I've Been Busy...How 'Bout You?

I don't flatter myself that many of my blog's followers eagerly check each day to see if I have a new post up. But at the same time, one (or two) of you may have noticed that there's been a sad dearth of posts lately. This post is a brief explanation of my silence.

What can I possibly have been spending my time doing besides blogging?

Well, first off, my husband and I are working on starting an elementary school for this coming September. It's called Paideia Classical Christian School and will be located here in Oregon City. I'm enjoying doing all the admin work to get it set up. Hopefully, this will be the school that my boys go to some day!

Second, I've been very, very busy with editing work at Madison Street Publishing. We are releasing a new book in April by Scott D. Southard titled A Jane Austen Daydream. It's off at the proofreader's right now, so I have a little bit of a break before I move onto the next step in the publishing process.

I've also begun editing another book called Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors. It's a compilation of essays from the EHFA blog that I write for, put together by Debra Brown.

Third, I've been taking care of three little munchkins! Marcus turned one at the end of January, is walking (and almost running), and is very eager to climb on all the furniture. We took him into the ER a couple days ago for a possible broken arm after falling from a chair. False alarm.

The twins are almost two and a half and are beginning to doubt the importance of the afternoon nap ritual. We had a short-lived attempt at potty training two weeks ago that will have to be repeated sometime in the (distant) future.

David, it could be argued, has been even busier than me. He's going to school full time, working as a janitor 15-20 hours a week, and interning at the capitol in Salem 15-20 hours a week. He's also trying to finish up writing his book about his adventures as a panhandler last summer. We see him...sometimes. Usually on Sundays.

So, all this is to say that I've been busy. Too busy to blog. How 'bout you?

Happy Six Months to the Third Boy

Marcus Jasper Spears - Six Months Old

He was ten pounds when we born, and I figured he'd catch up with the twins sooner or later. Well, it's sooner rather than later. All three boys are in the same size diapers now, and stretchy clothing like pajamas has become interchangeable. Adam and Oliver are still about 6 pounds heavier than Marcus, but the third boy is gaining fast.

We had Marcus' six month pics in the same blue chair
under the same apple tree in our back yard...

...where the twins had their six month pics.
It's fun to compare them. 

Pictures by Grammy Pics

Happy six months, Marcus! 

We like you lots.

Summer Ramblings

Summer is the time when you think you'll get lots of writing done. Summer is also the time when life accelerates and time fills up with pool wading, berry picking, and family vacationing. I know that I'm not the only one procrastinating on my WIP. My writers' group, The Inkblot Society, meets on Monday at my house and no one has submitted anything for critique this month. I guess that means the meeting will be short--maybe that'll give us more time to have a campfire in our backyard and roast some s'mores. 

Oliver and Adam, just sittin'

Sidewalk chalk on the 4th of July (Adam)

At the spray park with the Aunties (Adam)

So cold, but so fun (Oliver)

Too cool for school

Little climber (Oliver)

Marcus -- stuck at home with Mom

Our Summer "Vacation"

I am not supposed to be blogging right now. I am supposed to be at the beach. Every year our church holds a Family Camp at Twin Rocks Friends Camp in Rockaway, Oregon. Sunshine or no sunshine, it's pretty much the best summer vacation ever. This year we had registered for our cabin, purchased our snacks from Costco, and got the oil in the car changed for the road trip when...disaster struck.

A year and a half ago, we found out that our oldest son Adam had biliary atresia, a condition where the bile ducts in his liver did not form correctly. He had surgery, an operation called the Kasai procedure, to connect his intestines directly to his liver so that the bile could flow out of his system. The doctors warned us that if he ever had a fever that couldn't be explained by flu or cold, it might be an infection of the liver.

Last Tuesday, Adam came down with a fever and started acting very sick. Wednesday, I took him in to the doctor's office for some labs. When the results came back, we were admitted to the Emergency Room at Doernbecher Children's Hospital. Adam was diagnosed with probable cholangitis (infection of the bile ducts), and put on a two-week regimen of IV antibiotics. An ultrasound showing increased scar tissue in his liver indicated that there might be more problems than just the cholangitis, but the doctors decided that's a problem for another day.

Turns out we're pros at trips to the hospital now. When we found out we had to go in, we had clothes, toiletries, blankets, the laptop, and the phone charger packed in five minutes. David took the night shift and I took the day shift--and aunties Amy, Jessica, and Ange helped out with the kids.

Our summer vacation was supposed to start on Sunday. Instead, we were released from the hospital on Monday, after a five night stay. A nurse came to our house and showed us how to administer the antibiotics through the PICC line in Adam's arm. No Oregon beaches for us this summer--we'll be roasting 'smores in our own backyard. No tide pools and surf this week--we'll be keeping a certain little boy's arm sterile and out of the sand.

While we're a little sad to have spent our summer vacation at the hospital, it's wonderful having our oldest boy (almost) healthy again. And though we're sorry to miss all the activities and time spent with friends, my husband would probably tell you that between camp food and hospital food, there isn't a whole lot of difference.

Adam hated being in the hospital room and wanted to go out
to the courtyard every chance he could get.

He really missed his twin Oliver who was only there for a few short visits.

Marcus was a trooper and stayed up at the hospital all day each day.

Pictures courtesy of Grammy Pics.

Heading home -- too tired to be excited.

Memorial Day Musings

I write a lot of death scenes. Understandable, since my books center around wars in the Middle Ages. If you escaped the swords of the enemy, there was always plague or famine to do you in. In Road from the West, my protagonist's younger brother perished, along with thousands of unnamed Crusaders. In Flower of the Desert, the sequel I'm currently writing, I've already killed off three characters, fairly important ones, too.... No names, though. My lips are sealed. You'll have to wait until the book is released at the end of this year.

Monday was Memorial Day, a time to reflect on and honor those who died in the service of our country. While reflecting, I realized that--for all the dire death scenes in my fiction--I've never experienced death at close quarters. I've never had anyone near to me pass away. I'm sure that will change in the near future as time takes its toll on friends and relatives, but as of today, I've never experienced the pain, the grief, the loss of losing someone irrevocably.

For my husband, things are entirely different. He served as a sniper in the U.S. Army over in Mosul, Iraq. Several of his platoon members died following the call of duty, and two friends in particular: Adam Plumondore and Benjamin Morton. When we found out we were expecting twin boys, my husband decided to name them after his two friends, as a way to memorialize them.

Yesterday, the day after the Memorial Day crowds had come and gone, my husband took our two boys down to the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon to visit the grave of Adam Plumondore. My sister-in-law Amy went along to take pictures, and she wrote a touching post about the outing on her photography blog. My husband doesn't talk about emotions much, or about friendship, or about his past life in the Army. But when I see how important things like yesterday's graveside visit are to him, I get a small picture of how the death of these close ones has affected him.

They say to write about what you know. Death, and especially the death of soldiers, isn't in the realm of my experience. But human experience can be learned from watching others. And when I see my husband take pains to remember and honor his lost friends, I can understand a little bit better how an eleventh century Norman, in a land not so far away from Mosul, Iraq, would cherish the memory of a brother lost on the field of battle.

Desultory Remarks IV

On Saturday I attended my first Author Fair, this one hosted by Atkinson Memorial Church, a mere thirteen blocks away from my house in Oregon City. There were about forty local authors there from a variety of genres, and a few less than forty attendees if my guesstimates are correct. I didn't sell a truckload of books (ok, let's be honest--I sold one copy of I Serve), but I had lots of fun chatting with the other authors about books, the publishing industry, politics, religion, and all sorts of other topics not recommended for polite conversation.

Would I do it again? Probably. Although I must admit that it was the first time I had abandoned Marcus for more than an hour or two. He was fine and had lots of fun with his dad and brothers, but I missed him....

* * * 

Last September, when Road from the West was released, we bought three advertising spots for it in Kindle Nation Daily, a website for Amazon e-book promotion. Funny thing is, it's been so long since then that I completely forgot we had our last ad coming out today. Good thing they e-mailed me to let me know.

* * *

Now that David is out of school until September, our summer has officially begun. I'm determined to finish the first draft of Flower of the Desert: Book II of the Chronicles of Tancred before summer is over. I've set myself a writing goal of 5,000 words a week. Week 1 was tough but I made it. My strategy? Not allowing myself to go to bed until I've written 1,000 words for the day. Week 2 sleep deprivation overcame my good intentions, and for the sake of my sanity (and my children's wellbeing) I was about 1,500 words short. Week 3 is currently underway. It's Thursday morning and I'm at 2,854 words. Will I make my goal? It's anyone's guess. 

* * *

Despite a bizarre plummet to almost freezing last night, the weather has been absolutely beautiful this week. The boys have been enjoying the outdoors to no end, and we've all been enjoying the garden that David's labored so long to create.

Our cherry tree and tulips

The sidewalk got the best of Adam 

Playing on the swingset at Aunt Amy's 

Life with Three Littles

Lately, I've been hearing this question a lot: "So, what's it like having three kids now?" Is there really an easy way to answer that?

Here are some pictures to give you a little taste of what it's like. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos--they're ones I took myself instead of getting them from my amazing-with-a-camera sister-in-law Amy.

Adam: "Look at the new toy Mom and Dad brought home from the hospital!"

How do you walk to church with three kids under one-and-a-half?

Climbing on the table is a "No"

Climbing on the piano keys is also a "No"...

...it's just a "No" I never thought I'd have to mention

Oliver plays dress up with the Barnard girls in Christy's sweater (AKA medieval chainmail?)

Oliver "helps" Mom make a batch of granola

Good stuff, huh?

Adam experiences the delight of fruit snacks

I love seeing this boy smile!

Marcus -- all wrapped up and nowhere to go

Oliver loves holding Marcus

We're just not so sure what Marcus thinks about it