Baby!!! (And a few other important notes...)

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I have no idea how long it's been since I was last here (no wait, let me see... it was Natalie's birthday, so that makes it almost a full four months!), but I wanted to pop on quickly and let you all know our beautiful baby girl arrived safely! I have yet to decide how many details I'll be sharing on the blog, but she's healthy and happy and every ounce of her is pure sweetness. <3 <3 <3 We're so thankful for God's goodness!

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Now I'm curled on the couch with Baby on top of me and my laptop balanced on my knee. A blissful existence really. ;) I have all sorts of exciting goals before Christmas, but one of them is to finish up the Adventure of Reading Challenge, including the wrap-up posts, etc., so you can be watching out for that (very hopefully).

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Speaking of Christmas, I'm getting rather crazy excited this year. I can't wait for the lights and fresh tree needles and decorating my house and hot mulled cider and mailing all my parcels... the list goes on. I thought of a good Christmas blog post this morning too, so I'm hoping that develops as beautifully as the initial flash of inspiration.

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Finally, I can't remember where I first ran across this, but finding it on my computer this afternoon gave me the final nudge to draft this post (and also made me realize again how much I need to read Orthodoxy):

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
---G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

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I hope you're all having a lovely Wednesday! What do you think of the Chesterton quote?

Announcing the Adventure of Reading Challenge!

*drumroll* I am here to announce the grand Adventure of Reading Challenge! (Henceforth to be known as ARC).

Now the point of this challenge is NOT to take the zing out of reading or add yet another thing to the to-do list. It's simply that, personally, I haven't been reading much this last year (for some very obvious reasons) and really want to get back in the habit. However, life is still very full and busy, so I'm trying to make it extremely doable. And fun. If you already have a tall reading list you can feel completely free to use any of those titles -- just using this as inspiration to actually get reading them. And you can definitely double this with other reading challenges (i.e. if you were already planning to read LOTR or something for a different challenge, etc).

If you have a blog and are able to do a quick review of each book, that'd be splendid and fantastic. (You can come back and leave your link on this post and I'll do a round-up post periodically with the links.) If you don't have a blog (or don't have time to put together a review or only want to review certain ones), that's absolutely and perfectly fine, too.

One last note, you don't have to have your whole list figured out to enter and you can definitely move up or down from one level to another as the year progresses. (See? We're keeping this very manageable. ;D)

The challenge runs through the end of the year and there are 3 levels:

Explorer: 3-5 books

Voyageur: 6-9 books

Wrangler: 10-12 books 

(Remember, this is all highly inspiring so I decided to just let loose and have fun with the names. ;))

And our buttons!

 

I'm actually going to start at the Explorer level and see how far I can jump by the end of the year (a lot will depend on which selections I end up going with). I'm also planning to start my western novel this year, so you'll notice a bunch of my reading selections are rather heavily slanted. ;)
So! Thus far, my list is as follows:

For Meredith's upcoming Beauty & The Beast Week

(Yes! Non-fiction is eligible as well)

 

Also:

 

Some Louis L'Amour

(Good recommendations anyone?) 

The Walt Longmire mystery series by Craig Johnson

(Which I CANNOT vouch for as yet... not having done much research on them ;P)

So there ye are!

Now I'm off to wash a tremendous load of dishes and try a new applesauce cake recipe I stumbled across yesterday. I can't wait to hear what you all think and do remember to share the buttons and also post about the challenge if you're interested!!

What think you? Would you like to join me?

(P.S. And what do you think of the new blog look? It's very new so I'm still getting used to it, but it's so spring-y and fresh and warm out this week, and I've sooooo been looking forward to spring arriving, that I had to do something. ;))

In the New Year of our Lord 2016

I hope you're all having a most lovely New Year's! Right at the moment, I'm sitting in my blue room enjoying my sparkly white twinkle lights after coming in from enjoying the outside sparkle lights while doing chores. We don't have any snow at the moment, but we got lots and lots of rain last weekend and now there's plenty of that certain, thick, brown, squelchy substance in places. And after milking, I got to go up and help (most) of the herd find their new round hay bale. (Apparently, they got so excited about it that they completely forgot where the fence opening is to get round and to it. Quite ridiculous behavior. Really. ;)) 

And earlier this afternoon, I got to watch a movie with my family while sipping coffee from my new French blue coffee cup and smiling over my 2016 tropical water/places calendar (both Christmas gifts from my brother ;)).

:)

This isn't a new year's resolution post, but a lot of things have been wrapping up in the last few weeks and I've been thinking through some new things I'm hoping to do soon -- and as all of it delightfully coincided with the beginning of the new year -- some sort of post just seemed fitting. 

2015 was an incredibly full and really most blessed year. It had its share of tough and difficult days at times, but throughout every moment of them God was utterly faithful.

I read a lot more last year than I had for several years previous, which pattern I'm looking forward to keeping up! (And at the moment I'm feeling inspired to do book reviews, too, so we shall see...)

Along with and included in it, I discovered some MARVELOUS new stories -- both books and movies. I've been updating my top favorite films list here over the last month or so. (There are several more that might be making an appearance soon, but I'd like to rewatch them again at least once first. ;))

I was also blessed to go on some fairly epic travel adventures this year. In April, I got to go with two of my siblings for a fast road trip east and really and truly got to meet a dear friend face-to-face (whom I first met through blogging) AND attend her beautiful wedding!! In October, I was blessed to take a two week trip to stay with a very old and very dear friend (and her lovely young family) across the country, which was absolutely splendiferous. And in November, I was blessed to go road tripping across the country west for yet another dear friend's wedding (in which I was honored to be a bridesmaid, and which was altogether perfectly thrilling and wonderful). As I said, it was all quite epic. :) (And YES, I am still very much hoping to share some pictures!)

And.... some most exciting things have also been/are happening on the writing front lately. ;D

There are so many things that (Lord willing!) I'm eager about and praying for in this next year -- and here are just a few of them I'm planning to do on a daily level:

~ I really like the new Bible reading approach I tried during part of last year: reading from Genesis-Revelation in 10 chapter increments (or an entire book, depending on the length) + a psalm or a proverb, so I'm planning to do that again.

~ With my next sister in the house there are plenty of different exercise options floating around and she found a new walking routine recently that looks interesting. There's also my favorite Ballet Beautiful waiting to be picked up and I think they might compliment each other well, so I'm thinking of alternating between the two and seeing what happens.

~ Picking up my fiddle again would be excellent.

~ And (we'll see what happens with this one), but I've wanted to learn Spanish for quite a while. So now just to make a start.... :)

So there you have it! My (very) quick overview for this January 1st. Now I'm off to do some kitchen tidying and finish testing out a new spelt flour pretzel recipe I've got in progress. ;)

A Very Merry 8th Day of Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all!!

Tell me! What's one adventure you'd love to take on in this Year of Our Lord 2016?

12 Month Classics Challenge 2016

For 2016, Lois is hosting a wonderfully fun, manageable, and flexible Classics Challenge and I'm hopping along for the ride. :) If you're interested in joining as well, you can check out her details post here.

She kindly says rereads are valid and I’ve tried to balance my choices fairly evenly. Idealistically, it would be fun, too, to be able to do a review for each title, but we shall see about that when the time comes. (Incidentally, I also have some other titles I'll be working on, so keep an eye on my sidebar for those.)

And now...

My Choices for The 12 Month Classics Challenge 2016

January: A classic you've always wanted to read

Shakespeare's Hamlet

February: A classic you've always dreaded reading

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

March: A classic you've been recommended

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

April: A classic you've seen the movie/miniseries/TV show of

Laura by Vera Caspary (a reread)

May: An American classic

The Chosen by Chaim Potok (another reread)

June: A British classic

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton :)

July: A European classic (non-British)

Under Western Eyes by Josef Conrad

August: A modern classic (up to your interpretation)

Sam the Sudden by P.G. Wodehouse (this and May's selection are slightly interchangeable)

September: A children's classic

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (a reread)

October: A classic by a female author

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (most definitely a reread... time #4, perhaps? :))

November: A classic by a male author

No Name by Wilkie Collins

December: A classic written under a pseudonym

Guy Mannering by Sir Walter Scott (Yes, he wrote his novels under a pseudonym! This one’s also a particularly overdue reread, but -- depending on what’s going on at the time -- I may end up switching it out for an Austen or an Agatha Christie.)

This should be fun. I’m looking forward to it!

(And... *drumroll* our next post will be the Grand Party Reveal! :D Yay!!! VERY exciting... ;D)

Tell me! Are you joining any reading challenges this year?