Well, I did it. I just made first contact with a literary agent who may be willing to find a publisher for me.

I'm excited. I'm shaking. I feel sick.

But I'm happy!

Jeremy has been sick the past couple days; he's got a manly cold (which is quite different from a man cold). A manly cold requires overdosing with NyQuil, but pushing through the drowsiness to go to work and to get things done around the house. It also entails large amounts of sleeping, life-like dreaming and sleep-walking/talking. Thankfully, I know how NyQuil affects Jeremy, so I'm not alarmed at some of the crazy things that come out of his mouth.

Yesterday, he came home from work and collapsed into bed while I finished cooking supper. When it was time to eat, Liberty woke him up then came back to sit at the table and wait for him to arrive. About ten minutes passed before he stumbled sleepily into the dining room, "Don't be too angry at me, Missy," he pleaded as he entered. "I'm really, really sorry."

I paused from dishing food onto the girls' plates. "For what?" I asked, truly puzzled.

"For the Pepsi I drank. I'm really sorry. I know I shouldn't have, but it was in a glass bottle!"

Since being diagnosed with diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure recently, poor Jeremy has really battled his eating and drinking habits, and every once in a while, he gives in, so my first thought was he must have had a Pepsi during his Christmas party at work. But when my brain registered the part about the glass bottle, I knew without any doubt, I was talking to NyQuil Jeremy. I hid my smile and replied, "Oh wow, where did you get a Pepsi in a glass bottle?"

He paused, obviously confused, then he finally said, "I - I don't know. But I'm sorry for the hot dogs, too."

"The hot dogs?"

"They were so huge, Missy! So big. I couldn't say no. I tried. I really did." His voice ended almost in a whimper, then became joyful. "But they were really good!" He grinned at me so happily that I couldn't help laughing aloud.

"I'm glad you enjoyed them," I told him in amusement. "Now sit down and eat your supper."

He sat; Mercy prayed; we all ate. After five minutes or so, I noticed a new look on his face, an aware look. He'd finally woken up. We started conversing, and the night went on.

Several hours later, I was climbing into bed when from his pillow Jeremy told me, "I had the most wonderful dream earlier, Missy."

"I know."

"It was about these huge hot dogs; they were so good!"

"I know."

"And Pepsi -- in a glass bottle!"

"I know."

"And you were really mad at me for eating it all."

"I know."

"You know? What do you mean, you know?"

Yesterday at supper time, Mercy prayed before we started eating, "God, please help me blow on my food for me, so it won't burn my mouth. Amen." Jeremy and I chuckled to each other, and then Daddy helped Mercy add to her prayer, "AND thank You for the food you gave us, too! We love you, God! Amen."

I started thinking: the last few times I've heard Mercy pray, it's gone like this "God, please help me [fill in the blank]." That hit my heart hard, because while it's great to depend on God for all aspects of my daily life, I suddenly realized that I've been doing a lot more requesting than exalting. After all, Mercy learned how to pray by listening to me converse with God as I go through my day.

With those thoughts already tumbling around in my brain, I opened an email this morning from my friend Alicia who wanted to share her morning devotions with me. She closed with this verse.

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

EXALT

The word boomed and reverberated in my heart.

EXALT

How can I be intentional about exalting, I wondered. How can I teach daily exalting of the King to my daughters?

I decided to have a Praise Party with the girls. The three of us stood in the middle of the living room, lifted our hands to the sky and shouted "I LOVE YOU, GOD! YOU ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU FOR BEING SO GOOD TO US!" Then we each took turns telling God about things He had done that we were so happy about. Mercy told God thank you for the snow; Liberty barked (because she was still Moona, the doggy) "Thank You for our wonderful house!" Then we jumped and danced and twirled to show God how great He was and how happy we were about Him.

We had a lot of fun, and I plan to do it again every day -- not only to teach my girls to praise, but to get me into the praising habit too.

Since moving, anytime I come across an item that doesn't immediately have a home, I've been taking it to my bedroom to sit until I have time to organize an adoption league. Well, today, I'm hitting my room and hitting it hard! When I'm done with it, it will be the cleanest, most organized room in the house. I declared it to be a pj day for the girls, and they're loving it. Somehow, pj days are mellower. I, on the other hand, am fully dressed and in action.

After breakfast, I pulled out our new Squiggly Worms game to keep the girls occupied, then I started at my bedroom doorway. I've worked my way around the room, spending a great deal of time cleaning and organizing the desk. I'm saving the desk drawer for the very end.

I took a break to view the armada Liberty and Mercy created in the bathtub using my tupperware bowls, and I would even have a video to post on here for you if I could locate my camera cord. Hopefully, it's in my bedroom, and if it is, I promise you, I will find it before I am finished with that room. (Ironically, it's probably in the desk drawer that I've decided to save for last.)

I am now so close to being finished with the desk, that I'll go ahead and call it finished. Then I'm moving on to the four boxes left to unpack. Sigh. I'm not looking forward to that job.

I stopped about two hours ago for lunch (leftover turkey sandwiches), and after lunch the girls and I made finger puppets with the new kit we -- okay, okay, they -- got for Christmas from Poppaw and Nonna. I would have some cute pictures to share with you if I could just find that camera cord...

The girls are napping now, so it's back to the bedroom for me!

Jeremy's family has come and gone. What a flurry of unwrapping we did during our early Christmas celebration! I'm still finding homes for all the new toys and games. Mercy decided to help me out by secretly storing the marbles for the new Hungry Hippos game from Poppaw and Nonna in my snow boots. After a few days of searching, I finally found the marbles when I tried to walk out the door in my boots. Today, I found a handful of beans from Don't Spill The Beans in my boot, and at Walmart, I discovered a stray plastic jewel when it shifted positions and attacked my foot in the middle of the store. I must have looked awfully funny hopping on one foot and shouting "Ah! Ah!" at Walmart. At least my daughters thought I did.

You know me. I'll do anything to add joy.

We're still struggling with the furnace in our new house. Apparently, our automatic thermostat is smarter than we are, and it believes we're looking for air conditioning during the cold winter months. We've had to resort to putting a tiny heater in the girls' room, while Jeremy and I survive under our arctic blanket via body heat. Someday, I'll find that special spot where I stored all of the instruction manuals for the appliances in the new house. (Mercy's probably hidden it in my snow boots.)

Last week, I sliced my left index knuckle so deeply that I could see my own tendon. (I suppose that's better than being able to see someone else's tendon in my finger, huh?) The girls were napping, so I went to my neighbor's house for help. She let me drip blood all the way to her kitchen sink, and she doctored me up. Then she offered to watch my daughters for me while I went to the ER for stitches. It's wonderful to have great neighbors! Four different families have stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood and to chat with us since we've moved. I love it here!

The only thing that could make it better would be to find the perfect curtains for my gorgeous new bedroom.

I know I promised you another installment in my marriage certificate/driver's license story, but I'm not in story-telling mode right now. I'm in get-the-house-organized-and-all-boxes-unpacked mode. But some day, the muse will return.

It's probably still packed in a box and haphazardly stacked in the basement.

Jeremy got the internet up and running last night, and my very first act on my brand new internet is to type out a blog post. Well, not really. My very, very first act was to catch up on Amazing Race episodes last night.

So many funny things have happened since we moved, and I can't even remember them to tell you. I should have been taking notes.

We're mostly settled. Still working on organizing and finding places for things. I have a stack of boxes to be sorted for a garage sale this spring! I'm very excited about that. I have a few boxes left to unpack, and a lot of decor left with which to decorate.

A crazy occurrence happened yesterday, but I can't tell you about it because it relates to a surprise for my in-laws who are coming this weekend for an early Christmas celebration. (Nonna, you thought I'd let it slip, didn't you?)

Tonight is the first night of our church's Christmas play, and I'm reading to the nursery kids a story that I wrote. My church has put it into book format, and we're going to hand the books out to the kids to take home. I'm very excited about that!

Hmm, what else can I tell you about?

I know, it's not a very interesting first post back, is it?

Oh well, at least I'm back! Hooray for internet!!!