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When Will This Quarantine End?

When Will This Quarantine End?

Enjoy this fun video my siblings and I put together a couple of weeks ago…

Have a blessed day,

Amanda

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In Delaware, we’ve been under quarantine for about 4 or 5 weeks now. It honestly hasn’t been that bad. I work from home so that part of my life didn’t really change. Except for the fact that I was hired for a local country store the week that we began quarantine. The hardest part of this is that I haven’t left the house in weeks. I don’t mind being at home but not being able to see my friends, not being able to visit the book store, and not being able to go to the beach are getting to me a bit. Thankfully, we’ve been able to remain in contact with friends and family and we’ve also been eating wonderful food. Today, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite parts of this quarantine.

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How has your quarantine been so far?

What is the first thing you’d like to do when the quarantine ends?

Until next time friends,

Amanda

Stay positive! We’ll get through this together 🙂

Quarantine Diaries In Delaware, we've been under quarantine for about 4 or 5 weeks now. It honestly hasn't been that bad.

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Quarantine Activities to Keep You From Getting Bored

I know it has been hard for a lot of people, quarantining themselves while this virus spreads. But rather than dwelling on the negatives of this situation, I wanted to dwell more on the positives. Today, I’d like to share some fun ideas you can do while you’re stuck at home.

1. At-Home Escape Rooms

You can find so many different types of escape rooms on Amazon that are fun to do as a family or…

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Tea & Thoughts

It’s been a while since my last tea and thoughts post and with everything that has been going on in my life lately, I thought now was the perfect time to do another.

To begin, I took a much-needed break from my blogs while my life changed a bit. It was all just a bit too much for me to juggle. So, to update you, I was hired for Peebles as a part-time, temporary employee while they transitioned…

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I’ve been gone for a while and since then, a lot of beautiful signs that Spring is on its way have popped up. Here are just a couple…

We got 10 new baby chicks which will end up being lovely laying hens this Summer! They are super duper cute!

Flowers have been bursting forth everywhere! We have tons of daffodils and our pansies are coming out as well. I am also super excited to see my tulips starting to come through the ground.

We’ve also been blessed with two days of beautiful weather. I was able to spend time with a friend and walk on the beach without shivering. It was a glorious day!

What signs of Spring do you see around you?

Have a lovely day my friends,

Amanda

First Signs of Spring I've been gone for a while and since then, a lot of beautiful signs that Spring is on its way have popped up.

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I Love You All!

I Love You All!

Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com

Thank you all for continuing on this journey of life with me! I’m so blessed to be able to write and share my life with you. I also feel very blessed to have loyal readers who support my words whether they agree with them or not. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love each and every one of you!

If you don’t have a Valentine this year, don’t worry, I’ll…

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Classic Literature

Classic Literature.

For some, these simple words evoke a strange, wonderfully contented desire to step into a world of yesterday or a world of magical fancy. For others, they evoke a grimace of forced familiarity pushed upon them by teachers who only tried to follow the lesson plan or friends and family members wanting to impress a love of reading.

However, the latter, though indeed forced…

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What does your mood board look like?

Until next time, friends,

Amanda

The Beauty of Winter (Mood Board) What does your mood board look like? Until next time, friends, Amanda

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Hygge – Staying Warm Throughout Winter

Hygge – Staying Warm Throughout Winter

We have really been blessed with a very mild winter this year. Yesterday, there was a high of 63 and tomorrow it’s going to be the same. It’s even been predicted that spring will be arriving just a bit earlier this year; the weather at least. However, in spite of this, I wanted to share some tips on how you can utilize hygge in these last few weeks of winter.

Hygge – is a Danish and Norwegian…

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The Beauty of Women

As you may recall, I did a post about my experience at the pro-life rally and march in D.C. a couple of weeks ago. It was an amazing experience that I hope to experience again. However, today I wanted to focus on women. This goes alongside my D.C. March for Life 2020 as well as my post about The Beauty of Men. If you’d like to read both of those posts, I encourage you to do so.

The neatest thing…

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Last Thursday evening, our family made the last-minute decision to attend this year’s March for Life. This was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. We stayed the night in Alexandria, met up with Concerned Women for America for breakfast, and headed over to the Washington Monument for the rally.

There were secret service agents everywhere because president Trump was going to make an appearance. He made history by being the very first president to attend the March for Life. Once through the security checkpoint, we found a great spot close to the jumbotron so that us short people (me, Julia, and Mom) could actually see something.

By the time everything started (we arrived at around 10 and it began around 11), there were over 200,000 people gathered around the rally area! It was incredible to see so many women, men, children, teenagers, and even some veterans there to support human life. The Messengers (a Christian band from Ireland) performed, the pledge of allegiance was lead by a student, and a young woman sang the national anthem beautifully.

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the highlights of this important event, beginning with our president’s speech.

“Thank you very much and thank you, Jeanne. It is my profound honor to be the first president in history to attend the March for Life. We are here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential.

For 47 years, Americans of all backgrounds have traveled from across the country to stand for life. And today as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you.

I want to welcome tens of thousands – this is a tremendous turnout – tens of thousands of high school and college students who took long bus rides to be here in our nation’s capital. And to make you feel even better, there are tens of thousands of people outside that we passed on the way in. If anybody would like to give up their spot, we can work it out.

We have a tremendous group of people outside. Thousands and thousands wanted to get in. This is some great success. Young people are the heart of the March for Life. And it’s your generation that is making America the pro-family, pro-life nation.

The life movement is led by strong women, amazing faith leaders, and brave students who carry on the legacy of pioneers before us who fought to raise the conscience of our nation and uphold the rights of our citizens. You embrace mothers with care and compassion. You are empowered by prayer and motivated by your unselfish love. You are grateful and we are so grateful ­­– these are incredible people – to be joined by Secretary Alex Azar and Kellyanne Conway.

And thanks also to Senators Mike Lee and James Lankford who are here. Thank you, fellas. And Representatives Steve Scalise, Chris Smith, Ralph Abraham, Warren Davidson, Bob Latta, John Joyce, Lloyd Smucker, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Brad Wenstrup. Thank you all. I have to say – and I look at it, and I see it exactly – we have many more politicians in the audience. But if you don’t mind, I won’t introduce them all.

All of us here understand an eternal truth: Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God. Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life.

When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation. When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family. When we watch a child grow, we see the splendor that radiates from each human soul. One life changes the world – from my family, and I can tell you, I send love, and I send great, great love – and from the first day in office, I have taken historic action to support America’s families and to protect the unborn.

And during my first week in office, I reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy and we issued a landmark pro-life rule to govern the use of Title X taxpayer funding. I notified Congress that I would veto any legislation that weakens pro-life policy or that encourages the destruction of human life.

At the United Nations, I made clear that global bureaucrats have no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that protect innocent life. Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.

As the Bible tells us, each person is wonderfully made. We have taken decisive action to protect the religious liberty – so important – religious liberty has been under attack all over the world and frankly, very strongly attacked in our nation. You see it better than anyone. But we are stopping it. And we’re taking care of doctors, nurses, teachers, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor.

We are preserving faith-based adoption and to uphold our founding documents, we have appointed 187 federal judges, who apply the Constitution as written, including two phenomenal supreme court justices – Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

We are protecting pro-life students’ rights to free speech on college campuses. And if universities want federal taxpayer dollars, then they must uphold your First Amendment right to speak your mind. And if they don’t, they pay a very big financial penalty, which they will not be willing to pay.

Sadly, the far left is working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious leaders from the public square, and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life. They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice. And we will win because we know how to win. We all know how to win. We all know how to win. You’ve been winning for a long time. You’ve been winning for a long time.

Together, we are the voice for the voiceless. When it comes to abortion – and you know this, you’ve seen what’s happened – Democrats have embraced the most radical and extreme positions taken and seen in this country for years and decades, and you can even say, for centuries.

Nearly every top Democrat in congress now supports taxpayer-funded abortion all the way up until the moment of birth. Last year, lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb right up until delivery.

Then, we had the case of the Democrat governor in the state of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia. And we love the commonwealth of Virginia, but what is going on in Virginia? What is going on? The governor stated that he would execute a baby after birth. You remember that.

Senate Democrats even blocked legislation that would give medical care to babies who survive attempted abortions. And that’s why I’ve called on Congress – two of our great senators here, so many of our congressmen here – I called upon them to defend the dignity of life and to pass legislation prohibiting late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in their mother’s womb.

This year, the March for Life is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which forever enshrined women’s rights to vote in the United States and given by the United States constitution. Such a big event. Today, millions of extraordinary women across America are using the power of their votes to fight for the right and all of their rights as given in the Declaration of Independence – it’s the right to life.

To all the women here today, your devotion and your leadership uplifts our entire nation and we thank you for that. The tens of thousands of Americans gathered today not only stand for life – it’s really here that they stand for it so proudly together. And I want to thank everybody for that. You stand for life each and every day. You provide housing, education, jobs, and medical care to the women that you serve. You find loving families for children in need of a forever home. You host baby showers for expecting moms. You make – you just make it your life’s mission to help spread God’s grace.

And to all the moms here today, we celebrate you and we declare that mothers are heroes. Your strength, devotion, and drive is what powers our nation. Because of you, our country has been blessed with amazing souls who have changed the course of human history.

We cannot know what our citizens yet unborn will achieve. The dreams they will imagine. The masterpieces they will create. The discoveries they will make. But we know this: every life brings love into this world. Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting.

And above all, we know that every human soul is divine and every human life, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of Almighty God.

Together, we will defend this truth all across our magnificent land. We will set free the dreams of our people. And with determined hope, we look forward to all of the blessings that will come from the beauty, talent, purpose, nobility, and grace of every American child.

I want to thank you. This is a very special moment. It’s so great to represent you. I love you all. And I say with a true passion, thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all. Thank you.”

This was so inspiring for all of us to hear from our nation’s leader! Not only was his speech truly incredible, but being there, in-person to see him and experience all of this first-hand was spectacular.

After this speech, many other important people came out to speak about the topic of pro-life as well as two amazing women who are survivors of a botched abortion. One of these women was a twin; the only one of whom survived the attempted abortion. Their stories were inspiring about how they forgave their birth mothers and how they’ve moved forward with their lives to raise awareness for pro-life campaigns.

All of my other highlights almost pale in comparison to seeing the president and hearing from these women but I figured I’d share them with you anyway.

First, I met a man I’ve followed for quite some time who keeps his followers up to date with important goings-on in our country, David Harris Jr. That was pretty awesome! We later found out that a lot of other famous, very important political leaders and advocates were attending.

We marched peacefully, there were groups of teens singing praises to God, and there were passionate people who were making friends and meeting new people. We did encounter some protestors but they paled in comparison to the 200,000+ people marching for life.

Finally, I just wanted to point something out that we heard from the lead singer of The Messengers. I can’t remember the exact quote, but he said something to the effect of-

We are not marching against abortion, we are marching for life. We shouldn’t be focused on what we are against but what we are for.

There is so much more that I could say, some of which I made clear in my Instagram posts, but I’ll leave you with that. I will never forget these memories. I am proud of my president, I am proud to be pro-life, I am proud to be pro-women, and I am proud that I was there to be a part of something so amazing.

Until next time friends,

Amanda

D.C. March for Life 2020 Last Thursday evening, our family made the last-minute decision to attend this year's March for Life. This was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.

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Have Courage and Be Kind - Getting Political (Part 2)

Have Courage and Be Kind – Getting Political (Part 2)

As you all know, I have written a few politically-themed posts here. I feel that as a young, patriotic U.S. citizen, it’s my duty to be well-read and educated on the subject of my country. I do a lot of research in the scriptures and use these as a basis for all of my political posts to ensure that everything I saw is in line with God’s Word.

If you haven’t read my previous post in this series, I…

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The Beauty of Self-Care

The Beauty of Self-Care

I’ve been seriously neglecting my Beautiful Life series but I’m ready to get back into the swing of things now that life is a little calmer.

Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

A lot of times, I forget how important self-care is to keeping yourself healthy and focused. Life can sometimes get busy which means that our self-care takes a back seat. I’ve come to realize during the past 2 weeks or so…

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Building Immunity + Video

Building Immunity + Video

As you all know, it’s flu season. Yuck! Since I usually don’t blog about stuff like this here on my personal blog, I thought it would be a great change to give you some tips on how to boost your immunity. I’ve uploaded a video on my YouTube channel all about this topic. If you would like more information on immunity, you can either check out my health blog: A Dancer’s Diary Blogor you can read my…

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Winter Book List

I did this last year but wasn’t able to keep up with it. I think that the problem with me is that I get overzealous and create lists that I can’t even come close to completing. With that said, I’ve created a very short book list which I am planning on sticking to.

The main reason behind this is because I want to have something to talk about during our book society meetings. Speaking of which, we…

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Wow! It has been an AMAZING year! There’s so much that has happened this year that I almost forgot that all of it happened this year. God has done so many wonderful things in the lives of each of my family members. He has pulled me further outside of my comfort zone than I ever thought was possible in only 365 days.

I’m the type of person that “needs” to know everything about a situation, especially a new one. I want to know what to expect before leaping headfirst. I’m not an out-of-the-box type of person. My comfort zone is comfortable and I like to stay in it. However, I’ve found that sometimes trusting God and stepping outside of my comfort zone can be a really exciting process.

Here are just a few things that have made this year amazing…

January

Our grandparents came to spend the new year with us and we took a trip to the beach for some of our favorite fish and chips. We also had a snowstorm and Adam built a HUGE snowball. He then practiced his archery in it and later chopped it apart with a machete. He had a lot of fun.

I joined a friend for a Mary Kay party and ended up winning a spa trip! It was pretty awesome! I did a live workout series on my Instagram which ended up being a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll do it again this year?

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February

Julia and I hosted a Galentine’s Day tea party with our girlfriends. We watched Letters to Juliet and played a game called Mystery Date. Dad sent us flowers because he was out of town.

We also rock-climbed for the first time at Rise Fitness. It began a love of rock-climbing in all of us.

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March

In March, we worked hard on the yard and garden. I got ready for the baseball season in style. The boys were great and helped me film a video for my YouTube channel which led to an injury and I never uploaded it. I also made cream puffs to celebrate 200 followers on Instagram.

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April

Our first trip of the year was to Florida to see our family. We spent time at the beach, ate some good food, and watched Shazam. It was a nice reprieve from the cold weather and it was nice to see all of our family again. We stopped in Savannah on the way home. It was my first time there and I absolutely fell in love!

Easter was quietly celebrated at home and we enjoyed the Avengers: Endgame movie. I went to my first bridal shower, as a bridesmaid, and met an amazing friend. It was totally outside of my comfort zone to go alone, not knowing anybody, but I gained a wonderful friend out of it and I didn’t regret it at all. Throughout the year, this friend – Heidi – and I have done so many fun things together and have truly become best friends.

Finally, I was finally able to use my spa day tickets and received a facial, massage, mani-pedi, and spent the entire day with a friend. It was wonderfully relaxing!

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May

May was a big month for me! It had been a long-time coming to celebrate the wedding of one of my dearest friends. I finally had the chance to be a bridesmaid and I honestly think that it was the most memorable moment of the whole year for me. It was the most perfect day and I was one of the first people to congratulate the beautiful bride and proud groom.

We traveled to Boston to visit with our Grandma, go to a Red Sox game for Dad’s birthday, tour around our favorite places in the city (including Boston Harbor), Plymouth, ate some incredible foods, and I even visited my favorite book store which is officially closing…so sad.

Finally, we got two of the cutest little baby animals to add to our family; Lulu the Guinea pig and Lola the bunny. Oh! We also set up a home gym for Father’s Day.

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June

The first day of Summer brought a 50’s party. Our friends arrived dressed their best and we watched an outdoor showing of Arsenic & Old Lace. It was a fantastic way to welcome the best season ever.

We discovered an antique store that I’m absolutely in love with. It’s like a huge maze of amazing items. Adam got a bird named Jose, I made homemade strawberry jam, we went to the beach with a friend, and we discovered a beautiful greenhouse cafe with delicious pastries.

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July

For Independence Day, I broke out the face paints and we went to see the new Spiderman movie; Spiderman – Far From Home. We hosted more friend get-togethers, one of which included a handmade water slide and an intense water gunfight.

I cut off my hair! I actually love it! Our uncle came to live with us for a while. Lulu grew two sizes and we ventured to the state fair where I got many compliments on my Trump 2020 shirt.

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August

August was Julia’s month. She turned 18 and graduated! I can’t believe how grown-up she is. I gained three beautiful students, we had family come and visit for the graduation, Julia and I gathered some friends together to go see the Dora movie, and our family found a new biking trail that we keep going back to.

Julia and I combined our birthday parties again this year into a 20’s soiree. It was fabulous! I went to another friend’s bridal shower!

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September

I’m 24! When did this happen? I celebrated by attempting 24 things in 24 hours…it didn’t really work out but I did get to spend the day with my siblings and watched my favorite movie (the live-action Cinderella). My sweet, dear friend took me out for ice cream for my birthday because she couldn’t be there to celebrate with me.

Julia and I planned a surprise, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea party for Adam’s 16th birthday. He didn’t suspect a thing!

We took Heidi with us to go mini-golfing at the beach. We went to 8 different mini-golf courses, visited the beach, and then got snow cones. Heidi got a hole in one on the final hole…it was awesome! Another one of our friendship meet-ups was to go rock-climbing. It was a great day!

The last day of Summer was spent on the beach (of course) and I purchased a Gilmore Girl’s t-shirt. One adventurous day was spent kayaking at our state park and then biking at the beach. It’s safe to say that I was sore for days afterward.

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October

My book was published! I received the official printing of my book and was able to finally hold it in my hands after a year of writing and re-writing. I went out for my first job interview and nailed it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the job.

We went to the state park for some Fall fun. More biking and more beach time. Julia, me, and a few friends began our book society! We’ve already grown so close and I cannot wait to see where this goes.

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November

Our final trip as a family was to Orlando. We didn’t go to Disney, but we were able to spend some time at the Disney resorts and in Disney Springs. The weather fluctuated between perfectly warm and chilly. We also met up with our family for a day and rode the Skyliner for the first time. We ate some delicious food, saw MANY palm trees and Christmas trees, took lots of sibling pictures, laughed a lot, biked, walked, ate some more, and just had the perfect vacation.

I did end up canceling my book launch party because we weren’t able to sell as many tickets as we needed to. This worked out for the best, however, because I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving with the family. I did end up selling ALL my books anyway so it ended up not mattering so, so much.

The pastor of a church we love in Thomaston, Georgia passed away. It was a very unexpected and sad experience, but we know he is with the Heavenly Father. In addition to that, before he died, he was able to ordain both of my parents as pastors under the Hope of the Generations Church. It was a very special experience for both of them. We got our roof redone and I signed tons of books.

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December

One of my favorite months. We did a lot more than we usually do for Christmas this year. We went to a local play of A Christmas Carol and saw a musical performance by a choir and Adlan Cruz. They were both great.

Us siblings went to a cocoa crawl at the beach. It was so empty! It was fun to bundle up and get different kinds of cocoa and cookies from various businesses. The moon looked so cool that night. Julia did a small photoshoot with me to highlight my book for the holidays. She did a great job!

I was invited to do my very first radio show on our local radio. I was able to go in and interview about my book. It was out of my comfort zone but totally amazing! I shipped out the rest of the books I had on hand and was left with only 1 copy for myself. It was so perfect that it could only be attributed to God. I prayed that I’d sell enough to cover publishing costs and I did!

Mom brought Heidi and me to a gingerbread house decorating event (Julia wasn’t able to join us so Mom took her place). The room was full of kids but it was super fun to spend a holiday night with a friend.

CHRISTMAS! Christmas was wonderful! Because of the renovations we did on the house, the four of us knew that our parents were only getting us 1 gift each. They surprised me and Julia with tickets to the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway! I can’t wait! It was fun to finally see the reactions to the homemade gifts Julia and I made this year. I didn’t sleep very well (it was like I was a little kid again) because I couldn’t wait to see how everyone liked the gifts. We also partook in our traditional breakfast of bacon, sausage, cinnamon rolls, eggs, mimosas, and coffee.

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General Overview

I tried my hand at online dating. It was an interesting experience, however, not altogether a bad one. I met a wonderful guy that I almost dated (we were getting serious about meeting each other and had talked on the phone and through video call but it wasn’t meant to be) and a couple of other great guys. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up working out but I’m glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone enough to try it.

I was thrilled about how well my book did. I sold all 25 copies, was featured on the radio, and even inspired some other writers through an author interview. It was a good year for authorship. I even started writing my second book which will take place in the Summer (Independence Day). I’m already on chapter 3!

Looking back, God did so many things that have made me more confident in my capabilities as a businesswoman, author, believer, and person. He renewed my hope in people as they supported me and encouraged me; something I struggled with when I published my last book. I’ve done things I’ve dreamed of doing but never had the courage, I celebrated, I was positive, I dreamed, I learned, I taught, and I grew.

2019 was fantastic but I’m excited to see what God has in store for both me and my family in the coming year. There are a lot of things that I would love to accomplish but I’ve learned that sometimes God has other plans. So, my ultimate goal in 2020 is to have an open mind and an open heart to whatever God has for me.

With love,

Amanda

2019 in Review Wow! It has been an AMAZING year! There's so much that has happened this year that I almost forgot that all of it happened 

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Family Vacation

I haven’t posted anything on here in a while because I’ve been working hard on getting my book marketed for its publication date (Nov. 30) and then we went on vacation. It felt great to get away and refocus after the busy months I’ve had lately. Here is a quick recap of some of my favorite moments from our trip to Florida.

AMAZING food! I’ll be doing a food post on our Disney blogif you are…