2015 Year in Review

And so. . .2015 has come to an end and we are finishing yet another year.
Wow.
Seriously, this year seems to have gone by so fast! I want to put on the brakes and just be like "okay, let's slow down a bit". But. . .that's not how time works.
This past year has been one of the fullest that I can remember. There are so many different things that happened, both good and bad.
So. . .I thought I'd do what most normal bloggers are doing and write a year-in-review post. Beware, it will be long! Read on at your own risk! :)
There were many firsts this year, as well as a few lasts. So many amazing things happened that were so special to me. God has given me so many gifts this year that looking back I feel overwhelmed. He has a way of blessing us beyond and above what we can even imagine. Yes, there have been trials along the way, but God has seen us through them all.
So, since this post is going to be loonnggg, I thought I'd separate it into three different sections. Life, Writing, and Goals. :)

Life:

In January of this year my Grandma had her reverse shoulder operation. During the month I spent most of my time either staying with her at the hospital, or helping her once she got home. This was a huge learning experience for me and  really enjoyed it. Not only did  I get to spend time at the hospital and ask the nurses and CNA's questions, I was also blessed to be able to to spend a lot of time getting to know my grandparents better.
We also had our first-ever piano recital in March.(I think  it was March. It may have been the beginning of April.) I had played in church before, but this was the first actual recital  had played in, so it was a lot of fun!
The homeschool conference came after that in April. This is absolutely one of the things I look forward to ever spring! Well, that and the used book sale. :P They are always so much fun! I love being able to see friends I haven't seen for a while, and of course BOOKS!!! :D
In June my parents celebrated their twenty-first wedding anniversary, and I got my drivers permit!
In July I turned seventeen, which was exciting and fun. ;)
In August our family went on a two-week long vacation to the pacific ocean. . .which was so super amazing!! We spent the majority of the time driving up and down the coast in Oregon and Washington and stopping whenever we wanted. Which was awesome. Of course, we also attended my cousins' wedding and I was able to meet an amazing friend who I had been pen -pals with for over a year. :)
Also, in August I self-published my first book. Which was awesome too!! (Don't worry, I'll have a ton to more say about it later on in the writing section. :P )
After August was finished the rest of the year passed in a blur. We were so super busy with school, and then it was October,  and I got to meet another pen pal when her family came through Wichita! Which was so exciting!! Then Thanksgiving was here, then Christmas. And now it's New Years Eve!! Augh! Where has all the time gone?!
Dad has done pretty well this year, our vacation in August proving that. Every test he's had for the past eighteen months have come back clear, and his body was a lot stronger this year. Last year there were several days he was in the doctors because he got sick, and since his body was weak, he needed antibiotics to help fight anything off.
This year, (excepting the problem with his right elbow this past month) he hasn't been in at the Dr. for any reason other then a check-up, which is such a blessing!
And sometime in this crazy year I was able to read seventy or so amazing books. Which was awesome. (I know, I use that word a lot ;) )

Writing:

This year I have (including my short stories) written 152,651 words. Compared to last year, when I wrote around 10,000. So, yeah. my writing may or may not have drastically increased. 

I also self-published my first ever book!!! Which was so awesome! Although it was honestly more of a "test" book to see how everything went, thus it isn't on Amazon or any other major online retailer. But, Lord willing my 2nd book will be out in the next couple months and it will be on amazon. Still a little nervous about putting something I've written out in the world like that. . . ;) 

I also participated in and won NaNo for the first time ever! I heard about NaNo about two weeks before it started, so I didn't have too much time to prepare. I was like "Hey, why not?" Even if I didn't meet my goal, I'd have more written then if I didn't participate in it. 

Not only did I meet my goal, I finished my manuscript, A Question of Honor, at around 65,000 words, which is the longest I've ever written! It is now sitting in my virtual "to-edit-later" bookshelf. Not particularly a project I'm looking forward to editing, but I will get around to it soon! Of all the projects I've worked on, A Question of Honor would have to be my favorite. It is set in one of my absolute favorite places and eras ever--WWII England and France. Of course right now it is a disaster, and a ton of things are going to be changed, taken out, etc. But it was fun to work on. :)

Also, In November we went and attended a WWII battle reenactment.  Perhaps I should have put this under the "life' section, but. . .it was the one event that gave me enough inspiration and ideas to finish NaNo. And NaNo is/was writing. So I put it here. :D

Goals:

I am a person who tends shy away from making a lot of goals at the beginning of a year because I know how much our schedule, and life, can change. And I am a fairly "checklist motivated' kind of person, so If I do have a goal that doesn't get completed, I tend to stress out about it. 

However, I do think it is a good thing to have a few goals. I mean, as Christians one of our goals should be to grow in our knowledge and wisdom of our Savior and His word. And I do believe we should make it a priority to spend time in His word every day.
Thus saying, I did make a few goals this past year. One of them was to read through the entire Bible. In January, I realized that the only way I would be able to complete that goal would be if I read only for the sake of reading. But I wanted to be able to spend time in the sections I was reading and really study them, so I shortened my goal to reading through the New Testament. I was able to complete that goal in September, so I started making my way though the prophets and today I finished the last chapter of Jeremiah. I also read through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Malachi,
I also made a goal to get my first book out into the world--got that one done! :)
I honestly didn't make to many other goals. I wanted to get caught up on school, which I've managed. (Well, managed in every subject except. . .math.)
I also did a lot of things that I never would have imagined would happen this year!  Such as spending time at the ocean, meeting new friends, seeing family, visiting a WWII research center, visits from friends, etc.
But this year I would like to make some goals. And a few more then I made last year. ;) They're not in any particular order.
1--Graduate! This'll probably happen in the later half of 2016, but I can't wait for it to actually happen! (Having algebra finished will be a HUGE plus. ;) )
2--Publish The Silent Blade. 
3--Finish reading through the prophets and read through the rest of the Old Testament.
4--Look into college more thoroughly and make a decision. *gasp* At the present the task sounds too daunting. ;)
5--Edit. Not very fun, but it needs to be done!  And  actually enjoy the first few edits. But after that it gets tedious.
6--Get my drivers license.
7--Spend more time with my younger siblings



So, there you have it. My year in review as well as some of my goals for the new year. While 2015 has been an AWESOME year and I am sorta sad to be telling it goodbye, I am looking forward to 2016.
I am looking forward to for a number of reasons. Graduating is definitely one of them, the homeschool conference, of course, where I'll get to see friends and meet one of my favorite authors,  as well as being able to vote in the presidential election for the first time ever. And on that note, I think we need to be in prayer more then ever for our country and its leaders. This year there has been a huge decline in our country's moral values, and it saddens me to see it. Our country needs God. When we turn our back on Him, how can we expect Him to continue blessing us? But what would happen if all us Christians who live in American started being the revival we want to see? What if we lived every day as though we were on a mission field? We should, because we are. We are not at home in this world, we are on a mission from God to spread his news to every corner of the earth. He has put us here in this country at this time for a reason. We need to shine all the brighter as the blackness around us grows darker. White on grey is harder to see then white on black, and it's when the situation around us gets black that God's light will be seen.
Okay, I wasn't trying to change the subject. :) It's just something that's really been on my mind.
Anyway, that's pretty much it for this post. I hope you all have had a blessed 2015 and are looking with anticipation to 2016!
God bless you all and your families!
~Jesseca