Thanksgiving Photos – cakes, candies, and lakes, oh my!

November 29, 2017November 29, 2017 / Following Him / 30 Comments

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! First, it was Thanksgiving, and then I realized just how behind I was in NaNoWriMo… I’m determined to catch up and to reach 50k, I knew I’d have to write 3K a day. So far so good! I’m only 5K away now from winning; so close I can taste it!

Anyway, here is a snippet of last Friday in photo form. 😀 I didn’t get photos of all the food, but here are a few that I took. This is a cake that I baked and decorated:

And the inside of the cake. It was velvet with a cream cheese frosting. The decorations had allspice, cinnamon, and molasses (because I was out of maple syrup and had to improvise) and that gave it an autumn kick and the right color without using food coloring. I suspect there was food coloring in the cake mix though. XD

And my uncle’s girlfriend, whom I consider an aunt at this point, made these Christmas candies, which were addictive:

And of course, I went to my grandma’s lake, which was as beautiful and serene as ever.

As you may know, if you’ve followed me a while, I haven’t shown my face. And that’s not going to start now. XD I brought my dad’s tripod and set my camera on the timer function to get this one. I took a lot of me walking; do I sense a new “About Me” page header image? I think yes. XD Also, I just learned how to French braid and this was my second time trying it. And I included red highlights, because why not? I don’t know how well you can see it in the photo though.

After a bit of photo taking, it started to get dark, so I took this one (finally figured out how to make the new camera take photos and not wash out the sky – yay) and headed back to my grandma’s house. God’s artistry never ceases to amaze.

And here was the sunset from the opposite direction.

It was a lovely day, though we celebrated on Friday instead of Thursday so all of my uncles could make it. Hope you enjoyed the photos, and I’ll be back soon! ❤

Blog Issues & NaNoWriMo Updates

November 17, 2017November 17, 2017 / Following Him / 29 Comments

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.

Photographer By Day, Novelist By Night

November 8, 2017 / Following Him / 35 Comments

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

Image Credit Brevitē

Photographer at heart
Was almost ready to depart,
I’d gathered the supplies.

Cameras, film, and a backpack,
Going old school, memories taking me back,
Traveling to the airport, almost makes me cry.

Going to many exotic places,
Where I’ll see many faces –
That is all well and good,

But I do not want to explore,
I want to be home more,
In my own neighborhood!

Is that really so bad?
That right now, traveling makes me sad?
That in pajamas I want to stay?

And crash on the sofa and vent,
Especially during this event,
Trying to write a novel in only thirty days!

#NaNoWriMo

The Versatile Blogger Award

September 26, 2016September 26, 2016 / Following Him / 34 Comments

versatile

Thank you so much, Laurie, for nominating me for The Versatile Blogger Award! I’m so honored that you chose to nominate me. 🙂

Award rules:

Thank the person who nominated you

Share the award on your blog

Share seven random facts about yourself

Tag 10 bloggers with less than 1,000 followers and let them know that they have been nominated.

The Random Facts…

This is my second award. 😀
I have 17 cats. (Hey, someone abandoned them, and they were homeless and hungry and I couldn’t let them starve. They are very awesome little creatures. 17 distinct personalities. I love them all to death. 🙂 )
Growing up, I adored Nancy Drew. Books, old black and white movies, old TV series, and computer games. I still read // watch // play them sometimes for nostalgia’s sake, even though I’m an adult. (Along with other children’s books and young adult books. I’m a kid at heart. XD )
My dream is to be a published author someday. I am participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this November, and I hope to write the sequel to the Christian Dystopian Young Adult novel I wrote a first draft for last November, and maybe someday I’ll have finished the trilogy.
I like to make stuff; especially the artsy and crafty type of things. For example, I made myself a charm bracelet last month: I wonder why I chose Psalms Twenty Three? **glances at title of blog** XD
My birthday is the day before Halloween. For too long, I let that define me.
I think my favorite song presently is, “How Can I Keep From Singing?” by Audrey Assad. Or “Holy, Holy, Holy.” That was fantastic too. Or maybe, “Be Thou My Vision.” Or it could be, “It Is Well with My Soul.” Or perhaps, “New Every Morning” or, “Even Unto Death”? Haha, I can’t decide. She is so talented. A friend of mine gave me her “Inheritance” album, and I can’t stop listening to it – and singing along with it. She is absolutely amazing. Seriously, if you have a moment to sample her music, click the link, you won’t be disappointed. 🙂