Top of the Morning

Happy Saint Patrick's day everyone! A traditional old Irish greeting is for me to say, "Top of the morning to you!" and you reply, "And the rest of the day to you!"

So I am joyfully shouting through the magical, mysterious, leprechaun called the Internet to you, "Top of the morning to you!" (And I hope the leprechaun allows you to feel the love that goes with the words!)

I found a new website this week that I like. It is called LDS Bookcorner. I've put a button for it on the left of my blog. Each week they publish the first few chapters of new LDS books so readers can sample them. And this week they are featuring my new book, Gospel Insights for Everyday Living. I hope you'll check the site out. It looks like a great way to keep up on what is being published.

Perspective

I thought I'd share a snippet of one of the chapters from my new book, Gospel Insights for Everyday Living. I hope you enjoy!

"There are some moments in life that change you forever. One of those happened to me many years ago during a Relief Society lesson. I don’t remember what the lesson was about, but somehow it had turned into a discussion of husbands’ faults. One after another of the sisters began to complain about her husband’s lack of responsiveness or his failure to help out
around the house, etc. You’ve all been in a situation like that and know how contagious negative feelings are.

At the time, my husband was bishop and our ward was very large. He was gone almost every night, leaving me to care for our five children under the age of eight. In short, I felt overwhelmed
and alone, so as I listened to the other women complain, my husband’s faults and failings kept popping into my head. With every new comment from the group, another fault of his would
come to mind and I’d think, “Yea, my husband does that too!” or “That isn’t half as bad as what Carl does (or doesn’t) do!”

The Relief Society instructor failed to get the class back on track, and as the comments got more negative so did the feelings within me. I didn’t vocalize them, but I certainly was thinking them, and those thoughts were generating all kinds of hot, negative feelings within me.

But then something happened that changed me. A woman in the back of the room began to rave about how her husband made a mess in the entryway every time he came home from work. He worked construction and he’d take off his dirty boots as soon as he entered the house, drop them near the door, walk into the family room, plop down to watch the evening news, and pull off his stinky socks, dropping them beside the couch for her to pick up later. “It’s disgusting,” she said, and several women nodded in agreement.

But at that point the elderly woman sitting in front of me, who had been a widow for 23 years, turned to her gray-haired friend sitting next to her, a widow of 19 years, and whispered, “I
wish I had socks on my floor.”

I’m sure that besides the friend, I am the only person in the room that heard those words—words that pierced my heart and instantly erased all my negative thoughts and feelings. In that moment, my perspective shifted from that of victim of my husband’s thoughtlessness to that of grateful wife. I had someone to pick up after—what a blessing!

Sneak Peek of My New Book!

My new book, Gospel Insights for Everyday Living will be out within the next two weeks. I am excited. This is the cover. I love the way it turned out. A few very minor changes are being made to it, but this is how it will look. I hope you like it.

I'll let you know exactly when it will be in stores!

My New Baby!

After a grueling week of reading the typeset copy of my book Gospel Insights for Everyday Living on my computer, I feel like my brain is fried. But I am excited! I’ll read it one more time tomorrow looking for typos we haven’t caught before and then it should go to press on Monday.

Writing a book is a lot like having a baby. The gestation period is long and lonely. But I get attached to it even before it is “born,” and can’t wait to see what it will look like once it is finished. I struggle with the changes editors want to make, and when things are cut, I feel the labor pains intensely! But once the book is done and on the shelves of book stores, I know I’ll forget the pain and only be excited. Soon!

I’ll keep you posted as to when it will be in stores. If you like the book, by all means tell me. If you don’t, please keep it a secret. Remember it is my baby you’re talking about!