Your Invitation to Participate in a Fun Book Exchange!

 

Yep, all you will have to do is send one favorite book to a stranger and in return, receive up to 36 books for you to keep. They will be favorites from strangers all over!

Drop a comment below if you are interested or would like more information. 😊 Email may be the easiest and fastest way to communicate - feel free to share your email address in the comments and I will keep the comment unpublished and use that address to get in touch 😄

I look forward to hearing from you! Let me know if you have any questions. Also, for those under the age of 18, please be sure to obtain parental permission before signing up to participate. Thanks so much!

Not just surviving,

Ellen S.

Photo Dump // Life Update

Hello to everyone who might still read this blog! I have not forgotten about this little corner of the internet, and while I miss having all the time I once did to jump on here and post, I would not change a thing about the season of life God currently has me in. I have been learning so much! The fall semester of my freshman year went super well, and I am now in my second semester with spring break looming just around the corner (one week off at the beginning of March - woohoo!) My classes have been challenging yet rewarding, and I am giving them my all! Plus working Tuesday and Saturday afternoons and Thursday evenings 😅 When I am not doing school or working, I am reading, trying to get back into jogging regularly, adding driving hours to my permit, or writing (with God's grace and help, I am determined to shape my latest idea into a novel - currently I am 20,000+ words in). So, yep, life has been busy, but good. 

2023 started off a little rough for my family. We spent the last week or so of December attempting to keep an intense stomach bug from spreading in the family after one of my siblings came down with it. Many of our plans for the holidays were cancelled, but God stayed faithful and He brought us through it - also (VERY thankful for this), my sibling recovered well and no one else ended up catching the bug. Then January rolled in, bringing with it another illness and a couple emergency room visits. Yet through it all, God was working, and He sustained and strengthened us. So grateful 💗

And so now, without any further ado, some photos from the past few months:

DECEMBER:

for Christmas, my supervisors at work treated me to my first Starbucks coffee 😊

making peppermint chex mix!

Mom and me <3

trip to the antique store with my mom and sisters!

found some gently used Christian fiction books at said antique store selling for a little over $1 apiece *heart eyes*

JANUARY:

good start to the spring semester :)

did the March for Life for the first time!

FEBRUARY:

bookstore visit!

I do not think I will ever outgrow my love for fake food xD 

writing!

my amazing blogger friend, Lilly, whom I have known/followed for the past four+ years, was published in an anthology! I downloaded Seize the Love onto my Kindle/phone the other day and look forward to diving into all the stories. (that cover is gorgeous, by the way, and went perfectly with my Valentine's Day nail polish :D)

Valentine's Day tea party with my sisters (in our pajamas) :D

currently reading ^_^

Did you enjoy this life update/photo dump? What are you currently reading? How has your 2023 been thus far?

ALSO: if you would like to see more from me, feel free to check out my brand-new Instagram page, where I try to get on occasionally with fun photos, devotions, and brief snippets from my life. 😄

Until next time!

Not just surviving,

Ellen S.

Writer/Reader's Dream Come True!

I have many happy places, some of which include being outside with a book, on my bed before a computer/journal, or in the van taking a road trip. But when I come across a place that holds sooooo many of my favorite things at once, my heart just seems to bubble over. 😍😍😍

Monday morning, my mom and I went antiquing. She loves anything pretty and vintage that could possibly be used in making a "junk journal", so antique stores are right up her alley. (if you'd like to check out some of her creations, visit her Instagram page.) On the way home, I told Mom, "I wish there was a writer's store that I could go to. You know, one that sells pens and paper and is full of inspirations specifically meant for published/budding authors . . ." 

The next day, Mom and I trekked out again, expecting to go to another antique shop. Their website had said they were open, but we realized too late that the information was false. Sitting in a parking lot forty-some minutes away from home, Mom and I debated what to do next.

"I think there's a Barnes & Noble around here somewhere," she said. "We can go there and then head back home."

We decided to give it a try. However, neither one of us had been in the area for a number of years, so we soon discovered that the Barnes & Noble had been replaced by a Books-a-Million (BAM!) store . . . which turned out to be THE BEST EVER. 🤩🤩🤩 It had lava/glitter lamps, books, stationery, notebooks, planners, fun trinkets, pens . . . yep, I was beyond excited. 😄 Truly, this was something only God could orchestrate!! He knew before I spoke a word just how much a place like this would mean to me . . . a place I wasn't even aware existed. 💜

All my goodies!! A copy of If I Run by Terri Blackstock (which had been highly recommended by a friend on Goodreads), a mug, three pens with useful grammar tips, and a world's smallest glitter lamp. 🥰😁

Do you have a BAM! store where you live? What's a way God has shown you recently that He's providing for you? Drop a comment and tell me!

Blessings,

Ellen S.

Monday Musings // Books, Books, Books!!

It's Monday already?! I don't know about you all, but the weeks seem to be running together for me. Having a full schedule certainly makes the time fly! 

Okay, sooooo, a few note-worthy occurrences from the past seven days . . . 

~receiving/reading new books, both in paperback and Kindle format

~we had our roof redone (which created a REALLY noisy atmosphere in our home from seven in the morning to eight in the evening *winces in remembrance*)

~lots of rain. on one particularly wet morning, Ruby Jane, my little brother, and I all squeezed under an umbrella to take a walk around the block. plenty of laughter and some slightly-soaked clothes ensued from this outing xD

~FFF organizing (again)

~I enjoyed my first-ever voice chat with Abby J. <3

~the arrival of a new piece of jewelry in the mail had me excited. September is national suicide prevention month, and I was inspired to order (and wear!) a semicolon ring as a reminder that the story is not over yet;

~two fun visits to Grandma's for PB&J sandwiches, pizza, snakes (!!!), and a variation of ball games 

~Ruby officially added two daily containers of Gerber baby food to her diet (she's growing way too fast!)

Aaaaaaand, time for everyone's favorite part . . . the pictures. Take a look at all these books + the cuties helping my photo shoots along. =)

How has your week been? What's on your currently-reading list? Let's talk in the comments below! <3

Blessings,

Ellen S.