Less is More
Sometimes that phrase is so overused that you forget it's really true. Yesterday was the day that the Christmas tree finally came down. I'd already put away everything else over the weekend, but the tree stayed through New Year's Eve. As the light came streaming in the windows on the first day of 2014, I carried in my ornament boxes, and Kevin brought in the big ol' tree box and the dismantling began. By noon, it was all back in the garage, and I'd vacuumed and put the chairs back that had been waiting out the season where the Christmas decorations normally live. It's funny how everything feels lighter when the tree's gone. It felt good. I moved everything off shelves and dusted....
In the Beginning
This first morning of 2014, I woke up after a good night's sleep (which, incidentally, started at 10:30pm). I fed the dog, got a cup of coffee, and sat down with my One Year Chronological Bible. In all honesty, I started it last year, but didn't finish it. However, today's a new day. A new year. A new chance. I opened it up to the first page and read this: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning. In the beginning, GOD. The first words for the first day of a brand new year. Isn't that all we need? In the beginning, God. In the middle, God. In the hard times, God. In the great times, God. In the end, God. You may have grand plans for 2014, or you may...
What Are You Doing New Year’s…
...New Year's Eve... That song has always been incredibly romantic to me. So much so, that you'd think we always had elaborate plans, and rang in the dawn of each new year in style. But you'd be wrong. Truly, I don't think we've been to a New Year's party since a high school bash in 1981. Well, we did ring a couple of years in with small groups from church, now that I think about it, but besides those, we are relatively quiet this day, every year. It used to be the four of us, but now it's usually just the two of us, maybe some hors d'oeuvres (read: leftover Hickory Farms gift box from Christmas) and some champagne that we drink at 10:00pm, because, sadly, we haven't actually seen...
Hidden Danger
You may remember, when we were on our trip to Europe, that our little dog, Riley, died, then miraculously came back to life. It was weird and wonderful - it was God - and Riley has been right as rain ever since. There are, however, a few things of which we have to be extra careful. Because it was a serious gastrointestinal issue, we were strongly cautioned that he was never to have any table scraps of any kind. We were to be very careful about food dropping to the floor, and kennel him when people were over and we couldn't control what he might eat, because even one bite of a higher fat food could send him straight back to critical condition, or even death. It took him a while to...
Big Chief
I love blank paper. Every time I'm at Target I go down the office supply aisle and peruse the spiral notebooks and journals, sometimes buying, but always looking. I think it started when I was a little girl and I got a brand new Big Chief tablet at the beginning of a new school year. Fresh. Crisp. Full of possibilities. Every year, during this week between Christmas and New Year's, I feel an excitement building up in my gut. The fresh new page laying out before me, filled with the same possibilities as that blank Big Chief tablet, just waiting for the words of my hand, and His. What will they say? How will they look? Only He knows, and really, at the end of the day, that's okay with...