Happy New Year

I spent most of my day reading through my previous blog posts here on Halu-Halo. Years, my friends...years of logging down birthdays, anniversaries, milestones, moves, and projects. Over a decade of writing feelings out in public when the blogging community was tiny. I've shared so many of my dreams with you all. Lots of fears too, and doubts, and hopes. And quite a few New Years. 

I hope for 2017 to bring me closer to this space. This blog was always my ultimate accountability. I know that what I write here will be read by me, by my family, by you all, FOREVER. Now, if that doesn't keep a woman honest, I don't know what does. And frankly, I miss it here. I miss the creativity, the rambling. I can wax poetic and not have to edit (too much, hehe). And now, reading back at all those moments when I lacked sleep taking care of a baby, or in the sadness of missing a fur-baby, or simply, in relishing in the triumph of making something for me...I realized...this is my real legacy. My stories of my family and how it's grown and evolved.

2017 will also bring new families into this blog--the ones featured in The Journey to the Heart Series. The Marinos, Bautistas, Aquinos, Dunfords and Silvas. They'll all come into fruition in the two books coming out this year, and the third in 2018. They occupy my mind as much as my own immediate family. I love them just as much, too. 

On this first day of the year, I wanted to share the images that inspire NORTH TO YOU, the first book in the series. My heart squeezes when I think of the moment I'll get to share these utterly frustrating, sweet, stubborn, romantic, shy and assertive characters.

 

 I wish you all a Happy 2017! Let's make it a good one.