While things have been a bit quiet here at thisoddhouse.org for the past few weeks, they have been far from quiet at This Odd House in McHenry.

In the midst of some sicknesses and the end-of-semester stress, we have also been celebrating the season in several special ways.

We put up our tree. And while it isn’t as wonky as last year, it’s still endearingly off-kilter.

Daryl sang a solo in his school’s Christmas program, and we couldn’t have been more proud. Amelia and Grandma have been crafting their hearts out, making all sorts of ornaments for our Jesse tree. (Pictures to come.)

I enjoyed speaking at the beautiful Getting Real Ministries’ annual Christmas Brunch.

Two days later, I had too much fun speaking with my good friend Gloria at the also-lovely Women of Grace’s Christmas Tea. And yes, I wore the same sweater to both events. It’s festive, but in a not-so-literal sort of way.

And that evening a bunch of my favorite women and I went into the city for MBI’s Candlelight Carols. I have the (daunting) task of writing the dramatic script for the program each year. But then my gifted friend, Lindsay Branson, directs a cast of equally-gifted students, and together they make it into much more than I could have imagined. All of our Moody music groups also bring their talents to bear. And it is a wonderful way to worship the coming King.

Photo credit: Jennifer Heim

Photo credit: Jennifer Heim

Love Our Carols Cast!

And—in the midst of all that—Peter and I have also been doing something that we’ve never, ever done before…

Negotiating a book deal with Moody Publishers!

We found out today that the paperwork is finally in the mail, so it seems official enough for me to officially tell you that Peter Worrall and I are writing a book! And for Christmas we’re getting the contract.

It’s not the This Odd House book that I set out to write eighteen months ago. (We’re still waiting and working on that.)

But this is the book that God clearly wants us to write right now. Over and over that has been confirmed.

It’s currently titled 20 Things We Would Have Told Our 20-Something Selves, based on the blog post/Relevant Magazine article I wrote with a similar name last spring. And it’s scheduled to be released in October 2015.

We are excited and up to our eyeballs in notes and research and ambitious ideas. We vacillate from naive optimism to periodic panic attacks. We enjoy working together, but we’ve never tackled anything of this magnitude. Prayers much appreciated!

I’ll be back here next week to share a piece on Advent that I’ve been writing in my mind for months. It seems like a fitting way to wrap up our series on waiting.

After that, I’ll have to take an official break from blogging for a bit and crawl into my cave in answer to this newest call.