Favorite Things Tag

The Rules:

-Thank and link back to the person's blog who tagged you! You didn't know you tagged me, Ellen, but you left it open, so thanks!

-Thank and link back to the person's blog who started the tag! Thank you, Beth!

-Write about eight of your favorite things in your post!

-Add at least 2 pictures or gifs in your post that are related to your favorite things.

-Tag eight people at least! (If you don't know eight blogs to tag, just tag as many as you can.) Not to cheat or anything, but I seriously don't know very many people who haven't done this already. Okay, I tag Heidi, Chelsea, and anyone else who wants to do it.

-Put the eight rules in your blog post!

-Include the picture above for the beginning of your post!

-Have fun!

Let's see, where to begin? In no particular order, eight of some of my favorite things are:

Note: all these pictures are courtesy of the internet, and are not my own.

1. Baby Girl Headbands

So absolutely sweet! Of course, I adore the baby, too!

2. Good Books!

What kind of bibliophile would I be if I didn't list this at all??

3. Ice Cream.

Especially chocolate-peanut butter!

4. Golden Retrievers!

Ask anyone who knows me well, and they will tell you I adore this breed of dog!

5. Amazing Songs!

I like all the songs I've heard so far by this music group. Click here if you want to listen to one of my favorite songs they composed. Not sure why I like it so much, exactly . . . but I do!

6. Fairy Lights.

They're like tiny little Christmas lights. So pretty!

7. Ocean Breezes!

So refreshing. Somehow makes me feel free. (Am I the only one who thinks that?)

8. Tent Camping (in summer)!

I adore the soft rustling and low murmurings you hear when you first wake up and are just lying in your tent on your sleeping bag (or air mattress, whichever).

   . . . And that's just a few! There are so many little things we can take delight in, it's hard to narrow it down to eight!

One-year Anniversary Q&A!

     

  I have had this blog for exactly one year now. How crazy is that? It feels like I'm still so new to blogging, yet I've been doing it for a year already! Read my first post here. I was still very, very amateur, and had no idea how to format the blog post, use URLs (you can imagine how excited I was when I figured out how simple it was!), and fix the blog background so everything wasn't all just. plain. red. Yes, I'd definitely say I've learned how to manage my blog a bit better than I could that first day I posted. ;P

   Since that first post this day last year, I have written over 80 posts, received over 400 comments, had over 6,500 blog views (woot woot!), and gotten some amazing followers (14 blogger, and I-don't-know-how-many email followers). A big thank-you to all you people who take the time to listen to my ramblings and read the posts of this little blog. 

   Anyway, for my one-year blog anniversary, I'm going to steal an idea I got from various other bloggers and do a Q&A. If you have any questions to ask me, comment below! (However, I reserve the right to not answer it if I feel like it's too personal or something.) I'm going to be busy for the next little while, but I'll try to put up the answers sometime after all the Independence Day hustle and bustle is over. I'd love to see what you come up with!

Camp Begins Again!

    

   It's that exciting time of year again: writing camp! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: KDWC is awesome! It's that Christian camp for ladies only, and you can read about my other posts on it by clicking the label for "The King's Daughters' Writing Camp" along the side of my blog. It is so fun to meet new people, get inspiration for a new story, receive encouragement on my WIPs, and be able to have exclusive snippets and conversations from and with some really neat ladies who have written some amazing books! This camp really does motivate me to write more . . . and more diligently. I've made new friends here, discovered new books, and had the opportunity to participate in some really neat blog events.

   The gates open today, June 24th. The official camp with begin July 1st and run through the end of the month, with the gates closing again on August 7th.

   Visit the camp website for more information!

Unrelated note: as most of you likely already know, Feedburner is going away at the beginning of next month, which means that unfortunately, you won't receive any more email updates of my new blog posts. If you know of any non-complicated alternatives (that I wouldn't have to pay for), feel free to let me know.

Book Review: Holes

       This book is a classic. It's definitely out of the ordinary, but it's not so weird that I don't enjoy it. 

Sensitive content: a cuss word or two

Age recommendation: 11+ (if you attend to the bad words)

My rating: 4 star

   Okay, before I go any further, I need to note something. There are two phrases in it that are questionable. Firstly, a character uses the exclamatory version of the word h*ll one time. Secondly, the Lord's name is taken in vain once (or maybe twice). I do not condone this strong of language in the books I read, so I cross them out. Yes, I know some people may be horrified at me for taking a pen to a book, but I just blot out those two phrases, and the rest of the book is fine, language-wise. So let me just state up front that ignoring the cussing I cross out, I give the book 4 stars. 

   There is also a bit of slightly crude humor and a character briefly smokes. And there are mentions of racial injustice. But it is not vivid, and is merely historical. The book does not promote it in any way. Plus, the racial persecution is a key part of the plot.

   It's a really interesting story, though. I will admit it's not everyone's cup of tea. But I personally enjoy it. It's got unique characters and a creative plot. I love the tie-ins between the several storylines in the book. There is one main story, with two other storylines. I really like how well they are woven together.

   The main storyline follows wrongfully-convicted Stanley Yelnats, whose family is supposedly under a curse that was brought about by a scandal involving Stanley's no-good-dirty-rooten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather, whose life is another timeline. The third timeline follows the adventures of outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow, whose tragic backstory ends up affecting everyone in the camp Stanley is sent to–Camp Green Lake. 

   First off, Kate Barlow and Sam are very sympathetic characters. Secondly, I can't help but laugh at poor Stanley, who is sent to that ridiculous camp after supposedly stealing a pair of shoes. He always is at the wrong place at the wrong time. But though he's unlucky, he ends up making friends and unwinding the secret of why the camp Warden is really making them dig holes all day, every day in the hot sun on a dried-up lake in Texas.

Joy or Happiness?

    How many times have you had a "bad day," when everything seemed to be against you? You get up to find your favorite shirt dirty. So you put on a less-beloved top and head to the kitchen. You end up burning your bacon because you're so busy cleaning up the milk you spilled all over the table. Then, as you go to put on your shoes, you stub your toe on that wall that came out of nowhere. Finally, you discover that your shoes are wearing out, and the soles are coming loose. That's the last straw! Grumbling, you take your frustration out on whatever is handy, excusing your actions with "I'm having a bad day."

   Who else has experienced this? I know I'm not the only one who has had those weird days where, the second you crawl out from under your bed covers, you know today is already ruined. 

   When those days come, I'm not happy. The day is ruined; therefore, I have the right to be unhappy. Maybe even grumpy the entire day. It's just not fair to expect a person who's having a bad day to just pretend everything's okay and go about their merry lives without a word of complaint, right?

   Wrong. It is so easy to pity oneself into making up excuses for our attitude. Trust me, I know. But . . . it's so tiring to be unhappy. I mean, when you're feeling okay and bad things come, it makes you frustrated. But when you're already grumpy and bad things come, it makes you angry. At least, that can happen to me. But after grumbling all day, you feel kind of tired. If it's so tiresome to grumble our ways through our trials, why do we do it?

   The truth is that I'm not absolutely sure . . . but it just might have something to do with the fact that we want our own way. We don't want to have to go through trials and frustrations. Who would want to? That's nonsensical! If someone told us to be happy about the trials we have to go through, we'd probably either retaliate or laugh, wouldn't we? Be happy about trials and persecutions and even the little tiny things that frustrate us so much? Absurd!

   The real question is: what does God say about it and how do we respond to it?

Well, James 1:2-4 has God's answer:

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

   Hold on! Have joy when we encounter trials? Are you serious? Why in the world should we joy when we go through trials? That doesn't make any sense!

   Hm. It actually does, if you take a second to think about it and read the passage again. Why should we consider it all joy when we go through challenges? Because the testing of our faith produces endurance. If you are a Christian–a true, born-again believer in Christ–God is using various trials to test and therefore strengthen your faith in Him! The trials (even the tiny ones, like spilling tomato juice on your favorite white shirt) produce endurance! 

   I personally don't have much endurance in certain activities, like running and swimming. Sometimes I wish I did. How wonderful for your endurance to be strengthened in a favorite activity! Well, for a Christian, what's more important than his walk with Christ? Who wouldn't want more endurance and a stronger faith in Christ? Even at the cost of "various trials?"

   One more thing to notice: the verse did not mention happiness one iota! It never mentioned being happy or pretending everything's okay. Did you catch what it said? "Consider it all joy!" He didn't say, "Work up a joyful feeling," either. Know why?

   Joy is not based on circumstances like happiness. Being joyful is a choice.

   We're happy if things are going great, if we get what we desired, or if something happened just like we wanted it to. But joy, true joy, is not based off of whether things are going well for us. Joy is a choice!

   We must choose to be joyful. And true joy comes from Christ. So even when we start having a "bad day," we can stop and remember what Christ has done for us. And we can stop and remember that God told us to choose joy! Huh! That's not just a saying that you see on a t-shirt, after all!

   Don't just take it from me. I'm not writing this post to preach at you or guilt-trip you into anything. I'm merely writing about a topic God placed on my heart over the past few weeks. Don't assume I'm an authority on the subject; I've got to work on this topic a lot myself. Go read the Bible! God's Word is the way He speaks to us. Go and listen to what He has to say.