Peyton Naomi Leonard

Hey. Sorry it's been so long since I've said anything. It's been really challenging trying to balance everything. I can't sleep because my mind is racing. I feel inspired all over again, I guess. It feels like it's been a long time since I've felt this motivated. You could say I've had a wake up call. I've realized that my passion for music has been muted. I barely sing anymore or play piano like I used to. I barely compose. Sometimes it feels like I've run out of passion or creativity. I mean, I still listen to music. It's still a part of me, but it feels like I'm losing it. I think there are many factors to why this has happened. There's a lot going on. I think I've been depressed more than usual because of those things. I could use your prayers.

How have you been? I'd love to hear from you. How are you handling this pandemic? What's helped you cope? 

Lately, I've been playing and singing again, which is nice. Maybe it's God telling me that I need to pursue music again. I've been so distracted by so many things. I did speak with my producer this evening. It was encouraging and helpful to talk to him. He gave me some great insights and support. He recommended a book on the new music industry and how to navigate through it. I'm learning so much. I feel inspired to work hard for my passions. I've been neglecting my music. I know, I just made an EP, but I haven't really been promoting it like I should. I've been so quiet on my social media. I apologize for that. I'm gonna do my best to be more interactive on the platforms that I'm on. 

I'm grateful for your support through all this. Thank you for reading this post. 

I think I might have a literary agent. I'm pretty excited about that. I've been trying to get The Mutates: The Creation published for so long. I made some drastic cuts to the story. Maybe I can share what I've done through my website. Would you be interested in taking a look at my book? I'll get your input on that and see what you say.

I'm gonna really work hard to be consistent. I want to share my life with you all. It's just hard when life is painful. I had bronchitis not too long ago. That stunk. Hopefully you're staying healthy and safe. 

I'm thinking about doing a live concert every week. Maybe on Saturdays? I'm still thinking it through. We'll see.

I'm excited to see how God will bless my efforts. I really want to get better at being more consistent and less lazy. I think that's my problem. With life being so painful lately, all I want to do is seek out comfort. I can't afford to be comfortable. I have to push myself a little. It's just so hard trying to balance my mental and physical health challenges. Ugh, Lyme is such a killjoy. But I won't give up. I want to share my skills with you. I want to keep growing. 

What are some ways that you see God growing you? 

If you leave me a comment, I'll be sure to pray for you. Stay strong. Don't let your passions die. Be happy. It's gonna be alright. 

Much love.

<3

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! Happy Tuesday! I have some pretty exciting news: I recorded my EP on Sunday!!! I'm so thrilled. Below are some pictures from my recording session. Thank you for all your support, prayers, and love. I am very grateful. It was a lot of work, but it was awesome and fun. "I Say Yes" was a trouble child though. It was frustrating trying to get the piano part down, but I made it work - praise God! I give all the glory to Him.

Also, it was my spiritual birthday August 5th!!! I turned 9 in the Lord. I am very grateful for another year with Jesus. He's so amazing. I wouldn't be recording this EP without Him. 

In the pictures, the man sitting next to me is my amazing music producer, Donald Robinson. He was so patient and supportive of me. Google him and check out his discography. He's legit! 

I'll write again some time soon. Love you much!

Smooches! <3

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! Sorry again for not writing consistently. It's been busy. I hope you're doing well. I've been okay. I'm trying to grow in self-acceptance and trust in myself. It can be a struggle at times, but I think I'm seeing good results.

I wanted to introduce you to my new laptop, Elisabeth! I bought her on Monday. I love her a bunch. She's a HP with Windows 10 and touchscreen capabilities. I feel so blessed that I make enough to save up for a laptop. I really needed a new one.

What's new with you? Post in the comments. I'd love to hear from you.

TouchPoint finally got back to me. They wanted me to fix a few issues in The Mutates: The Creation. I fixed it and sent it back to them so now I'm waiting all over again. They didn't say no, which was encouraging. I'm hoping that this time around that they'll give me a contract. Please pray for me. 

My fundraiser went well. It ended July 12th. I managed to raise $620. I'm grateful to all those that donated. I've been going back and forth with my producer over when I should go to Philly to record my EP. We finally picked a date today! I'll be recording the weekend of the 17th of August. This is really happening, you guys. I'm so excited! I'm not gonna lie. I feel a tad nervous. I've never done this before. Pray for me.

Lyrically Lyme - my show - is going well. I just had an amazing interview with Lisa Mattasa. She's a famous country singer. We had a lot in common, which was really cool. My radio producer has some paid opportunities for me so I'm working for him now. It's been a busy few days, but I'm enjoying myself. 

All in all I feel encouraged by God. I hope and pray that you are and will be encouraged by Him too. I love you guys. 

I'll try to be consistent with blogging, but I make no promises. I've been going nonstop so it's been hard to sit and reflect enough to write like this. The only time I really write/journal is when I'm having my time with God. Other than that, I'm busy, busy, busy! Pray for me. Lol.

Post in the comments if you need prayer. I'll be sure to pray for you.

Much love.

<3

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! I owe you all a BIG apology. I had a post I planned on doing for Christmas last year and I completely forgot to finish it! 😱😱😱😱 Shame on me, right? And then life happened. So many crazy stuff has happened these past several months. As a way to say I'm sorry. I'll go back and talk about some key things that happened since December. Bear with me. ❤

December - Dad and I travelled to Dallas to see my aunt and uncle. It was so much fun! We celebrated Christmas beforehand as a family (my parents, my brother, and I). I got some cute clothes and body spray. When we were in Dallas, my aunt and uncle got me a fancy razor. I find it to be super useful. I got to hang out with some Christians from our sister church down there and made some new friends. It was a lot of fun. We had a great time. We took two days to get there, stopping in Nashville, TN as a midpoint. We had a good time travelling. On the way back we stayed in Nashville for a day and explored downtown. I wish I had taken pictures. It's all good. We saw the TN Titans football stadium. That was pretty cool and in Dallas, my aunt and uncle showed me the Cowboys football stadium. It was uber shiny. All in all it was a good trip. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

January - This month was all about sharing The Mutates: The Creation with publishers and agents as well as starting my new podcast called Lyrically Lyme! Have I told you guys about Neil Haley? He's my radio producer. I met him on Twitter actually. He followed me and I emailed him for an interview on his show. He took a liking to me and wanted to help me reach a bigger audience. We established a bartering agreement that if I would help him edit videos and post on his social media, he would then cohost a show with me and help me find guests. It was a win-win situation! So my first guest on the show was my buddy Olivia Maxwell. She's my first celebrity friend. Her father, Ron Maxwell, directed the famous movie "Gettysburg." Pretty cool, huh? I met her through LinkedIn. So I had that going for me and was playing the waiting game with agents and publishers. I was mostly getting nos, but finally on January 31st - after praying to God about wanting one - I finally got my yes. It all started with posting on Facebook that people pray for me as I submit The Mutates to publishers and agents. A friend of mine named Glen recommended TouchPoint because he published with them in the past. I gave it a shot, sent my query letter and everything, and they said they were interested in The Mutates. Isn't that exciting??? I'm so pumped!! I felt like that was a big kiss from my Abba. 😊

February - This month was all about dating and finding work. I was still feeling myself after getting my first yes from TouchPoint and Valentine's was coming up - why not give love a shot? My church movement has its own dating website called DT Heart & Soul so I signed up for that again (I had done it for a month or two the year before) and I met some cool guys there. No sparks were flying or anything like that, but it was fun to meet new people. While I was still working for my dad as his editor and assistant, my income was pretty low so I wanted to find more employment. I was working for mom too as her assistant and social media manager, but I had no consistent pay besides what I was getting from dad. Lyrically Lyme wasn't bringing in money yet either (still hasn't yet, but I'm hopeful!) so I decided to try my hand at LinkedIn job hunting. I brushed up my resume and started sending it out there. Not much was going on there so I tried Indeed. I really like Indeed; it's simple to use and a fun way to apply for jobs. I got some hits but nothing too promising. February was also the time in school that I started working on College Algebra. I know. Fun, right? Not really. Let's move on.

March - I was still looking for work when mom stumbled across this company called LionBridge. They're a technology company that has different kinds of services. I applied for the job and started the process of filling out applications and doing background checks. It was exciting. Around this time, mom and I were preparing for the women's service that would be taking place on April 7th. It was a busy month. I got the job with LionBridge as a Social Media Evaluator and started training for that. I was so happy to have another job. I hadn't heard back from TouchPoint to see if they were interested in The Mutates still so I sent them an email this month asking if they were. I was so relieved when they got back to me saying they were still interested. Yayy!! The weather started improvin this month so that was also very exciting. 

April - Another busy month this one. I started writing articles for dad and he started paying me extra, which was amazing! The women's service was a hit. I sang one of my originals. People were impacted. LionBridge was taking their sweet time placing me in their system so I looked for more work in the meantime. I had a birthday party on the 20th, even though my birthday was on the 28th. I was going out of town for my birthday weekend. Easter was impactful and great. I had a blast going away with mom for my birthday. We went to Massachussetts. It snowed, which was insane but it was beautiful. I had a great birthday. We went to visit the sister church in Albany, NY and they sang to me. I then went exploring Albany with mom and had dinner at P.F. Chang's. It was delicious! Oh! I also started a fundraiser for my album. This time, I used Facebook instead of Kickstarter. So far I've raised over $500!! I'm so encouraged. PSA: If you'd like to help me bring comfort and healing to the suffering through music, check out my fundraiser on Facebook. It's the album name: 12 Songs of Faith. I've done some live streams of me singing snippets from the album. Be sure to check it out! PSA over. 

May - So far it's been a pretty good month. I met some cool peeps from this group called Single Disciples Connections or SDC. It's a group with nearly 4500 Christians from our movement of churches - the ICOC (International Churches of Christ). I'm still hoping to date this year. We'll see what happens. LionBridge finally added me to their system! I started officially working for them on Thursday. I'm pretty excited. The fundraiser is doing well. I'm at $620 raised. I just talked with my music producer last night. He told me I can start recording with the funds I've raised!!!! I'm so stinkin' excited! I can finally work on my music. It's a dream come true. Thanks again to all those that donated. It means the world to me. So I'm thinking of doing five songs of just me playing and singing. I plan on doing a live stream today to share with people on Facebook and ask which songs I should record on this EP. AHHH!!! SO EXCITED!!! I emailed TouchPoint again to see how things are going with reviewing The Mutates. I'm praying that they send me a contract soon. I'm over the moon excited, you guys. Please keep me in your prayers. 

Yeah, so that's what's been going on with me. How are you doing? Post in the comments. I'd love to hear from you. I'll try to make Saturdays my day to update my blog. *Fingers crossed* God has been so good to me. I'm so encouraged. Don't give up on your dreams, you guys. God placed them on your heart for a reason. Don't quit! I love you all. Have a great Saturday and if you haven't already, check out my Facebook page - Peyton Naomi Leonard.

Smooches! Xoxo 😍❤💓💕💖💗💘💝💞💟

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! Happy Tuesday! How are you doing? I'm doing well. I've been having a productive day today. 

As a special thank you for reading the excerpts of The Mutates: The Creation, I wanted to share a sneak peek of my second book, The Operation. Post in the comments what you think! Much love! <3

...Excerpt from The Mutates: The Operation...

“So let me get this straight,” Cobalt started, pinching the bridge of his nose in agitation, “you experimented on a woman with severe amnesia, convinced her that she worked as a mercenary for you, had her kidnap her son and his three friends, experimented on them, they escaped your facility, made it all the way back to Pennsylvania with the help of three civilians, you all had a big fight in a nearby national park in which you escaped, the woman and her ‘goons’ got arrested, and now you say you lost track of the test subjects?” He then started to clap patronizingly. “Bravo, Herman, bravo.” 

I cleared my throat to keep a growl from erupting out of me. “If I may…” 

“No, you may not,” he interjected. “If word gets out about what you’ve done, this good thing we’ve got going on here called a democracy will fall. Mr. President,” he turned to the screen behind him, “we simply cannot afford to fund Dr. Herman any longer. The mutates project is a failure. We…” 

“Now hold on one minute,” I interjected this time, standing to my feet. “I wouldn’t say the mutates project was a complete failure. Now if I may,” I glared at Mr. Cobalt, daring him to interrupt me, “I have all the data on…” I paused to keep my temper in check, “…the four and I can assure you I can give you the super soldiers you want.  Even better,” I removed my jacket and my shoes. 

“What on earth is he doing?” the President asked Cobalt. 

Before anyone could speak further, I focused on the anger boiling underneath my skin and let it consume me. My bones started to come undone and then restructure themselves, fur sprouted over my body, wings popped out of my back, and lionlike features shaped my face. 

“You didn’t…” Cobalt breathed as I morphed.  

“Oh, but I did,” I retorted, wolfishly grinning at him. “And my lovely bride is a mutate as well.” 

“Sir, even if he’s experimented on himself, this does not excuse him from the damage he’s already done,” Cobalt insisted to the President. 

“I did what I had to to create your test subjects,” I growled, standing to my full height. 

I could almost taste the fear on Cobalt as he eyed me. “You took advantage of an American citizen and not only that, you were crazy enough to have her kidnap her son and try to make a family out of the test subjects. You should be arrested!” 

“Enough,” the President said. He leaned forward at his desk, “Herman, I’m not particularly fond of your methods, but you got the job done. You created super soldiers. I cannot deny that.” 

“Sir?” Cobalt questioned. 

“I’m willing to look over your mishap as long as you are willing to get me soldiers. I don’t need 16 year old mutates however. I need soldiers. Cobalt, find me some men that have nothing to live for but to serve their country. I want men that are willing to do whatever it takes. No strings attached. And, Herman, I want you to find these teenage mutates and bring them back to your facility.” 

“And what should I do with them?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. 

The President clasped his hands in front of him and sighed deeply, looking down at his desk.  

After a few moments of silence, he looked up and said, “Destroy them.”

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! Happy Saturday! How are you? I'm okay. Feeling kind of tired. I had a movie night with some friends from church. We watched the Grinch - the Jim Carrey version. It was so funny. Jim is hilarious. Have you seen it? I highly recommend it. 

Ten days till Christmas!!! 🎄 I'm stoked! Dad and I are going to my aunt and uncle's in Dallas. What are your Christmas plans? Post in the comments! 

I'm not sure if I'll be able to write a blog post next Saturday. Dad and I will be on the road. I might be too tired. 

I'm gonna run. Sorry this post is so short. I'm watching a Christmas movie with momma. I'll talk to you guys later!

Bye! ❤💕💖💗💝💞💟😍😘🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! Happy Excerpt Thursday!! Here we are, friends. The final excerpt of The Mutates. I am so grateful to all of you for reading my excerpts. It means the world to me. Thank you. It's been quite the journey. A lot has happened. I hope these excerpts make you all the more ready for the book. Stay tuned! I'm waiting to hear back from a publisher and some literary agents. We'll see if they take on The Mutates. I'm really happy I got to share my book with you. Post in the comments your thoughts on what you read.  I'd love your feedback. 

Okay. Here it is. The final chapter of The Mutates: The Creation. Enjoy! ❤

...Epilogue... 

Tyler sat at the family computer, focusing intently on the work before him. His fingers clicked and clacked against the keyboard. Ever since he and his family moved to Virginia, he’s been at that computer. 
Samy came in, calling him but stopped when she saw him typing. “You’re not gonna come outside? It’s beautiful out there. We’re thinking about making a treehouse in the backyard. We could use your help.” 
“Uh-huh,” Tyler drawled out, keeping his eyes on the screen. 
Samy glared at him and a growl rumbled in her chest. He didn’t react as usual. “What are you working on?!” she snapped, punching his arm. 
“Ow!” he barked, grasping his throbbing arm. “Samy,” he complained, pouting at her. 
“What have you been working on?” she seethed. 
He sighed and then said softly, “Okay, you caught me.” 
Samy’s expression softened immediately. “What’ve you been doing?” she asked in a gentler tone. 
“I… I’ve been writing out what happened to us,” he murmured. “I was writing from when you and I were suspended from school to the present.” 
Samy came up to him and touched his face. “Why would you do this by yourself? We should write our story together,” she said, turning to look at what he wrote. “You didn’t get very far,” she noted after skimming over his work. 
“I’m not the best wrtier,” he chuckled. 
“We know, Ty,” she smiled before kissing his cheek. “I’ll go get the others. You need all the help you can get.” She headed out the room. 
Tyler smiled after her and then turned back to the computer, reading over a sentence he wrote. 
“You’re writing a book??” Lola raced into the room in her excitement, her eyes glowing catlike. 
“Calm down, Lo, we’re all pitching in for it,” Andy chuckled, smiling at her. 
“I’ll probably have to delete what I have. I’m terrible at this,” Tyler sighed, resting his cheek on his knuckle. 
“Why did you start this all by yourself?” Andy asked, giving him the look. 
“I dunno. I just started writing. I wasn’t expecting to show this to anyone… until Samy punched the truth outta me,” he gave her a wink, grinning when she blushed and murmured, “Sorry, Ty.” “You’re fine, tigress.” 
“So, what’re you gonna call this book?” Lola wondered, looking at the screen. “The Mutates: The Creation? … How, um, original?” Lola futilely tried to hide her laughter. 
“Well, we are mutates and kind of created, right?” Tyler pursed his lips at her. “It’s not funny! It took me a whole hour to think of that, ya know!” His face was getting red with embarrassment. 
“Lola, stop laughing at him. It’s a… clever title,” Samy smiled encouragingly, but it looked like she was holding back laughter as well. Andy pressed his lips tightly together. 
“If you don’t like the title, then you guys think of something!” Tyler pouted, crossing his arms defensively. 
“I like it. It’s just weird. We weren’t created,” Lola stated. 
“I mean, I can see his point. Our mutate selves were created, though,” Andy pointed out. 
“Thank you, Andy. You understand me,” Tyler grinned at him. They fist bumped each other. 
“What are you kids doing?” Jacob asked as he came down the stairs. 
“Hey, Dad!” Tyler greeted as Samy replied, “We’re writing our story.” 
“Really? You’re okay doing that?” he asked, crossing his arms. 
“Yeah, it should be fun,” Lola chirped with a big smile on her face. “It’ll be like seeing Gage and Casca all over again.” She touched the fangs tied around her neck.  
“Yeah, and Balto, too,” Tyler added.  
“Well, have fun. I have some errands to run,” Jacob headed towards the front door. 
“Say hi to Auntie for me,” Samy giggled, laughing harder when Jacob blushed. 
“What’s so funny?” Bran asked, opening the front door. 
“Hey, Bran! We’re writing our story,” Andy said, chuckling at Lola’s blushing face. 
“There are sure a lot of red faces in this house,” Tyler snickered. Lola gave him a death glare.  
Jacob blushed harder and nearly ran out the house saying, “Have fun writing!” 
“You’re writing your story? Sweet!” Bran grinned, entering the family room. “I remember you guys on my doorstep like it was yesterday.” 
“Now that I think about it so much stuff has happened,” Lola said. 
The kids got quiet as they remembered different things from their journey. 
Bran clasped his hands together nervously saying, “So, where are you starting the book from?” 
“From when Samy and I got suspensed,” Tyler answered, sounding a little somber. 
“You got suspended from school? Why?” 
“It’s a long story. You can read about it when we’re finished,” Samy smiled, placing a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. 
Bran chuckled, “Alright, alright. I’ll just sit here and wait.” 
“It’s gonna take us a little while to finish,” Andy warned. 
“That’s okay. I’ve got until six tonight. TJ and I are having a business meeting then.” 
“How is he these days?” Lola asked. 
“He’s the same, except he misses you guys. He says he’ll come and visit soon.” 
“Awesome!” she exclaimed happily. 
“We should get to writing. We’re burning daylight,” Andy commented. 
“Good idea. Is it okay if I start the story from my point of view?” Tyler asked. 
“Yeah, you’re the leader. Go for it.” 
“Aww, I wanted to go first,” Lola pouted. 
“Sorry, loser. The early bird gets the worm,” Tyler replied in a singsongy voice. 
“Really, Ty? You’re such a kid,” Samy said, pulling his ear playfully. 
“Ow,” he pouted. 
The kids started talking over one another and laughing together. Bran sat back on the couch and watched them with a smile. The rest of the day was filled with memories, happy and sad, as they started writing their story.

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! This blog post is extra special because it's the 50th post!!! I can hardly stand it. We've been at this 50 times already?? Wow! Super cool! Anyways, how are you?? I'm doing okay. My weekend was super busy. It left me feeling physically drained. I'm thinking I overdid it a bit. How was your weekend? Post in the comments! I'd love to hear from you. =)

Okay, here's the next chapter of The Mutates. We're getting super close to the end. Enjoy!

...The Mutates... 

Leaving behind Bran, TJ, and Vin was hard, but we had to rescue our parents from Herman. We raced through the night sky, too angry for words. Snarls and hisses rang out from us as we flew. 
“Get ready!” Tyler barked, leading the way. 
“I’m gonna kill that psychotic scientist!” Samy roared in response. 
Andy took my hand. “Be careful not to lose yourself in your frenzy, Lola. Mom and Dad will be there.” 
“I know!” I growled, snatching my hand back. “You don’t have to tell me.” 
“Just making sure,” he sighed. 
“Focus, guys, there they are,” Tyler said, pointing to the opening in the trees. 
I could see Mom and Dad being held captive by Elana’s men. A fierce growl escaped me. 
Randall was looking up at us as we approached, a sinister smile on his face. “There they are,” he hissed, taking in our angry expressions. There was something different about him as we made to land. He was no longer the psychotic, but gentle scientist we knew. There was something lethal about him. 
We landed a safe distance away from him. We hissed and growled angrily, but didn’t move. We were careful not to get our parents tased. The look on their faces will forever be stapled in my mind.  
“RANDALL!!!!” Tyler bellowed, baring his fangs. 
“Tyler?” his dad said softly, sounding unsure of himself. A look of recognition and disbelief ran across his eyes. Tyler must’ve spoken to him. Anger flashed in his eyes then. “What have you done to my son?” he seethed, glaring at Randall. 
Randall barked out a disturbing laugh before saying, “May I present to you: The Mutates!” His hands extended out to us like we were his masterpieces. It made me sick to my stomach. 
A fire was growing stronger in my core. I started trembling. I could’ve gone into my frenzy any second. Andy placed a hand on my shoulder. 
“Keep it together,” he murmured. 
“I’m trying,” I hissed through clenched teeth. 
“I’m so happy to see you, my little ones,” Randall went on bitterly. “You’re right on time.” 
“Let them go, Randall!” Samy seethed, crouching slightly. 
“Samantha,” Randall chuckled darkly, “you know better than to threaten your father now, don’t you?” 
“YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER!!!!” She roared, trembling from wing to foot. 
“You wanted us. We’re here now. You have no reason to hold onto them,” Andy spoke up. 
“Andy? Samy?” Denise said shakily. 
“Hello, Auntie,” Samy replied, trying her best to keep her voice even. “I’m so sorry you have to see me like this.”  
“You did this to our children?! You monster!!” Mom yelled, fighting against the man that held her. Time froze as I watched her get tased. Her scream was chilling. 
“MOM!!!” I cried, fighting against my brother. I was so close to succumbing to the frenzy.  
“Now, now, Cara,” Randall chided, raising a hand to stop the soldier from harming her. 
“I’LL KILL YOU!! I PROMISE I’LL KILL YOU!!!” I screeched. 
“You see what you’ve done, Cara? Andrew, control your wife, won’t you? You’re upsetting the children.” Randall waved at them dismissively. He tilted his head slightly as he glowered at me. “Lola,” he said dangerously, “don’t make promises you can’t keep, dear.” His eyes turned catlike. 
An unsettling fear coursed through me. The fire in me started dying almost immediately. 
“You didn’t…” Tyler breathed. 
“Didn’t what, son?” Randall asked, a dangerous gleam in his catlike eyes.  
“You experimented on yourself,” Andy said shocked. 
“Is that so surprising? I wanted to create my own species and lead them to glory. I couldn’t possibly do that as a puny human now, could I?” In an instant, he morphed into a lionlike mutate. His mane flowed regally around his catlike face. He stood like he was king. He extended his wings on either side of him leisurely and gave us a wolfish grin. 
We were stunned at his overwhelming presence. It was clear who the strongest was. His muscles rippled from his slightest movement. No one could speak for a moment as we took in his solid frame.

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! Happy Saturday! I just had a sleepover with some friends from church. It was super fun. We talked and laughed last night. It was really nice. 

How are you doing today? Are you having a nice weekend? My singles ministry had a Christmas party last night. It was fun. We played games, sang Christmas songs, and ate sweets. 

17 days till Christmas!! I'm so excited!! What're your plans for the holidays? Post in the comments! I'm planning on going to Texas with my dad to see my aunt and uncle. I'm looking forward to it. 

I had my first show on Thursday night. I'm so happy. It's called Lyrically Lyme (hence the title of this post). I'll be having guests with Lyme disease on my show and musical guests that deal with health issues. I'm so stoked. I think LL will be a cool platform for me to share my faith with celebrities and share my music as well as my story. 

Stay tuned for the link for the podcast. I have my producer working on it for me. My radio producer named Neil. He's awesome. 

Well, I better get going. I'm going to a going away party for a friend from church around 4:30. I'll see you on Tuesday for another chapter of The Mutates.

Bye! <3

Hello, beautiful people, it's Peytona! Happy Excerpt Thursday! How are you? I'm doing well. I have my first show tonight for my podcast. I'm so excited. We're coming in for a landing for The Mutates. Can you believe it? I can't. It's been a fun journey. I hope you're enjoying it. I know I am. 

Okay let's get right to it. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

...The Calm before the Storm... 

I remember seeing my dead wife in my kitchen with a gun in her hand. I remember feeling so surprised that she had shot me. She looked surprised, too. Was she really my Elana? She couldn’t remember anything. Couldn’t remember me. She had told me she had seen Tyler. She had kidnapped him for another man. The way she had talked about that man. It was like she had undying devotion to him. Who was Randall Herman? How did he make her like that? It didn’t make any sense to me. 
I felt myself drooping against something warm and alive. My hands were tied behind my back with plastic cuffs. I groggily opened my eyes and found myself in a hotel bedroom. Denise was at my back and still unconscious.  
“Reynolds is awake,” a man said, wearing all black like he was SWAT or something. There was a taser on his hip. 
A man… no, I’m not sure if I can call him a man. He lost his humanity a long time ago. A creature with a human face came into the room, walking like he was king. I’d never felt so small before. His very presence made me recoil. 
“Jacob Reynolds,” he said cheerily, approaching me and crouching to my level. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I can see where Tyler gets his good looks.” A wolfish grin appeared on his face. 
I shook my head a bit to get rid of some of the grogginess from the tranquilizer and then glared vehemently at the creature. “You’re Randall Herman,” I said. “You took my family.” 
Randall smirked saying, “Finders keepers, Jacob.” 
I lunged forward with an angry cry. “You didn’t find them!” I yelled, waking up the others. “You stole them, you monster!” 
His smirk only deepened as he stared amusedly. The man behind him approached and shoved me back before removing his taser from its holster. 
“Try that again, Reynolds. I dare ya,” he taunted, sparking the taser in warning. 
“It’s alright, Stefan,” Randall said calmly, giving him a reassuring smile. How could he be so calm? I nearly bit his face off. “He’s only human after all.” The way he said that made me sound primitive. 
“Where’s Tyler?” I demanded, eyeing Stefan’s taser.  
“Where’s Samy?” Denise spoke up, turning to look at Randall’s face.  
“Andy? Lola?” Cara called as if her children were in the other room. 
“I’m afraid the children aren’t here,” Randall sighed, a deep furrow forming on his brow. A monstrous growl escaped between his teeth.  
We were all silent. Did this – at the time – human just growl like a beast? 
He seemed to catch himself and then smiled apologetically at all of us. “I didn’t mean to frighten you all. You see, the children have been disobedient as of late. They’ve been forgetting who has blessed them and been a father to them. You being here with me will fix that.” He stood up. “We’ll be leaving soon to go to McConnell Mills. I have no doubt you will see them there. Though I’m sure what you’ll see will absolutely astonish you. Stefan,” he turned to him, “have Elana and the rest prepare for our departure. It won’t be long now.” He turned back to us. His eyes had a dangerous gleam to them. “Yes, it won’t be long now.” 
I felt terrified for the first time as an adult. It was like a monster was in the room. I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t able to pull myself together until he left the room.