Goodbye

Today marks six years since I began blogging. Six years of writing posts, replying to comments and connecting with too many amazing people to count. I cannot believe how much God has chosen to bless me through this blog. 

Six years, 

About 80 followers

Sixty thousand page views

611 posts. 

With 3668 comments

Today is my official move over to my new blog. Everything new will be on MikaylaHolman.blogspot.com.

I'm not sure I'm really ready for goodbye on this blog, but it's time. It's been an amazing six years. Thank you for all your support and time.
God Bless.

Little Things

Read it here at Mikayla Holman.

Five Books I'm Re-reading this Summer

Read the post here at Mikayla Holman

Go With the Flow

This was posted on Mikaylaholman.blogspot.com. Co-posting will stop soon, so if you want to keep up with my blog, please go over follow there. 

Go with the flow 

Go with the flow 

Don’t fight it 

Don’t listen to people 

Telling you to fight 

Go with the flow 

Let your emotions 

Pull you out 

Be adrift on this water 

Of man built ideas 

On your whims and thoughts 

Don’t fight them 

Go adrift 

Don’t use your ore 

Be carried out where 

The waves crash 

Go with the flow 

Don’t go don’t go 

Fight your way out 

Fight against your own ideas 

Go against your emotions 

Don’t follow the current 

Of your own selfish ideas 

Fight your way to shore 

Paddle till you ache 

Make your way there 

Where you’ll be safe 

On a shore built by God 

With arms to hold you 

And to help you 

Don’t go with the flow 

Fight it, fight it

And find yourself 

On an unmovable shore

April Highlights

Hello everyone! This is one of my first duel posts. I won't be doing this for long, so please go over and follow me on Mikaylaholman.blogspot.com to keep updated!

Participated in Camp NaNo, and wrote 10,000 words. I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted in my story, but I did meet my goal.

So. Much. Weeding. But really, I loved it. 

I listened to Defy while water marbling. I recently discovered water marbling and I love it. 

I went to the dentist again, this one ended up being not so great, so we kind of just ignored all his advice. ;P  

I tried my hand at lemon pound cake. It turned out surprisingly well!

It was my Grandpa Leroy's birthday. He's in a nursing home, so we drove up to see him and spent the day with him. 

We went to an amazing passion play, and then we had our Passover celebration. On Easter we spent the whole day together at church, and then just chilling. Passover and Easter are my favorite holidays, so it was a really good weekend. 

I went to bible study with my sister Grace, and we had a late night fries run afterward. 

I registered for two events happening in six months. One a bubble run (I've never done one before, but they had free registration and it looked fun), and I registered to go back to the Gospel concert I attended last year.

My whole family went bowling. We found a great deal which included the food and went. I made two strikes, ate a ton of pizza, and had a blast. We had never been as a whole family before, so it was really fun to do. 

My sister Rose and I went to the beach for a couple of days, which was the best. I rode my first Ferris wheel, swam a ton in the ocean, rode the ferries, went to the Moody Gardens, and we ate ice cream on the beach. 

My favorite was probably my re-read of Defy, and my least favorite The Treasure of Secret Cove, though I liked all the books I read this month.

New Routine Stories by Firefly

Spring Pen Pal Ideas A Farmgirls Life

Recent Photos and a Life Update Aria

5 Writing Lessons from Charlie Brown and 

Internet Friends of The Left-Handed Typist

How to do Something You've Never Done Before Pen Prints

This Was Harder Then I Thought it Would Be Sunshine and Joy

Link to My New Blog

Hello everyone! I'm here with exciting news! I am finally ready to share the link to my new blog!!

So here it is, you can follow the link, or click on the image.

http://mikaylaholman.blogspot.com/

Starting Tuesday I will be duel posting on both Ordinary Girl, Extraordinary Father, and Mikaya Holman. I will do this to give everyone a chance to move over to the new blog. 

I am so excited about this change, and I pray it is for the better. Will you go on over and tell me what you think?

I Used to be the Best (Or at least I thought so)

I used to be the best. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I was on my blog. I had it down pat. Procrastinate until the last minute, then scurry around and slap something up on the blog just in time. But, I did it. I never missed a post, not really.

I used to be the best. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I would very faithfully do the kitchen. In our house, that means all dishes, cleaning, and meal prep. I was good at it. I rarely ever needed help, and I really prided myself on that.

I used to be the best. I would always reply to emails the day I received them. I replied to letters the next day, and I always sent people prompt birthday gifts.

I used to be the best. I mean, what could be so hard about slapping stories onto paper? I would just sit down, and write stories. I could pound out 20k in a month and have a decently well-rounded story.

There is one problem with being the best. At least there was for me. One day, I wasn't. I don't know what happened along the way, but I think it was something called reality. That reality didn't hit for a long time, but one day I looked up and realized what had been coming on slowly for a very long time.

I was no longer posting three times a week. Or two. I was struggling to post once.

My kitchen days were looking a little dirtier, and a bit more sloppily done.

Emails sat in my inbox for weeks, letters even longer. I even missed a couple birthdays.

I struggled to get words on paper.

At eighteen I came to the conclusion that probably should have come much earlier in my life: I was not the best and I never had been. 

I failed in a lot of the areas I prided myself most at. Some of them a lot more serious then I've mentioned here. And once I hit that bottom where I saw all the places I had failed, I realized something: I'm okay with not being the best.

I did hit a point once where I just wondered why I should even try if I couldn't be the best. But God's been showing me a lot lately that He doesn't call me to be the best or to never fail, He wants me to follow Him.

I know that I am not done with this struggle, but at least for now, I'm okay with not being the best. I'm okay with not being the most amazing friend or writer, or blogger. I am content to just try my very best, and rely on God's strength to keep me on track. He wants me to follow Him, and I'm learning more about that now than I ever did when I thought I had everything together. 

I am not the best. And I am okay with that.

The Stone Was Rolled Away

Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

Joseph was set free from the pit 

The Israelites were set free from their captivity 

They made it to the promised land 

Jerico's walls came tumbling down

Their foes were defeated 

David's sins were forgiven 

Solomon was given the wisdom he asked for 

Ester helped secure the lives of a whole race 

God sent messengers to His people 

Jesus healed everyone who asked

The stone was rolled away 

Jesus raised to life 

He left his spirit 

And He's coming back

God likes happy endings. Don't worry. Sunday's on the way.

Just Dance

Dance

Just dance 

The walls are falling down 

Dance between the pieces 

As they crack apart 

Jump to avoid falling. 

Tiptoe over the delicate parts 

Twirl to avoid looking down

Spin with your face turned to the sky 

Put your arms out for balance 

Vault over the missing places 

Dance 

Just dance 

Don’t make this a trail of tears 

You can cry some of those to 

But make this a dance of victory 

A bending to His will 

A place to find new joy 

And discover where He wants you next 

Dance 

Just dance 

You can cry 

And mourn the wall falling down

But its destined to fall 

And you can either run 

Bolting across them in fear 

And in pain 

Or you can dance 

Choosing to decided that the One 

Who built the wall 

Has decided it’s coming down 

And there are better things waiting 

When you come to the other end 

Dance

Just dance 

If you fall 

You may just discover 

That He’ll make it so

You can fly 

March Highlights

Hello everyone! It's nice to be back! March was a hectic month, full of ups and downs. I also flew halfway across the country to spend a week with friends in Georgia. 

My babysitting job at the church is over for the season. It was a good semester, and I can't wait till my job comes back in the fall. <3

I finished designing the new blog. I'm almost ready to switch over!

I went to Whataburger with Rebekkah for breakfast one day. We listened to Bible and colored together. It was awesome.  

Flying back home

It also got warm enough that we were able to take a lot of walks! 

I got a haircut. So now it's back up the length it was last July. 

We got a tiny little puppy, Belle. We don't quite know what breed she is, but we're thinking Mini Aussie, with maybe a bit of Border Collie in her. 

My sister was in a wreck. The car was totaled, but praise be to God, neither of my sisters in the car were hurt. 

Toccoa Falls

Out kayaking 

Julia, me, and Jessica

I went on my Georgia trip.

Some trip highlights include: 

1. Spending six hours of travel time in the air, at airports, and getting my last Whataburger before I left Texas. 

2. Going to dinner with the lovely Hailey Hudson. (She is awesome) 

3. Getting adopted by my friend's cat (She took a lot of naps with me) 

4. Finally getting to see Toccoa Falls college.

5. Kayaking for the very first time (I loved it!!)

6. Hiking Tallulah Gorge. 1000+ stairs and worth every one of them. 

7. Little Ceasers pizza and Hallmark movies. 

8. Metting up with my friend Aubri (And staying at her house for the last two days of my trip) 

9. Getting to see Red Pandas again (Three of them!!) 

10. Flying out in the early morning. Which was nothing short of magical. 

11. Being met by my family, figuring out my sister had taken off work so she could come greet me, and being taken to Whataburger to celebrate being home. 

The trip wasn't perfect, it had some hard points, but it was good. It was a very mixed month for a lot of reasons, but I was insanely blessed to be able to do the things I did

I had a lot of time to read this month because of my trip. So my favorite (aside from Dear Mr. Knightly which was my sixth re-read) was Kiera. This was my first time reading the corrected version and it was beautiful! I pretty much liked everything I read this month!

Still I Grow on Sunshine and Joy

Weathered Wood A Farm Girls Life

Time Management Stories by Firefly 

I Forgot How to Write Elizabeth Anne

Jack and Other Pictures I've Promised Once upon the Ordinary

Small Break

So, I'm working on creating some back content for my new blog, and I'm also working on finalizing the changes to it. Tomorrow I'll be getting on a plane to spend some time with some very dear friends of mine. 

I'm super excited because this is my second plane trip ever. I'll be spending some time just relaxing, and catching up on my reading. So, while I'm gone, I won't be posting here. Hopefully, I'll be back at the end of the month with the link to the new blog and we'll be making the switch over. 

While I'm gone, go on over and check out this song by Ernie Haase and Signature Sound. It's fantastic. 

I'll see y'all in just a bit!

Big changes coming

I started this blog almost six years ago. Back when I started, I wanted to have a place to share my pictures and tell people about my life. Fast forward a couple years, and I decided the name I had chosen was too childish. So I changed it from The Bubblegum Ballerina to Ordinary Girl, Extraordinary Father and I started sharing a lot more of my writing. Fast forward to last January where I became very dissatisfied with my blog. I began to pray about why I felt so unsettled about it. I really feel that God told me I had the wrong mindset about my blog. It was all "me" focused, and not outward focused. So I worked on it and finally came to a decision.

To really have a blog outward focused, I want to start over. 

I have loved this corner of the internet for six years, and it was a hard decision to decide to move. It's scary for me to think of completely starting over with followers and a new type of content. But I know it's the right thing for me to do. 

So what will this new blog be like? 

Well, for one, it's named after me. Yup, I went all boring and just slapped my name on it. Not only is that good for simplicity's sake (No getting tired of the name), but also it will give me a base if I decided to be a professional and want a website.

My goal for the blog was to be a comfortable space where people would feel like they didn't have to  'clean up' to leave a comment. So yeah, it's got the ".blogspot.com" part at the end of my URL. It's not a professional design. The photos on my "About me" pages were taken by me. Because I'm a messy person, I don't want to feel like I have to be all formal with y'all on that blog. It makes me so happy because it's purple, grey and white. It's got flowers and swirly fonts. All things that just make me happy.

The content of that blog is going to be different, but not completely. I'm going to be focusing more on diving into discussions on my faith, and my actual writing process. I will be slowing way down on how many blog tours I am part of, and "filler" posts like tags and the like. Also, I have made the decision to slow down how much I post my poetry.

So yeah, that was a huge info dump. I'm still setting up the blog, so I'm not quite ready to give y'all the link, but it will be coming soon! 

This was my six hundred'th blog post, and it feels fitting that it would be the beginning of saying goodbye to this blogspot.

So what are y'all's thoughts on this?

When Waiting Begins to Hurt

This is not one of my most put together poems, but a lot has been piling up recently and prompted me to write this. I was recently reminded in several ways how much I need to be storing up treasure in my eternal home, not in my temporary one.

Sometimes the waiting hurts 

When people we love die 

When pets go on 

And there’s financial strain 

When people get injured 

And decisions are hard 

The waiting begins to hurt 

It’s a subtle realization 

A small stabbing in the heart 

That this world 

Will never be my home 

I’m trying to store up treasure 

In that home, not this 

I’m laying aside things 

Knowing I’ll see them again 

But as friends go before me 

And hurt begins to stab 

I know I’ll see them again 

Because what’s lost in the world

That clings to His mighty grace

Is never lost for good 

It's waiting at home 

But this waiting is beginning to hurt 

I’m getting a hankering for home 

So I can see what I lost face to face 

And know, as I always have 

That all this pain 

Is worth the wait 

February Highlights

Well, February was not an amazing month. It had some super awesome times in it, but also some really hard ones. 

I got a sprocket! It's a tiny photo printer you hook up to your phone via Bluetooth. It's kind of like having a Polaroid camera. I have been using that a ton and I love it. 

So I did a bit more baking this month by trying my hand at lemon bars and cupcakes made from scratch. I was pleasantly surprised that both turned out pretty good! Though the icing on the cupcakes was a bit

I got to skype with my friend Kate for the first time. <3

I went to see the Lego Movie 2 in theaters with my siblings. I don't go to the theater very often, so that was a treat, and the movie was super fun. Not as good as the first, but good. Then later in the month, my sister Sarah took me again. =)

I babysat some super awesome kids, which was definitely a highlight of the month.



One of the most exciting things I did this month was buying plane tickets!! One of my dearest friends and I split the cost of a ticket, and I'm heading to Georgia near the end of this month!

Texas had fun with the weather (as it always does). It was 87 degrees on the fifteenth, and two weeks later it barely got above freezing one day.

I got sick for a solid week and had a fever for most of that, so I spent my time catching up on my reading and some Mission Impossible (old series). It was actually a good break, despite not feeling well. I am very grateful to be better now and diving back into work.

Ascari

Our dog Ascari died. It's been sad not to have him around anymore.

Also, our fridge went out for a whole week. That was... a learning experience.

I was struck with inspiration the other day and pulled a lot of books off my bookshelf that I just like, but didn't love. So I had about 25 books I got rid of. I never thought I would toss that many books at once, but it felt really good. Then I rearranged my bookcases and got them to fit better then they have in a long time.  

My favorite was The Protector by Dee Henderson. My least favorite was You're the Cream in my Coffee.

An Adventure Stories by Firefly

Levi + Elenor Sunshine and Scribbles

What I Wish I'd Known Inspiring Writes

January Video The Introverted Extrovert

Make Your Own Sunshine A Farm Girls Life

If Riley Poole were a Writer A Storynerds Life