies...

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed..."

And I was not consumed yesterday. I might have been having a great big pity party yesterday, but I was not consumed by anything other than my selfish tragedies. (Name that Jeremy Camp song. One of my favorites.)

"...for his compassions never fail."

I can't tell you how many understanding nurses gave me a hug yesterday after I wrote that. And one Ivy Tech Student instructor sought me out in the little oncology-floor waiting room and said, "You look awful distressed today and I think you need to talk it out. What is going on?" Then she gave me the biggest hug. Thank God for her.

"They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him’.”

And they are new today. I feel better. Thank you, my friends, for your comments, your emails, and most of all, your prayers. (((hugs)))

Weary.

Tired. Pooped. Out of gas. Running on fumes. The big "E" is flashing and I'm thinking I have to pull over on the shoulder, but there's no shoulder. No exit. Nada. Zippo. Ziltch.

Part of it is out of my control. Part of it was caused by a decision I made last night to take a break and go have some fun.

I should've just stayed home.

But I didn't.

I wanted to say home, but I wanted to go. I went because I thought I needed a pick-me-up. Turns out I did indeed have fun. A LOT of fun. But because of an out of my control factor, I only got 3 hours sleep and today was already slated to be stressful. Add to that no sleep and honest to God, I'm an emotional basket case.

I've asked God for forgiveness. I've asked him for help. Strength. Energy. I'm kinda at wit's end. I have too many responsibilities today and I know I can't fulfill them. There are important deadlines and things I cannot ignore, yet, I have nothing to offer anyone or anything.

I'm on E.

And I don't think I've ever been here before.

Broken by Travis Thrasher

This week's featured CFBA book is Broken by Travis Thrasher.

Laila had it all--love, family, wealth, and faith. But when her faith crumbles, her world falls apart and Laila finds herself living an empty, dangerous life as a call girl in Chicago.

When she is threatened, Laila shoots and kills a client in self-defense, sending herself into a spiral of guilt and emptiness. Six months later, she is trying to move on, but she's haunted by the past. She hasn't told anyone about the man she killed, and she's still estranged from her family.

When she is approached by a stranger who says he knows what she did, Laila has no choice but to run. But the stranger stays close behind, and Laila begins having visions of the man she killed. Little does she know she's being hounded by something not of this world, something that knows her deepest, darkest secret.
Scared and wandering, will Laila regain her trust in God to protect her from these demons? Or will her plea for salvation come too late?


If you would like to read the first chapter of Broken, go HERE.

Frenzy by Robert Liparulo

This week's featured CFBA book is Frenzy by Robert Liparulo.

Their destiny is to fix history. Their dream is to get home.

When you live in a house that's really a gateway between past and present, you have to be ready for anything. It's a painful fact the Kings have faced since moving to Pinedale eight days ago. Desperately trying to rescue their mother from an unknown time and place, brothers Xander and David have lunged headlong into the chaos of history's greatest--and most volatile--events. But their goal has continually escaped their grasp.

And worse: Finding Mom is only a small part of what they must do, thanks to the barbaric Taksidian. His ruthless quest to sieze their house and its power from them has put not only the family, but all of mankind, in grave danger.

Somehow, the key to it all hinges on Uncle Jesse's words to the boys: "Fixing time is what our family was made to do." But how can they fix a world that has been turned updisde down--much less ever find their way home?

At long last, the secrets of the house and the King family are revealed in the stunning conclusion to this epic series.

If you would like to read the Prologue and first Chapter of Frenzy, go HERE.

Sign up for the Frenzy Newsletter HERE.

A History of Christianity

You are now witness to my inner geekdom. With an affinity for documentaries and a pretty healthy appetite for intriguing information about the church, I didn't want to pass up the chance to review the first DVD in this set.

And I've already created a little clone geek. Zane watched it with me and we both enjoyed it!

A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, a new DVD series, explores what it really means to be a Christian.

Presented by David MacCulloch, a leading historian and Professor of History of the Church and Fellow at St. Cross College, Oxford.

"Religious belief can transform us for good or ill. It has brought humans to acts of criminal folly as well as to the highest achievements of goodness and creativity. I tell the story of both extremes," say MacCulloch.

As a homeschooler, doing my best to make sure my son has a well-rounded Christian education, this series is my cup of tea. I would like to add the rest of the collection to my library and use it as curriculum.

Rather than tell you everything on the DVD, let me say that the first hour-long program was filled with information I didn't know. I expect the same from the other five.

For more information, click here.

Yoursphere

Yoursphere is a new little venture Zane and I are trying out. It's a safe place for kids and teens to hang out.

Not just safe, they even have a Law Enforcement Task Force on staff (with some pretty impressive resumes.)

Parents are sign up, have their information validated and validate their children's accounts and then have access through a parental dashboard to see everything the kids are posting.

Friending is monitored by age so an 8 year old can't be friends with an 18 year old. And 18 is the age limit.

Kids are rewarded for their positive interactions in the community with credits they can save up and use to donate to charity or trade in for DVD's, Ugg boots, iPods, iPhones and all kinds of cool swag.

If you'd like to join us, here's a referral code you can use: YSMC-0056

Zane's username is Zane.

The one drawback I've seen thus far is the irritating video that auto-starts on the main site. You're warned. Turn your volume down and click stop before you start looking around the page and I'll try to convince them how bad auto-play videos are.

* * *

Big Brother requires I say this: "I wrote this review while participating in the Yoursphere Test Drive program by Mom Central on behalf of Yoursphere. I received a free lifetime Gold membership on Yoursphere.com,Yoursphere t-shirts, and a $50 American Express gift card to facilitate my review."

But you should know by now, I don't lie and I don't hold back. I think this is a good thing. I'll be writing a few more posts about it in the next couple of months.

Neglected by Choice

Most of you out there in blogland also follow me on Twitter or Facebook so you probably already know why this blog has sat dorment for a month. The rest of you, maybe sponsors I've just started building relationships with or new readers should understand this isn't typical at all.

Here's the recap of the last month:

April 14th: I headed to Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing to represent Relief Journal and The Midnight Diner as the new president of the company that publishes them, ccPublishing.

On the way there, my sister called me concerned with my mom's health.

April 16th: My dad's birthday, mom was hospitalized. I was still at the conference.

April 20th: Doctors find a 5cm brain tumor in mom.

April 24th: My parent's 39th wedding anniversary, mom has brain surgery. Doctors diagnose her with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma. (We canceled our trip to our grandson's first birthday party in Missouri to be at the hospital for mom's surgery.)

April 26: Phil's step-dad, the only dad he's known because his dad died in an auto accident when Phil was a year old, is diagnosed with lung cancer, has a large tumor in his lung and the cancer has wrapped around his spine and nearly severed a vertebrae.

April 29th: We leave for Missouri.

April 30th: Phil's step-dad has surgery to remove the lung tumor and part of the spinal cancer.

May 3rd: Phil's step-dad has surgery again, this time to put in an artificial vertebrae.

May 6th: Phil's daughter puts on a second-first birthday party for our grandson! :)

May 7th: Mom has an IV bubble put in her brain for chemo.

May 8th: Back to Indiana.

May 9th: Mother's Day, I spent the day with mom at the hospital.

May 10th: Mom's chemo started.



And here we are. I've been at a hospital nearly every single day since April 20th. Thank goodness for friends who are willing to help out with Popinjay (and will continue to help!) until things are a little less frantic around here. I've made some commitments to a couple sponsors and I'll be catching up on those posts soon as well as trying to participate in Popinjay. I might even get to post a blog or two with thought on this past month. You all know how much I loathe cancer for taking my best friend, Jill.

Amber said something when this all started, I can't remember when it was, but she said something about all this stuff hitting right after some very good things happened in my life regarding God. I can't help but think she's right. That's the idea I need to explore. Am I cursed or blessed? I've posted about that before with a lighter tone, but after several writer's conferenced and critique partners who've mentioned the fact that I might well be cursed--I might just believe it. LOL