Saturday, January 30, 2016

10,000!

Hey y'all! I just realized my blog has officially been viewed over 10,000 times! What a blessing! Thanks to all you wonderful, faithful blog followers who visit here! :)
You are awesome. ;)
What more can I say?
I hope you all have a great week. I hope to be posting again soonish.
God bless!

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Early Memories Tag

When Bethany R. nominated me for this, I went over to her blog and immediately a huge grin broke out on my face. I am going to have a lot of fun coming up with answers for this tag... I thought. And I have! (Even though it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to answer them...) Enjoy reading some of my earliest memories! :D


1. What is your earliest memory?
Our whole family got sick with the flu at my oldest brother's eight-year-old birthday trip. (That means I was just over two years old.) Yeah, that was not fun. We had just eaten taco salad too...just saying, Mexican is NOT fun to throw up and I had to share a bucket with Mom 'cause there wasn't enough to go around. XP

2. What is your earliest memory of a birthday?

I got a rolling pin when I was five. It was my first "big girl" present. I thought I was SO grown up to get one. ;)

3. What is your earliest memory of a food?

I remember always getting an orange in my Christmas stocking.

4. What is your earliest memory of a gathering?

When our family got together with relatives from both sides and we had Thanksgiving at our church since there wasn't room for all of us in anyone's house.

5. What is your earliest memory of family?

Other than parents or siblings I assume? Probably when they all came over for either birthdays or holidays.

6. What is your favorite memory?

There's so many good ones I really can't choose. I really loved when I could hold babies and have them fall asleep on me because they felt safe with me. :)

7. What is your earliest memory of a gift?

I don't know whether this was truly my earliest memory of a gift, but I remember being really excited when I got my very first My Little Ponies from my Great Grandpa Dill one Christmas. Yep, I loved horses even back then! :)

8. What is your earliest memory of an embarrassment?

Surprisingly, I actually don't remember being really embarrassed when I was little. I think things like that sort of just rolled out of my memory. Sorry for the disappointment. ;)

9. What is your earliest memory of when you were scared?

I remember having very vivid dreams when I was little and some of those were nightmares. I do know I woke up a couple times crying and/or screaming. My active imagination wasn't always a gift.

10. What is your earliest memory of a camp?

Having to leave in the middle of the night half way through our church's annual Family camp because it was pouring down rain and WOULDN'T STOP. Later, people who had stayed told us that they wished they had left too, because the rest of the time was miserable. 

11. How young were you when you received Christ? (optional)

I was six. :)

Hope you enjoyed those answers! I won't nominate any one in particular, because I think you all HAVE been nominated by someone already...but if you want to, go ahead and answer the questions, either on your blog or in a comment. I don't care. :)
God bless!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

At LONG Last...

Thank Google for this picture. :)

This signals the end of my unintentional blogging break. :) Let me explain my absence...

1) All the crazy Christmas/New Years business kept me away from blogging. Believe me, all my posts during the "Twelve Days Before Christmas" and New Year posts were scheduled. I LOVE scheduled posts and they will probably play an even more important role in my future posts until Summer at least! ;)

2) As soon the holiday season calmed down, I started back into my school and music schedule which sucked away a lot of my free time.

3) Once I settled back into my school schedule, the computer conveniently decided to temporarily break down. *sigh*

So...no blogging, no e-mailing, no writing my stories for the last couple of weeks. I apologize to you all for not keeping up with you. :(
And I will try to catch up soon. :) However... I may be posting a little more sporadically until after my graduation due to:

1) My graduation is coming up very quickly and I have a lot to finish before it arrives no matter how excited I am at how close it is (!)

2) I have a Senior Recital I'm preforming along with a talented friend from my church, so I've been spending a crazy amount of time practicing the tough songs assigned me by my music teachers. (They have high hopes for me...bless their hearts.)

3) Because my Dad is the pastor, we always are kept busy with church activities...though I'm not complaining! I love hanging out at church, it's pretty much a second home to me. :) (You other PKs know what I'm talking about. ;)

Just to warn you... :) I will try to reply to your comments and post every once in a while, but it won't be very regular. Sorry. :( I'll miss posting a bunch, but I'll keep you updated as much as possible!

Thanks for understanding! God bless you all! :)

Monday, January 4, 2016

My 2016 New Year's Resolutions

To say that a lot has happened this last year would be a HUGE understatement. :) I know all of you know what I'm talking about.
This post is going to be in two sections. The first section: an abbreviated overview of last year and all the crazy things that kept me busy. The second section: my New Year's resolutions and what I look forward to this next year.

Ready? Set? GOOoooo!

As you might or might not know, I was able to finish math early this year! *sings the Hallelujah Chorus*. That took a huge load off my mind. ;) My senior year of high school started beginning of September, but thankfully due to all the school I did last school year, my senior year has been mostly a relaxing year. :)
Also, I was able to finally self-publish my guinea pig book, "The Silver Flower" and am now working on the final stages of editing my other book, "Alice & Alyssa". This will continue to be a job for me...but hey, at least I can kind of see the end in view. ;)
This last year I read through my Bible with several other people in our church and just completed it after getting home from a New Year's celebration at our church. (I know, I was cutting it AWEFULLY close. :P) It was a blessing, as well as a challenge to get through it all. Even the weird books. But I managed, and I hope to do it again this year. We'll have to see. ;)
I turned seventeen this year at the end of August, and was blessed to have TWO pen pals (one from Kansas, one from Eastern Washington...you know who you are B-) come visit me! It was so fun to meet those two wonderful, Christian young ladies and fellowship with them. And we got to talk about books and characters. ;)
One of my faults...being disorganized. I gave myself a goal of getting more organized last year and since the bar wasn't very high...I was able to do it! I cleaned out my drawers on a more regular basis, made my bed ALMOST every morning, organized my books (thanks to the book tag ;), and kept all my clothes in the closet hung up. :)
I also began buying my own clothes more, which isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be since I enjoy shopping, and I love clothes...so actually it was fun to start taking over some of my own shopping. :)
I got my learner's permit and began learning to drive. A few months afterwards, I successfully drove our family's twelve passenger van to and from church. And I didn't crash. ;) From then on, I was the main driver to church and back simply because I loved driving, so I would ask mom if I could drive whenever the opportunity presented itself. :)
I made a couple new friends through my blog and/or e-mail (love you guys! ;) as well as a few new friends at church. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful young ladies to help me live for Christ. They all help me in my walk with God and I love having them there to give me encouragement or rebuke (we all know I need it sometimes!) :)
And last, but certainly NOT least, I feel that I was indeed able to grow closer to God and my family. Now, I have to say, I get along better with some of my siblings more than others, but I've been working on trying to not be quite so demanding and bossy with those who aren't as easy to get along with. It has helped me learn to pray more. ;)

I can already tell this is going to be a long post...I should have warned you... ;)

Here are my new New Year's Resolutions/things I'm looking forward to doing this next year (not necessarily in order):

1: Finish editing "Alice & Alyssa" and self-publish it
2: GRADUATE!!!! (:D)
3: Turn eighteen and get a driver's license
4: Finish writing "Beyond the Galaxy" and "The Princess & I"
5: Direct and preform in my first play
6: Pray every night for at least ten minutes
7: Read my Bible every day
8: Make new friends (sound familiar? ;P)
9: See my pen pals again! :D (one can always hope, right?)
10: Practice my musical instruments more
11: Grow closer to God and my family
12: Being a wedding coordinator for the first, and hopefully not last, time!

So how was your year? What do you look forward to doing this next year? What are some of the highlights/favorite memories of last year?

God bless you all! :)








Saturday, January 2, 2016

Another Year Gone By...

Snoqualmie Falls, WA

Hey y'all! I haven't posted since last year!!! ;P
Is anyone else a little stunned that 2015 has come and gone? Or am I just getting old? ;)
This year has been wonderful, scary, and exciting all at once. I looked back at last year's activities (check my post "Welcome 2015" and "My New Year's Resolutions 2015").
Here they are!

1: Read through the Bible in a year with other people from our church
2: Grow closer to God and my family
3: Get better at driving and learn to drive our family's twelve passenger van
4: Be a little better about keeping my belongings organized
5: Start buying my own clothes and shoes on a regular basis
6: Finish writing at least one of my books, hopefully more
7: Get it/them self-published
8: Make new friends
9: Finish math! (forever!)

Annnndd...guess what? I was able to do all those things last year!!! :)
Were any of you able to complete any of your New Year's resolutions? If so, how many?

God bless you all this next year as you grow closer to him! :D

Blog Tour for Project Canvas!! *cue intense celebration*

GUYS, I couldn't be more excited to share about this incredible book that is going to be available for you to get your hands on in just ...