Fun Post: February Favorites

Happy March, everyone!
This year is flying by already. Funny story about the month of March...my little brother Kebron was talking a while back about how his friend Elliot's birthday is in "stomp". It took us forever to figure out that stomp and march had blended in his then-5-year-old mind to mean the same thing. January, February, Stomp, April...sounds right! ;P Anyway, here are some February favorites! I've been:

Reading...
Pearl in the Sand, by Tessa Afshar. This is obviously a re-read for me, it's one of my favorite books. ;) I think this is my 3rd time reading it since a couple years ago when I first discovered it. 

The Silent Songbird, by Melanie Dickerson. I wouldn't really recommend this one...I don't know. While not being bad per se, it was quite a shallow/unprofitable book. This has been my impression of Melanie Dickerson across the board pretty much, unfortunately. :/ I read one or two of her books in the past, and kind of forgot what my overall thoughts were, so I had hoped this one was better...meh. Not really. Interesting, but a fluff read, if you know what I mean. ;)

Improving...
My racquetball skills. I mentioned in last month's favorites post that I had been playing a lot; still doing that. I am slowly, slowly seeing improvement, which is encouraging. Sort of. ;P It's still not happening quite as fast as I would like it to, but I'm trying. :'D I'm really hooked on the game. :)

Visiting...
My friend Jenny in Stehekin! It was super fun to finally be able to take the trek up there. It is only available by plane or a two hour boat ride, part of the reason I didn't go sooner. ;P I had a really good time exploring and hiking around with Jenny, as well as postholing. :D In case you don't know what that means, (I didn't till I went), it's when there is a ton of snow (there's over 5 feet in Stehekin still right now), and there is a crust on top. You can walk on top of the crust, sometimes. When it breaks and you sink in up to your hip, that's postholing. Haha!! It's quite...interesting. You can see some pictures of the area here. It's SOOO gorgeous!!

Looking forward to...
Our family vacation to Sunriver, Oregon in April. It's going to be incredibly fun and special. (I know because this is our 5th or 6th time going since my childhood and it always is. ;) The only bummer is that my next brother down, Micah, can't come because of work. :'(

Thankful for...
Our "new" family car!! It's a 1999 actually, but it's new to us. ;) And because it's Mercedes-Benz, it has TONS of really cool features that lots of newer cars don't even have! It was such a blessing the way God worked it out for us to get it. We had been praying about getting a vehicle for many months, and it finally worked out perfectly! God is good. <3 Also thanking Him for tax returns, Godly friends, adventures and late night talks, and homemade ice cream with from-scratch hot fudge sauce. Yum. :D

Watching...
Sense and Sensibility. So so sweet. :)

Smelling...
Spring in the air!! For the first time in 3 solid months, we actually are seeing bare ground instead of white. I really enjoy the snow, but once it gets all gray and filthy from passing cars, hard and icy, etc...it does get a little bit less appealing. ;) So I'm not protesting the approach of warmer weather. I can't wait to start climbing my mountain again!! Saddlerock is calling me... :)

What are some of your favorites from this month?? Any special plans for spring break? Have a great week, everyone! :) Love,
Mykaela

Happy Birthday to You!

Hey there!
This is definitely a different post than normal, but today I'd like to wish those with February birthdays a very happy day!! :) I have several friends, including one brother, who turn another year young in February. It's fun to have times to celebrate, in a month with not a lot of holidays. (Or at least, not a lot for those of us who are single, lol! ;) 

I would specifically like to mention my sweet grandma, though I don't call her that, it sounds weird. ;) She has always been "Oma" to me, as long as I can remember. Today is her special day, and I am so, so thankful for her and her impact on my life!! She is a prayer warrior, constantly lifting up me and my siblings, my parents, and my extended family up in prayer. She cares about people more than almost anyone else I know. She can find out more about a person (AND REMEMBER IT!!) in five minutes, than I could in a week! Sometimes it will amaze me when we are walking through the mall together and she says, "Oh, that's ____...her son Bill's wife has been terribly sick, I wonder if she is any better!" And she has only met this person like two times. :D 

I am so thankful for her sweet spirit of thankfulness to The Lord, and for her encouragement to me, especially in the area of this blog. She has been 100% supportive of me since the very beginning of it. Thank you, Oma, I love you!! 

Secondly, I would like to wish Jenny a very happy birthday. I will finally be taking a trip up to her corner of the earth to visit this next week! Jenny is another friend who's been with me since the start of the blog, and is such a faithful reader and encourager... even when I feel like a certain post was awful, or poorly written, she never fails to leave a sweet comment with her thoughts on the subject! She loves to write, (I think she could totally write a book. Or two or ten.) and when she writes you a letter, it will be a real, old-fashioned, newsy, 3 page epistle! And I LOVE that!!! :) She is so much fun to be around, especially when she talks in an accent (which is pretty much all the time!), or pretends to be offended by my lack of vocabulariness. ;P I love dragging her into crazy adventures with me, and she usually comes along, under protest, but ends up having fun anyway. I think. ;)

So yeah! Today I just wanted to mention a couple of people specifically, because sometimes it's really fun to get a shoutout on your birfday! :) (Yes, I did mean to spell it that way.) For all of my February birthday friends, I hope you have an absolutely lovely day filled with wonderful memories and lots of ice cream!! :D And even if your birthday is in August...you should still eat some ice cream because it's super yummy. ;P 
Mykaela