{SQT} This Week Wound Up Being Better Than OK

Because I write my takes chronologically the most important Take is at the bottom so be sure to read to the end!

My goal last week was to get a Quick Takes post up sometime Friday evening, however just before 5 p.m. I got a call that let me know my apostolate Accepting the Gift would not be moving on in the OSV Challenge. I decided to spend the rest of the evening being sad instead of writing. I also decided to wallow most of Saturday. After Mass on Sunday I started feeling better so that by Monday after the 12 finalists were publicly announced I didn’t feel too upset any more.

Taking part in the OSV Challenge was a wonderful opportunity, and I learned so much. Accepting the Gift is definitely in a much better position now to help people than it was before I took part in the Accelerator (which was the “business education” part of the Challenge). But yes, I’m disappointed. I really believe my apostolate is worthy of a $100K grand prize and more than anything I’m frustrated that I failed to convey that to the judges. But onwards and upwards! I have a lot of ambitious goals for the next year so I can’t spend anymore time feeling sorry for myself. If you want to help Accepting the Gift grow, we’re still hiring writers and outreach coordinators. Both are paid positions and are crucial to our mission. Learn how to apply HERE.

In addition to finishing up and submitting everything for the Challenge judges early last week, we also started school. Two weeks in now and so far so good. I realized at the last minute that I hadn’t uploaded as much of Edie’s assignments to her Google classes as I thought, but after a little last minute scrambling all is well. I have not had to buy any forgotten items, although Fulton is asking that I please purchase the audio version of Story of the World Volume II as he doesn’t like the way I read the chapters. Even when I try really hard to sound like Jim Weiss, the boys are not impressed.

We were supposed to go to Lancaster for a Monster Truck show last Saturday (belated birthday present for Fulton) but our van’s wheelchair lift suddenly started leaking hydraulic fluid rendering it useless. Just as useless is the system by which our repair shop gets its parts. They ordered a replacement hose on Monday and told us it would arrive on FRIDAY. I can Amazon Prime up all kinds of things in 24 hours. Why does it take a week for a hose in Indiana to arrive in New Jersey? Thankfully the lift was repaired this Monday and we can go to Lancaster this weekend for the NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION demolition derby which sounds just as epic as the Monster Truck show.

On Tuesday we had our home inspection by the Office of Licensing. Passing the inspection is the next step in becoming foster parents. We did not pass for a bunch of minor things, so we will be inspected again in a couple weeks. But the biggest surprise of the inspection was learning that even with the space, we cannot foster a baby. The reason? No home can have more than two non-ambulatory children in it. I was aware of that, but for some reason I thought that meant we couldn’t take a third child in a wheelchair. However I learned on Tuesday that because babies can’t walk, we can’t foster them since Fulton and Teddy can’t walk either. This seems completely ridiculous to me. We also learned that even though the upstairs bedroom is huge and easily fits three beds and closets, because of the slope of the ceiling, it’s only “legal” for two children. So anyway, this has changed our plans a bit. I’m looking at fostering (and adoption) as a long term thing. Even if right now we can’t do much, going though this process now and keeping up to date on our license means that as our kids move out we can consider other or more placements. It’s not an absolute thing we can only do right now in one very particular way. Edie was most disappointed that we can’t foster a baby girl but I told her we’re wide open to fostering and adoption- we’re literally doing everything we can to make it work. If it doesn’t, it won’t be for lack of trying, so we just need to trust its not meant to be. When and if it is, it will happen.

FINALLY – my book is available for preorder!! AND purchase if you want a Kindle copy! Clicky click for your own copy!

I’ll be honest, it’s sort of anti-climactic because for some reason Amazon is not showing the cover image for the paperback copy. You can view the inside, but you can only see the cover when you select Kindle. Hopefully, this will be remedied soon. In the mean time, order now so you can get a copy in your hands the moment it drops on October 8th! Or download it to your Kindle and get a jump on everyone else! Be sure to leave a review. Preorders and reviews are how Amazon determines what books to share with other shoppers so I super appreciate your help in this department! I want to offer a bonus to anyone who preorders the book, but I’m wondering what y’all would prefer? Drop a comment below. Right now I’m thinking maybe giant stickers of my face? Or cocktail napkins? Clearly I need some help.

I’m going to be putting all my free time into promotion now so please forgive me if my book is all I write about for the foreseeable future… at least until Teddy’s surgery in November. Then my priorities will shift again for a bit. But I do have some fun ideas; maybe a virtual cocktail party/ Q&A session? A giveaway or two? And maybe I can even get a few safe in person events planed where we can all meet up. Have a book club or group that needs an author speaker? Let’s chat! Hit me up on my Contact page.

It’s been years in the making and it’s almost here! Time to forget how painful and arduous the writing process was and PARTY.

Got some exciting news of your own? Write it down then link it up below. Be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can find the rest of the Quick Takes. I look forward to reading your posts!