The end of May

Well it's the end of May and I'm sad and glad. I love Florida and I love Pennsylvania. They are so different. As usual, I'm SHOCKED that June is just around the corner. I had SO MUCH writing I had hoped to get done here in Florida....but for many reasons it didn't happen. Now I'm hoping that as I head north I can harness my time and energy and make up for a lot I didn't do. On the other side of the equation is the fact that my oldest son is planning to return to Israel on June 23rd and I can say that I think that the three of us (my husband, my son and myself) have made the most of our time together (five months). We have shared a lot and for that I am grateful. It is a time that has been very special .....and even if I didn't get a lot of writing completed, Ethan and John did! So I'm happy for their success.

Florida, Pennsylvania, and .....Israel

This is most likely our last week in Florida .....we should be on the road to Montrose, PA by next week. That is the three of us. John, my husband and Ethan, our oldest son, and myself. We have been in Fl since January and it has been a momentous few months. We have done a lot of writing and a lot of praying. Ethan came home in December after having lived and worked in Israel for the past nine years. Now he is going back to Israel, God willing, in late June or July. God has opened the door for him to be the office manager/grant writer for http://www.shevet.org/

Shevet is a Christian organization that works with children from surrounding countries who would die without a heart operation. These children are brought into Israel and the Jewish doctors contribute their services while the hospitals provide services at cost. Jonathan Miles founded the organization in the 1990's.

Ethan was first approached about working for them in December and as time has passed, it is becoming a reality. He is looking forward to returning as his "heart" is in Israel. So most of his writing at the moment is in connection with Shevet although he hopes to return to writing articles for a Torah class website soon and also for a possible Hebraic Roots book.

I'm "catching up" and trying to get ready to go so I'm not having an opportunity to write too much per se right now. But hopefully soon I will be settled in Montrose and able to pick up the pen and concentrate. John is busy writing his website. In fact, he has an appt today and before long his website should be up and running! He is really excited about it.

Writing of all types is wonderful when you are doing it for the ONE who makes it all worthwhile.

Colorado Dreamin'

Colorado was wonderful to put it mildly! We got to spend time with our son(s), ...two of them, as well as our daughter-in-law and grandson. We crowded a lot in like playing mini golf, watching basketball, sightseeing in Boulder, touring the Rocky Mountain National Park as well as sitting around eating and relaxing. Ezra, our grandson, is now five months old and it was neat to see how he is growing and changing! Also we got to see the office of our middle son, Eli, at Colorado State. In addition, we shared his happiness at the news that Colorado State is sending him along with a number of others to Mongolia for 10 days in July!

But since this is a writing blog I should get to that. We spent five amazing days in Estes Park, CO. This has to be one of the prettiest spots in the whole United States. We attended a writers conference that has to win the prize for most scenic. It was also quite encouraging. I just received an email saying an article I took may be used by Women Alive! Come to the Fire magazine so that is encouraging. I was also in a non-fiction book clinic and thought it was excellent. My son, Ethan, was in a fiction class with Angela Hunt and Nancy Rue which he said was great. He also had a publisher interested in his Hebraic Roots book proposal. That is only a first step but it is hopeful. And John, my husband, made many contacts and learned a great deal about publicity for his soon to be published book, Earth Is Not Alone. It wasn't all work as we went on a fun hayride and had a campfire dinner!

Now we are back and John is hard at work on his website! Soon I will link to it....and you all can see how much hard work he is doing.

Colorado......here ....we .....come!

Hard to believe that in a week we will be flying to CO to see Eli and Linda, my son and daughter-in-law as well as our by then five month old grandson, Ezra. We will get to visit with them for four and a half days and then we head to the writers conference in Estes Park, CO. John, my husband, as well as my son, Ethan, will be attending. I go regularly to the Christian Writers Conference in Montrose, PA each summer since we live there but John rarely attends (even though his cousin's wife, Patti Souder, is the director). He does come to eat dinner however! But this time John is finishing up a novel, Earth Is Not Alone, and I've talked him into coming to get inspired and learn more about such subjects as marketing, etc. Plus Ethan has just begun writing articles for a website on Hebraic roots and is also interested in fiction so he is planning to attend a special fiction workshop. It's so neat that the visit and the conference can go together and I get to share it with my family!

Tonight the conference director emailed tentative nonfiction clinic book proposals from those in the class (I'm one of them.) It was kind of shocking to think that this is coming quickly. Right now I'm sort of buried in other things.....like trying to get our taxes together and mailed by next week. And a couple of miles away a huge brushfire is threatening a housing development not far from where I live. It's so good to know the One who is in control when life seems a little out of control!

Hopefully I will accomplish a lot in this intervening week and then .......Colorado here I (we) come!