Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Kangaroo Pouch By Sarah Phillips Pellet

I received this book in the mail the other day:

The Kangaroo Pouch  A story about surrogacy for young children
By Sarah Phillips Pellet
Illustrated by Laurie A. Faust
Forward by Gail Taylor, Founder of Growing Generations and Fertility Futures, LLC


What a cute story! It's a very sweet approach to what can be a tough subject to explain to children. Sarah does a great job telling the story of a kangaroo family who can't have a baby on their own. The story is told by a young kangaroo named Oliver.  Little Oliver's mom offers up her pouch so that this other kangaroo family can have a baby. The book offers just enough information on the surrogacy process without being too much for a small child to understand. The pictures are darling and the story made me laugh and smile.

My children have read this book over and over throughout the weekend. It's a story that can be enjoyed even without knowing anything about surrogacy.


You can purchase The Kangaroo Pouch at Amazon.com:

Sarah's website:

As I've been approached by authors and as I've approached others, I've been inspired to write my own book.  But some of you already knew that....

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Local fundraiser (Utah) please read

Just to clear up, I'm not in charge of this or anything.
                              I'm just spreading the word for a worthy cause.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Twas the night before hubby's birthday: a funny story

I turned on the sprinklers. I worked on my book and I played on the internet. About 40 minutes later, hubby says "You forgot to turn off the sprinklers" Oh ok, oops. I come upstairs, assuming he's turned them off.

No.

He asks me, "Are you going to turn them off?" My reply "Oh, I thought you did."

He replies, "I can't, I'm in my underwear." I say, "Well I got soaked turning them on, I don't want to get wet again."  He suggests going over the railing. I say, "But my legs are short, I can't do that as well as you can."

It's now after 11 PM. I walk out the front door and it's pitch black outside. I tell hubby, "It's dark, I can't see what I'm doing." We only have motion lights out front so he tells me to flip the switch and jump up and down in front of the sensor. I follow his instructions.

I proceed to fling one leg over the railing. I'm stuck. I can't touch ground without grabbing on to something and in previous experiences, the railing isn't very sturdy to CLIMB on or hold on to in that manner. So I am stuck in hover mode and I'm contemplating my next move.

That's when a car drives by. (please, please don't see me) It slows down. Nooooo, don't stop in front of our house. I'm thinking it either looks like I'm trying to sneak out or sneak in.

 I hear my name: "Jill, what are you doing?"
 Pure embarassment. (it's our new bishop and his cute family)  "Um, I'm trying to turn off the sprinklers, but my legs are too short." They kindly offer up their son to help me. He runs through the sprinklers and I try my best to explain how to turn them on.

They start chatting with me about my husband's birthday the next day. I think it was his wife Stace that asks how old he's going to be. Well hubby and I are the same age within months of each other so I'm thinking, well I'm 33 so he must be turning 34. I say "He'll be 34." They reply, "Oh wow he's getting old." Ha ha, funny because I know they are a few years older than us.

In the meantime my husband throws on some clothes and peeks his head out. They say, "I hear you're going to be 34." He says, "No I'm going to be 33." I say, "Did ya skip a year sweetie?" He says, "No, I was born in 77, it's 2010, I'm going to be 33."

I say, "You mean I'm only 32?" I laugh a little uncomfortably because I already felt like an idiot.

The next day in the shower, (where I do my best thinking) I think I should have said...... "Yeah my husband isn't supposed to let me out at night without my medication."

Monday, July 19, 2010

Opportunity knocked- I opened the door and let it in...(the secret's out)

In my life one thing has always led to another. Every now and then an opportunity presents itself. Every now and then I feel super duper good about it.

It all happened a few weeks ago when I got the e-mail about reviewing a book. Then I approached another author and offered to review her book. That's when it hit me- why not write my own book?

I've written poetry since I was young, around 5. I've played around with writing short stories etc. in middle school. In high school, I took a creative writing class. But since then, I didn't have inspiration to really write about anything. (other than my poems here and there)

Well all of a sudden I had 2 ideas for 2 separate stories. All I can tell you is yes, they are about surrogacy and they are children's books.

I've been working on the 1st story almost non-stop.  I'm reseraching, etc. and it's been so good for me.
Getting closer to the final product every day.  I already have an offer to review it.    :)

This is extremely exciting for me!

Everything's lining up rather nicely.

I didn't want to say anything too soon, because I didn't want to jinx it or have someone else steal my idea(s). But I'm not saying a word about my ideas... so ha.

Wish me luck...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

I'm so excited I could scream... (but it's a secret, shhh)

I've been working on a super duper secret project. Not sure if I am even ready to reveal it yet. But I'm so excited, because my creativity seems to be flowing and I have researched what I'm working on, and I seem to be doing it right, which is just freaking awesome.

I know, I know, the supsense sucks!!! But I just don't want to jinx it. I have my reasons, and one day soon I'll feel comfortable enough to at least tell you the basics of the project.

In the meantime, know that I love you all....

Mormon Surrogate

P.S. My girls got a sneak peek and gave me 2 thumbs up!

Slideshow