Quick Update From The Long Lost Girl

I feel as if I haven't blogged in forever... oh wait, I haven't. =P

Well, I'm back again. Glad to see me? Maybe... maybe not. Who knows? In any case, I'm back again. Hopefully I'll keep up with promises of all these fun posts. My life has been slightly out of order lately.

For one thing, we just arrived home last night from a week long trip up to California. Our dear friends (aka adopted cousins!) were celebrating the graduation of their eldest daughter. It was so much fun to be able to go up for a mini vacation and enjoy spending some time with them. =) Many, many memories were made. For the graduation party, my siblings and I sang, along with a few others, as part of Kara's 'graduation choir', so to speak. We sang several songs, including one from Celtic Thunder called 'Place in the Choir'. It was LOTS of fun!! =) I got to play guitar for a couple songs, so that was double score. After a wonderful speech from both parents and the graduate we made room for dancing! Calling English Contra dancing is something that I've enjoyed for a while now. I had offered to call dances at Kara's graduation, so that was a lot of fun. Everyone really seemed to have a good time, too. =)

While we were up there, we got to meet one of their real cousins from Texas. That was loads of fun and we all decided we fit in as one big crazy group. We made several 'scenic' ventures and got to go to the coast, Burney Falls (a BEAUTIFUL waterfall that Becca and I got to see last time we went up), saw the Redwood forest, and got to eat at the 'mess hall' that was used for loggers way back in the 80's/90s. That was really neat. Basically the set up was a bunch of long tables and then your server just brought out plates and bowls of all sorts of yummy goodness. Orange juice, coffee, bacon, toast, eggs, biscuits and gravy, and potatoes. If we ran out of something, we just asked for more and she brought it out. It was really cool. Perfect place for hungry boys, methinks. =) It set us up perfectly for a long day looking at the redwood forest and the ocean.


I think that the ocean might have been my favorite spot we went to. Mainly because no one else was there but us and well, quite frankly, it is just beautiful. I'd love to get a little beach house and just go and write. Mom said she'd tag along and cook and clean for me... hmm... thinking that might be a pretty awesome deal. (both photos were taken with my cell)







Hanging out, though, was truly the best. Fun to just visit, laugh, visit, laugh, play music, laugh, dance, laugh, swim, laugh. Yeah, basically a lot of laughing. However, the awesome thing is that we also had many wonderful discussions. But, our lifesaver was the pool. Their house, which is just beautiful, has an awesome backyard with an awesome pool. We pretty much spent a lot of time in there.. It was just SO hot! =)

Also, another neat thing was that, two days after the graduation party, was Meri's birthday! So we got to stick around for that as well! (Meri is the second daughter). Naturally, we had lots of fun. That morning, we got up and Josh and Dad fixed her their famous biscuits and gravy. Then, we opened gifts... she received a recurve bow and arrows to go with it from the men in her family, so she spent a good portion of the morning shooting. Then, while her cousin Abigail and uncle took her off to go buy some targets, the rest of us girls went out and decorated the deck in Hawaiian fashion, then surprised her with it when she got back. =) We did some dancing until about 8ish, and then we decided that it would be fun to just go for a late night swim. So we did! It was the most impromptu, silliest (in a good way!) thing I have ever done! Ok... actually not. But it was still fun! We swam until around 10:30. It was crazy fun! Definitely helped us cool down after the intense heat from the day!

However, despite the heat, we really enjoyed our time there. It was a big bummer when we had to leave. Hopefully I can steal some pictures from my sister so I can post some later.

Yet, it is also really nice to be home again. There is so much to do and I'm really looking forward to getting back to work again! We've got some landscaping in the yard coming up (finally gave up on trying to grow grass in the yard, so we'll just be bringing in some pretty gravel), putting in our volleyball court, and cleaning out the shop and such for Joshua's graduation party!

On that subject... wow. I can't believe he's this old already! Makes me feel.. super old.. lol!

Also, before I close, I'd like to make mention of a friend of mine who is working on getting his book published. The awesome news? You can help! He's currently entered in a contest and all he needs are lots of votes. Go visit HIS SITE to check out a synopsis of the book and to vote. If he gets enough votes, he could be up and running for a publishing grant. Also, check out his blog!

Alright! Off to my crazy life! Hope to see you all around here again soon!

What This Crazy Girl Has Been Up To

Ok, y'all. I promised a better post of what has been going on, so here goes.

First of all, there has pretty much been one thing that has taken up loads of my time in the previous months- Pride and Prejudice. In case some of you didn't know, the ABC drama group did P&P this year in honor of its 200th year of publication. That can tell you two things: 1, it must be a pretty good book if it's been around for that long, or 2, we were crazy to do it. Well, basically both of them, really.

Although this was a HUGE challenge, I think we thespians really learned a lot and grew in our acting skills, which is good. We've always gone with comedy type plays, so to do one that leaned more towards the dramatic and serious side was quite an adventure, to say the least. It was, of course, a blast to do. Everyone did such a fabulous job with their parts. However, this one ran about 2.5 hours- which means everyone had LOTS of lines to memorize. So, I am quite serious when I say that P&P had been taking up most of my time.

However, now that is over, what else has been up? Well, for the first time ever, I've decided to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). For the month of November, writers team up to encourage one another and attempt to write 50,000 words in one month. So far it has been a lot of fun and not as difficult as I thought. However, as the days are being ticked off every 24 hours, I find that time is definitely growing thin! (is that an oxymoron? Growing thin... anyway). It has certainly been a challenge, especially since I got behind, due to P&P and other family circumstances. However, I am quite determined to finish this thing, and, Lord Willing, you just might see a new book on the market in the near future. :-)

Besides NaNo, something else that is exciting is about to happen. My grandpa is moving next to us! We're extremely thrilled to have him nearby, only not so thrilled with the circumstances. His wife just recently passed away. He lives in Arkansas currently, so Mom, Josh, and I are heading out early tomorrow morning to head down there. We'll spend the weekend packing and packing and packing. Then, my dad will fly up Friday, rent the moving van, we'll load it, and drive it home Saturday/Sunday. I would really appreciate prayers. This is the first time I will be driving solo for 10+ hours... Mom and I will be able to swap out on the way up, but on the way down, we'll all be driving vehicles (dad in the truck, me in our car, and mom in Grandpa's car). Needless to say, we've packed plenty of caffeinated drinks and downloaded lots of audio books. :-) I'll be able to get some work done on my NaNo project, hopefully, when I'm not driving. We'll take the whole 10 hours on the way up, but we're hoping we'll be able to split it up on the way down. That just depends, though, on how quickly we can get things packed and loaded up.

My grandpa will be living in a little one room apartment that is adjacent to our house until we can find him a little bigger mobile home. So, prayers also that his house in Arkansas will sell quickly so we'll be able to get him more comfortable. However, we have currently been cleaning out the apartment (it had sort of become Becca's and my office/craft/sewing room). The biggest project is trying to get the plumbing fixed. We're all wondering why the folks who built it didn't just take the time to do a good job in the first place... *sigh*. However, the Lord has been good with all of it, and the nice bonus is that Josh has been allowed and encouraged to help the plumbers- which means he's learning a lot from that standpoint! He really enjoys working, too, so he is (in the words of Phil Robertson) 'happy, happy, happy'. :-)

And that, folks, is pretty much what has been going on. :-) Sorry there aren't any pictures, but I didn't have much time to look for any. I'm hoping that once we get back home, I'll have some time to post pics of life and drama (the drama group that is, not real drama...). ;-)

So, what have my lovely readers been up to? I'd love to hear how November has been going for y'all!

Day 14: A Vacation I would like to take

This one is definitely EASY to answer... I really want to go see a dear friend of mine; Samantha!!!  She and I have been pen pals for about 2 years now (I think we are starting on our third year, right, Samantha?). We have never met.  So, how did we become pen pals?  Well, it all came about through a Christian Girl's newsletter called "amie" (aw-mee).  They had a 'get a pen pal' type thing.  I decided to go ahead and sign up, thinking it would be extremely fun to "meet" someone through letter writing.  I am SO glad that the Lord directed them to match Samantha and I up.  We have been writing ever since and I have thoroughly enjoying it. 
    However, she does live quite a long way away from me.... about 1,274 miles, to be exact.. lol!  So, I am saving up my money to go and hopefully visit her during the Fall of this year.  I think it will be very nice because 1) our family hasn't gone on any long road trips in an extremely long time and 2) I would REALLY like to meet her in person!  :-) 
    So, I can't really think of any other vacation I would rather take.   Illinois, here I come!! ;-)

In Christ's Service,
Sarah