Happy New Year

I know it's January 6th, but it's taken me this long to actually slow down and process the past few months ... let alone the past few days.

Christmas hit in a whirlwind of finals and family ... and culminated in the ice/snow storm of Christmas night.  And despite, all of the wishes of my friends, it was pretty, but it was NOT fun.  With the ice/snow came HUGE limbs/trees down and NO power.  Merry Christmas to us ... good thing I'd already seen all of the Hallmark Christmas movies TWICE by then ... and just in case, it was super nice of them to play them this weekend. :-)

a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do ... this was NOT the week to give up diet coke!!

I escaped the ice/power outage with a quick trip to GA, remembering that if Callie Murray could travel with newborn in tow over icy roads to see me that I could surely make it safely out of this mess.  And I am so glad I did ... just wished it was longer and I had gotten to see more GA peeps. 

 Thursday night, 7:00 pm ... and still Atlanta traffic.  THIS I do not miss!!

10 hours in the car, no electricity for the past 36 ... and surprise!!  We're all playing trivia!  It was a fun night

 Oh, my goodness ... could not be any more cuteness in the world than these two!!

We tried ... 3 outta 4 ain't bad!

So, now, it's Sunday night.  The Christmas decor is all down, the tree needles vacuumed up ... the house looks naked now ...  I actually opened my computer to see how many/who is supposed to be in my class tomorrow ... it's like Groundhog day and we start all over again with new classes, new schedule, and it's like August all over again!  I am less stressed for my whole one semester of living it behind me ... but I'm sure I'll be anxious when I try to turn off my brain and go to bed ... oh wait, that 2 hour nap I took today might hamper that as well ...

But ... finally, I am starting my new year, as I start back to school tomorrow with high hopes and expectations for what God is going to do, who I am going to become and what we can look back at with thankfulness this time next year. 

This year brought a lot of changes.  It started out with a January 2nd "move" to Augusta, with 4 more months of sickness for Gavin ... with gall bladder surgeries for Mom and Gavin ... with deciding to move back to AR ...with leaving a job that gave me purpose and getting a new job that has almost killed me ... with saying "see you laters" to some people who have come to mean a lot to me ... with meeting new friends who have helped me turn the corner ... it's been good.  it's been hard.  and it's a new year.

I thought about a "word" for this year ... that's trendy, you know.  Couldn't narrow it down.  I thought of goals and resolutions ... but mostly I've thought and I've prayed and I've ordered some new books from Amazon that I hope to be challenged by this new year. 

And so, for 2013, here's to new starts, to enjoying rather than enduring, to taking time to breathe, to letting go of perfect, to being healthy - physically, emotionally, spiritually ... to finding new community and a place that feels like my own, to family dinners, and renovation projects, to crafting, to making time to talk to friends (even if I hate the phone) ... and taking road trips, to not worrying about the future, but living in today ... to being brave about the stuff that is hard ... to trusting God for those unfulfilled desires ... to seeing school as a ministry ... and not letting it consume my life ... to running til that 1/2 marathon is over and then slowing down to enjoy the view ... to family vacations and learning how to use the manual settings on the camera ... to letting go ... to moving on ... to loving well ... to living well.

I love new starts ... and I am excited to see what 2013 holds.