I thought this post from last year would be fitting to share on this #throwbackthursday as I celebrate the release of my new book. I’m so in awe of the way the timing of one story perfectly lined up with the story waiting to be told.
156 days.
That is the number of days that we spent in the NICU with our only child.
November to April.
Winter to Spring.
Joy instead of mourning.
This past November I walked to the mailbox and tucked in among the cards addressed to Scarlette was a plain manila envelope bearing my name. Just a few days past her third birthday I scrawled my signature across the bottom of a page for representation with a literary agent in a raw hope that maybe those words I wrote would find a home under her exceptional care.
This past April we celebrated the anniversary of Scarlette’s hospital homecoming date with cupcakes and hot chocolate and just a few days past lighting those candles I sat and I signed my name again.
Exactly 156 days later.
November to April.
Winter to Spring.
Beauty from ashes.
I am exceptionally honored to tell you that I have signed a two-book deal with B&H Publishing Group.
The first is a memoir of our story, the whole of it, which I sincerely desire will serve as a touchstone of hope for those who find themselves searching for it, and will release in Summer of 2015 is available now!
I don’t know how to express the depth of my joy and gratitude, which I realize is ironic since technically expressing things with words is kind of my job now and everything.
But the truth is, Day 156 was enough for me. Walking out of that hospital with my daughter’s heart still beating was the epitome of my own heart’s deepest desires.
I am so overwhelmed at the ways in which the Lord continues to turn winter to spring in our story, to sow joy where there once was mourning, to touch my lips with continuous praise where there once was despair. That Day 156 would come again in an avenue that allows me to pursue my passion and share hope in telling a story of where the light meets the dark is beyond my most wild expectations.
This is my anchored hope.
Update, June 2015: Thank you for all the support and encouragement you have given me! I am so thrilled to share the release of my first book, Anchored: Finding Hope in the Unexpected with you.
(Also, how crazy is it that the time it took from signing with Jenni to signing with B&H for a story about our story was exactly the same amount of days we spent in the NICU over the exact same months? I am constantly astounded that God would grant me light along this path in the form of such little details.)
To celebrate my friend Jen painted this 8×10 print for me and we made it into a free printable for you to download!
