A Baby and a Book: Double Labor.

It's been a monumental summer.

Baby girl joined us on July 13th. She was exactly one week past her due date, but her timing was perfect. If I had a dollar every time I said one of the following in the past 2 months ...

1. I love you too much to keep you in this nasty diaper. Why are you fighting me?
2. It's a good thing you're cute.
3. AGAIN?!
4. If you could talk this would be so much easier.
5. PLEASE wake up and eat some more.
6. PLEASE go back to sleep.
7. Dear God, please help my baby girl to rest.
8. Here comes ANGRY NORAH!
9. I love you SOOO much, kid.
10. Thank you, Father. Thank you.

Everyone is right. This is the hardest yet most joy-inducing adventure of my life. HELP ME. She just woke up early from her nap."WHY ARE YOU AWAKE?" But then I brought her into the office with me and she just looked up and gave me that smile ... I'm hooked.

Norah was the first labor of the summer.

My book was the second. (Clearly I've got a number one fan.)

I've been working on a manuscript for almost three years. Who knew it would take so long? I've been thinking about writing a book since I was maybe 23 years old. I've always known it would be addressed to young women, a sort of spiritual memoir, and a way to greater connect with the audiences that I speak to.

The title of the book is Forget the Corsage. (Big shout out and THANK YOU to a tireless editor and great friend for that title. JORDY-LIZ edits for the WIN!)

The title comes from my unique prom story. I lived my entire high school journey in expectation of my senior prom. I had the dress, the heels, and the perfect hair but I didn’t have the date. At the last-minute, I recruited a friend to accompany me. He was to pick me up at the house, escort me to dinner, and drive me to the dance. He was supposed to bring me a corsage. Instead my date arrived to the dance after 10:30pm. (He had a good reason.) He rushed in to find me standing at the bottom of the escalator that had already delivered my entire senior class to their “Night to Remember.” (I did not have a good reason.) I had waited by myself for over an hour because I was convinced that I couldn’t enter the dance until I had my date and my corsage. I danced to only three songs that night and spent most of my prom thinking, “No one will ever want me.”

Since that time God has laid those words heavily upon my heart. If I truly am a daughter of the King, then I know the response to my own lament. Not only does Christ want me, but also He has given me an abundant and exciting life. His love provides the courage to live adventurously regardless of any dating status.

Forget the Corsage is a reminder to stop waiting for life to happen to us, but instead to go and live life to the full right now. It can be tempting to buy into the lie that real living starts when we graduate, get the perfect body, find Mr. Right, and land our dream job. But the truth is that we are waiting for something that has already been given to us from God: life to the full.

The target audience of this little book is young women. Each chapter begins with a letter to myself at different stages of my life.

"Dear fifteen year old Ginger ..."

"Dear eighteen year old Ginger ..."

"Dear twenty-seven year old Ginger ..."

(You get the idea.)

The letters span from 12 years of age until 27. That's about the target. If I could go back in time and give myself a pep talk or kick in the pants, this book is what I would say.

So which labor was harder? Giving birth to Norah was definitely quicker! I don't know. It's going to be a while before I consider repeating either again, but I am so, so proud of both.

And lest you think this was just one delightful day after another, let me tell you that more tears have been shed from May through September than you can imagine. My husband gets the Red Badge of Courage, the Purple Heart, and THE BEST OF ALL THE THINGS EVER Award for going through these two labors with me. Really, who decides to do both of these things at the same time? If nothing else, I've learned to let my friends and family see my tears. I am REALLYgetting good at apologizing, and slightly better at asking for help.

There's never a dull moment when poop is involved ... and I solemnly swear that this is the last time I will ever mention poop on social media. I give you my word.

The book is for sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Westbow Press. 

(In case you are wondering - The baby is not for sale.)