A third grade student named Rinka from Half Day School (the school where I worked for the past five years) lost both her parents and an older brother in an automobile accident in Arizona during Spring Break a few days ago.  My mind is numb trying to comprehend this tragedy.  And my heart is void of any ability to experience her pain. It must be terrible.  So I ask you all to join me in praying for Rinka.  

I cleaned Rinka's classroom every day for the past year before I retired,  I must have occasionally straightened her chair when I vacumed her classroom floor. I cleaned the lunchroom where she sat with her classmates every lunch hour.  And I read my book this past Fall to all the third graders, including Rinka.  It is a very sad thing to think of what she is going through right now.  Her happy and innocent child's world has been shattered.  Please say a prayer for Rinka.

My publisher informed me that I would have to wait until early this week for the "soft proofs" of the front and back covers to be sent to me by the printer.  This should be the last delay before my book goes to print.

And today I received a very disappointing (but understandable) piece of news from the elementary school district where I worked for twenty-six years before retiring this past December.  Laura B. Sprague school was going to have an author's assembly for me this Spring.  But due to a number of complications (including, I suppose, the numerous delays I have experienced getting my book to press), that author's assembly has been cancelled for this school year.  I am a little bummed.  I had wanted that author's assembly to be the very first public presentation of my book because of the special place that school holds in my heart.  It was where the idea for the book was born and it is where the most influential experiences surrounding it happened.  So, it is with a heavy heart that I accept this bit of information.

There were some changes that needed to be made on the front and back covers.  More tweaks than changes really!  But because there was something that needed to be done, the book hit another speed bump!  This should be a short delay though.  The printer will be sending me a "soft" proof (which means an electronically sent one") and then, after I approve it, the presses will finally start printing my book!!  I can hardly believe it!

I know that I said in my last post that this one would be about teachers and students from school district 103 in Lincolnshire, Illinois, but I have good reason to postpone that focus.  Yesterday my mom began chemotherapy.  

Okay! Okay! I know that I told you all just yesterday about the soon arrival of the Printer's Proofs.  But I can't help myself!!  We drove into our driveway after work today and saw the UPS delivery we have been dreaming about for months wrapped in a plastic bag (due to the inclement weather this morning) and hanging on our front door's handle!  We rushed into the house and my wife, Marilyn, quickly pulled out the Next Day Air PAK.  We opened it and stared in fascinated unbelief at my book in its' proof form.  It came with a "cover" that is exactly what the book cover will look like, but with lines indicating where the trim and spline locations will be.  The book itself is three-hole punched with a separate ring in each hole.  The proof is put together exactly in the order the book will be printed.  As soon as I finish this post, I will spend the remainder of the night checking it over carefully for any mistakes.  I pray that I don't find any because at this late date they are very expensive to correct.  Hopefully, all the previous proofs by me and my editors will have already caught anything that was wrong!

And before I finish this post I want to ask your prayers for a few extremely special people in my life.  

My mom, my niece, and the daughter of a dear friend, are all fighting different forms of cancer.  My mom has bravely chosen to undergo chemotherapy to prolong her life.  There is no cure for the advanced stage of cancer she is fighting.  

My seven year old niece, Keegan, is also undergoing chemotherapy. She has leukemia.  The form of it that she has is the more curable type, but Keegan has been battling the cancer on more than one front.  A few short days ago she was rushed to the hospitlal with a life-threatening blood clot. And she has more than two years of difficult treatment still in front of her.

And, Ava, the daughter my dear friend, Esther, has been diagnosed very recently with the worst type of leukemia. Ava is only five.  Her parents are heartbroken over what is happening to Ava.

My three year old grandson, Hudson, is struggling with life-threatening allergies.  We have all been trained in how to use an epi-pen.  And this weekend we are attending a CPR class so that we will be prepared for any anaphylactic emergency.

So, as much as I am enjoying this season of excitement surrounding my book, I am also acutely aware that the world doesn't revolve around me.  I am thankful that these wonderful loved ones have helped me to realize how precious the gift of life, and especially love, really is.  So if you are reading this, thank you for caring enough about me to follow my publishing journey.  But may I ask you to say a prayer for those loved ones, in my life and yours, who have opened our eyes to what is really important.  May God bless you..

Woo Hoo! Had to interrupt the postings I have been doing about paying it forward to let everyone know that the publisher contacted me yesterday and told me that the Printer's Proofs of my book would be arriving via UPS at my house on Wednesday (tomorrow)!  It is very hard to believe that this day has finally arrived!  

Printer's Proofs are actual pieces of paper and not electronic digital images like all the previous proofs that I have received have been.  This means that the actual printer who will be printing my book has prepared the necessary means to produce it and wants to make sure before they go to press that everything is as it should be.  As soon as I give approval to these proofs, the book will go to press!  What a long amazing journey this has been!