The Social Porcupine

Laura  and I have been friends since we were eleven—nearly half of our lives. People always like to notice how different people are and like to ask "how can you be friends!?" But I've always seen our similarities. We may not be the same denomination, but we both love resting on Saturday Sabbath, and we love discussing theology. We love Germany and we like to embrace our naturalness—no makeup for us ;) (And yes my skin and hair sometimes feel awful, especially as July started out. But I still much prefer no makeup and the real me). Laure eloped back in May (something I totally supported her in!) and I finally just got down to "celebrate" with her. Of course, she had to dress up in her wedding dress so we could get a photo together ;) Doesn't my tye-dye look soooo great with her dress? Haha!  Our cars ... we are both very proud of them ;) I captioned this: "Once we were eleven-year-olds who could barely say hi, no we are successful adults who ...

I'm the type of person that loves to find meaning in everything. Pain only amplifies my desire to know why. That is why when my friend, Laura, texted me one day, telling me about some new thoughts of hers they resonated with me. "I started drawing random things this morning. Basically just lines and punctuation marks. It kinda hit me that question marks are hearts that have been broken and started to cry. The half heart with the dot at the bottom for the tear... And it just was hard for me to kinda re-realize that some questions will never be answered here on Earth and will sometimes just bring tears..." Drawn by Laura Santee This hit me like, "Wow, Laura, that is amazing!" As I said, pain brings so many questions... when you're hurt, alone you wonder why? When all you feel does become questions. "Why do I have to feel this pain? Why do I hurt so much?" "Why did God allow me to love if only to have that love ripped away?...

Uncle Amoz and me when I was first born. This spring one of my uncles died. It was very sad, and the circumstances of his death were crazy.  He was too young - it shouldn't have happened. All of us were shocked. Many were angry. Many still are. It's crazy how death makes life appear so differently. Especially when death happens to someone you know. What's even sadder... I wasn't able to go to his funeral because I was traveling and too far away to catch a ride with anyone that was going. This post, though, is not going to dwell on the circumstances of his death.  It's going to be more about him. I never liked to do favorites. I always told people it was wrong to have favorites... at the same time I had them ;) But to be fair I would try to make sure my siblings would have different favorites than I did. Such as... Me to my sisters : My favorite color  is pink. What are yours? Sisters : I don't know. Me to Jeru...

Today I have the pleasure of introducing another author and a bit of her writing :) Enjoy!!!! Have  you ever felt like too much was going on and you just couldn't handle anything more? Or maybe someone has bothered you so much that you avoid them as much as you can, but they still keep coming back. David felt that way in Faith Blum's short story, Faith is the Victory , and she's here today to tell us more about her book. About the Book Winning story in Perry Elisabeth Design’s short story contest. I don’t like change. I know most people get used to it, but I have never been able to. When Dad announced their move and I couldn’t go with them, I didn’t handle it well. Would I ever find the faith to be victorious? Content warning: A character does attempt suicide, so please read with caution. Available on Amazon  and other platforms such as Barnes   & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and Scribd .  Paperback coming soon! About the Author...