Happy April, friends. I hope this month is full of wonderful things for you!

Or should I say, wunderbar. For two weeks straight, I set a strict writing goal for myself as I try to complete the first draft for my latest Amish manuscript. This one is going to my agent, so I’m spending an awful lot of time on it, with a lot more time to come.

And yes, I did say agent! I have a literary agent now which is so very exciting to me since the opportunity fell in my lap. I might share more about that later.

So while I’ve been very busy writing lately, I haven’t gotten much more accomplished other than homeschooling and such. I haven’t spent as much time in my garden as I usually do, but I hope to change that once my first draft is finished.

April is such a beautiful time, isn’t it? I really try my best to see the blessings and beauty in every single day, though. Life is much sweeter when we do.

The warm days have been so wonderful. I love to feel the gentle breeze and warm sun on my skin…ah, it’s just so nice. A lot of the time I’ll take my laptop outside while my children play. Everything is greening up and is so beautiful!

Funny story. I got the bright idea of offering my children $.02 for each dandelion flower they picked since they are overrunning our yard. While I know they have medicinal benefits, I really like to focus on helping the majority of our property return to its native state to support native wildlife. And native, dandelions are not. I had no idea there were so many, and I am now $50.00 poorer. Plus, one week later, they have all returned. Every last one. I have definitely learned my lesson, and couldn’t help but laugh.

While I have found the time to tidy some of my garden beds, they still need attention. Maybe today I’ll find the time. I let my dahlias overwinter in a raised bed this year, and I need to uncover them. I got the idea to try to overwinter them because I missed one last year, and it came back beautifully. So we shall see how it goes.

My girls are very excited because they will be trying a new gymnastics class next week. My younger group of girls have never tried gymnastics before, and they are bouncing-off-the-walls happy. I hope they really like it.

We also have a birthday coming up in April. One of my daughters is turning 19. So exciting!

As far as homeschooling goes, we are almost done for the semester! We should be finished with our curriculum by the end of April, which is so exciting to me. This has been our smoothest homeschool year yet, which I count as a big win. While I have most of our curriculum choices for next year figured out already, I’ll probably finish making my plans for next year.

If you’d like to check out the short book I wrote about homeschooling, please click here.

Life is good, friends. May we see all of the blessings that surround us each day as April moves on. Each day is special, unique, and we won’t be able to live it again. So let’s enjoy it!