In the Garden

I just wanted to do a quick post about a book that I have self published.  I am super excited, and still rather amazed by God's hand in putting this together as it wasn't something I was expecting to do this year, and now it is here!  Maggie painted the cover and I am very proud of her.

Click to enlarge

Click to Enlarge

We are planning on making this available for distribution in early August both in a print and an e-book version.  If you are interested in receiving more information directly, feel free to contact me by e-mail at my personal e-mail if you know it, or send an e-mail to 

mightypublishinghouse@gmail.com 

or message me on Facebook.  If you are already on the list, no need to contact me again. :-)   I will be posting more about it on the blog.

As a sidenote, this book isn't about Vivien, but it does include a story about how we came to our decision to have another baby who ended up being our Sweet Girl.  It is a 5 week study for women which includes Scripture, questions, personal application and some real-life experiences of my own, Now that I have written one, my head is swirling with other ideas and I would love to write one about our experiences with Vivien.


Backstory:

I am so grateful for the way this book came to fruition.  We have been at our new church, Highlands Community Church for at least a year and a half now.  For the first year or so we were there we were so consumed with Vivien's birth and subsequent heart surgery and recovery that we were not involved in any type of ministry at all.  I found myself missing this so last September or so, I asked how I could help with a womens' ministry event coming up.

In speaking with the event coordinator, one of the things she let me know that one of the needs was a devotional for women.  I wasn't sure if she meant coordinating getting one and giving it out or writing one and when I asked about possibly writing one, she was happy with the idea and asked me to do it.  We coordinated the writing around the theme of the event and I was so excited to carry it out.

We were under a bit of a time crunch with the event coming up, and so I amped up my writing time and Todd and my mom graciously helped out with the kids.  As the event grew nearer, we were all set to go, but realized that there were a couple of steps in the approval process that we missed and that the book wouldn't be ready in time.  The church had been planning to publish it and give it out at the event in December and now it wasn't going to happen.

I was disappointed to say the least, but the event coordinator said that she'd like to still use it at another womens event coming up this year.  I love how God works, because what first turned out as disappointing delay, blossomed into more time and more thought and a self-published book.

I am so grateful for the help and prodding of our church because a friend of mine was able to edit and a woman in our church did a great job with the layout.  On top of that, the womens ministry director was able to review it, along with some of the elders.  So many things that I never would have been able to accomplish on my own happened, and it gave me a deadline as well.  I know that without a deadline, it may have never happened.

All that to say, I am so thankful for how God worked it out because I have this book in my hands, that holds so much of my heart for women and my desire to communicate the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit and experiencing intimacy with Jesus.   I'm a little overwhelmed that it's actually here and feel like I've been given a gift.

I hope that you will be able to read it and will be forthcoming with more info soon.  I am thankful for all the people who have encouraged me in my writing and am looking forward to seeing what God does with this book.