So I found the most delightful K-cups at Menards. They’re an off brand and come in a ginormous box so I was hesitant at first to commit. But chocolate caramel brownie and 33 cents a cup was calling my name. My morning brew hasn’t tasted so good since Timothy’s German Chocolate Cake. Happy Momma.

Baby Ninja

I’ve got a little more than three weeks to go to my c-section, less if Baby Ninja decides to make an appearance early, and the thought is a little paralyzing. The preparations you are capable of making for your first child are a complete impossibility for baby number three. I’m trying to make my peace with that but it’s a legitimate struggle. Life just has more moving pieces the more people you add to the fam. Go figure.

Oh, and Baby Ninja has an actual name now (in case I’m too incoherent later to remember to tell you):

Micah Garin John Trevino

Micah is a derivative of his daddy’s name, Garin for Papa Drachenberg, and John for Papa Trevino. And it also goes really well when I say Elijah-Noah-Micah :).

Can I brag on some People?

I have lots of things to say about this journey of self-publishing, but I’ll save them for the day I have a wider angle view. What I must share now (and feels entirely overdue) is my thanks for a few key people who really helped me move from draft to finished (and published!) manuscript.

If you’re ever in the market for one of these vendors I cannot more highly recommend them. But no, you can’t take my friends (or my husband) :)!

My husband Mike and friends Katie and Kristal-

read a really, really rough draft of the finished book and offered some incredible feedback that made Experience Christmas 1,000X better. You should absolutely thank them when you read the finished product. It would not be what it is without them.

They also are the ones responsible for keeping me grounded (and sane) when I was stressed and ready to make really crazy decisions regarding the book. They are precious to me and I cannot thank them enough!

Jacy Pulford – Cover Artist

I met Jacy in an online women bloggers group and discovered her artistic talent on Instagram. This girls got mad skills and is the artist behind Experience Christmas’ watercolor cover and back cover accents. I know you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but we all do don’t we? She’s helped make this project easy to promote.

Mindy Hong – Author Photo

You know Mindy and I go way back. Like waaaaaay back to kindergarten/first grade. She’s been taking our family pictures for years, making us look better than we really do, and cataloguing our family story. I do not know what we would do without her.

She’s known I’ve wanted to write a book for a long time and during one of our photo shoots whispered such sweet encouragement to my momma’s heart. You know, I can see one of these on the back of a book someday. I’m continually blessed by her. Love this lady.

Leah Stuhler – Editor

Leah is also a dear friend of mine whom I met on our church drama team. She’s a legit actress. I liked to pretend (but I also wrote scripts so at least there’s that). We struck up a friendship and haven’t looked back since, even though there are more miles between us today than either of us would prefer.

She also happens to be a book editor (and author herself!) and I’m so glad we were able to work together on the final manuscript. It’s super intimidating to release a project you’ve held close for so long, but Leah made it easy. So thankful for her!

In other news . . .

Well there isn’t much other news – baby and book have entirely taken over any available brain space – but we are starting first grade homeschool soon and I’m really excited for this year’s curriculum.

And getting back into a normal routine.

Which I know will be an entirely fluid concept in the next 20-some-odd days.