Friday, April 1, 2016

March Highlights // An Invitation!

Hello, Faithful Followers! It's time for me to catch you up on what's been going on in my March, why I've been so absent lately, and finally, an invitation to read a book together! Guess I'd better get started . . .

My family kicked off the month with a much-needed burn day to clear out all our fallen tree branches and pruning work. The day was a lot of fun and the whole family enjoyed our traditional relaxing into the night by the dying embers once all the work was done. I also enjoyed taking numerous pictures!



On the sixth of March, we packed up the car and went to church. Afterward, we drove to my grandparents' house and celebrated my grandma's birthday with them. Again, I took lots of pictures. :D From there, we traveled back to Shaver Lake for some more snow time. We took a downhill skiing lesson for the first time! At first, I was pretty apprehensive, but I soon found that I loved downhill skiing! (Even though I didn't get to try out the bigger slopes. :( ) However, the only two downsides to that day were that the whole family (mostly myself) had gotten NASTY sunburns. We had everyone calling us “racoon eyes.” *sigh. Anyways, the second downside that actually was a tad funny was that we thought we lost our cell phone, so my dad drove all the way back to the snow park, and after he got back . . . we found it. Lol. The next day we went cross-country skiing and then played in the snow with a few friends who had gone there at the same time as us. By the end of this trip, everyone was so sore and tired. On the day we drove home, it snowed as we were leaving. It was beautiful but I wasn't able to get any good pictures. :(
At the ski resort.
The following Friday my sister and I had to give presentations for our homeschool group. Mine was about the Captain Shackleton expedition that I wrote the journal entries about. I got nervous and didn't do too well so, I'll not elaborate on this night except by saying that I did have fun hanging out with the younger kids in our homeschool group. :)

The good thing about that Friday night, was that it marked the beginning of our Easter vacation! Yeah! We got a two-week break and much of it was spent cleaning our garage and classroom, painting the classroom, and building it into my Dad's future office. This summer, we plan on moving rooms around so that my sister and I finally get out own rooms!!! I can't wait! We did take a break from all the work for the Saturday before Easter (where we celebrated with dear friends), Easter Sunday, and my sister's birthday. Then, my grandma came to help us finish converting the classroom. So that is the reason for my recent absence from my blog. This project has taken all my energy!

You may be wondering if, with everything going on, I managed to read my ten books. The answer is yes, but barely. I literally had to read the last two books plus about a hundred pages between yesterday and today. But I made it! Every book was great and my total pages ended up as 2,047! Here is the complete list.

  1. Silas Marner, George Eliot (202 pages)
  2. Golden Filly: Go for the Glory, Lauraine Snelling (126 pages)
  3. Golden Filly: Kentucky Dreamer, Lauraine Snelling (130 pages)
  4. Golden Filly: Call for Courage, Lauraine Snelling (122 pages)
  5. Dear Enemy, Jack Cavanaugh (288 pages)
  6. The Kingdom Series: Kingdom's Dawn, Chuck Black (145 pages)
  7. Blessed Child, Ted Dekker and Bill Bright (349 pages)
  8. Left Behind: Desecration, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (405 pages)
  9. The Kingdom Series: Kingdom's Hope, Chuck Black (138 pages)
  10. Adventures of the Northwoods: The Hidden Message, Lois Walfrid Johnson (142 pages)

As I previously mentioned, I enjoyed reading all these books. Dear Enemy was very fun to read, but Blessed Child was amazing! I plan to read the sequel in April. Speaking of books I plan to read in April, I would like to read The Hobbit. I read it awhile back but don't remember much of it. This is where you come in! I not only want to read The Hobbit, but I want reading partners! Whether you have read it before, or never before, I would love to have you join me in reading it! My plan is to read five chapters a week. There are nineteen chapters, and we should be done reading it by the end of the month. Then, on May first, those of us with blogs can post our thoughts on the book and J. R. R. Tolkien! I would also love to chat about what we are reading with those of you who choose to participate. I have set up a blog for those of you who choose to participate. I hope that you can join me! Please send me an email and I will send you the link to the blog. If you get partway into the book and don't want to continue, or cannot, or can't do a blog post, that is totally okay! Don't worry about it! This is not meant to cause pressure.

So how did your March go? Have you enjoyed reading any of the books that I read this month? Will you be joining me in my goal to read The Hobbit? Have a wonderful April!

26 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a great month! Love the new blog look, by the way :)
    I read the Golden Filly books years ago...I almost forgot about them but I recognized Lauraine Snelling's name and looked up the books. I remember reading them twice through! I really liked them.

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    1. Thank you! Yes, they are fun books! Will you be reading the Hobbit with me?

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    2. No, April is a really busy month for me so I won't have much extra reading time.

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    3. I totally understand not having much time! Maybe if I do this some other time you can participate!

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  2. Your new blog design is soooo pretty, Bethany!!! :D
    Wow, sounds like you had a great month. ;) Oh, I want to read "Dear Enemy"!!! Was it absolutely amazing??

    I would love to read "The Hobbit" this month and, after grabbing a copy from the library, I shall try to do so. :) (Could you message me the link please?)

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    1. Thanks! The flowers are CA state flower, the poppy! I'm so excited to embark on this reading adventure with you!

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  3. Great post, Bethany! You have definitely been a busy lady. Sounds like your March was filled with lots of fun. I'm not much of a downhill skier as I learned when I was in college. It's better to learn at a younger age; you don't fall as far down nor break as easily :) Andy was an excellent skier, but unfortunately his knees can't take it any longer. Good luck with reading JRR Tolkien's book. I'm going to pass as it's never interested me. I think Andy's read it a bunch of times. I'm in the middle of a couple books myself, but they'd be boring to you - all non-fiction. I'm so excited for you and Abigail getting your own rooms! I never had my own until I started paying rent - LOL! I too had a little sister - she is 8 years younger and it was a challenge when it came to sharing a room with her. Now that we are old ladies, we get along a lot better :)

    I absolutely love the new look of your blog site. The poppies are one of my favorite flowers - I wonder why? I bet you can guess :) Love and prayers coming your way - please give your family a big hug from me!!! xxx ooo

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    1. Yes, I did have a very enjoyable month! Thank you! I tried to give it a bit of a spring-ish feel. :)

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  4. As you probably know, I've already read "The Hobbit". However, it's probably HIGH time I read it again!! :) So I'd love to join you! Send me the link! ^_^ Do you want me to spread the word on my blog as well?? I could do a post asking some of my followers if they want to join as well...

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    1. I sent you the link! I'm so happy you will be joining me!

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  5. Ooh, sounds like you guys had a fun March! I've never been skiing, even though I live in Colorado. It's practically a crime.
    That's such a good idea to have your followers read a book with you though! Unfortunately, I won't have time to participate because of Camp Nano and I'm also betareading. And I'm like WAAAAAAY behind on my reading schedule. But I hope y'all have fun! :D

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    1. Yes, I'm sure that it has to be a crime! That's too bad, but I totally understand! I'm doing the betareading too.

      Maybe if I ever do something like this again you will be able to participate!

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  6. I've been wanting to read "The Hobbit" for absolutely ages but for some reason I just never got around to it, so I would love to do it! I've got my copy I got from the library all set. ;D You can send me the link! ;)

    ~Lydia~ <3

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    1. I sent you the link so let me know if you get it! I'm so glad that you will be joining us!

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  7. Hi Bethany,
    I just found your blog and it's very nice. Looks like you had a fun vacation!
    Much love in Christ,
    Ashley
    creatingpreciousmoments.blogspot.com
    ashleysyarnworks.blogspot.com -my store

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    1. Thank you! I just changed my blog to look a bit spring-ish, I'm glad that you like it! I visited your blog and it looks beautiful.

      Would you like to participate in reading the Hobbit with us?

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  8. Love your new background, Bethany!

    Sounds like you had a busy month! I really like the fire pictures; the first one reminds me of the cover of The Hobbit that we have :)
    Ooohh, downhill skiing!! Super fun!
    Happy belated Birthday to your sister!
    How did you find Silas Marner? Who was your favourite character? And The Hidden Message! I love, love, love Adventures of the Northwoods! Just haven't read them in a loooonnnnggg time :(

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    1. Yes, it was a busy month! I had to read Silas Marner as a school book. My favorite character was probably Eppie, I love her personality! The Adventures of the Northwoods are so fun! I plan on reading book three in May.

      Will you be able to read the Hobbit with me?

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  9. It sounds like you had a fun month, Bethany!
    I have never been skiing before, but I do really enjoy sledding. ;)
    It looks like you've read some good books this month! :)
    I also like your new blog look. :)

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    1. Sledding is fun too! I also tried snowboarding and liked that. Thank you!

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  10. Your vacation sounds fabulous! And spring break is such a wonderful thing! We also plan on converting our garage into a room, and I can see why you're excited about getting your own room.

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    1. It was! Sounds like fun! I hope everything goes smoothly for you!

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  11. Hey Bethany! I tagged you in a blog post on my blog :) If you have time to check it out, here's the link: http://les0498.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-few-of-my-favorite-things.html

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  12. I would have loved to read The Hobbit with you Bethany but I am so busy right now :(. If you ever decide to read a second book and I'm free I would absolutely love to join!! It is such a great idea and sounds like sooo much fun :)!

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    1. Thank you! Depending on how much participation I get I may or may not read another book with my readers. So far I have enjoyed it and hopefully you will be able to join if I do another book! Thank you for reading!

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Blessings,
Bethany R.