My third grandchild, a darling little girl who weighed an even six pounds at birth, was born a week ago today. She joins 21-month-old identical twin sisters who appear to be handling the change in the family chemistry with as much aplomb as you can reasonably expect them to at their age. The day their new baby sister came home with Mommy, their world was turned upside down and at first their emotions were all over the map. But in almost no time at all, they began to get curious and tentatively introduced themselves to Little Gal...
...and now they're pretty much carrying on as if things have always been this way.
I have given my oldest son and his wife three more copies of my novel Finding Grace, one for each of my precious granddaughters. The thought of leaving something for my future grandchildren was one of my main motivators for writing a book in the first place, but when I began to work on it back in August of 2007 none of my boys were even married yet. Two and a half years later, my oldest son got married. And a year and a half after that, the twins arrived. God willing, Papa and I will be blessed with more grandchildren in the coming years. And when we are, it will give me great pleasure writing little notes in their copies, too, and signing them "All my love, Grammy."
I don't know if I'll ever see multiple copies of my book on the shelves of bookstores and public libraries, but I'm tickled to see it stocked on the shelves of my son and daughter-in-law's home library.
At the risk of boring you to tears with talk of my book, this past week I was thrilled to get a positive review from Therese Heckenkamp (author of Past Suspicion and Frozen Footprints). Therese posted this review on several on-line sites, including Goodreads and my book's Amazon page. You can read it here if you like.
If all of this shameless self-promotion seems, well, unseemly, to you, please know that I struggle with it. A lot. I would rather hide under a bushel basket, or maybe a nice, soft, comforting blankie, than suggest that you go out and buy my book; but as an author whose work was published through a small Catholic publishing house, the bulk of the responsibility for marketing it to the public falls on my shy and inexperienced shoulders.
That's why I'm so grateful when other authors or readers who've enjoyed it write reviews for Finding Grace and post them. That's ever so much easier for a semi-reclusive person like myself. Thanks, Therese!
Have I told you that I have a new granddaughter--that after raising five boys, I now have three little girls to love? Oh, I've mentioned that already? Sorry about that! Well how 'bout a picture of the latest addition, a nice close-up of Little Gal's wee perfect face, to go along with Grammy's bragging?
As we bid a sad farewell to Pope Benedict XVI today, here is a prayer for the election of our new pope:
O God, eternal Shepherd,
who govern your flock with unfailing care,
grant in your boundless fatherly love
a pastor for your Church
who will please you by his holiness
and to us show watchful care.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.
~National Catholic Register on-line
May God bless the next successor to the throne of Peter. And in times that try men's souls, may He bless us all.
Okay, that's it for me today. For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
Congratulations on your newest grandbaby! She's beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! My son's house is now almost as busy as yours! It's crazy, but in a very good way. :)
DeleteI can't get over how much little G looks like Sean. :)
ReplyDeleteShe does seem to resemble her dad, so far at least.
DeleteShe is beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteOh... and the rest of your post was great too! LOL
ReplyDelete