Hey guys! Okay I know that we have been gone for quite some time but if you read the previous post, it explains about the absolute disaster that 2020 has been for us. I want to thank everyone who prayed for us from the very bottom of my heart as you guys are so seriously awesome, and God really does answer prayer. ❤

First, there was my own injury which is still not fully healed. I still can’t sit down so I can’t drive, and my ankle swells up if I stand up for too long, but there’s no pain, so you know what? I will take it, and be grateful. Thank you, Jesus.

Second, an immediate member of my family was diagnosed with a rare and seriously deadly cancer, but I am so grateful to say that the treatment has gone very well. They were able to remove it all, and the prognosis is very positive, so life on that issue is going back to normal now. God is so so good, isn’t he? ❤

Third, my father had a mishap where he slipped on the ice and fell, breaking his spine in several places. He spent many weeks in ICU in a hospital three hours away from us being closely monitored because they thought that he would die. He could not breathe on his own, and the injured spine was too damaged as my dad already has spinal arthritis that corrodes his spine. The bones would not hold the pins in place to help the spine heal. Well, after many scares, and serious preparations to say goodbye to my dad (by Facetime as I can not travel, and no one could visit him due to quarantine), he did a complete 180. He is now back home here in the hospital in town, and I have even been able to go see him in the hospital courtyard as no one is allowed inside the hospital building due to quarantine. He is breathing fine on his own, eating solid foods and sitting in a wheelchair. They have removed the halo apparatus that he had to wear, and his spine seems to be healing on its own. He will never walk again, and has paralysis in his left arm, but his biggest complaint right now is that the cable TV in the hospital doesn’t have his channels. They said he would die. They said he would never breathe on his own, or be able to sit up never mind in a wheelchair. They were wrong, and I am so glad. I am also so grateful to those doctors, and to the hospital staff who took such good care of my dad. Praise to God for sending all the miracles.

I won’t go into the hassle of COVID as I am sure that everyone already knows all about that. Things are starting to open up in my town, not completely, but some places. I will say that even though we homeschool, it is not the same as isolation school which is what this pandemic as well as me being so stuck at home with my injury has thrown us into, so we have been struggling with that. I have already made my plans for our homeschool year next year, so hopefully we will be more prepared if everything gets shut down again. 

I also won’t go into the details of my sister getting laid off due to COVID, and their flooded basement, or my brother in law also losing his job, or my own hubby getting drastically demoted, or my mom’s business getting cancelled due to COVID, and basically all of the other nonsense that this year has brought to us, because guess what? God is still good. We are staying home. We are loving each other more. We are connecting more. We have more time for each other. We will be just fine. 

2020 might not be through with us yet, but I decided that since I am a lot more capable of getting around my house now, then I need to get back to what I love to do. One of those things is my writing. I finished writing my new book! It is the first book of my new series, and I am so so proud of it! I got the idea for this series while I was writing my EverLast Trilogy but I am the type of person who can’t start something until I am completely done the first thing.

I am currently in the editing stage on this one, but one day, I will tell the story of how I wrote this book lying face down in agonizing pain, and wishing for death. Looking back on that time, I still believe that God is so good. Even in times of trouble, things are brewing. Life is pedaling on. 

The other thing that I have been working on a lot lately is my fan merch art. I have had A LOT of time doing nothing and going nowhere lately, so I have been busy busy busy creating. I will get a post up about that very soon.

Our doll world: We are still super doll obsessed. The Little Miss not as much as me, but more than anything, I think that the dolls are what have been helping me through. I am missing my doll sewing terribly. One con of not being able to sit down is that I can not sit at the sewing machine. I have to admit that it has forced me to try other things, like learning how to paint for instance, but not sewing is practically killing me.

I am somewhat active on my new Instagram @fim_studios where I am learning doll photography. I’m still not great at it, but I did purchase some doll duds for my birthday, and I have been having fun dressing the dolls up to take their photo.

Something that we have been working on, the Little Miss and I, is aging up the dolls. That means that they need more teenage appropriate attire as well as more teen inspired bedrooms in the mega dollhouse. Yes, we are still continuing with our dollhouse reno in the style of PBTeen. Lots of work to do on that one, but I am still so excited with the progress.

We also have some big doll projects that we had been working on before all of the madness hit, so I would like to get some posts up about all that. Just rest assured, the dolls are still a very big part of our world. 🙂

Okay, one final mention. We got a new puppy!

Look how tiny he was when he was born! When we got him at 12 weeks, he was 2.5lbs. He is now a whopping 5lbs! He probably won’t grow much bigger than this. He is a chocolate yorkie terrier.

He just got a haircut for summer in those last two photos. It’s been really hot outside here. Anyway, a puppy is a huge deal for me who has never had a dog before! I had a bunny once, a gerbil, a guinea pig, a hamster, some fish, but never an actual puppy dog! I am not really a dog person, but he is a real snuggle pup. He’s growing on me, and he’s sort of attached himself to me as he never leaves my side. His name is Teo (tay-oh) and isn’t he just as cute as a button?! He’s a really good boy too, and he will be your very best friend, even if you are an intruder. LOL!

Alright, so like the title of the post says, we are back! This doesn’t necessarily mean that we will be posting every day or anything, but we will definitely not be the radio silent that we have been for the past several months. I hope to at least get a few posts up before the end of summer when homeschool hits in full force again.

Please tell us what you guys have been up to! Are you excited for school this fall? What does that look like for you? We’ve missed everyone like crazy! We are soooooooooo glad to be back!!

Keep smiling, everybody! God is so great, and life is so good, even in the darkness.

❤ ❤ ❤