Hey you guys! This month has flown by so unbelievably fast. So what happened?! Let’s see what I did in the month of June.

What did I do?

First I served at my church’s Grad Sunday services—the seniors of 2025 spoke at the services, sharing their testimonies and their plans for the upcoming school year. I loved it and got to hang out with a handful of my friends—as well as have some of the cupcakes that the church was serving. (They were delicious by the way.)

On June 13th I went to a Seattle Mariners’ game with a friend—and don’t ask me who won, what the stats were, and who they played. Because I have no idea. (I totally forgot who they played—but I knew at some point. Once upon a time.)

Around the third week of June I began the dreaded…packing. Packing stuff for my trip, stuff to put away to be moved in the movers truck, and tons of stuff to be taken to Goodwill. (My room was just a bit of a mess.) Then later that week, the movers came. (Let’s just say that I hid a lot. And maybe caught up on my two weeks worth of homework. It’s okay.)

Then the next week they came and packed the house—funny story: my mom, youngest brother, and dog flew to our house in North Carolina so that they could get the house ready. (They also didn’t want to do a cross-country trip again. Been there, done that, said my mom.) Well, it was just me, my dad, and my other brother (13). I was sitting on the back porch while the movers were coming in and getting told what to do when one of them popped his head outside to say hello.

“Hey First Lady,” he greeted me with a giant smile. I looked up from my computer and he stopped. “Oh wait, you’re one of the kids.”

Yes, yes I am.

Fast forward a few minutes and I ran into him inside (not literally, just metaphorically). He was like, “So, I called you ‘First Lady’ earlier—are you the wife or the daughter?”

I kind of winced and said, “The daughter.” *Cue forced laughter.* And then I added, “It’s okay, people often don’t assume I’m the daughter and think I’m my mom. You’re not the first.”

Anyways, the movers packed our house up and we went into a hotel for a couple more nights before our cross-country trip started.

And then the next day I had my last youth group—which meant saying goodbye to my friends and my small group. It was a hard night, but I got to spend time with everybody and actually had a really fun time!

At the moment my dad, brother, and I are on a cross-country trip. The first day we traveled to California (that was the 26th). I’ve written this post over the span of a couple days, just adding more things we did because each day we do something new, and my mind is pretty scatter-brained, so I’m not going to break down every single thing. So you guys just get pictures with captions. 😉 (However, when we are finished, I will do a post reviewing the entire trip.)

We are heading to LA tomorrow and today we also visited Alcatraz—highly recommended!

Here’s a collage with a few pictures from the trip so far. 🙃

What did I read?

Not much. I’m going to use an excuse and say that I’ve been busy. But in all seriousness, I really have been. Reading and writing haven’t been a strong habit this month…

But I did read these books:

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. Y’all, this book is so good. Lately I’ve been in a season of just being really sad and, in a way, grieving, and this book, from the very first sentence, was so relatable and hit me so hard. If you’re grieving I highly recommend this book—and even if you aren’t grieving, you should still read this! It’s a super short book but a super impactful one. (I briefly reviewed it here.)

I also read The Unbreakable Boy by Scott Michael LeRette and Susy Flory. Maybe you’ve seen the trailers for the movie that came out this past winter based off it? It was a really good story (it’s a true story) and I really loved the elements of an imperfect but good family.

I’m starting How to Tell the Truth by Preston Perry (husband of Jackie Hill Perry, if you know who that is) and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis for my nonfiction reads, as well as Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, a fiction book a friend gave me. I am yet to start reading all of those books but I have two more weeks of driving, so I’m going to assume that I’ll have time.

What did I listen to?

Y’all, the past few days I have been on a Chelsea Cutler/Jeremy Zucker kick. I love both of their music, but for some reason I’ve been binge-listening (is that a thing?) to their stuff. Maybe it’s the singer/songwriter/folk vibes they give and driving through the Oregon greenery, but I just love it!

These are some of the songs that have been on repeat a lot in June:

~WHY by Jon Bellion (feat Luke Combs). Y’all—this is probably one of my top ten songs ever. I’m in love with it, the harmonies, their voices, the lyrics, literally all of it!
~and the government too! by Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler. It’s just a sweet, pretty song. Again, I love the harmonies, their voices, the lyrics, literally all of it.
~Sorry Mom by Kelsea Ballerini has been a really pretty one that I’ve enjoyed!
~Who Believes In Angels? by Elton John and Brandi Carlile. This song is so fun—I love their voices and although their genres are pretty different, I highly recommend their new-ish album! It’s a fun one for sure.
~Creep by Radiohead. For some weird reason I just heard this song on the radio—it had been a while—and decided that I loved it. (Yes, I’ve heard it before, I don’t totally live under a rock, but I hadn’t decided that I loved it. But now I love it.)

These are just a few of the songs that I’ve been replaying a lot! Y’all know me—I almost always have an earbud in.

What did I write?

Gah, the inevitable question. I wrote…very little in my new WIP, The Devil’s Demand, but a few days ago (the day the movers got our boxed stuff into the truck) I wrote some. (Emphasis on some.) Right now my total word count is at 5,621. It’s moving along pretty slowly, but being sad and moving will do that to ya!

I’ve also written some poems for an upcoming adoption anthology by Skillful Pen Press—check that out here—and I’m hoping to also write a Christmas story (or poem) for Skillful Pen Press as well for their upcoming Christmas anthology. But I’ll probably save that for when I’m settled in my new house and have more flexible time to write.

I also had the privilege of interviewing award-winning author Lois Lowry. If you haven’t already, I recommend checking that out! You can read the interview here.

What happens next?

Well, my brother, dad, and I are going to continue our cross-country trip. So far we’ve hit up Oregon and California—the Redwoods, Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz, and then in July we’ll finish out our trip!

What have you guys done throughout the month of June? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week and be on the lookout for another interview in a few weeks. 😉
~Willow