Greetings everyone! Long time, never see, ehh?

I know I really disappeared from my blog and the whole book/blogging world for the better part of this year, and I do apologize for that! And that is the whole reason of this post—to explain what has kept me so busy for the past 7 months!

Right now I am trying to sort through backed up emails (talk about a headache!) and begin to start planning posts for my blog. I’m not sure exactly what my schedule will be like on my blog—I know I won’t be posting as frequently as before or with as many book reviews, but as soon as I get a feel for how often I’ll be posting, or maybe even have a weekly schedule, I’ll be sure to let y’all know!

So, I might as well dive right into my update. 🙂 In the middle of December last year, my life took a very big and a very unexpected turn! I don’t know how to say it to build up any suspense (lol!) so I’ll just saying it like it is.

A single Navy guy who was being stationed here for a few months was visiting our Church…and in the middle of December he asked my dad if he could court me.

🙂

We started slow–since neither my parents or I were very familiar with the guy (he’d only been visiting our church a few months), and we called it the “get to know each other” stage. Or, for more simplicity, it was like a “pre-courtship”. He came over and visited with me and the family on a weekly basis, and I got to know him more. Then in the middle of March we began “officially courting”.

😀

Here’s a picture of us, if you’re curious. His name is Dan (which is funny, since I have a brother named Danny, and Uncle named Danny, and three cousins who have names beginning with “Dan”). Since he’s in the Navy, we had a lot of ups and downs around the time that he got his orders. For a while we thought he’d get stationed in my home town, then we thought he’d be just a few states away…it was really crazy for several weeks. There were many, many prayers for God to work in our situation and place Dan where HE wanted him to be.

And when the dust finally settled, we found out he was to be stationed in California.

And for those of you who may not know, I live in Florida.

It wasn’t what we had wanted or hoped for, but after some time to adjust to the whole idea, we both agreed that it shouldn’t be what we wanted for us, but what God wanted for us. And, if you knew the whole story with all it’s crazy twists and turns, you would agree with us that God really wanted Dan out in California.

So, as you can imagine, with the reality facing us that he would be leaving very soon, we spent as much time together as we possible could. And while I am unspeakably thankful for that time we had….it seemed to pass far too quickly!

It’s now been 16 days since Dan left, and while sometimes I think I’m getting used to the whole “long distance” relationship….there are still days that I wish there weren’t over 2,000 miles separating us.

🙁

But, I keep looking on the bright side of things — while we are separated now, it’s only for a season. 🙂

So! Yeah, this whole courtship has been the main reason I have not had time to blog or read at all the last few months. We were spending a lot of time together before we found out where he was going to be stationed–because we knew the possibility of him being stationed somewhere far away. (Though neither of us ever imagined California!) So then when we found out it’d be in CA, we spent every spare moment together.

Cosmetology has also been taking up the rest of my time the last few months. This year I’ve been going to school all morning, coming home around 1 o’clock or so. It’s been a really fun experience and I’ve been learning a lot! I’ve discovered I love doing hair styles, cutting hair, and even coloring….but don’t enjoy highlighting, perms, or relaxers as much. But we learn everything and, hey, even if I don’t particularly enjoy it, I still need to know how to do it well. 🙂

I’m set to graduate out of Cosmetology school in December, Lord willing. It’s exciting that I’m more than halfway over–it seems I’ve been going to Cosmetology school for ages! But it’s been a great experience and one I will look back on with fond memories. 🙂

Well, I think that’s about it. Those are really the only two things that have been engulfing my time this year. I hope y’all forgive me for disappearing on you this year. Lord willing, I’m back and will soon be in the swing of things. I can’t wait to get back to visiting all the blogs I used to read on a daily basis. While I won’t be able to commit the time to it that I used to, I will be doing as much as my time will allow. 🙂

So! with all that said, I’d love to hear from y’all! Especially if we used to communicate last year before I disappeared. 😛 How is your blog doing? Any big changes in your life? Can’t wait to hear from ya!