P E A C E

 

Peace is something 

I’m beginning to understand 

That comes in moments 

We don’t expect it to 

God sneaks it in 

When we need it most 

Like crazy long red lights 

When traffic is stressing us out 

And kids smiles 

When we just need encouragement 

Its letters in the mail 

And moonlight on our pillows 

Its comfy hoodies 

And flowers popping up 

It’s loud music while you work 

And quiet music at night 

Its radiant sunsets 

And understated sunrises

It’s those moments in the dark 

When you’re trying to sleep 

But your mind just can’t help 

But think about adventures 

There are so many moments a day 

Where peace comes in 

And reminds us God is near 

And He cares about those moments 

When we need something more 

Then this noisy world offers 

Life Updates, Mouthguads, and Movies

At this moment I am wearing a mouth guard. Why? Stress induced teeth grinding. I don't tend to feel stressed very much. I mean, I do sometimes, but my body tends to feel stress more then I do, thus the grinding. I have been working a lot more then normal, and life has just been weird lately. But, I wanted to share with y'all some life updates that are not as stressful. XD

1. I'm thinking of re-vapming the blog soon! It's been almost two years since I moved here and I'm thinking it's about time for some updates. This might take me awhile due to work and stuff, but it is on my list to do soon. 

2. I have Pandora plus back, so if you have any music recommendations, drop them below, I will check them out! Right now I am listening to some fun older songs like Daydream Beliver, Come on Let's get Happy, and Wouldn't it be Nice. 

3. MudLove is having a sale. Y'all know how much I love MudLove. Well, right now they are having a sale on their custom bands and you can get free shipping on top of that with the code WAYFINDERWOTY. I may or may not have ordered two bands. I was very excited. XD If you do a word of the year, this is a great way to keep it with you all the time!

4. I found a fun series on youtube. I don't really like Anne of Green Gables, but I have really enjoyed watching Green Gable Fables on youtube. Not only are they cute and clean, but they are also free, which is cool. To me they made the story of Green Gables way more palatable, and sweet. I also really love the actors. If you're a fan of the new Studio C you might enjoy seeing Tanner as Gilbert. (Note, I can only vouch for season one)

How's your week going? Watch any fun shows lately?

W H Y

Today I stand 

Feeling more empty

As I thought I would 

That blow 

Which should have been small 

Met its mark 

And bruised me 

Now I stand 

Crying to my Father 

Wishing this hadn’t happened 

I know deep inside

It’s happened for a reason 

That knowledge isn’t helping today 

All I can do is stand 

And ask why 

And I have to believe 

That God’s okay with that 

Because He cares 

And when we come out 

On the other side 

I may not know why 

But I’ll know He was there 

To help me through the questions

My Top Ten Books of 2020

So 2020 was not my best reading year. I actually had trouble picking my top 10 simply because finding 10 new books from 2020 that I loved was hard. But I managed to find them. =) These are in no particular order. 

1.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages by Trenton Lee Stewart 

I just started reading this series in 2019 (I think) and fell in love with it. I buddy read this with my friend Kate and loved it so much I read it again six months later. If you haven't read these books, I highly recommend them.

2.

Follow the Dawn by Rachelle Rea Cobb 

This is now my favorite book by Rachelle Cobb. It was beautiful, relatable, and amazing the core. It makes more sense if you've read her other trilogy, but you can read this as a stand alone. 

3.

The Bookshop Girl by Sylvia Bishop

Another book given to me by Kate. This book was insainly delightful. It has a dream worthy library, perfect cat, and fantastic characters. Don't let it's childish cover diswade you, it is amazing. 

4.

Interview with the Robot by Lee Bacon

As many of you know, I am very pickey with my sci-fi, so I was really excited when my sister recommended this audio drama. It features a lot of high teck, high stakes, and characters that feel real. It also really needs a sequel. ;)

5.

Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight

I have no idea how I went so long without reading this. You know all the Lassie jabs you'll hear? Those people never read the book. This is not your typical animal book. Lassie is a deep, sweet, character driven book. I loved every page of it, and hope to re-read it soon. 

6.

Messy Grace by Caleb Kaltenbach

Wow, this book. I have never read a non-fiction that felt as eye opening as this one. If you want an amazing book on how to love people who are gay right where they are, this is a fantastic book 

7.

 

Ember's End by S.D. Smith

It's hard to belive this series is over!! I've only been reading this series for four years, but I love it so much. While Ember's End was not my favorite book in the series, it was an amazing book. 

8.

The Retrievers by Nicole Sager. 

This book has one of the most unquie plots I've read in awhile. It's about people who are eight inches tall, and it was amazing. The themes, action, and characters were just incredibly. Also, it features a deaf main character!

9.

Protecting the Poor by Amanda Tero

I loved this whole series, but this Robin Hood retelling was my favorite. Christian Robin Hoods are so rare, but love it. If you haven't read this series, I recommend starting with Befreinding the Beast! 

10.

The Story

I loved this more then I thought I would. It uses portions of scripture and nararation to show the over arcing story of the Bible. It was refreshing to zoom out and just see the story of the Bible. This is by no means a study Bible (Or even really a Bible at all, just parts of it), but it is great for a Christian looking to refresh themselves of the story without getting bogged down by lists of armies numbers. ;)

So, what were some of your favorite books in 2020? What was one that really impacted you?

December Highlights

I can't belive it's 2021!! I'm not thinking this year is going to magically fix anything, but it is nice to have 2020 behind me!

After bible study, one day me and my sisters got ice cream and ate it by the huge Christmas tree in our town's square. It was pretty fun, even though it was freezing! 

I got my hair cut. It was just three inches, but I was very happy about it. =)

My brother moved into his own apartment to be closer to his work so we rearranged a lot of of the house after that. It was pretty stressful having the whole house out of wack for so long, but it's settling out now. And I got a new bookcase, which is the best thing that has come from all of this. XD

After my last day of work for the semester (My babysitting just goes with the school year), two of my sisters met me for lunch at CiCi's, which was like eating memories. XD It was fantastic. They had a few games you could play for a quarter, so we played one a few times for fun. We got a few cheap necklaces and a lot of fun memories. 

My family spent the day walking around the San Antonio Missions. It looked a little different this year since so many things were closed, but we got to do a lot. We ended the night by going to see a really impressive Christmas light display, and we ran into one of the family's I babysit for, which was super fun!

I spent a lot of time in December watching random Hallmarks, making cookies, wrapping up gifts, and trying to keep my cat from eating ribbon (She had a weird obsession). 

I attended my first online wedding. It was surprisingly nice to be able to just sit in comfy clothes for the wedding and be able to just shut it off when it was over. Also, I almost cried because it was a beautiful ceremony. 

My sister and I went to a Christmas eve service and in the middle of the message, one of my favorite kids I babysit looked over at me and shouted hello from three isles down. XD Thankfully he didn't do it too loud, but I was still having to hold in a laugh. 

My family always celebrated Christmas alone, so not much was different this year. We opened presents pretty slowly throughout the morning, played some games, and took a nice long walk because the weather was amazing. It was a very nice day. I didn't feel as excited leading up to Christmas as I normally do, but it was still a very nice day. 

After Christmas, I seized some time to declutter my closet. I finally let go of a lot of clothes that I didn't like anymore, and a bunch of random stuff that had gotten thrown in there. It felt good. 

My sister and I attended our young adult's group New years eve party. We didn't get to stay till midnight, but we did get to play several rounds of Empires, which was really fun. I actually won a round! (If you haven't played Empires I highly recommend it). Then we sat in my mom's room and heralded in 2021 together. 

Not gonna lie, December was not a great month for me. I don't do well with change, and for a lot of different reasons, this month was chock-full of it. I didn't feel super excited for Christmas, but I did enjoy it when it came. I let a lot of things stress me out that shouldn't have. But I'm super grateful to my awesome family and friends for supporting me this month. <3 

The only new books I read were the two on the bottom, and I was not super impressed with either, but I loved re-reading Interview with the Robot and The Green Ember. =D

Sorry I don't have my movies on here. I ran out of time. The gist of it is I watched cheesy Hallmarks, How To Train Your Dragon, and Toy Story 2. XD

Your Pain is Not Forgotten and 

Why Nativity Scenes Shouldn't Be Pretty Stories by Firefly

Short Story Whimsical Writing for His Glory

Day 16 (But basically all of Blogmas was amazing) Hailey Hudson

How was your Christmas? Any big plans for 2021?