A few weeks ago, sitting on a hot parking lot, we watched my daughter "graduate" from preschool. Basically, she walked up and hugged her teacher in a cap and gown while we cheered her on. But still ... it was a symbol of ending one part of life and moving on to something new.
That something new is Kindergarten. Just a few more weeks and she'll be there. She's excited to be at school "with Daddy." He teaches in the high school at the private school she'll be attending, but she knows he'll be nearby. But she's nervous, too, because this is something new and different, and in a lot of ways, she's like her daddy and has to stand back and adjust for a while before she can fully embrace something unknown, even if it is exciting and something she'll love.
​And how do I feel about all this?

Did you know that when the doctor prescribes a liquid steroid for your child to take, it comes in a form that is evidently the most awful tasting stuff in the world?
We discovered this recently when my son (not quite four) was put on a round to help him get over a cough he'd developed from allergies. The first time we tried to give him a dose, he took a sip, wrinkled his nose, shoved it back at me, and said, "No! I don't want any more of that."
Well, that wasn't going to fly because he had to take 8 ounces twice a day for ten days. And he'd barely drunk one or two.

We all know this year has been anything but "normal," although I'm not sure I know exactly what a normal year is. Regardless, I hit a slump around the end of May. I wanted to write, but I couldn't make myself do it. Maybe, if I were a stronger person, I would have forced the issue, sat down at my laptop, and said, "don't move until you've typed at least a 1000 words.
But I didn't. Instead, I've been indulging in other creative outlets and thought I'd share some of them with you. After all, an author has to refill her creative juices somehow, and what better way than being creative in other forms?

There hasn't been much to do since everyone was told to mostly stay at home. Have you noticed?
And, if you're like me, you've put on a few extra pounds, too.
To try and combat this, for a while I was walking in the mornings with a few of my neighbors. If we do full loops of the two sections in our neighborhood, we get about two miles total. Not too bad. We've recently given up due to the extreme heat of July, but for a while there, we were faithful to it.
My closest neighbor pointed out that we were walking a lot of miles this summer, but not really getting anywhere.

Have you ever gotten some really good marriage advice? I have, but today's post is actually from a fellow author, Laura Thomas. She's sharing with us a piece of wisdom that she received way back in the beginning of her marriage, and she's embraced it through all these years. Read on!

     Is it possible to fall head-over-heels in love at the tender age of fourteen and know without a shadow of a doubt that you will one day marry your high school sweetheart?
     I think so. In fact, I’m living proof and have thirty-two years of marriage to back it up!
     Our journey together has spanned decades and continents. My husband and I have raised three phenomenal children, experienced the greatest joys and the deepest sorrows together, cheered one another on in our passions and pursuits, and clung to God as our Rock through it all.
     Back in the day, as a young English girl living in South Wales, I never imagined we would actually follow our crazy teen-dream and raise a family on the other side of the globe. But that’s exactly what we did—and we’ve called beautiful British Columbia our home for a quarter of a century. Now we’re a couple of empty nesters with full hearts. Still dreaming together, still choosing to love one another every single day.  

The cd player in my husband's car has been messing up lately. It's a six-disc device, and we normally have it loaded up because we grew up in the 90s and still use cds. ;-)
But, now, as we turn on the car, the only sound we get is the whir of the machine trying to read the various discs in it for a few minutes and then switching over to the radio. And let's be honest. The music on the radio just isn't as good as those cds we wanted to listen to.

Do you have lightning bugs where you are? Or, sometimes we call them fireflies. Either way, I'm fascinated by the little creatures.
This summer, they seem to be out in greater numbers than the past. They light up my back yard each evening, putting on a visual show worthy of any graphic designer, although they're made by the best. And I've noticed in the last few years, they don't simply hover around the ground, but are glowing all the way up at the tops of the trees, too, expanding the show.

Anyone else read A LOT of books this year? I don't know if it's because of the quarantine conditions or if I would have normally read this many, but I'm over halfway through my Goodreads reading challenge. This is the third or fourth year I've kept track this way, and it fascinates me a bit.
People have asked me how I have so much time to read. After all, I'm an author, a mom, a preschool teacher, a bible class teacher, a wife, etc. But I also don't think I could survive if I didn't read at least a few books every month. It's one of the ways I grow and learn. And one of the ways I cope. And just enjoyable to me, too. Plus, I can claim it's research for my occupation (can't be a good writer if you never read).
So, what are some of the books I've read so far this year?