December Highlights

I'm planning a super epic review of the year, including my top ten books, and highlights of the whole year. But today, I've got my December Highlights.

My sister Grace and I decided we wanted to do a hot dog roast (These are becoming quite regular around here), so we did a spontaneous trip to town to get the stuff for it. 

I got to go to the Zoo with a lot of fellow Texan writers and friends. It was a blast hanging out with them. 

I had Cedar allergies most of the month. Thankfully except for a few days, it wasn't too bad. it just gave me a phantom fever and made my nose stuffy. 

Our table for the Christmas party

We had our annual Christmas cookie party, and we made so. many. cookies. Seriously, I'm kind of sick of cookies. But it was fun! =D

My siblings and I played a lot of games this month. Mostly Forbidden Island, but we threw in some Monopoly in there. 

Two of my sisters and I decorated trees in the woods!

Me in the entrance to Longhorn Cavern (Photo taken by Rebekkah)

We went to Lornhorn state park, got to see a cave entrance, and amazing views. Then we went to a lake and walked around a pretty incredible light display! 

The floor in our storage shed started to give out, so we spent all of one day carting the boxes full of stuff to a different location. Exhausting, but it was good to get the stuff safe! 

We celebrated Christmas a little early because of my brother's work schedule, which was fun. We all got up at six and spent a very leisurely morning slowly opening presents. It took us until noon because we kept stopping to get food, and at one point to play with a game! We went for a family walk, then had a beautiful candlelight service. This Christmas was just about the best. 

All of us (Except me) on Christmas

I undecorated my room for the first time ever by myself. But Rebekkah (Whom I share the room with) was busy helping my mom, and so I did it. It took a lot longer (surprise), but I got my books really well organized. ;) 

We had a girls shopping day on the 26'th. We got a very early start, hit a lot of good deals, and had an awesome time. I didn't get a lot, but I did get a couple of fun things, like sticker packs, and a little-stuffed elephant.

We went up to Dallas to see my Grandparents and went to the biggest Half Priced Books ever. Seriously, that place is heaven for bookworms. 

Monster (Which is not nearly as creepy as it looks) was my favorite of the month. (I'm excluding my re-read of Radialloy, and It's Not About Me) 

It Turned into Narnia Aria 

Hike Four Dancing in the Rain

You Have a Purpose Chosen Vessels 

December 26 The Introverted Extrovert 

A Poem and a Bit of a Quizzie Brin Lael 

2018 Goal Progress The Left-handed Typist 

I Don't Understand this Love A Storynerds Life

Subplots & Storylines and How Beautiful on the Moutain Tracey Dyck 

See y'all next year! I've got some pretty big plans, I'm really excited to share them with y'all! 

How was your December? and your Christmas?

Noise That Fills the Day

Songs to wake me up 

To help through workout 

Reading through the morning 

Talking through lunch 

Audiobook to work to 

Music while I blog 

Writing on a review 

Texting in between 

More music while we work 

Conversations through dinner 

Phone call after cleaning 

Then outside to see the sunset 

And stopping short 

To realize how quiet it is 

No music fills the air 

No talking from nearby 

This silence speaks 

Multitudes by itself 

Breathe in the cold air 

Hear my own thoughts 

Listen to God’s still voice 

As He tells me to be still 

Be still and quiet 

And know that He is God 

Loosing Christmas Joy

Christmas joy 

Seems lost this year

The sparkle of the season 

Seems beyond my reach 

Nothing I do 

Can bring it back 

I struggle to find 

That magic anticipation 

That longing in my heart 

For that special day 

But this year seems to go by 

In faded black and white

I can’t find my Christmas spirit

And I have begun to wonder 

If I’ll ever get it back 

And somehow 

As these thoughts go 

Through my mind 

I realize 

I’m focusing on me 

During a season 

That’s all about Him 

So maybe instead 

Of being worried

That I’ve lost my anticipation 

I should focus 

On God’s amazing gift 

And the fact that this year 

My family is all together 

I won't be posting on Monday because of Christmas, but I'll be back next Friday!

Fun Things to do Around the Internet

I found several fun things to do around the internet lately and I thought I would share them with y'all!! 

First off is this super awesome quiz by Brin Lael. It seriously felt like therapy! Just click on the photo, enjoy the awesome poem, then get the link to the quiz afterward! Or you can follow this link.

There is also a super fun giveaway with the newest Ilyon books, Bitter Winter and Lacy, here and the newest Ackar book, Decree, here. There is also a huge giveaway for all the books in both series here.

As part of the tour they are having character interviews and all sorts of cool stuff, so you should hop over, it's really fun! 

If you want something completely funny to help your Christmas spirit, check out Willow City's "Something just like you (Christmas version)"

Want to get excited about New Years? Check out Abbiee's post about how she did on her goals!

I hope y'all have fun checking these out! Leave me a comment below with something fun going on around the internet and I'll check it out!

 

Keep Working

Stressed out 

Keep working 

Pain shooting 

Keep running 

Breath ragged 

Keep walking 

Heart hurting 

Keep loving 

Work dragging 

Keep plugging

Year slipping 

Keep gripping 

Tears gathering 

Keep fighting 

Words broken 

Keep Praying 

November Highlights

So this month was awesome and busy, and yeah, I loved it so much!

My parents, my sister, and I got to go to a southern gospel concert which was just amazing! There was Legacy Five, Ernie Haase and Signature Sound, and the Martins. They had a Catherdals reunion which was my favorite show because I grew up on their videos. Getting to meet all of those people and hearing them play was a huge blessing.

Rebekkah, me, Scott Fowler (From Legacy Five), and my dad. =D

So, yeah NaNoWriMo happened. This year was good. So good. I had so many days where I had no idea what to write, but I had some awesome cheerleaders. My awesome sister Grace and I wrote together a lot and even went to Whataburger once (that's where I met the UPS guy). I sprinted so much with an awesome group of writers and had a lot of sleep shortage due to writing. But, I loved getting Battle for Kelar onto the page, and I'm super excited to dive into editing next month. =D

Some of my sisters and I went to a Fall Festival, which was a blast. We got lost in a corn maze (though not as lost as we wanted), played in hamster wheels, took pictures in the pumpkin patch and rode on kiddie trains. It was a blast!

Rebekkah, me, and Grace at the end of the corn maze!

I ate alone at Cracker Barrel for the first time. I even wrote while I was there and it was so fun. =)

One evening I got to just sit with my dog, Luke, and watch a huge bonfire burn till it was just embers. It was so peaceful and fun.

I figured out that my wisdom teeth need to come out. I'm not thrilled about the news, but I am really happy because I don't have to do it until spring! So I've got time to plan out all the books and movies I want to get through while recovering. =)

My mom and I at an awesome light display. =D

I had an awesome Thanksgiving with my family. My brother wasn't able to come, due to work, which we were all sad about. But I spent most of the evening relaxing with a book.

One night I got caffeine jitters and was up till 1AM. I felt very antsy and my awesome friend Micaiah texted me until I could finally go to sleep. <3

We decorated for Christmas!!

I was so excited to buddy read Things I Never Told You with Kate Willis but A Song Unheard ended up being my favorite book of the month. 

I Choose She Dances in the Rain

Do We Actually Listen Julia Ryan

I Don't Need You to Love Me Brin Lael 

I'm Doing NaNo Sunshine and Scribbles 

Thankfulness Thursday III Totally Graced

Excerpt Time, Yay! Once Upon an Ordinary 

How to be a Consistent Blogger The Left-Handed Typist 

Why YA Characters are Missing the Mark Writing is Life

Five Bookish Troops that Should Jump off a Cliff Stories by Firefly

Overall it was a bursting at the seems, awesome, busy month. 

My Mission

Stressed but blessed 

Under a mountain of work 

Trying to dig myself out 

Trying to find the end 

Somehow forgetting 

That this is my mission 

This is my purpose 

Every little project 

Building into a greater plan 

Sometimes it doesn't 

Feel like that 

But I have to remember 

That I don't look at things 

The way God does 

And every little project 

Every letter I write

Is building on something 

Bigger then I can see

Sorry this is so late, the internet here has been terrible.