memoirs of last year

New Years Day always feels kind of funny to me. It's a holiday, but the partying happened the night before, leaving the actual day feeling empty and me feeling a little bored. So this evening I sat by the fire and, in between knitting and a few text messages, I wrote out a random list of memories from last year. Some of them were big events while others were just "tickleish breezes" as my friend Abbie would call them. As I was writing them out, I became more and more thankful for all the people the Lord has brought into my life. Some of them are friends I've had for ages (10+ years), sisters I've known forever, or friendships that have developed more recently. Whoever they are, they are all gifts from the hand of a loving God who chooses to shower us with blessings instead of "treating us as our sins deserve" (Psalm 103)

Happy New Year everyone!

(and here's the list, which btw, is no where near exhaustive. I just wrote down what popped in my head)

• Watching, with Lydia, Mark Schultz beautifully sing “It is Well”
• 1st day of dental assisting school
• Going to Red Robins for my last ASL class
• Lying on the grass with Shelby after weeding the garden—lazily enjoying the sunshine
• Early morning coffee dates with Abbie (during those stressful weeks of school)
• Kaisha and I watching Walle together at the theater
• My Summer job at bath and Body Works (aka one of the most interesting/stressful experiences of my life)
• Wandering out in the fields at the campout with Hannah and Shelby while sticking flowers in our hair
• Talks with Roxanna about not wanting to let go of our sisters
• Singing for mother’s day with a lovely group of girls
• Discussing “love at first sight” vs a love that “comes softly” with Lydia
• Going out to Greek food with Nicole
• Chatting with my sister as I drove her to her art class
• Meeting Abbie over lunch break so we could get a free slurpy together
• Walking by the water with my sisters
• Shelby and I visiting an out of town church for the purpose of seeing their Deaf ministry
• Line dancing at work with Nicole
• Learning alongside friends truths about God and his grace
• Throwing someone out during a softball game (rare experience indeed!)
• Doing Lydia’s hair while listening to Adventures in Odyssey (always and forever, kids at heart)
  
• Long text message conversations with Shelby
• Grabbing Corina’s hand during our choir performance
• ASL study group at the coffee shop........