Captain’s Log, Stardate 12.05.2006 I’m participating in the “One Thousand Gifts” list from Christian Women Online. Click on the picture to find out more about it. 451. My new laptop just left Alaska. 452. Orange black tea with cranberry juice—good for me, hot, and very tasty 453. I got paid yesterday! My check for turning in my accepted, revised manuscript for book one. 454. The satisfaction that at least 2/5 of my writer’s finances are accurately entered in my Quicken program. That program has given me hassles since it’s not that user-friendly, but I’m hoping it’ll make it easier for us to get our finances to an accountant for taxes next year. 455. I got some great card ideas off of the Stampin’ Up website and am using one now. 456. I got the Stampin’ Up Winter mini catalog! The stamps are very cool and I got some great ideas from the pictures. 457. Heather’s moving in 7 days! 458. I made healthy bean burritos for a snack 459. I exercised yesterday! 460. I had an apricot for a snack...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 12.04.2006 I’m participating in the “One Thousand Gifts” list from Christian Women Online. Click on the picture to find out more about it. 426. My new laptop is supposed to ship either today or in the next couple days! 427. I like how this One Thousand Gifts challenge is making go through the day and see more how God has blessed me. 428. Yesterday the pastor said something that never really struck me before. Married couples tend to start to sound alike and have the same gestures, to become more like each other the more time they spend together. That’s how it is with us and God—we’ll become more like Him the more time we spend with Him. 429. I discovered that knitting is a great way to get me to brainstorm. Something about the textile action, combined with repetitive visual, allows my brain to wander and think more creatively. 430. Bible in 90 Days, days 18 and 19: “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.” I Sam 15:23. ...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Leave any prayer requests in the comments and I’ll be praying this week. You don’t have to be Christian to leave a prayer request. If you’d rather not advertise to everyone on the blogosphere, just leave an unspoken prayer request or e-mail me. If I forgot your prayer request, e-mail me. Not to be mean or anything, but if you don't e-mail me or comment to update your prayer request, I'm only going to pray 3 Sundays. Lord, thank you for reminding us to be thankful. Thank you that Bruce’s cancer is only stage 1. I pray for complete healing for him, Lord. I pray for favor for Case with his sentencing judge. Uphold your righteous ones in justice. Help the family to cling to you. Thank you for Heather’s move, and I pray you will continue to provide for her and guide her. Please provide more income for her, and help her move go smoothly. I pray you continue to help Pammer to be able to focus and feel better. Thank you that she’s ACFW Vice President! Please...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 12.03.2006 I’m participating in the “One Thousand Gifts” list from Christian Women Online. Click on the picture to find out more about it. 401. My husband won a coupon for coffee from a coffee geeks online board. 402. Thank You, Lord, for women like Janet Edgar ( The Inn At Shadow Lake ), who loved You and put You first and inspires people even after she’s gone home to be with You. 403. 5MinutesForMom.com has so much good stuff on it—I revisited it yesterday. Good blog posts and columns. 404. Another good women’s online site is Christian Women Online . They really try to develop blogging community and interaction with memes and blogging themes. They’re the ones who told everyone about the One Thousand Gifts meme. 405. I get some traffic from a neat mom site, Mothers Click , which promotes online dialogue and community. 406. I finally picked up my Bible in 90 Days again, and I’m on day 17. It was so nice to read the Word. 407. Sharon gave me a supercool stampin...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental I’m participating in the “One Thousand Gifts” list from Christian Women Online. Click on the picture to find out more about it. 376. My cable modem, which is so much better than dial-up 377. I ordered my new laptop computer yesterday! Well, technically at 2 a.m. just before we went to bed. A MacBook Pro, 15” glossy screen. I also ordered Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac—kind of a necessity since most publishing houses and writers use Microsoft Word. 378. I love stamping. Love, love, love it. I love that I’ll be giving away cards this Christmas as gifts. 379. I can order stamps from my friend, author, and Stampin’ Up hostess Sharon Hinck . She totally gets how it’s so soothing to make cards as a stress-reliever when the writing is getting difficult. 380. I get to read Sharon’s book, Restorer’s Son , when she’s done with edits! 381. The December sale at Stampin’ Up and the great stamps I bought. I can’t wait to get them and make new cards. 382. All the ribbons a...

BRYAN DAVIS and his latest book: Eye of the Oracle Bryan Davis is the author of the four book Dragons in Our Midst series, a contemporary/fantasy blend for young people. The first book, Raising Dragons, was released in July of 2004. The second book, The Candlestone, followed in October. Circles of Seven debuted in April of 2005, followed in November by Tears of a Dragon. Bryan is the author of several other works including The Image of a Father (AMG) and Spit and Polish for Husbands (AMG), and four books in the Arch Books series: The Story of Jesus' Baptism and Temptation, The Day Jesus Died, The Story of the Empty Tomb (over 100,000 sold), and Jacob's Dream. Bryan lives in Winter Park, Florida with his wife, Susie, and their children. Bryan and Susie have homeschooled their four girls and three boys. To read more about Bryan and his books, visit the Dragons in our Midst Website or visit Bryan's blog . Eye of the Oracle by Bryan Davis Dragons in our Midst - Pr...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. My Monday book giveaway is A Dry Creek Christmas by Janet Tronstad My Thursday book giveaway is A Family for Christmas by Irene Brand and Dana Corbit . You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the A Dry Creek Christmas and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page ! It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas... Last year, I came across an article on gifts for writers, and I expanded on it with an article of my own. I’ll be posting a part of it every Friday and then eventually post the entire article on my Story Sensei blog . I’m starting this series early so your loved ones—er, Santa can start saving up for maybe something extra special. And if you have ideas of your own,...