The more I thought it over, prayed about it, and read my Bible, the more I realized that I had that order backward. God had given me the extraordinary privilege of raising up children for his purposes and his glory, and in addition (not in precedence), he had given me a dream of writing and publishing a book. It took more than a dozen years—nine of which I spent blogging and honing my voice and focus—and eight more kids before he (not I) saw fit to orchestrate all the circumstances that would allow those two dreams to coexist.
