Bigger and Better Things

Thank you to those of you who contacted me after my last post to encourage and build me up. The response was overwhelming and I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.
I want to clarify that I don't consider my life to be a failure...quite the opposite...but I felt it necessary to be transparent about this, to expose the wound so that others who have been injured would feel less alone.
I am proud of us for the choices we made in the aftermath of this fiasco. In the end, we did the right thing and we learned so much about ourselves, our relationships and our priorities. God first, marriage second, kids third, everything else after that. As important as it can be, the credit score is far from the top of that list.
I think it was important for me to express that the decisions we reached were not reached lightly...and that the choice came down to working several jobs each, never seeing Caden and keeping the house or putting the family first and walking away...I wish things would have been different, but I'm glad we made the tough choice. We are proud of ourselves for paying off almost all of our debt and we are excited for the day when we owe nothing to no one. We want to never finance another thing as long as we live...we may chose to own a house in another decade or so, and we may have to finance hospital/doctor bills as long as we live in America, but everything else will be saved for and bought with cash. We'll drive old cars, sit on second hand furniture and shop at thrift stores before we owe another person, store or credit card company another dime.
UPDATE: The realtor called and said the short sale process is chugging along and we may close (pending approval) in October...I think that probably means January but who knows...I'll stay optimistic.
In other news, my book is finished! Last Fall, I was entering the doors of my work place, miserable with the way things were and I started praying out loud. I'm sure anyone around me would have thought me insane, but I was frustrated. I had been receiving so much positive feedback about my blog and the comments were always the same, "You should write a book!"
I didn't think I could...I dropped out of college, I'm not an expert on anything, what would I write about? I thought I'd be better off writing articles for mother's or Christian magazines but I searched and searched for an opportunity to no avail.
Finally I prayed, "God, if you want me to write a book, you need to send me some help because I have no idea how to even get started."
Within 2 days a Christian author named Kathy Pride, found my blog and offered to help me get started with a book if I was interested. I had not written anything in my blog about my desire to write a book. She had no way of knowing about my prayer two days earlier. She was a complete and utter answer to prayer.
Through her, I found EDM publishing and pitched my idea for a devotional book for mother's with toddlers. On a Thursday night in January, the CEO phoned me and told me a contract was on the way. The following day I was laid off from my job at Datamaxx. Coincidence? I think not.
I found a job playing piano on the weekends and pulled Caden out of daycare. This year I've been working on the book while staying at home with my son, playing the keys for cash on Friday and Saturday nights and thoroughly enjoying my life...money is always tight, housing stress has robbed me of my joy a time or two, but I am excited about where God is taking my writing career and my family. Obviously, He is making this writing thing happen...I'm humbled and honored.
Now with baby #2 on the way, I will have so much more to write about...I am so proud of my husband for being an incredible man and I am head over heels in love with Caden...seriously...in love with him. He is dangerously cute, incredibly smart, very talented and wonderfully behaved. People are always amazed at how polite and witty he is...He is a great person and I'm proud to be his mom.
According to contract, the book should be in print by April 2010. I haven't received any feedback from the company yet, but I am hoping to hear what they think soon.
SO yes, from time to time, we will fail...but I think God's definition of failure is different than ours...and I am choosing to be more thrilled with His blessings than I am upset about my own misfortunes.