The Invasion of LEGOs

My life has been about LEGOs this week. It goes in spurts; what they decide to be interested in. We've done paper airplanes, trains, beyblades, and now LEGOs.

Hoping to provide a needed distraction from said interest I inlisted the little boys in building with wood shape blocks. Showing remarkable kindness, two of the boys alowed the third the opporunity to use all the wood blocks for a creation.

Here it is.

They consented to hold off destroying it until I photographed it.


Then what do you know?
The LEGO men turned it into a skating rink.


I gave in and took a video. LEGOs might be here a few more days.


The News I've Been Waiting For!

Walnut Springs has decided to publish "A Circle of Sisters!" It's looking like the book will be coming out sometime around April. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone that sent me stories. I've been waiting forever to share this news. Last week I officially signed the contract.

The song that's playing right now on my iPod is "Lollipop." Giggle. I might be dancing a little bit while I write. Today is full of good things.
Jumping

Women I Admire: Just be Like Grandma

Various stories filter into my life and I suspect they are lying dormant, waiting for that moment when something triggers them; that life altering shift of fate, when you discover through personal experience, just what kind of person it took to create that story.

Take my Grandma for example. At the time of this story, I think she had four kids. She was sick; that miserable "I-want-to-give-up-on-life-for-a-day" sick. I imagine her limping about, stuffy nosed, achy. When, to her horror, my Great Grandma showed up with an extra carload of kids, nieces and nephews, all needing a place to go for the day.

Crazy. Grandma was sick. And maybe it wasn't fair of Great Grandma to assume that she'd just take all those extra kids, but here is the life-altering thing for me. Grandma took them anyway.

Last week I got sick. The achy, "I-don't-want-to-leave-my-room-or-do-anything" sickness. And so did all the kids. As I walked up and down the stairs, cleaned up puke, supplied drinks, and cleaned bathrooms, my mind wrapped around that story from years ago. I understood it on levels I hadn't before. I understood Grandma in a way I never had; her character, the kind of stamina it took to do what she did. I tightened my mental grip around that memory and found myself thinking,"If only I can be like Grandma today. Just be like Grandma today."

Isn't that the true power of service? What we give when we are nearly empty ourselves? Everything became easier as the image of my Grandma occupied my mind. Somehow, even though she lives an hour away, we were in it together.