Hello again readers!
I apologize once more for not blogging in almost two months! It has been a crazy busy summer so far, but I’m hoping to write a few more blog posts before the next vacation to tell you all about what I’ve been up to.
To start off, since graduating from high school in May, I have been able to read a lot more than I did in the spring, which has been so fun and refreshing. I finished reading Lady Susan, Jane Austen’s first novel, and thereafter watched its first movie adaptation, Love and Friendship with one of my best friends, Emory, during my visit to Texas at the beginning of June. The movie did an excellent job following the book and succeeded in making me laugh. It was very fun to see it AFTER having read the book instead of vice versa.
As for writing, I have done very little of that unfortunately, but I’m hoping to get back at it this month. That said, my plan right now is to put Bridget’s Journey the Sequel aside for a little while and focus on editing The Whistler Daughters instead. While I have enjoyed working on BJ2 and having something to write, I’ve been lacking some of the creative juices in that area and I think taking a break will be good for me…and the story. And either way, I’ve been itching to spend time with Erica, TWD‘s main character, for a while now. I’m looking forward to going through it for the second time and starting the very long process of publishing it, hopefully sometime next year.
I have just returned this week from a two week mission trip to Kenya and while I cannot wait to tell you all about my wonderful experiences there and all God did in and through us as a team, I think I will write in this blog post about my first trip of the summer.
My graduation present from Mom and Dad was a plane ticket to Texas to see my friends for a week! So at the beginning of June, off I went! It was a little intimidating going on a plane by myself, but everything went smoothly. I stayed at the Lambert’s house during my stay and spent my time catching up with friends from church and our homeschool co-ops. I was able to attend church that Sunday morning and it was so nice to see everyone again! We had a list of things we wanted to do while I was in Texas, and we did pretty much all of them. I got to have some Braum’s and Raising Cane’s while I was there and that made my tummy very happy. 🙂 I also got to go to Half-Price Books, which made my heart very, very happy since there are no Half-Price Book stores in North Carolina, unfortunately. My last night in Texas we had a party at Panera and it was so fun to be reunited and talk about graduation and movies and just enjoy being together.
It felt weird returning to Texas. It was my first time going there since moving to North Carolina two years ago. While some things were changed, most of the week I felt like I had never left. It was still very hot and the roads were still straight (not twisty and turny like it is here) and all my friends were still there.
Soo…do I miss it? Yes–I miss my friends. In going back, it just reminded me what good friendships I had and how much I’m going to miss them all over again. Do I wish we had never moved? Not at all. I’m glad we moved here. Not only is it 1200 miles closer to relatives in Canada, a lot prettier and colder, the move itself has taught me a lot about God and myself. I couldn’t have learned those lessons if I hadn’t moved. Of course I will keep visiting Texas, but I’m very happy here in North Carolina. I’ve made new friends and God has opened up so many opportunities here for me to learn and grow closer to Him here.
But in going back, I did make a realization. Just because I was born in Canada or because I currently live in North Carolina…doesn’t mean Texas can’t be my home. Texas is my home…and so is Quebec and North Carolina. You don’t have to have just one home for it to be home. You can have two…or three.
I have three homes. So no matter which place I visit, I’ll feel perfectly comfortable. I’ll feel right at home.
For a Thousand Words 