I think I am back...

At least for now.

In case you haven't noticed, I have been rather absent from the blogging world lately. I checked in occasionally, but haven't done much writing, blog-hopping, or commenting in a couple of months. And I have missed it. A lot.

But I think I may be back! And since I like to write, you get to hear about it.

Our church is celebrating 200 years. Last summer, the chairman of the history committee came to me and asked me if I would be willing to be a part of the committee to help plan the celebration. I asked Tim if he could help me think of a good reason not to do it. But apparently pastors think you should serve your church with your talents, or some such.... I even asked God to help me think of a reason. Shockingly, He didn't help me out either....

Anyway, I said yes, with great fear and trepidation, because I had no idea how I could contribute. This past winter, the committe was discussing its plans of a big Bicentennial Banquet and ways we could share with the congregation and get them involved, etc. I had celebrated a bicentennial with another church, so I had some thoughts, but planning events is not really my forte.

So when they started talking about a history book they were writing, I thought maybe I could help. I know how to use a computer, basically, and I can spell and use proper grammar (although I am a bit lazy sometimes), so I thought - hey, this is how I can help. They already had the writers chosen (which was good, because I didn't want that job), so what they needed was a copy-editor. Someone to read over the manuscript and make corrections.

So I agreed to do this, thinking to myself, how easy will this gig be? I will read this stuff (50 pages maybe?), make minor corrections (nothing time consuming), and be done.

And God laughed at me.

Because. I had no. idea. what I was getting myself into.

First of all, we now think the book will be around 250 pages or so. And there were six authors, all with different topics, backgrounds, and styles.

Still, I thought, that's ok. I will do them one at a time, and we will get this thing done by summer.

I know. What was I thinking?

And did I mention the footnotes? Oy! the footnotes! (I never use the word, oy. Where did that come from?)

Honestly, the authors were wonderful, but they each had very different strengths, so every time I was working with a different author, there was a different learning curve (sometimes a very steep one) with what I had to do. One of them is a fabulous writer, but didn't really want to use the footnotes. The committee wanted footnotes (ok, 2 of us really wanted footnotes - ethically and academically it's important!), so I added footnotes. Another author's topic was very sensitive, and so she and I (and several others) worked very hard to address the issue in a respectful way. I could go on and on. And on top of that, I fact-checked. As I was footnoting, I went to the source and made sure the years and the names and the places and everything else was correct. (I am sure I made mistakes, but I don't wanna know about them at this point!)

For months I have had dreams where I was in a room with the authors and we were all going through 200 years of church minutes looking for something! and we just couldn't find it.

Anyway, yesterday at 11:00am, I sat in a room with these people, and I wrote an email to our publisher, attached 25 documents, and hit the send button. And we all clapped and cheered as our book went out from our little group.

Tonight, we held our Bicentennial Celebration Banquet. I haven't had time to look forward to this event, because every. waking. moment. that wasn't spent taking care of children was spent at the library or on the computer, editing, editing, editing. (Will told me a few weeks ago that he calls the book, The Book That Never Ends.) I haven't cooked or cleaned in weeks. (Seriously, don't go into my bathrooms.) But when I got there it felt like a celebration. There were reunions of old friends, a wonderful video about the church that was made by one of our talented committee members, and an amazing singer. Ok, she was totally my favorite part. Anyway, I really enjoyed the party.

And tomorrow, our pastor will talk about beginning our third century of ministry. And it will be good. I have learned so much about how good God has been to us. How we have been through wonderful times and painful division. And I have built wonderful friendships with these people that I sort-kinda knew before. We have argued, compromised, and rejoiced together. And even though I have whined and complained (especially to my husband and GWAC - you know who you are), I have loved it. But don't ask me to do it again anytime soon.

At this moment, I am feeling very blessed... and very tired. And now I need some sleep (before the publisher sends it back for photos and indexing and cover decisions and corrections and...).