Yesterday, I saw a group of about eight girls between the ages of 10–12 sitting cross-legged together in a circle on the playground across from my house. A part of me wanted to walk over and sit down with them so desperately... and I voiced that desire out loud. But my husband said, "Dannielle, you're not ten years old anymore." But I still wanted to join those girls (even though I didn't) because I miss that kind of easy community and belonging that once felt so simple and accessible.
Have you ever noticed how intentionally adults create spaces for children to thrive in community? They have school and designated times for socialization like lunch, recess, and riding the bus together. They have sports. Youth group and Sunday school. Summer camp. Spontaneous play dates and sleepovers. Long summers spent running around outside with the neighborhood kids until the sun goes down.
But adulthood is often marked by busyness and burnout.
I remember when people used to stay after church talking for HOURS, then end up sharing meals afterward with friends who felt more like family. Now it feels like people attend church and race straight home afterward without staying long enough to truly know one another.
Every Monday, spikesgirl58 posts a "Six Word Challenge" in which participants are limited to 100 words and must include these six:
Stream Macabre Limit Gaudy Crave Utopian
Here is my first attempt!
“Anyone craving hot dogs? We all know you can't have a Fourth of July barbeque without hot dogs,” Cheryl announced to the Facebook livestream. Her gaudy bald eagle earrings swung beside American flag sunglasses—stars over one eye, stripes over the other.
Behind her grill was a scene from utopian suburbia: children jumping through sprinklers on the impossibly green lawn lit by patriotic tiki torches.
As hearts floated across the video, Karen commented:
“This macabre celebration of animal suffering is exactly what's wrong with America.”
Cheryl smiled politely. “That’s the beauty of free speech, Karen—no limit. God bless America!”
Somewhere along the way I started confusing dissociation for delight
which is easy to do
especially when possibility sparkles like a shiny slot machine or a bookstore or a new personality I briefly consider trying on with cherry-chocolate hair
Some dreams are from God and some are just anxiety wearing theater makeup
Meanwhile... my real life waited for me like an old farmhouse with rusty doorknobs and a broken fence
I want to get back to myself
Watercolor fireflies blinking in painted skies Loose threads curling beside my sewing scissors Skate-dancing in sock feet on the kitchen floor Poems half-finished in old notebooks
I think certain kinds of creativity scatter the soul and others heal the unbearable ache of loving a finite life
Rows and rows and rows of books and only one lifetime to read them
There are entire versions of myself I will never meet
I am learning to let this be okay
Late at night eyelashes brushing the pillow while drifting thoughts try to turn themselves into prophecy
Some wild and beautiful things come close only for a moment
The soft breath of a stallion as he steps closer gingerly my fingers brushing the soft velvet of his nose until a passing truck startles him back into the field
Put on your Old Hollywood cat-eye sunglasses, girl We’re gonna punch this year in the face!
This is not the year of curating Pinterest boards full of houses you wish you could buy
No ma’am
You’re gonna build that dream house someday from the ground up But if you REALLY want it?
You better work, girl
Roll up your sleeves Get dirt under your fingernails Plant seeds and pull weeds instead of standing in the yard imagining lavender
Girl, you keep auditioning for lives you don't even want
Your heart has too many tabs open You are tired of feeling like your soul is buffering
You chased creativity like a drug Called it rest But even Jesus took naps during storms
Unclench your jaw Take a deep breath Then row, row, row your boat, girl Life is not just a dream
God is still refining you but this is not the rough draft Quit treating your life like a dress rehearsal
Some things are spiritual warfare Some things are hormones and some things are grief or simply not getting enough sunlight So get out of bed, girl Go open the curtains
Put on your fuchsia lipstick Gather your manna before the sun gets hot
This is a sunflower year A wide-open cyan-blue-sky year
This is the year of stewardship Abundance Delight Peace Intention
Stop reorganizing the pantry to avoid the hard thing
Love your husband Make him proud
Listen to me carefully: Some doors closed quietly while you were still deciding
Grieve them Then keep going
The garden still wants tending And those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy
There is within each of us a persistent ache— a reaching for something just beyond our grasp
We feel it when beauty stops us in our tracks when the wings of imagination carry us beyond what we can see when the world feels both wonderful and somehow incomplete
We know, deep in our bones: we were made for more than what this world can offer
The deepest desire of the human heart is not success or even happiness— it is to be known and to be loved
But somewhere along the way, we forgot: we already are
We begin to believe we must prove ourselves earn our worth become something more in order to be enough
Longing was never the problem it was always the signpost—pointing beyond this world
Toward a love that does not end Toward a beauty that does not fade Toward a truth that does not shift like desert sands Toward the eternal God who placed that longing there— and who alone can satisfy it
This is where true freedom is found where identity is rooted where joy and peace abide where the ache is healed— and the reaching comes to rest
(This is a survey I fill out every New Year's Eve.) 1. What did you do in 2025 that you'd never done before? Bought a house, got stung by a bee, went kayaking, went off-roading in a Jeep.
2a. Did you keep your New Years' Resolutions for 2025? My resolutions were to: Be in the Word of God more. Write in my journal more. Keep my house clean. I did not do well with the first two. I had seasons where I did better. But I did manage to keep the house nice. It's a lot of work. 2/3 isn't bad I guess.
2b. My resolutions for 2026 are: Work on my book, try to balance work, home life, and spiritual life.
The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy #2) by Katherine Arden Across the Ages (Timeless #4) by Gabrielle Meyer
February
Holes by Louis Sachare The Winter of the Witch (Winternight Trilogy #3) by Katherine Arden Every Hour until Then (Timeless #5) by Gabrielle Meyer
March
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
April An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn Through Each Tomorrow (Timeless, #6) by Gabrielle Meyer The Wolf Den (Wolf Den Trilogy, #1) by Elodie Harper The Housemaid (Housemaid, #1) by Freida McFadden
To read in 2026: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
2. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
3. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria E. Schwab
4. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
5. What Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert
February
6.The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
7.Les Miserables by Marcia Williams
8.James by Percival Everett
March
9. Unashamed: Rahab by Francine Rivers
10. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
April
11. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
12. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
May
13. Unspoken: Bathsheeba by Francine Rivers
14. A Heart's Disguise (A Journey of the Heart Book One) by Colleen Coble
June
15. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Second time reading)
16. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
17. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
July
18. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
19. Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig (DNF at 40%)
20. The Finders Keepers Library by Annie Rains
August
21. Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell
22. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
23. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
September
24. The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods
25. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
October
26. Hum by Helen Phillips
27. Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
28. All Souls by Edith Wharton
29. When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer
30. Galatea by Madeline Miller
31. In This Moment by Gabrielle Meyer
November
32. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 33. For a Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer 33. For You They Signed by Marilyn Boyer
December
📗34. I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1691 by <i>Lisa Rowe Fraustino</i>📖💗
✝️📘Bread of Angels by <i>Tessa Afshar</i>🎧✅
༻❁༺══✿══╡♡ 2025 Books Read: 35 ♡╞══✿══-༻❁༺
[📖] Physical book
[🎧] Audiobook
[⏳] Did Not Finish
[✅] Liked
[💗] Loved
[📚] Re-read
[🔪] Horror/Thriller/Mystery
[✝️] Christian
[💕] Romance
[🖊️] Memoir
[📘] General Fiction
[📗] Children's Literature
<b>January</b>
🖊️✝️1. The Hit by Tray Williams 📖💗⭐⭐⭐⭐
✝️2. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence🎧⭐⭐
📘3. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria E. Schwab📖💗
4. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn🎧✅
✝️5. What Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert📖✅
February
📗6. The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy📖
📗7. Les Miserables by Marcia Williams📖✅
8. James by Percival Everett🎧
March
✝️9. Unashamed: Rahab by Francine Rivers📖💗
10. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer🎧💗
April
11. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern📖
12. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins📖✅
May
✝️13. Unspoken: Bathsheeba by Francine Rivers📖
✝️14. A Heart's Disguise (A Journey of the Heart Book One) by Colleen Coble📖
June
15. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell🎧💗💗📚 (Second time reading, first time on audio)
16. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard📖💗
17. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde📖💗
July
18. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster📖✅
19. Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig 🎧⏳ (DNF at 40%)
