Beach

Arkansas Adventures – Pinnacle Mountain Photos

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I know you’re probably wondering where I’ve been. I had some things to prepare for. Exciting things.

I don’t normally post this late in the day (nearly 8:00PM here), but I promised Tammy a post today, and a post today she is going to get. 😁

Friends from Indiana and Virginia came to Arkansas to visit! It was the first time meeting five of them in person. 🙂 (You may know Refreshing Spirit from WordPress! She just created a new blog especially for her adventures in Bolivia. Click to take a look!) We had SO MUCH FUN – even though it was the hottest days of the year and the mosquitoes were horrid. (If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll probably recognize some of these photos.) The next two photos are Willow Beach and then after that are Pinnacle Mountain.

(My new avatar! The boulder climb. I was not prepared for so much climbing but it was a great experience and worth the pain. 🤩)

The view was spectacular!

We had a great time! 😀 And I’m sure you’ll be seeing more photos of the adventure over the next few weeks. It was also interesting to get photos of people for once. Usually, I stick to nature. But I couldn’t help but get photos of my friends. 🙂 And uh. A lot of them without them knowing… 😂

Hope you all have been well! 💖

Blog Issues & NaNoWriMo Updates

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Hello all! 🙂

Firstly, I’d like to cover the blog issues. It looks like for the past few months, every time I’ve attempted to follow a blog, it was rejected. I thought this was a problem with my dial-up Internet and Windows XP system, and since I upgraded, all problems should be fixed. But I realized yesterday that I still could not follow blogs. I contacted support (they were so nice and helpful over there) and they told me that my account had been mistakenly flagged as an anti-spam measure for bulk following, and they fixed it. Therefore, if I made a mention that I was following you and then I disappeared, it was because I thought I was following you but I wasn’t. 😅  I’m so glad this is fixed now!

 

 

And now for the NaNoWriMo update:

I’m a bit behind still, but I’m planning to catch up. 🙂 And I just added an excerpt from my novel. I know that not all of you have NaNoWriMo accounts to view it, so I’m including it in this post so you all can read it if you wish. 😊

“He gives and He takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord. That was Job’s way of dealing with loss.”

She knew now that she had been horribly wrong about Him. Maybe this was not about whether she believed, it was about whether she accepted Him. She was angry with Him; why could He not save the ones near to her?

Her sister’s words returned to her – she had said the same thing years ago, but she brushed them off because she did not want to hear.

It all started to make sense to her. She did not think that He did not exist; she only kidded herself to make Him feel the same pain that she had felt, and in the process, bit off her nose to spite her face.

She would not reject Him any longer. She fell to her knees. Holy is the Lamb. Good is her God. Loving was her Father. All her anger melted away into a puddle and was never remembered again.

Forgiveness was a powerful thing. Her burdens dropped from her shoulders and she felt lightweight, though that could be possible that she also lost weight by now.

But could her parents and sister forgive her? She knew that God was a loving God, and that He forgave because He died so that He could forgive. And defeat sin and death.

But—

She had to believe that they did. She just had to.

She opened her journal to write and realized what day this was.

Her sixteenth birthday.

She almost cried, thinking of what kind of sweet sixteen she was missing out on. And then she did cry when she realized that even if she was home having a party, her family was dead and would not be there.

It would not be a fun party.

She was half glad that she was alone and in survival mode because if she was not, she was sure she would fall to pieces.

She went to the beach and carefully built herself a cake made out of the sand, and found some sticks and stuck them in the top, pretending that they were candles with flames dancing around the wick. She pretended that her family was there with her, and blew out the fake flames.

There would be presents, and she made sandboxes with sand bows on the top and imagined what could be in there. A new purse? New jewels? An espresso maker? Items that she may have taken for granted before, but would be luxurious to have now.

She knew that soon, the high tide would wipe away her cake and presents – any trace that she had even made them. All she would have left were the memories and the memories that could have been if her parents had still been alive.

She walked the island aimlessly. It was hard to get lost; she knew the majority of it and it was so small that if she did lose her way, she could walk until she hit the beach and keep going until she stumbled upon the rocky cove or until she saw the tips of the orange tree.

Happy birthday. Sure. Not anymore. No birthday would ever be the same. It would just denote another year gone by without her family. Another reminder of how much time had passed since the tragedy that changed her life forever.

 

 

Into The Cool Water

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It’s week 29 of 100 Word Wednesday, and here is the photo and my response. 🙂 If you’d like to join in, just click the link! 😉

What a beautiful coast! 😍 Haha, this is the third time that mermaids have made an appearance in a 100 Word Wednesday prompt, except this time, the roles have been reversed… 😄

Image by Bikurgurl

Walking along the coastline
I spot a jeweled bangle
Admire the sparkling tourmaline
Put it on, let it dangle

Suddenly I can’t breathe
The air is too thin
And where my legs used to be
Have turned into fins.

How magical! I’ve had quite enough
Of water being out of my reach.
So I put on the magical cuff,
And I walk down the beach

And into the cool water.
I put the bracelet back on
And I don’t even falter;
This is natural to me!

This may sound strange;
But it’s time for a change!
Goodbye air and land,
Hello water and sand!