January Hightlights 2017

Wow. I can't believe that the first month of 2017 is already over. It doesn't seem real. Wasn't just yesterday Christmas? Despite the speed which with this month flew by, January was a very good month.

~Summary~

I kicked off the year with a trip to Hume Lake Christian Camps again with my youth group. That was my best trip there so far! Plus I earned lots of bragging rights because we went during Hume's biggest rain storm in ten years. Despite the pouring rain, I loved every minute of my time up there. The tube run, coffee shop, and band were wonderful, and the speaker was excellent. My favorite parts were simply the great conversations I had with my friends and getting to know them even better.

I mustn't forget the ice skating! All my friends agreed that this was the highlight of our trip. I had the honor of teaching yet another friend (or two, or three) to skate. This year, instead of always being the teacher, I also got a chance to improve as I was challenged by another friend (you know who you are :P). I finally decided that I didn't care how often I fell, and I had a blast! I attempted skating backward (a disaster but fun nonetheless), and did my best to keep up.

Due to the excessive amount of rain, the Boxsled Blitz was cancelled, at least, the normal one. The Hume staff came up with a sort of obstacle course that we did on the ice skating rink. We didn't even place, but I'm pretty confident that our sled would have won had we raced down the hill. Our design was a pirate ship.

In the coffee shop.

Skating.

 

With the rain, the lake filled in a day.

In chapel.

Our pirate ship boxsled.

The river was less than half this size before rain.

This was one of the best weekends of my life! Thank you so much to my dad for taking the youth group, all the counselors, and my wonderful, amazing friends who made this trip so perfect! You guys are the best friends I could have! Thanks.

January also meant back to school, which really isn't so bad. I found myself actually looking forward to starting again.

In addition, the youth leader's wife from the other youth group I'm apart of had me and a few of my friends over to her house for an amazing sleepover.

A new experience for me this month is taking classes every Monday to get my amateur radio operating license. It's time consuming, but I know that it will be worth it to get my HAM license in a few more weeks.

Other than these, January didn't hold very many big events. It was nice to slow down a bit after Christmas and my birthday and enjoy the rain that we so desperately need out here in CA. We've gotten far more rain than all of last year combined and I'm getting to see ponds filled and rivers flowing strong. It's been so long since we've had this much water that I don't even remember seeing most of these as full as they are now.

~Reading~

I didn't quite make my goal of 10 books this month, but I came relatively close. Seven books for a total of 1,894 pages.

1. Red Rock Mysteries: Hollywood Holdup, Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry (208 pages)
2. Out From Egypt: Shadow of the Storm, Connilyn Cossette (346 pages)
3. The Blades of Acktar: Destroy, Tricia Mingerink (165 pages)
4. Adventures of the Northwoods: The Vanishing Footprints, Lois W. Johnson (156 pages)
5. Dragons in Our Midst: Tears of a Dragon, Bryan Davis (363 pages)
6. The Staff and the Sword: A Cast of Stones, Patrick W. Carr (428 pages)
7. Red Rock Mysteries: Wind Chill, Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry (228 pages)

Every one of these books was wonderful! My favorite was probably Destroy. (Of course! It's by Tricia Mingerink!) I also read my first book by Patrick W. Carr, and I was really happy with his writing. If it's any indication, I want to buy more of his books. :)

~Writing~

After a long an unintentional break from writing, I finally started again on my dragon novel. I didn't get too much done, but I'm so happy to be writing again! I ended up writing a little over 1,500 words. I'm also in the process of editing a friend's story.

I think this pretty well sums up my month. I've been really absent from the blogging world lately, but I'm hoping that will change very soon. I hope you had a wonderful month! God bless you all!

Favorite Books

A huge group of bloggers are participating in a book party at Rebekah Morris's blog "Read Another Page." It goes on until this Friday, the 30th. Six blogs (including Rebekah Morris's) are posting their top five favorite books in two genres each day. Every day they offer a prize, and to top it all off, there is an amazing grand prize. You can enter in numerous ways. I'm having a blast at the party so far, and I'd highly recommend heading over there to join in the fun!

Since this has thrown me into a bookish mood (which I'm always in anyways), I'm going to post a few of my favorite books in the mystery, historical fiction, and spiritual warfare genres. Enjoy and be sure to enter the giveaway!

For the longest time, mystery was my favorite genre. Lately, historical fiction and fantasy have overruled it, but I still love to immerse myself in a great mystery novel. I am, however, struggling to find good, clean, mysteries for teen readers such as myself. I love ones that keep you guessing and send shivers up your spine. Any recommendations? Following are some of my favorites from a few years ago.

The "Red Rock Mysteries" series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry are wonderful adventures full of twists and turns. I've thoroughly enjoyed each one I've read; my only complaint is that they are over too quickly!

Another series I re-read repeatedly when I was younger was the "No Place Like Holmes" books by Jason Lethcoe. They keep you flipping pages and are just the type that I described above. I wish they were written for my age level!

Yet a third series of delightful mysteries is the "Adventures of the Northwoods" by Lois Walfrid Johnson. They also qualify as historical fiction, set in Wisconsin. I really had fun with both the mystery, and the struggles of the times.

An abundance of these novels decorate my shelves. I can't get enough of good historical fiction. I don't have a specific time period that I enjoy most; I'll read whatever time period I can get my hands on!

At the end of 2015, I discovered Molly Evangeline and her first series, "Pirates and Faith." They are an exciting series set in the Caribbean Sea, 1702. I also appreciated the length of each book; there's nothing better than a good, long book that you can escape to!

Recently, I discovered book one in the "Out From Egypt" series by Connilyn Cossette. Counted With the Stars follows an Egyptian woman through the plagues and the Exodus. It contains a very unique perspective that I enjoyed. I don't agree with all the aspects of the book, but for the most part, it was in sync with the Biblical account.

Francine River's series, "The Mark of the Lion" is powerful! I did a post on how it affected me that you can read HERE. This is set a little after the time of Jesus in Rome and Ephesus. It is graphic, but an amazing series nonetheless.

On a lighter note, I also had fun reading the "Black Stallion" series by Walter Farley, and am now re-reading it with my sister. For anyone who loves horses, these novels are a must!

I've had a great time reading all of Susan Marlow's novels. She has several series for various age groups. Each series is centered around tomboy Andrea Carter living in Fresno, California in the 1880s. My favorite of her series is "Circle C Adventures."

Lastly, Lauraine Snelling wrote a short novel taking place during the Mount St. Helens eruption called "What about Cimmaron?" I enjoyed the unique perspective of the characters.

I don't think that this is technically a "genre," but for my purposes it is. I haven't read too many of these, but I'll share the ones that I have because I've loved them!

Rachel Starr Thomson has a series called "The Oneness." While I've only read the first few, I've been intrigued by the way that the author portrays the spiritual realm.

I've read multiple books by Josh McDowell that are also jam-packed full of the spiritual. To name a few in "The Powerlink Chronicles:" Under Siege, The Deceivers, and Truth Slayers. All were very challenging. I'd recommend all three for teens and adults—mostly teens.

Perhaps this has helped you find more books to add to your to-be-read list. I hope so! If you have read any of the above mentioned books, I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on them. What are your favorite books in these genres? I'd love to hear your input and make sure you go enter that giveaway right away!