Good News:

• Franklin has committed to writing at least one song every day in the month of January
• My back is 100% better - and the physical therapist prescribed massage therapy as part of the continued treatment
• We’re off work until January 2nd
• I’m setting aside a few huge blocks of time to work on the NaNo novel during the break
• My birthday was yesterday, and Franklin got me a Wii even though I told him not to because we can’t afford it (good husband!)
• We already had one super-fun holiday celebration with our friends the Salways in Tel Aviv (wish you and the crew could have been with us Sinora), and we’re looking forward to another on the 25th with our friends and neighbors, the King family.

Bad News:

• We miss our US family very much, especially this time of year
• I’ve got the flu. This isn’t fair, I’m usually a very healthy person.
• Even with limited Wii playing yesterday (due to the demon flu), we’re still sore all over from boxing, bowling, and baseball
• Franklin is going to have to go in to work a bit during our time off

Overall I have to say that the good things in our lives vastly outweigh the bad things in our lives, and for that we’re grateful. December photos are up.

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The exciting news of the moment is that last Wednesday for the first time in my life I threw my back out. I wasn’t doing anything weird; I was in the process of sitting down and SNAP, I felt something pop in my lower spine. It hurt. I crawled to our bedroom and tried lying flat on the floor for a while. That helped a lot, and after a few days of bed rest I was able to get vertical. I’m still taking it easy, and when my back starts hurting, I take a break. (For example, I spent most of the sermon last night at church lying on the floor in the balcony. I’m worried that I’m going to wind up doing the same at the office holiday shindig tonight.)

Franklin’s meetings are over, and his stress levels have come down quite a bit. It’s nice to have him back. Everything went well, and he did a great job, of course. Since my back went out, he has been wonderfully solicitous, making me wonder why I waited so long to fall ill enough to need caring for.

I’m editing the novellette. (Yes, I did make up that word. No, I don’t mean “novella.” According to dictionary.com, a novella is: “a fictional prose narrative that is longer and more complex than a short story.” According to me, a novellette is “a goofy piece of fiction written by a first time author that is of interest only to friends and family.”) This process may take longer than anticipated, but I promise I’m on it. I’m also trying to get in the habit of writing at least 1000 words a day. We’ll see how that goes. I’m trying to get Franklin to make a similar commitment to song writing. Maybe we can declare January “NaSoWriMo,” and see if we can get him to churn out a song every day for 31 days. What do you think?

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