A Difficult Decision

I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I've come to a hard decision.  I'm going to shut down my blog.  

I am happy with my weheartit and my tumblr, and I simply do not have the commitment to this blog that I need for it to be successful.  

Thank you, my eight followers, for sticking by me the almost two years I've had this blog.  I will leave it up in case anyone wants to look at it later.  

With love, 

me

Sweet Sixteen

I turned sixteen on Thursday.  

For some reason in the past years leading up to this one, I have looked forward to, and dreaded, this year.  Sixteen is always such a big deal.  It's Sweet Sixteen, the middle of the teenage years, the age when countless story book heroes find their strength, their reason for living, and their love.  Sixteen is the age of Sleeping Beauty when she fell under her spell.  It's the age that, as a little girl, I always looked forward to and thought to myself, that's when I'll be grown up.  I used to want to get married when I was sixteen.  Haha...

A little part of me feels like I'm intruding on the age.  I'm not ready, not prepared, not experienced enough to be the hero of a story.  But heroes are just like you and me.  Their insecurities are what made them who they are/were.  And I find that very encouraging.  

The point is, so what if five years have passed.  Or ten, or twelve.  I feel exactly the same.  My view has broadened, and my thoughts have stretched further than I ever thought they could (and yet somehow there is still MUCH further to stretch).  My body has changed, and I've gotten older.  But inside me the little girl is still there.  Except now when I read about sixteen year old heroes I don't think about how brave or mature they are.  I think about how inspiring it is that they pushed through what they did, despite all their insecurities, fears and emotions.  They weren't any more ready to be the hero than I am right now to be sixteen.  But just like my age, it really couldn't be prevented.

And so, with all that, I thought I'd share a little bit of my last six years: one picture from each birthday. Behind each one is a year of life that helped make me who I am today.  Behind each of these smiles is a year that in some way, changed my life.  I hope you enjoy them. :)

With love,

me

 10

 11

 12

 13

 14

 15

16

It Snowed Today

Today was the first thick snow.  It was so beautiful and light, and the flakes landed on my eyelashes and made me feel like I was in a fairy tale.  The beginning of the long winter has begun, and for at least five more months we will be trapped in the land of ice and snow, watching from the window and wishing for spring.  But I'm ready to enjoy the first couple months at least.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner, and the cheery lights on buildings will be put up to put everyone in a good mood.  

Happy October, readers.  Enjoy the rest of your fall.

With love,

me

Hilltop

The scenery from our blueberry picking spot this year was breath taking.

I've been having a lot of fun making collages lately.  :)

I hope you all have a beautiful and magical autumn.

Love,

me

Beautiful Innocence

The fact is, I love taking pictures.  And since I have a shortage of people willing to model for me, I bring my own models along.  I love to portray emotion with these little friends.

Maybe part of it is I love how innocent they are.  Every person has secrets, harsh feelings, or polluted thoughts.  It's hard to imagine something more good willed and naive than a child's plaything.  

And up on the top of this hill, with the autumn colors beginning to peek out and the sweet, sharp smelling wind blowing my hair (More pictures to come), the world felt so pure.  I never wanted to leave.  

I wish the whole world was so innocent.

In the background of the picture below, you can see the pile of rocks I took the pictures on.  I love being up so high.

Thank you for reading. :)

More pictures to come!

With love,

me

He's Enough

And that's all.

love,

me

Next

Time passes.

Leaves turn yellow early this year.

Memories cling,

but must be left behind.

It's time to move on.

The photos are of Emily, my dear friend who came up to visit over the summer.  I miss her like crazy.  I wish some things went on forever.

But the summer is over now.  Autumn is starting, early even for Alaska.  Leaves are dying, falling, stripping their trees of color, readying them for their next stage.  I need to move on, too.

I will never forget this summer, ever.  It can easily be called the best summer of my life.  The new friends I have made will last forever.  Maybe even longer. 

Yesterday I started 10th grade.  So far everything is going well.  I'm thankful that it is still warm enough to go outside and breathe without the negative temperatures freezing my throat.  I love the autumn, but it is so sad.  This year will be good, though.  I'm excited about what God has in store for me and my family.

I'm ready to start a new surge of creativity.  I can feel it running through my veins.  I wonder what it will look like when it's drawn out on paper or in words.  I'll give you a peek at it in my next post, hopefully.  And I'll leave you with that.

Have a beautiful rest of the summer, everyone.  

Love,

me

(From weheartit.com)

Other pictures taken by me.

I hardly ever use other people's pictures, but I haven't taken any worth blogging lately.  Besides that, none of them can really portray my mood right now. 


Being back from camp has been a constant struggle.  With no strict, planned schedule like I've grown used to, it's hard to get things done.  Bit by bit I'm starting to finish projects.  But it's hard to be inspired after growing used to being surrounded by nature.  Meals are quiet with only four members of my family at home; the complete opposite of the noisy dining hall with 70+ people all eating in one room.  

The Olympic Games have been rolling as well.  The Olympics are pretty much the only times my family watches television.  The constant chatter in the background is more distraction and it's starting to overwhelm my mind.  Sometimes my brain hurts so much, I just want to leave.

But then the past few hours, my brain has been blank, save the memories that float back from camp.  I'll start laughing while I'm washing dishes, remembering the time when Sarah and I found a frog on the boardwalk and showed it to everyone in the dining hall.  Memories are all I have left of this year of camp.  Yet memories are one of the most precious things I gained over the entire summer.  I also gained friends. :)

But Summer is coming to a close and Autumn is pulling nearer.  Surely by then I will be back on my feet, optimistic and excited, looking for inspiration in the leaves and the sky and the buildings.  I'm excited about the rest of this year.  It's going to be good.


With love,


me




(All the pictures came from my weheartit.  You can find me here: http://weheartit.com/melodyinink )

Camp Living Water Part 2

After spending four weeks at camp this summer, home doesn't feel like home anymore.  Camp feels like my home.  Now I have another year to get used to my house-home, before returning to my camp-home.  

Favorite memories of camp:

My friend, Catherine, knocking a pane of glass out of the window frame...twice!

Jackson the sanitizer getting turned out while the doors were open,

Pranking the boys!  My SALT counselor, my friend Chelsee, and myself, ran off to the boy's cabin during lunch and stole their door!  We ran all the way to the boathouse, holding it over our heads, and we balanced it in a canoe and pushed it off into the lake!  In their empty door frame, we left a mini canoe paddle and a sign that said, "Gone Fishing?" :)

My friends guiding me along the road of "Getting better at talking to guys." Unfortunately my homeschooling has made me a bit uncomfortable talking to the opposite gender, as silly as that may sound. :P

And of course, making friends that I am sure I will have with me throughout the rest of my life.

Honestly, I've been an emotional wreck since I've gotten home.  We've been getting ready for a garage sale, which we just completed today, and I am one plum tuckered girl.  I'd like to relax, but it's on to more school work for me.  In a way I like always having something to do.

I hope you all have a good Sunday!

With love and sunshine,

me

P.S.

We found a frog! :D