Thankful Thursday

I have been totally a lame blogger these days.  I have only kept to my Thankful Thursdays.  And I could say something even more lame like "I've been really busy" and although it probably would be true I still think I could do better.

Tomorrow we leave to visit Andrew's brother and sister-in-law in the cheese state of Wisconsin.  I am thankful for the chance to visit with them.  I have been excited to go to their house and see them for months now.  The kids have not seen these cousins in like two years and so it is about time.  Woot!

I am also thankful that I have such awesome friends who have supported me by acting like a bunch of crazed groupies when it comes to my book.  They have read every chapter and given me praise and suggestions.  It made the writing process that much more fun and exciting.  I loved getting to hear what they thought of some surprise or twist in the plot.  It was fun because at those times I forget that I wrote it and I can be just as excited about it as they are.  It feels like I am playing chess with myself sometimes and I get silly enough to feel excited when I win.  This week, actually yesterday, I finished my book.  I formatted it and compiled all the chapters into one document and then printed it for editing.  The thing is 200+ pages long (1.5 spaced of course) and over 108K words!!  Think of a half a ream of paper full of words.  I look at it and cannot believe I did that.  It has been fun because I was looking back at the early chapters and thinking to myself, "Ohh I remember when that happened" and I realize that a book's amount of things have happened to my characters. 

I am thankful for my nephew who started his mission at the MTC yesterday for the Singapore Mission.  He is one of my dearest friends and I am so proud of his commitment.  He was one of those who was a book groupie for me.  Yay Micah!

I am also super thankful for my three incredibly nutty, adorable and smart kids.