I am so excited that my book has sold over 10,000 copies within its first year!!! I did not believe C&T Publishing when they predicted first year sales to be 8-10,000 copies. Hah! It was released as an E-Book in December 2011 and came out in hardcopies in January 2012. If you haven’t already, check out: Modern Quilting Designs by Bethany Pease. (My last name is now Sheets, but Pease is my published name. Wrote the book before I met my man).

So….I bet you’d like to hear the story of how I ended up getting to publish a book with C&T Publishing. Well stay tuned! It’s a longer-ish story and I am late already for an appointment! I will be back soon to tell it so don’t go anywhere

So I’ve been a WordPress gal for close to two years now. Yes, I did check out of the blog sphere for about 6 months, but I’m back. My question is: what in tarnation did they do to WordPress?!?

I love photos. They are a key part of all my posts. However, it’s been about impossible to upload more than 1 per post easily. I never post less than 3. Is it my server? Don’t think so. Tried 2 different ones. The first day, no server worked, then the second day Chrome worked….if I didn’t make ANY mistakes. I’m using the same photo editing options I’ve always used.

If my website wasn’t optimized, I’d seriously be back to Blogger in a blink. I’m gonna’ try a few more options here, like Photobucket, and see how things go.

For now, please know I want to blog; I have SO MUCH fun stuff to share with ya’ll….I’m just having issues with stupid WordPress. Please feel free to leave me comments with any advice you might have. Thanks!

~Bethany

 My sweet hubby, Jeff, was deployed to Afghanistan March 15 of this year. Projected deployment length was 6-7 months. I had never gone through a deployment before, having just married into the Army on December18, 2011, and wanted to be sure to stay BUSY! I was working full time and it was very busy….but not busy enough. There is nothing that can describe trying to go to bed, alone, night after night missing your best friend. Through this experience I gained a whole new level of understanding and empathy for those faithful army wives out there.

March 15, the day he left the U.S. for Afghanistan, was not a super emotional day for me. I got to spend a long time with my hubby at the check in area before he left. It was a sweet time. But when he got on the bus…..that’s when reality started to hit. I had no idea how hard the following months would be. Jeff waved to me from inside the bus….this photo describes most of what I can’t about his departure. So I will just let it speak.

GOD IS SO GOOD! My sweet Jeffrey did not get a single scratch while on deployment and returned with no casualties in his company (Jeff’s company is 120 soldiers). This was not the case within Jeff’s Brigade (roughly 5,000-6,000 soldiers). Some made the ultimate sacrifice and we remember them and their families.

I am also so very thankful that he had a shorter deployment of only 5 months. Thank you friends & family for all the love and support and prayers we received.

Having him deployed was almost like losing my home in a way. The whole time he was gone, I just wanted to “go home.” Now he’s here. Now I’m home.