A W E A R Y W O R L D

A weary world

I feel that today 

A world on my shoulders 

No way to escape 

Pressed down by the weight 

A weary world 

Trying to do what is best 

Trying to stay safe

Hoping to see loved ones 

A weary world 

Crying over little things 

Trying to fit in sleep 

Wishing for one day of peace 

A weary world 

Not ready to move on 

So much pressure from outside 

So many people asking for money 

Barely pulling by as it is 

A weary world 

We have nothing left to give 

Our funds out drained 

Our energy is depleted 

We have no time left 

But we can inhale 

And do the one thing that doesn’t cost 

It doesn’t demand 

It fills us and gives us peace 

It gives us hope 

It reminds us who is holding us 

And who holds tomorrow 

So we inhale 

And a weary world rejoices 

Because God is with us

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you can find something to rejoice in today, no matter how small. <3 

Sep, Oct, & Nov Highlights

The last three months have been a whirlwind of activity. I have been so busy that I am not going to try to list everything that happened (and I doubt you'd want to read that tome) so these are just some highlights from each month. Hopefully not enough to bore you, and I am just doing the best movie from the month.

SEPTEMBER 

I decided to get my covid vaccine for some personal reasons, so at the beginning of September, I got my second shot. I spent a few days curled up on the couch, watching old movies and recovering after that but it was 100% worth it. 

As we prepped for Sarah and Scott's wedding there was a last-minute rush of getting family time in. We watched us siblings' favorite movie together, had a girls night watching Sight and Sounds Queen Ester, and had dinner at our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant. 

We had a lovely rehearsal dinner with both family's, plus the pastor's family. We walked through the ceremony, got our ques down, and then ate a meal together. The day of the wedding was honestly not as hectic as I thought it would be. The wedding was at two, and my mom and Sarah went to finish prepping the venue early in the morning. I went a little later, grabbing Macdonalds on my way with my brother. We helped prep, then while Sarah went over to a hotel to get ready, the bridesmaids stayed behind and did our hair. We all crammed in a microscopic hotel room to get ready but somehow managed it in time. I'm not going to lie and say everything about it was perfect. There were some ugly tears shed that day, but in light of the result, they were worth it. We managed to be ready on time, and I was the first one to walk up. I cried such happy tears seeing Sarah walk up the aisle and marry her best friend. When it came time to exchange rings, the best man realized he had forgotten the ring, so Scott had to run to the side room and get it. XD The reception was gratefully short, and we then sent them off on a two-week honeymoon. The rest of us stayed, cleaned up, then shared a meal at Whataburger with friends. It was a very long day, but also delightful.

At the rehearsal. <3

We had planned to go on a short overnight stay at the beach after the wedding, but a hurricane hit the coast the day before we planned to leave, so we had to call it off, instead going to see my sister Rose off to her first Missions trip in Panama. It was good to see her before she left for two months. 

My oldest sister Nicole and her family (husband and two daughters), moved in right next to us, and their house arrived at the end of September. It's a fixer-upper, but it's darling. We started work on prepping it then.

I got the chance to watch Big Hero 6 and was surprised how much I loved it. I'm not big into superheroes, but the family-like dynamic of them, and the heart-wrenching plot got me.

All of these were re-reads except 60 days of happiness and I LOVED that. Resistance was my favorite re-read. 

OCTOBER 

My sister and family moved down! While this is a huge adjustment (We've never lived so close!) I have been so blessed to have family so close. My nieces are fairly close in age to me, so it's been awesome to get to hang out with them more. We introduced them to our favorite laser tag arena already. 

The co-op where my sister and I work at had a nature walk. Since I live in the country, this wasn't particularly amazing in of itself, but it was so much fun to see the kids encountering things they don't normally. We helped corral the five and under class and it was a delightful handful. We had to keep several kids from jumping in the creek, and several more were acutely disappointed we didn't see a snake. I love kids. =) <3 

Stiring paint for Rose's room.

In true fall tradition, we went to a pumpkin patch. Actually, I went twice, once with my family, and once with my friend Hannah. I got a couple little tiny pumpkins and tried my hand at painting one of them, which was really fun. I hadn't done that in about seven years, so it was reliving some happy memories. I also made paper pumpkins, which was really fun! 

We went to the beach for the day and it was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. We just set up chairs, read, and flew kits. We had a picnic next to the beach and caught sight of a dolphin! The day ended when I was on my phone to much and nearly puked on the side of the road, but every good day has its downsides. ;P 

My family all pitched in and we filled two Operation Christmas Child boxes and that was a blast! I hadn't been a part of that for the last year, so it was awesome getting back into it and choosing gifts for the kids. 

Keep Holding On was my favorite new read (it was very Hallmark-esk) and Behold was my favorite re-read. 

NOVEMBER 

I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo, and it started off as one of the easiest times I'd ever done it, it was only a matter of finding time, then the words flowed like magic. Then came mid-month and I wasn't able to write for six days. Then so many things got in my way I wasn't able to ever really catch up and ended up writing ten thousand words in the last three days of NaNo, but I made it with an hour and a half to spare and I really like some of the stories I wrote (I wrote one novella, and a few short stories) 

I cough a cold that was being passed around our church, thankfully it wasn't serious, it just stuck with me for a while. Since I couldn't go to work or anything, I spent a good amount of time writing, a lot watching mystery movies with my dad, and some reading. 

The highlight of my whole month was getting to go meet my best friend, Kate in person for her wedding. my flight into AZ was delayed five times and my bag was delayed also, and I nearly cried with relief after twenty-two hours of being awake when I was finally able to sleep. The next day I got to meet Kate in person!! The day of the wedding was super fun, the only kind of stressed thing being I decided I really needed to steam my dress thirty minutes before the photos started (Being in a suitcase was not kind to it), but with the help of some of the other bridesmaids, we did it! It was awesome getting to carry Joshua's ring and the vows, and just to stand with Kate on that day. It was beautiful, and the reception was fun. I fumbled through my speech, ate an amazing amount of Pocky and crackers, and helped decorate their car for the sendoff. I was sad to go home so soon the next day, but my flight home was uneventful. The day I got home we had our first family meal with all of us home since the wedding. 

Kate and I at her wedding. <3 

My friend Hannah and I got to meet up and do a writing session in person, which was fantastic! I haven't gotten the chance to write with other writers much, so I enjoyed the opportunity. 

Our family had a very low-key Thanksgiving, just a nice meal, and some family time sitting around talking. Later that week we decorated for Christmas. <3 

Per our family tradition, the day after Thanksgiving we walked around Fredericksburg, an adorable town with lots of unique little shops. We found some of my cousin Liza's artwork, which was epic, and did a lot of window shopping.  

I got to watch the new Signed, Sealed Delivered movie The Vows We Made and while it was;t my favorite SSD movie, I did love it! I'm always happy for more of these characters. <3

Brought to Book and Snuffed out were my only new reads of the month, and they were awesome! Wren was my favorite re-read. 

I hope y'all enjoyed this massive amount of highlights! I have missed being here more often. Please, tell me some highlights from the last few months for you! 

R E J O I C I N G

 We have had a time to mourn 

A time to weep 

A time to be sad over all we’ve lost 

We’ve had a time to search 

And a time to turn away 

We’ve had our days of sorrow 

And our days of doubt 

But a new day is dawning 

And it’s time to move on 

It’s time to mend 

It’s time to embrace 

It’s time to choose peace 

And to look for healing 

It’s time to move on 

And let go 

And start waking up each day 

Rejoicing 

`

And We're back on the Air

Hello everyone! It's nice to be back. It's been two months and wow, the time has flown by on my end. I would love to give you an update on all the things that have happened, but most of that will have to wait for a giant highlight at the end of the month (yeah, it's going to be three month's of highlights. O.o) 

As you might be able to tell, I still haven't found time to re-do the blog as I've been promising myself I would for the last year, but I'm trying to be okay with that. Right after I took my break, my sister Sarah got married, and another sister left on a two-month missions trip, then another sister moved in next to us with her family. Needless to say, the amount of change in my life these last two months has been overwhelming. I'd love to say I've handled it great, but I haven't. I've been busy trying to find a balance in my schedule. So for right now, I'm learning how to balance work, spending time with family, and my own projects. For the time that means I'll only be posting every other week. I need to ease back into this so I don't burn myself out! =)

At the moment I'm working on NaNo, which I have just been writing a random assortment of stories for, but I've been enjoying it. I haven't written much of anything since July, so it's good to be getting back into the swing of it. 

And of course the thing I'm most excited about is one of my best friends in the whole world is getting married tomorrow. O.o I'm in Arizona right now for the wedding, and am SO excited!!!

So, I'm all ears, tell me what y'all have been up to! I've missed chatting with y'all. <3 

W O R D S

I want words 

To wrap around these feelings 

I want peace

From all the crashing emotions

I want to be able to tell you

Why the words are so hard right now

But I can’t

All I can say is I’m here

And everything around me is changing

So I’m just hanging on

And watching it all come

Holding on to God

Since He never changes

I can’t find words to say

What I want to say to you

I can’t even find

Words for myself

So I’m going to go find them

Until then I can’t talk anymore

I can’t write anymore

I need to say goodbye

But I’ll be back soon

I'll be back in a month, or maybe two. I desperately need some time to just adjust to a massive amount of changes happening in my life, most of them very good. But I'll be back, and I'll catch you up when I do. Goodbye for now! 

August Highlights

I had a rough start to my month, but my family and freinds really helped me out. This resulted in me stepping back from socil media for the time being and trying to revive some old habits, like scrapbooking, and photogerphy just for fun. August was also a lot of prep for my sisters wedding, so there was a lot of ajustment there. 

My sister Grace and I spent an evening making candles! We had some old soy wax left over from a long ago candle making venture, so we used that and some old sents to make a vanilla, and lavender vanilla candles in old canning jars. I've already burned one, and have two more waiting! 

Had an unintional midnight movie party with my sister. 

Finished Mysterious Bennidict Soucity with Kate. Wow, what an ending. O.o I really hope they do more seasons of it becase I was very impressed by how they did this show. 

Rebekkah and I drove down twords Huston to be a part of a workday at one of the sister churches to the one we attend. It was hot, and long, but also fun. We helped prepare two hundred hot dogs, learned how to use a powerwasher, and wrangled a lot of board kids. ;) 

Rebekkah's and my job started back up at a Classical Conversations nursery. We have far fewer kids this year, and we are no longer teaching preschool, but it is very fun! I am enjoying being back with those kids. <3 Now I'm working three days a week, along with odd jobs which is just about perfect for me. My favorite part of the month was having two babys fall asleep on me at once. <3 My least favroite was having a kid shoot himself in the eye with toothpaste. Can you imagine how painful that must be? I feel like it's got to hurt worse then shampoo. 

This is our elephant snuggly, Silky at the zoo.

The Zoo had a scavenger hunt. We had so much fun at the last two we were really excited for this one, but it was horribly set up. Thankfully we still had a blast going around together! And we got an elephant snuggly, so that was fun! 

My brother was coming home from a mission trip, so we went to pick him up from the airport and give him back his car (Which I had been driving. It's my dream car *happy sigh*.), but his flight was delayed and we had to just hang out for a couple hours. We discovered the airport has put in a Whataburger, at which I'm sure all Texan's rejoiced, myself included. 

My brother-in-law to be has already got an apartment, so we spent sevral days this month moving funature in, and a lot of Sarah's stuff so that it will be ready for her after the wedding. I now have a hatrid for second story apartments when it involes lugging funature up to them. XD It is weird seeing her stuff move from the room where it's always been into this new place, but I've enjoyed helping them set up house. 

My siblings and I have gotten a new Pandemic game Legacy season one. It is incredible! Also very stressful. XD Each game you play affects the next and it is wild, but amazingly fun.

This is Sarah and Scott at their shower.

We had Sarah's bridal shower, which was a big sucsess. We set up, and seved chips and salsa. We had to combind with Scott's shower because the family that was going to host his got Covid. But it was really fun! They spent a lot of time opening gifts, and just socializing. Then we took all the gifts over to Scott's apartment, and went out for dinner together. Rose had come in from her bible school for the day, so it was great to be all together. 

I did not get to much reading, but I really enjoyed my re-read of the Ladys of the Manor series, especial The Lost Heiress. The forth of July novella collection was not my favorite. 

Y'all already know my glowing opinion of almost everything here, and I don't have time today for a review of them all. Star Trek DS9 is still shakey. Spiderman, Paw Patrol, Luca and Raya and the Last Dragon were all watched with babysitting kids and I didn't really enjoy any of them. 

Lately I'm Tender Summer of 1999

Awkward and Awesome Eliza Noel

Dear Past Writer-Self by Deborah O-Carroll

Monday Musings // Heidi May Ellen's Musings 

What I Learned at VBS Little Blossems for Jesus

A Very Special Photoshoot Once Upon the Ordinary 

Messy Desk (Indoor Photogerphy) A Farm Girls Life

How was your August? 

W A L L S

 I had to say no 

Over and over 

I had to take the same action 

Over and over

I’m getting tired 

Of making no progress 

I’m getting tired 

Of trying so hard

And getting nowhere 

  I’ve taken away the problem 

But I know that won’t fix it 

Sooner or later 

I have to face it 

With fists up and jaw set 

I need to conquer this 

But it won’t just go down 

It keeps coming back up 

So I’m going to fight 

And build walls 

To keep myself 

From going there 

And I’ll try again

Happy Songs

These are songs I listen to just to make the day happier. I will note, most of these are older songs and a lot of them are not Christian, but they are all super clean. I do not recommend all songs by these artists. 

Happy Together by The Turtles

Daydream Believer by The Monkees 

Come On Get Happy by The Patridge Family 

Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond 

Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles 

Believe it or Not by Joey Scarbury 

Unicorn by Irish Rovers 

Fireflies by Owl City 

If you prefer, here is the pandora playlist. Just note that Happy Together is not the original version because it's not available on Pandora. 

What is your favorite happy song?

L E T T I N G G O

 I never thought something I prayed for

Something I longed for daily

Could hurt this bad

That a relationship beginning to rebuild

Would feel like ripping open my heart

I didn’t know forgiveness

Could feel so much like trust

It’s funny how so often

What I pray for

And what I need

Are the most painful things to endure

And the things I think are grounding me

Are really just helping me be self-dependent

Instead of Christ dependent

It seems that this is a year of letting go

And of new beginnings

Of learning to be okay

When it doesn’t feel okay

Of learning to let go

And to trust The Solid Rock 

July Highlights

It was a crazy month, but mostly super awesome stuff!!

I got my dress for Kate's wedding!! I'm offically very excited for November. =D I hated to tuck that beautiful dress into the back of my closet, but it's there, waiting with my shoes that I got just for this. But even though Kate asked me to be her bridesmaid first, I will be in my sister Sarah's wedding first. I still haven't gotten my outfit for that though. 

I started a new job for the next few months. Its an evening job, taking place half before they go to bed, and half after. I have never had a job where I retreated the kids going to bed so much. We've held matchbox car races, had pillow fights, and done a lot of coloring. And after they go to bed, I've done a lot of writing. I love how quiet it is after the kids go to sleep, it's perfect for catching up on writing.  

My sister Grace and I tried Crayon melting art, which was super fun! I loved doing it, though we did make the mistake of using a plastic sheet underneath it and it melted as we melted the crayons. XD

I did CampNaNo, and aimed for 30k. It was much rougher then I anticipated, but I did manage it,  finishing with nine minutes to spare on the 31'st. I was re-writing a story that I finished before, and I am rallying looking forward to finishing it. 

This is at McKinney Falls

For fourth of July my family had a hamburger cookout, which was super fun! Our neighbors put on an amazing firework show, so we set up at the end of our road and watched it! 

For my birthday my mom took me shopping. We really didn't buy much, but it was super fun! She took me to Outback Steakhouse of the first time and it was amazing! We found a deal on glass-bottom boats on the river, so we did a tour, which was awesome! They show you around the plant life, and fish, its amazing! 

Some of the kids I watch were in a Sound of Music play and we went to see it as a family. It was stunning. I didn't really expect to much, but was blown away by the caliber of the singing and acting. We actually went to see it twice. XD

My mom sister and I went for a hike at McKinney Falls for Rebekkah's birthday. The falls part of that are very, very small, but it was really fun to see! The header image is from that trip. =D 

Hannah and I met to walk around Salado. It had an adorable farmers market and the river was beautiful! I hadn't really gotten the chance to walk around that small town, so it was delightful to get to do it with a friend. 

There has been a lot going on in my life that I'm just not ready to share yet. I'm feeling fake when I only post the good stuff, but I'm just not ready to share a lot of it yet. So I guess all that was to say, I want be honest with y'all, but barring my heart through anything other then poetry hasn't been doable yet. With the end of summer comes my heavy work schedule and my sisters wedding, so I may be taking a break pretty soon for all of that. 

My favorite new read was definitely Shadow by Kara Swanson. Her duolagy about Peter Pan was amazing! My least favorite new read was The Nature of a Lady by Roseanna White, which was really disappointing since I normally love her books, but this one fell flat.  

Toy Story 1-3: My sister and I binged these in one day, enjoying getting some work done while re-watching these classics. I don't love number one, but two is amazing, and three is my favorite of all four movies. 

Zorro: My mom and I are watching through this series together. It is amazing! 

Mysterious Benedict Soucity: Kate and I had such a fantastic time watching this series together! We actually just finished today, but I'm going to lump it in with July. It had some parts that were very different then the book, but I loved it! It was a really cool adaptation. 

Chosen Season 2: Season 2 finale was not what I expected, but really good! The way they did the beatatutes was amazing!

Phineas and Ferb: I watched this mostly with my friends M&S. We share a love of the show, so it was really fun to share it with them!

Cars: I was shown this movie, and honestly, I thought it was boring. McQueen was okay, but I didn't really care about what happened. 

Moana: I enjoyed parts of this a lot, like the songs. But so much of it felt weird (The coconuts and legit ghoast. O.o), I didn't really enjoy it overall. 

The Emperors New Groove: I did not like this at all. I'd heard for years about how funny it was, but I didn't really enjoy it at all. The characters were rude, and I didn't feel like I had anyone to cheer for. 

How Do I Say This Summer of 1999

Life Whimscial Writing for His Glory 

Making Space Once Upon an Ordinary 

It's Been a Hot Minute... Stories by Firefly

5 Tips for Taking Cute Photos Life Without a Latte

2021 Mid Year Book Freak-Out Tag Hailey Hudson

Kitten Adventures + Family Pictures Ellens Musings

In Which We Set Up a Flower Truck A Farm Girls Life

How was your month? What did you do for the Forth of July?

S A B O T A G E

 Today I feel ill-equipped 

To talk about 

What I care about 

I say I care about God 

But I haven’t been investing 

I say I’ve been praying for people 

But I know the prayers are far between 

I say I want to put others first 

But I know I’ve been putting myself first 

I say I want to improve 

But then I self-sabotage 

I say I’m going to try harder 

Then I give up 

I feel ill equipped to talk to God

And ask for anything

I feel at a loss for words

When I have failed this much

But maybe today 

I’ll just sit and listen 

And stop trying to talk 

Because maybe what I need right now 

Is not to talk to God 

But to listen to Him 

A L W A Y S

 Dark shadows in the corner

Jumping out at me

Making me feel ten again

But I hear a still small voice

I am with you always

Loneliness creeping in

Telling me I have no friends

Whispering lies in my ears

But there comes a friend

I am with you always

Anger bubbles up

Saying I have to take control

I have to make them listen

But then a voice stills me

I am with you always

I open up the tab again

Just wanting to waste mindless time

To not have to think

But there are so many better things

I am with you always

I’m tired and done with work

Ready to just give up 

To stop all this madness

But I’m not in it alone

I am with you always

To the very end of the age

And that makes all the difference

In the world.

Currently

I used to do these posts, and today I felt like resurrecting the old style in an abbreviated style. =) 

Currently, I am:  

Reading: Roseanna White's new book The Nature of a Lady. I have been enjoying reading another of her books. She has such amazing style, and these books to me just feel comforting. 

Watching: The Mysterious Benedict Society with my friend Kate as they come out each Friday. So far they have kept with the books fairly well and I have really enjoyed it! The use of colors is espechilly amazing. If you enjoyed the books, I would highly recceomnd watching it. 

Drinking: A lot of homemade Chai tea with honey! I'm trying to cut back on sugar right now (It had gotten to be an unhealthy habit), so when I am craving something sweet I whip up one of those. I also really love just water, sometimes with lemon in it. 

Writing: I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, and my goal is 30,000. I am trying to finish re-write my book Battle for Kelar. It has been way harder then I thought it would be, but I have enjoyed getting back into the story. 

Petting: Our three little puppys. It's hard to bealive that we only have them for one more month!

Crafting: A wind chime. My grandad gave me a tin of pressed pennys with little holes in them (Don't ask, even I don't know why he had them either), so my sister bought me the stuff to make a windchim. I've been working on it, and it's been really fun! 

Enjoying: Evenings at my job I got the chance to read Shadow by Kara Swonson the day it came out. I was working a job where the kids go to be halfway through the job, so I got to curl up on the couch and read for about an hour. It was lovely!

Listening: To The Sound of Music a lot. Some of the kids we watch are in a production and wow, I did not expect it to be that amazing. We ended up going to the production twice because it was so amazing.  

Celebrating: My sisters upcoming wedding! We are just two months away now, and things are starting to come together!

What have you been up to!