Late February

 Our new book did launch. It is doing pretty well. Sitting at #734 in the Kindle store, which means that only 733 books are currently doing better. It isn't a really long book so we won't make as much on Kindle page reads but it should be moderately lucrative.

We had snow a week or two ago and this pic is from that storm. We got like 4 inches. It all melted last week and last night we got another inch or so. The roads were bad this morning but thanks to sunshine, most of the snow is gone now.

Pic of a pizza party. I enjoy it when the whole crowd is around and able to eat pizza.

Well, everyone but me and Lydia. I can't because of diabetes and she is still eating a very restricted diet. It is helping as she isn't sick much anymore.

Rose has bears.

I have been watching a video sermon series on Ecclesiastes. The speaker is talking about how Solomon was super rich and super wise and tested to see whether love or lust or marriage or concubines or building projects or possessions or gold or anything else would make him feel fulfilled.

And he realized that everything was meaningless without God.

He was in a weird position of being able to have anything that was possible in that day and age. (He couldn't have an automatic dishwasher because obviously not invented yet!)

Most people in our world can always yearn for more because most of us aren't super wealthy.

We are not super wealthy. We are wealthy compared to many people in the world. Food on the table, good roof over our heads, heat in the winter, AC in the summer, cars, a POOL!

When I was a kid, I thought only really really rich fortunate people had pools. And we have a pool!

Kevin and I both keep talking about managing our time and efforts during this season of life. The more books we publish, the more we make. But how much money is enough?

That is actually a tricky question! If I spent 40 hours a week writing, and Kevin 40 hours a week doing editing and marketing and all that, we would write books much  more quickly. But we would neglect the kids. And we definitely are not called to neglect the kids!

So it is a balance. Finishing books is very satisfying to me. Writing them is satisfying. I really enjoy writing. But it is vital that I spend enough time with Kevin and the children, that I talk to the children about the Lord, that I keep on keeping on with homeschooling even though I've been doing this like 20 years now and I am a little tired of it.

(Public school is NOT an option. I am way too cranky in my views about the right way to educate to be the kind of parent who should put her kids in ps. We felt called to homeschool for a variety of reasons, but one of them is being cranky about modern educational methods.)

Anyway, all this needs thought and prayer. I adore James 1:5.

 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.