I Need Your Help!

For six months now, God has been asking me to publish Chrissie's 31-day hospital battle into a book.  I had no idea why.  The idea started with so many of you readers who would leave comments or contact me via email (and sometimes even via phone!) to encourage me to publish Chrissie's story.  I blew it off for a while, thinking there's no way I would/could ever do such a thing.  I'm not an author, and I have NO contacts in the publishing world, and I really didn't understand why anyone would want to BUY a book about Chrissie's story when they could read it for free on our blog!

But God continues to place this project in my path over and over and over again.  It's to the point now where I just have to obey, even if the task seems insurmountable.  I don't even have enough time to keep our blog updated.  I have so many messages to post here, and I only get to about 1/10th of them!  I have thank you cards in memory of Chrissie to mail still...these were created in June or July, yet they still sit in a box on my floor, some addressed, many not, none with stamps.  My life is so busy, I simply cannot imagine sitting down to figure out this whole book thing.

But God doesn't accept excuses.  He asks for obedience.  Simple obedience.  So, I am now to the point, after six months of avoidance, where I have to just obey and move toward figuring this book thing out.  I've emailed a few people who have some experience in self-publishing, and all have offered to help in this way or that, but I haven't done a thing on my end.  I really don't know what path to take as there are so many options. 

I feel like God wants me to just publish the part of Chrissie's story where she battled for  31-days until He called her home.  (That is the time frame when most of you got to know Chrissie's story by praying for our precious angel during that time.)  I feel like He wants me to keep the story in journal format, true to life, unedited (not even addressing grammatical errors and misspellings to preserve the authenticity of the battle).  I feel like He wants me to keep make sure the comments from the readers are kept in the story as well.  And the photos should stay, too. 

Seems easy enough, huh?  Not so much!  I have to do formatting of all of this and figure out what size book and the font and the layout and how to separate the comments from the "diary" (blog entries) and where to put the photos and a book cover and ISBN, etc., etc., etc.  It's a lot more work than it sounds like, but God continues to remind me that He is asking for my obedience.

I feel like God is saying to use any proceeds from the book sales to help orphans.  My greatest desire would be to get this book published by early December (through self-publishing) and offer the books as Christmas gifts, with the proceeds going to help our Reece's Rainbow Angel child, Dariya, who we are the fundraising warriors for.  (He's given me a few ideas on who to help with the proceeds, and we all know there's never enough money for adoptions/orphans, so the possibilities are endless as long as there are book sales.)

But first, there has to be a book! :-)  So, I am posting this to ask for your help.  If you have any ideas, if you're connected or have any expertise in the publishing world, if you can help me get this book published in the very short time frame that I'm looking at...please contact me!  You can email me directly at Lorraine@ForgottenSawRanch.com or you may leave a comment here.

And on top of this project, I feel like He wants me to do a t-shirt fundraiser as well.  He's even given me a design idea for a shirt in memory of Chrissie and all of the hearts that were mended/changed/touched through Chrissie's life on earth and in Heaven.  I need someone who does graphic design and/or artwork to do the design for me though because I have NO talent in this area!!! :-)  I have a lead on someone who might be able to help me with printing the shirts, but if you have recommendations in this area, please contact me.

My ultimate hope/dream is to do a book and t-shirt bundle in memory of Chrissie for Christmas as a fundraiser to help orphans.  I just need some help, and I know this.  I cannot do it alone (otherwise, I would have already done it and wouldn't even be writing this post!), so please prayerfully consider helping me in this endeavor if you have any advice, suggestions, helps, connections, etc.

I've learned that most families who have lost a child do something at Christmas as a tribute to their loved one.  This is what I think God is asking me to do, but the timing seems impossible.  However, I also know that with God, all things are possible.

Help, anyone?!?