Book Launch Party!

June Journaling

1.    Baby shower for my niece. She only wanted diapers.

2.    My husband is preaching this morning. Then we’re going to Niagara Falls for two nights because my husband is presenting at a water conference and accepting an award on behalf of the city. We have a room overlooking the Falls, and we also ate dinner at the Keg overlooking the Falls. Very nice.

3.    Most of my day will be spent in the hotel room as my husband is at the conference. I don’t mind as I haven’t had a proper nap the past two days and need to rest so I don’t crash. It’s all about pacing with this illness. Also today, the 3^rd of June is the 21^st anniversary of my husband’s cancer surgery which is how they date his recovery. So glad he’s still with me.

4.    Stopping at my daughter’s in Hamilton on our way home, so my husband can do some plumbing repairs. My novel copies arrived today; 18 boxes worth.

5.   School day, brought to you by; addition and subtraction, word families and sight words, don’t worry, waterfalls and hair.

6.    Went to my dentist’s office to bring him the six copies of my novel he requested. Only charged for five. They were so excited. Also, two of my husband’s co-workers bought books.

7.    My book launch is just over a week away. Writing my speech and gathering up the things I need to take, making lists, getting nervous. I’ve got to think positive: This is my 15 minutes of fame. Enjoy it. Got some news today, still trying to process it. Will share later.

8.    We dropped our daughter off at the airport for her trip to Peru for two weeks. I’ll have to live vicariously through her, as Machu Picchu was always a bucket list item for me. Then we had a joint men’s and women’s breakfast meeting. Good message.

9.    Church.

10. Haircut and dollar store for last minute launch items. Nap, dinner, and school prep.

11. School day, brought to you by: sight words, word families (at, et, and an). I tried the word family ‘at’ last week, and he was able to read all the words by sounding them out.

12. Errands, getting things for the launch. Getting real.

13. Picked up launch promotional materials from the UPS store.

14. Grandkids came to be here for my book launch tomorrow. Setting up at church tonight. My website is live now: phthompson.com

15. Book Launch! Benaiah: Mighty Man of God by P. H. Thompson is now out there, on my website, and on amazon and chapters/indigo, kindle, kobo, etc. and in some Christian bookstores across Canada. I was surprisingly calm, people must have been praying for me. Also, we set up most of it the night before. I’ll post pictures. Good turnout and sales. Most bought two books each. I'll post pictures.

16. Church. Worn out from yesterday.

17. Dentist. Someone bought another book. Shopping for the trip.

18. Pain clinic. Heard some sad news today. Our daughter was pregnant with her third. It was a surprise pregnancy and about a month ago we learned there was a genetic problem they could see on ultrasound. An amniocentesis confirmed it was Turner’s Syndrome. It was a little girl. The risk of miscarriage is around 99% for the first trimester. She made it to her 16^th week so we thought she’d make it. At the midwife appointment, they couldn’t find a heartbeat. They confirmed it with an ultrasound. Then I went over to watch the kids because she had to be induced and delivered it that night. So sad. Her name was Emilia Rose and she was loved and we were prepared for whatever challenges she would have had. I don’t usually take any stock in verses that jump out at you from the Bible, especially if you open it at random, but today, the same day that my daughter lost the baby, this was in my daily Bible reading:

“The children you will have,
After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’” Isa. 49:20

The fact that I’m a month ahead in my reading, and yet it sovereignly was the reading today meant a lot to me, and to them as I shared it, after they told me they want to have a third child. I don’t know if the rest of the verse means their third child will tell them they need a bigger house…

Another verse that was helpful for understanding why it may have happened was this:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.”          2 Cor. 1:3-5

While it seems like Paul needs a good thesaurus, his point is that there is a correlation between the comfort we receive from God in our trials is related to the comfort we can offer others who are going through similar trials.

A further reason could be that even though they were happy with two children, now they desire a third.

The kids were told recently through pink cupcakes that they had a sister. My grandson told me, “The baby isn’t in mommy’s tummy anymore because she’s in heaven. It’s very sad, isn’t it?”

19. Still at my daughter’s place. My mom, husband and mother-in-law came over too.

20. Last day at my daughter’s. My son-in-law took three days off for bereavement. We went to IKEA.

21. My other pain clinic. Errands. Time to start getting ready for our trip. Today is the first day of summer and also the midsummer celebrations in Finland. They have full sun at midnight.

22. Beautiful summer weekend. Ran some errands with my husband, then had a nap. Then pulled some weeds.

23. Wow, that little physical activity yesterday has made me so sore. Our daughter returned from her trip to Peru. She had a great time and called it the trip of a lifetime. She climbed mountains, saw Machu Picchu during the winter solstice, went to a women’s weaving cooperative and an alpaca farm, went for a dune buggy ride over sand dunes, went sand surfing, did a home stay with a local family, travelled through different cities and climates in Peru, and ate great food. There was a group of 14 people from all over the world, and she was the only Canadian. They got along well.

24. Errands. Getting down to crunch time to prepare for the trip.

25. Final day of school. Of course, my grandson graduated from pre-school. I wrote a report card for him. Our granddaughter plays the four-monica for her four-paca.

26. Chiro and massage. My masseur bought my book. Bank appointment. We got approved for more money on our line of credit based on our home’s equity. We need to update our bathrooms.

27. Meeting with our travel agent, who is our friend. Getting all the paperwork together. I also applied to be a guest author on two Christian t.v. programs and one Christian radio program. I am terrified they’ll say yes, and saddened they’ll say no, but Benaiah’s story needs to get out there.

28. More shopping for clothes.

29. Dinner party at a friend’s house.

30. Church bbq. Submitting my income statements to the insurance companies, for the passive income received from my book sales. So far, sold about 85 books.

Character Studies: Boaz in the Book of Ruth

Boaz was wealthy businessman in Bethlehem; he was powerful and important in society. He was older than Ruth by at least twenty years. His ancestors were Salmon and Rahab, the harlot. There were a few hundred years between them and Boaz.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Boaz rules his “kingdom” from a position of virtue and servant leadership. He doesn’t selfishly abuse his workers (Ruth 2:4) but gently provided for their needs (Ruth 2:8-9, 14-16).He is impressed by Ruth as she works in the field, hearing a good report of her by his foreman. He has heard of her actions in following Naomi to a strange country.

Every time Ruth encounters Boaz she comes to him empty and leaves full (Ruth 2:14, 17, 3:17, 4:13). Although he is impressed by her and may even be attracted to her, he doesn’t pursue her as he probably feels their age difference is too great. We see this in the fact that three times when he speaks to her, he refers to her as, “my daughter.”

If it were not for Naomi’s meddling and Ruth’s willingness to do as Naomi instructed her, Boaz may never have made a move. On the advice of her mother-in-law she prepares for their “date.” She then approaches him the night on the threshing floor. When she basically proposes to him, he is very humble, not even acknowledging that he is quite an eligible bachelor.  Instead, he commends her for not running after the young men. 

He guards her reputation that night on the threshing floor by telling his employees not to gossip about her presence there, and sending her away while it is still dark, lest someone assume something happened between them. Then he gives her grain to take with her in case someone was to inquire where she was at that hour.

He remembers that there is another relative who is closer than he.  This is the conflict, or complicating factor you see in all great romances.  How will they overcome it?  Will our hero and heroine find true love? He also tells her he’ll approach the other relative, so she doesn’t have to humble herself by proposing to a second man in the same day. He also indirectly promises to care for Naomi as well through his generous gift of grain and his willingness to buy back her property. 

He may have worried that the other relative would be greedy for the land, but was pleased that the man did not want to have a wife whose son would bear another man’s name.  He would also have to share his inheritance, which is probably the main reason he refused her.  Similar idea to the story of Tamar, where Onan did not want to father a son for another man or share the inheritance. Yet for all his insistence that he could not lose his inheritance, it’s not the other “close relative” who is remembered, as he remains unnamed, but Boaz.

This transaction, done at the “city gates” where all business was transacted before witnesses, was done properly, so there would be no question as to the legitimacy of Boaz’s claim to Ruth and the inheritance of Elimelech. Although it sounds like Ruth is ‘purchased’ in a business transaction, you see from the interaction between them, that Ruth and Boaz do really love each other.

Pool day with Family

May Journaling

1.    Chiro and massage, long nap.

2.    Bible study, nap, dinner, Spanish homework.

3.    Home day, except for Spanish class. My book is on the chapters/indigo  website for pre-order. Seeing it there makes it real.

4.    Our daughters are running in a fund-raising run. Ordered a card reader for book sales.

5.    Church flanking a long nap.

6.    Home day.

7.    School day; field trip to the local Reptile Zoo, again. Back by popular demand. The kids held a snake, a turtle, a chinchilla, a gecko and an armadillo.

8.    Home day, homework, and attempting intermittent fasting, starting with 12 hours. Desperate to lose weight, I gained 40 pounds since I got sick six years ago. Nothing has worked for me. I’d try some plans, but most assume you overeat, and I barely eat my three meals a day, and only because I need food to swallow all my pills. Also, because of my M.E. I can’t exercise.

9.    Bible study, errands, and nap. Dropped our daughter off to take the train to Ottawa for a conference. Also had to buy a replacement fridge for downstairs. Ordered some things for my book launch party.

10. Homework morning, nap, dinner and Spanish classes.

11. Final planning meeting for my book launch party.

12. Church.

13. Homework and school prep. Then driving to Hamilton to watch the kids two days while my daughter does an intensive course at university this week.

14. Childcare. Exhausting. This is for the young and healthy.

15. School day: brought to you by ordinal numbers, simple addition and subtraction, sight word matching, and the story of the lost sheep. My mom and aunt came by.

16. Bible study, then we’re taking our moms and my aunt from Finland out for high tea for Mother’s Day at The Tartan House Bed and Breakfast. I’ll post pictures. It was delicious. I made a facebook event page for my book launch, which is in a month.

17. Pain clinic, then my daughter took my car for a camping trip this long weekend. Fish and chips for dinner, then Spanish class.

18. The new fridge is coming for the basement apartment.

19. Church. Beautiful day, 25 C. Barbecued sausages.

20. Victoria Day.

21. My stand up banner is ready.

22.Just heard bad news today, related to our earlier good news.

23. Final Bible study regular lesson. Next week we do the summary and lunch. At least I am done, since I did it as I went along.

24. No Spanish this week.

25. Headed to London today, to have a pool day with family since my aunt is here from Finland. Great food. I’ll post some pics.

26. The grandkids were living their best life: going from sauna to pool to hot tub, to trampoline, and repeat.

27. Chiro appointment. I missed my massage because I marked the wrong time.

28. Spent the day with the grandkids. No school today, because my daughter has a long appointment. More on that later.

29. Bank appointment. I hate bank appointments. Eating smelts my cousin brought from up north. My aunt is going back to Finland tomorrow.

30. Watching the Raptors in their first game of the finals.

31. Spanish class. I’ll soon be quitting. I only took it to get a little bit of conversational knowledge. Not a fan of conjugating verbs. Also bought a copy of my book on kindle to hear how it sounds. Makes it real to see it there and on amazon. Benaiah: Mighty Man of God by P.H. Thompson