Day One of Seven
Written by Guest Blogger:
Eva Marie Everson

I have kept a diary my entire life yet have yet to catch hold of the "blogging" craze. Sure, I have done it. I've blogged. I tried it at my website for a few days, felt overwhelmed, and then stopped. Eventually I developed a "journal" page, which is, right now, as I type, hopelessly behind. I've got a few pics up and every day I promise I'll add more, but I don't. Actually, I'm waiting on Allison for that. She has my pics. Allison is awesome for taking photos at events so I don't have to do a true panic at the thought of having left mine at home. I only have to pretend to panic.

So, here I am "guest blogging." Now there's something I never thought I'd hear myself say. "Hello, my name is Eva Marie Everson and I am a guest blogger." But, Allison insisted. "You have to do this," she said. "You have to be my guest blogger."

Anyone who knows Allison knows well that you rarely can say no to the woman.

"What do you want me to blog about?" I asked, thinking that surely nothing in my life could possibly be interesting enough for others to read about.

"Anything," she answered. "But be sure to mention a U turn."

Sure, Allison. Be sure to plug your ministry in the middle of my blog....

All kidding aside, I love Allison and I love her for allowing me to do this. Over the past few weeks (okay, months) I've been thinking about what I would say or could say or even should say about U turns. Then, today as I was helping my husband rip away the dropped ceiling in our kitchen (in a few weeks I'll have a stunning new kitchen, he says) I realized that nearly every day of my life, some U turn is going on somewhere.

Take today for example. This morning I woke up, shuffled into the soon-to-be-new kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee, then shuffled on into the living room where I turned on the TV to watch a bit of news. The situation in Israel is the headline. I thought about my friends who live there and my upcoming trip there to work with Miriam Feinberg on our book "Falling Into the Bible" (W Publishing, 2008). My husband says Hezbollah has wakened a sleeping lion and the lion is fighting back. I like that, but I am sad none-the-less, that this great nation, Israel, is under such attack. I wish everyone loved her as I do.

Then I watched Father of the Bride with Steve Martin and remembered that the first time I saw it, 1991, I had yet to have one of my daughters fall in love and marry. Seeing it now gives a whole new perspective.

After that, I worked on the fourth novel in the "Potluck" series I'm writing with Linda Evans Shepherd http://www.sheppro.com/potluckclub.htm. One of my characters is about to make her own U turn...and it's not a good one. What Linda and I have done with our characters is show the kind of women we come in contact with when we minister at churches. Women today--even good Christian women--are hurting. Some are making positive U turns and some are not. Our novels, we pray, will give all women hope and point them toward the One who loves them not only in spite of their weaknesses, but also because of them.

In between all this, I helped my husband with Project New Kitchen.

I guess you could say that our kitchen is making its own U turn. Let's hope we survive it to tell its story to the very end.

Until tomorrow…
Eva Marie Everson