The next week was Thanksgiving break. But it didn't officially start until Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday we had Vacation Talk! The tables, rather than being a U, became a square. We spent 20-40 minutes on each student... each of us talked about whether or not we were going home for Thanksgiving break, what our strategy was, and about the biggest truth we'd captured so far. And then the leaders and sometimes the other students spoke to each of us. Invested. Gave wisdom. Encouraged. It was awesome. x) I love Vacation Talk! It reminded me of Testimony Night each evening during the beginning of the year retreat. Only this time we knew each other and had walked together for two and a half months. It was like a review, almost. A review for each of us... of how far we'd come already, and what was next.
It took two days to get through all 21 of us, and I was one of the last on Tuesday. We didn't go in any particular order. And oh... it was good. Yes, yes, it was good. x) That night I went home and snuggled into the couch, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket with a castle on it, and waged warfare. And that night I proceeded to decapitate another Goliath. It was a good battle! And victory was sweet. I just snuggled up in that victory and fell asleep when I was done. ^_^
And on Wednesday, I tore down two strongholds. It's so much fun storming dark castles and pulling them down. =D I was busy about that all morning, for the most part. It's just so... so wholesome, so lovely, so adventurous. It is... well... reality. Reality at its finest. ^_^
Then in the afternoon my house mom got home from work early, and we made pies together. It was a good time. :) And the next day, we made Thanksgiving dinner together. In the afternoon I spent about an hour in my room pondering over my victories, and when I looked up I found that I had a message to share during road trip mentally composed! I love composing things in my mind. x)
And that night, I spent some time reading my novels I've written. ^_^ Well, my novel and a half, that is. Ahh, I love those books. Not in an arrogant sort of way, but in a... contended way, a satisfied way. He did give me a gift of writing. It's one of my most treasured gifts ever. I still have a long ways to go in honing this skill, especially in the very demanding realm of novel-writing! Because it isn't just composing, it's outright subcreation! But still. I spent time just grinning at my awesome characters, or laughing because I'd forgotten what brilliant dialogue they'd had. xD I'm looking forward to all the future novels I shall write over the course of my life. ^_^ I don't dream of making a living off of it, but merely writing for the pleasure of writing. I do hope to publish eBooks in future, but I don't imagine it being a major source of income. And I'm fine with that. I write because it is a venue through which I experience the abundance of my King in all His Awesomeness! ;D
On Friday I went out for coffee with Vanessa, who was an intern last year. ("went out for coffee"... an interesting phrase. Of course, it doesn't imply that it necessarily was actual coffee.) Vanessa has two sisters, Amanda and Alicia. They're both in my class this year. Alicia is really sweet! Amanda is... well... heh... let's just say that Amanda is a miracle. She's the second-oldest in our class, age 24. And she came out of... a LOT... of bad stuff. And she's still kinda hard-ish. But nothing like she was before, I've heard. And she's softening. It's good.
Anyway, I was going to have coffee with Alicia and Vanessa, but Alicia couldn't make it. So, just Vanessa. I remember talking with her last year when she was in Yuba City when I went and met all of them when I did my interview. It was good to be reacquainted. ^_^
Afterwards, we stopped by Fred Meyer just as the Black Friday deals were ending. So, the madness was over, thankfully! And... I FINALLY got a new journal! @_@ Ahh, I'd been planning on buying a new one for weeks! And I was down to two pages in my old journal. I was holding off from writing, because I knew I'd run out. It was slightly maddening, haha. But I hadn't had a chance to get to town for a while. So, at last, I got my new journal. ^_^ And I spent quite a bit of time writing that day when I got home. ;D
On Saturday, I went to the mall with Amanda. That's the other sister, the one who came out of a LOT of stuff. And, really... wow. She's the only one of my classmates I ever struggled to get along with. She still is... harsh, hard. But not like she used to be. Still. Yeah. It was good. =) In the car on the way there we talked about it, about how at the beginning she was judging me for being so different, and I was disliking her and struggling not to. And she compared herself to a bear, and me to a butterfly. She said she wants to learn how to be more gentle. And... she was practicing. And she did a good job. She really did. But I'm not used to such... hardness. Even someone coming out of that hardness. So it wasn't the most relaxing outing, but it was good and I'm glad we did it. Didn't buy anything, just looked. Found out we have very different fashion senses. xD
Anyway, I spent some time reading that evening. I don't have a lot of time for reading, but I'm slowly making my way through Goldstone Wood again. ^_^ I'm on book 4 right now. I think I was near the end of book 2 when I came to the Valley, so that's not bad! Three months of GO GO GO, and I've finished a fiction book, read one whole, and started another. I'm excited to get to the end of book 4, because... book 5 is out! =D And I have it on my Kindle. ;D I've never read book 5. I think I started rereading the series while I was waiting for it to come out. Or just after it came out. Or something like that. xD And book 6 is coming out this spring! Book 5 goes back a few thousand years, so we only have our immortal characters around. But book 6 goes back to present day in the story, so we get to read about our wonderful mortal protagonists again. ^_^ I'm looking forward to that. Ah, Felix! Leo! Daylilly! Even Foxbrush. xD Maybe Rosie too? Wait, come to think of it, she's actually immortal, isn't she? But she's only about 18, so she might as well be one of the mortals. She sure doesn't come in when we get books that happened centuries ago. U_U Anyway, this is way off topic. Where was I?
Oh yes! That night, I... I spent some time writing. =') Well, I've been doing plenty of writing, but that night I wasn't just writing anything. I was working on my novel. ='D Not that I got any actual scenes written, but I read through it and wrote about a thousand words of plotting. After the Search for Self Worth teaching, I've been able to see reality more clearly. And the reasons people act the way they do. And characters, also. I have a main character who's been confusing me since day one. xD I just had to rewrite her backstory. Now she makes sense!
On Sunday, I spent about 5 hours journaling. Yup. About 3.5 hours straight, and then a half hour later, and then another hour later. I was going over my week and all the fun stuff and the victories. ^_^ Anyway, I took a walk in the meadow and in the forest in the backyard. And I coined a new phrase I like. "Thinking edifying thoughts." Yup! I'll go for a walk for 45 minutes and just think edifying thoughts the whole time. It's awesome!
And that evening my house niece and house nephew, Kaiden and Kyla, came over. We had such fun! Science project and games and all. Just like I do with my real nephew. ^_^ I think I'm going to need to budget some of my support towards project supplies, though... my house mom is much less sympathetic to creativity than my real mom. She let us use stuff that day, but reluctantly. And I'm not sure if she'd do it again. The other day Kaiden asked her if she had some straws we could use for a project, and her answer really captures the sentiment! "Yes, I have straws, but they're for using... not for wasting!" Okayyyyy. So your grandchildren using materials for science projects is wasting them?
Very well, I shall respect that! That is a more normal view on the subject after all, isn't it? xD Really, I'm a Homeschooler here. I have such different perspective on these things. And her grandchildren are Homeschoolers also. So I'll set aside some of my own money and get us some supplies for our Homeschoolerish projects. ;)
And... that sums up Thanksgiving break!
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