Spring Break and Exciting News

After a few crazy weeks in a row I'm looking forward to the return of relative normalcy! The last week of March I was hard at work preparing entries for the Fraiser and Touched By Love writing contests. Immediately following my submissions, we had a fun-filled spring break with a houseful of company.



Between our family of five and the seven Hutchcrafts, we had 12 people in our three bedroom apartment (8 children 10 years and under) all last week! We had a blast, but I feel genuinely sorry for the family that lives in the apartment below ours!



We celebrated my youngest daughter's sixth birthday at the local indoor water park while our friends were here.

I got to have some fun decorating her cake-one of my favorite hobbies! She insisted on a Tangled theme. She wanted Rapunzel with her feet in a pond and her hair all over the cake. (Where do they come up with this stuff?)



The oldest six kids loved rock climbing at the local YMCA. It was so great to share fun times and make memories!

The last two days since the Hutchcrafts left, we have been playing catch up with school work (I home school my three daughters) and housework (no fun). So a phone call I received yesterday was a much needed boost of encouragement.

About a month ago I entered the Genesis contest. The ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Genesis contest is a national competition for unpublished novelists. I just learned that my entry - the first 15 pages of one of my novels (contest rules say I can't reveal the title publicly) - has been advanced to the semi-final round! This means my entry scored in the top 20%! What a surprise!

These three contests are the first competitions I have ever joined, but I hear that it is a great way to get the feedback of professionals from the publishing industry. It's my goal to use the feedback to edit my book.

Praise God for small victories that confirm His direction! Thank you Lord for this encouragement!