Since we just enjoyed a wonderfully romantic 24th anniversary--he sent me 24 red roses and whisked me away to a cozy B&B--I thought it would be a good time to do this list. Hard to keep it to seven right now.

1. His tender heart
2. His love for God and desire to please Him
3. His everpresent love for me and desire to please me
4. His strength
5. His vulnerability
6. His mischievous sense of humor
7. His gorgeous curls

Ok, now I'm feeling all mushy inside. Who's idea was this game anyway??!!

I'll jump right on to 7 things I say the most:

1. I'm sorry
2. Hey
3. Bless her/his heart (I mean this totally sincerely, btw.)
4. I don't blame you
5. I understand
6. Is this a bad time? (My standard greeting when I call someone. No idea why.)
7. Oh my goodness.

I think that about sums it up. :) I can't remember if that was all the sevens or if there were more. If there were, I'll be back with the lists later. SO consider yourself warned.

Hope your holidays are merry and bright and, most of all, filled with love and laughter! I'll be back after I meet my deadline. (January 6th) If you have an extra prayer, send it up for me and that deadline, okay? Thanks. Peace to all.

I've been TAGGED AGAIN! These bloggers are dangerous. You can run but you can't hide!! Rachel has tagged me for a new game. Apparently, there are several sets of sevens I'm supposed to address, but since I've been putting it off waiting to find time to write it all, I've decided to break it down, so I'll do two lists tonight and more later.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die

1. Raise my precious girls to desire to serve God above all else.
2. Fly in an airplane.
3. Love Kevin more every day until he's so old and gray that we're both ready to go home to live with God.
4. See my brother and my father-in-law become Christians.
5. Help my future grandchildren know about their wonderful Savior.
6. Learn to write.
7. Hold my great-great grandchildren on my lap.

Seven Things I Cannot Do

1. Whistle with two fingers in my mouth like my sister, Sandy, can.
2. Play the piano.
3. Draw anything more complicated than a stick figure.
4. Hold onto money.
5. Keep my house clean.
6. Watch a sad movie or read a sad book without crying.
7. Stay mad.

Ok, that wraps it up for tonight. Stay tuned tomorrow for Seven Things That Attract Me To My Husband and Seven Things I Say The Most.

I know you can hardly wait.

Peace on earth, good will to men, and love to all of you!

Well, I was going to force myself to get some writing done before I blogged, but Tracey tagged me. In this little game, I'm supposed to tell 15 things about myself that are book-related. So here goes:

1. My dad taught me to read when I was four and from that minute on I have loved books!

2. When I was little my favorite thing to do was rake up the leaves or freshly-mown grass into a circular fort and get in the middle with a book and pretend I was invisible.

3. The first book I really really remember was a reader with balloons on it in first grade. I've searched for that book on ebay for years because I remember the series had blue books, red books, and green books. (and possibly yellow.) But I can't remember the name. I'd just like to hold it in my hand again, you know?

4. In Kevin's family, it's extremely rude to bring a book to the dinner table. In my family, it's rude NOT to. (Kind of an exaggeration, but we have been known to all take our books into a restaurant and companionably read and eat.)

5. When we went on camping trips once a year, my daddy would always threaten to never take us again if we didn't get our "noses out of those books and look at the beautiful scenery!"

6. I discovered Emilie Loring books when I was in fifth grade and for the rest of my adolescence I was hooked on romance.

7. There are a few childhood books that stand above the rest -- A Wrinkle In Time and all of the companion books by Madeleine L'Engle -- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis -- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott -- Half Magic by hmmm. . .somebody Eager?

8. My mom bought a set of World Books when I was seven and in the front of the dictionary they had challenge/vocabulary words for each grade level. I can remember trying to memorize them and test myself.

9. I hardly ever read non-fiction books.

10. My sisters and I used to sit around and come up with book plots. We'd dream about actually writing one. It's not official but I think two of my sisters and I are about to actually sell a series together.

11. My favorite books in adulthood are the same ones that were my favorites in childhood. I guess that means I never matured. :)

12. A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers changed me as a Christian. I read it at least once a year.

13. The most fun book I've ever written is a novella - My True Love Gave To Me - in SIMPLY CHRISTMAS. When Penny Lassiter's husband disrupts her carefully planned holiday season with a surprise trip, it makes me laugh.

14. I don't get to read near as many books since I write as I did before I started writing.

15. My friends have amazing books and I feel honored to read them in advance. Susie Mae Warren, Tracey Bateman, Rachel Hauck, and Susan Downs make me raise my own standard in writing every time I read something they've written.

Lynette Sowell, you've been tagged! I'll be checking up to see what 15 things you choose to say that are book-related. Peace out!

Blogging is like walking on the treadmill. If you get out of the habit, it's hard to get back to it! Every time I started to blog, I would think, things are just too complicated to explain. So I waited until things smoothed out, then I've been busy trying to catch up on everything else. Even this morning, I wanted to wait until after I had my coffee, but I was afraid if I did, I wouldn't get around to it.

Last night during our Wednesday night devotional, our preacher talked about the Peanuts cartoon where Lucy is waxing philosophical - "Life is like a deck chair, Charlie. On the cruise ship of life, some people may place their deck chair at the rear of the ship so they can see where they’ve been. Others place their deck chair at the front of the ship so they can see where they are going.” Then she looks at him and asks, “Which way is your deck chair facing?” Charlie's reply? - “I can’t even get my deck chair unfolded.”

I'm supposed to be reading a small segment of my novella, My True Love Gave To Me (included in the Barbour anthology, SIMPLY CHRISTMAS) tomorrow afternoon at a local library. That noise you hear is my knees knocking. Pray for me please. What was I thinking???

I've almost finished Christmas shopping. Which is a good thing considering I have an early January novella deadline. Now maybe I'll be able to settle down and write.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. All the family was together at both my folks and Kevin's. It was a special day. Thankfully, the gatherings were in the same town so it was pretty easy to split it up and see both bunches.

I'll be back when I have my deck chair unfolded and can think more coherently. (Like after I have my coffee.) Until then . . . wishing you peace, love, and the joy of helping others!