Hey all! Happy almost-March—I am so excited to be done with dreary weather.

But the second month of the year hasn’t been the worst—in fact, I’d say it’s been pretty good! I’ve gotten to hang out with a lot of friends and my calendar is so full. Life as a person with endless friends is so hard. (I’m kidding guys, don’t take me seriously.)

Let’s just dive right into this post!

What did I do?

Well we kicked off this month with a night at overflow and here’s a video from that night’s worship—guys, you could watch the floor shaking from everyone jumping up and down. (We’re not allowed to jump anymore because the floor was in danger of breaking…and I’d very much like the floor to stay in tact even if it’s not my floor.)

Then a week later I went to Night to Shine at my church! I’m not allowed to share pictures of me and my honored guest, but I am allowed to a couple videos since they’re not of the guests faces. It was really fun and I enjoyed getting to watch all the guests have fun and boogie! And because I’m a white teenage girl, I also made a prom transition video:

And then here is a video of the actual dance itself:

Then that’s about it? I worked on Valentine’s Day and it was miserable (why does everyone go to Chick-fil-A on Valentine’s Day?! Go to a cute coffee shop) but we persevered and received money in exchange for our laborious labors.

I’m also training to become a Certified Trainer at work! Not sure what that entails, but it’s going to be cool and I’m excited to learn more.

And also, one last (and also really cool) thing: when I was at my church’s high school youth group, my pastor Dallas was like, “Guys, when I was a kid we’d go to peoples’ houses and spread the gospel.” We thought it was really cool and then literally the next week he was like, “GUYS we’re going to go to the mall and talk with people, invite them to our church or the youth group, and pray with them.”

We were all so stoked and also terrified, but after the first awkward interaction, it was so good. Several of us (we were paired up) got to pray over strangers, both adults and teens, and invite them to the youth group or church and several of them said they would come after never having been to church in years! So praise God—it was such a cool experience. (The whole time I was rewatching Bryce Crawford’s videos in my mind, trying to remember what he does, haha.)

Then sometime this past week, my dad, two brothers and I visited our grandparents who live a couple hours away. We had a small family reunion with several of my great-aunts or second-cousins or whatever you want to call them, and first let me make one thing clear: my dad’s side of the family (aside from the people who married into the family) is Filipino.

The house was so loud and there weren’t even that many people and we had Filipino food and the aunties spoke Tagalog to each other and I have never felt more white in my entire life. It was so weird.

What did I read?

On the drive up to my grandparents house, we stopped at a used bookstore and I bought three whole books for $15! One of them was called Remember God by Annie F. Downs and it’s one of her books that I haven’t read yet—it made me cry, I loved it, I needed it, and it was only $6 so I’d say it was a $6 well spent.

The second book I bought was You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao which I have read before and I enjoyed it the first time, so I figured, why not own it? It’s a cute read with a teensy bit of sci-fi I guess.

And the third book…let’s just say, I have issues. It’s called The Gravity of Missing Things by Marisa Urgo. Let’s discuss my issues.

First: the main character. Why does she cut herself, what started that? I get she’s depressed and anxious, but we hear NOTHING about the origins aside from the fact that, surprise, she is depressed and anxious. Also—she’s bisexual and she’s always talking about that, but it has literally zero relevance to the plot. I can understand it for character development, but then again: she had no character development, no arc, nothing. (And the plot—she’s not the only bisexual one, her sister is?! And her sister’s coming-out becomes the main focus of the book?! Why did I only find this out at the very last chapter?!)

Second: the love interest. He goes to therapy. He knits to cope with that therapy. (That’s cute.) He has a little brother and it seemed like a touchy subject? But….why does he go to therapy? Why is he anxious? Why is he always caring for his little brother? Why did he seem embarrassed about the teddy bear in his backseat even though he said it was his brother’s? I have so many questions.

Third: the dad. Why is he so okay with his ex-wife (who he still is on good-terms with) having an affair for the past FOURTEEN YEARS?! Sure, he can’t do anything about it because (surprise) the wife be dead, but still—he was too chill. Also he was too nice? The twenty million times the MC gets angry and runs away or whatever, he’s all, “Ah it’s fine, I love you anyways.” Bro was too gracious in a time like this. It was unrealistic.

Fourth: the mom. Why did she cut herself, what was the origin of that? Not to mention, she lived a double-life, cheating on her husband, and then the night before she dies, is going to move out of their house without telling the kids who she claims to love so much. I hated her and we don’t even meet her in the book.

Fifth: the cover and everything else. The cover is two people (I’m assuming the MC and the boy?) smooching but I didn’t even realize it because it was all artsy and swishy-looking. But the problem isn’t them kissing, it’s the fact that they kissed once in the book, it’s not a romantic plot, the romance is a sub-plot that’s pretty much nonexistent, and so why not have a cool artsy plane?! You could do so much better.

Also I don’t think I’ve made this clear: I hated this book. I’m sorry, but the plot, the sub-plot, the character development, the arcs, the romance—I have a problem with it all.

The only part I liked was the fact that the mom died—I like sad books, even if the characters react in the wrong way.

Anyways, the rant is over and now it’s time to move on to music:

What did I listen to?

Let’s just say that I’m so happy I have my own car where I can blast whatever songs I want as loud as I want.

Here’s my top ten songs of February:

• The Lord Will Provide (Live) by Passion (my all-time favorite for this month)
• I Was, But God by Elevation Rhythm (second all-time favorite for this month)
• Be Her by Ella Langley
• Something In The Orange by Zach Bryan
• Fear In God by Sam Barber and Avery Anna
• Done For by Max McNown
• The Great Divide by Noah Kahan
• Badlands by Mumford & Sons (feat. Gracie Abrams)
• A Thousand Years by John Michael Howell, JVKE, and ZVC
• WASHED by Elevation Rhythm

I’ve been doing a lot of re-listening to favorites and haven’t been doing a lot of adventuring, per se, but I don’t have a problem with that.

Onto the next section!

What did I write?

If you read my last recap post, then you might remember me mentioning a new project I was working on. It’s still mostly a secret, but I will share this:

I’m taking one year (all of 2026) to plot, write, edit, and hopefully pitch a 90-day devotional. So February has been the month of drafting my first section (which is 22 days) and I’m a few days behind schedule but we’ve had some unexpected things going on that have prevented that. Luckily, it’s easy and I’ve plotted everything, so I just have to write! And I’m really enjoying it, which is good.

I also reached 200 subscribers on my The Faithful Wanderer! That’s been my highlight of the month and to celebrate, I hosted a writing challenge—and I will be announcing the winners on Tuesday, March 2nd! Unfortunately, if you’re reading this post and want to submit a snippet, you have missed the deadline for submissions. But don’t worry, there will be future competitions!

And then my fiction WIP update—it’s nonexistent. I might drop it, I might not, but it’s mostly an easy fun thing to write. But I just have so much going on that I don’t have much for-fun, easy writing time. It’s not a bad thing, it just means that some things aren’t my first priority and this WIP is one of them. :)

What happens next?

Well, the biggest thing that’s happening is a Max McNown concert!! I am so excited, it’s going to be so fun and I’m going with one of my best friends which will make it even more fun!

I’m hoping to go to an event called Jesus Night which is basically a bunch of churches and schools coming together at a college campus with food, games, testimonies, and worship—it’s a chance for teens and young adults all around our county to come together under God. I have an online class during the event, but we’ll see if I can’t leave my camera off and my phone just in my pocket while I do something more worth my time.

Other than that, the weather is finally starting to be sunny and warm (high seventies, anyone?) and I am so so excited for spring and summer to come.

I’d love to hear what you did this month in the comments! Any fun news or good books you read this month? Let me know. :)

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day!
~Willow