{new} years that ask and answer

This year.

This year has stretched and challenged me. 

This long hard year has grown me and it has shattered me. 

I am broken and I am better. I am braver and lonelier. I am face down in prayer and I am stretched high in worship. I am questioning and yet I am answered. 

The year ahead is looming now, full of unanswered questions and frightening realities. It is pressing in with whys and hows and wheres and whens. 

And yet, in the quietest moments, there is peace.

In the tiniest answers, there is hope.

In the hardest questions, the deepest pain,the most frightening moments of desperate longing and aching and fear, I am answered by the still small voice of the One who knows my pain. 

In His presence I am healed. In His Spirit I am comforted, encouraged, renewed. 

In the year ahead I will continue to break. And I will continue to heal. I will continue to seek and someday, somehow I will find. This year will answer, or the one after that. And little by little the questions will fade, and little by little new ones will arise to take their place. 

Year by year by year, questions and answers unending.

"But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more."

Psalm 71:14

Here's to a new year. May its questions and answers draw you ever closer to hope.

Images via: {soliloquy}, pinterest

Merry {weekend before} Christmas!

Have a truly stupendous Christmas holiday! 

Images via: john lewis, 100 layer cake, pinterest, common ground

{just another wednesday}

This week has brought us an icy, frozen storm! With temperatures reaching 10 below, we're huddling up inside with coffee. I am feeling incredibly blessed because we manged to get our heater fixed just hours before the temperatures dropped! As long as it's toasty inside I am enthralled with the magic of the falling snow and frozen temps! 

This week is also bringing a visit from my youngest nephew (oh, and his parents, too) and also a lot of re-organizing and re-arranging of furniture! Gotta make room for the Christmas tree! I'm also working a lot trying to catch up from my time off last week and finally getting around to hanging some pictures and painting a few rooms!

How is it that the busier I get, the more I feel I can take on and accomplish? It's some weirdly inverse time relationship that I can't quite seem to figure out, but I'm willing to enjoy the bursts of energy and feelings of accomplishment while they last! I think part of it is just the joy of this season gives me more hustle and bustle than usual! 

If you need me, I'll be guzzling hot coffee topped with whipped cream and merrily sweeping the floor in preparation for pulling out all the holiday stops! 

Have a happy Wednesday!

Images via: casa vogue, haute look, loubis and champagne

{december}

Welcome, December! May you be white and sparkling and full of family, feasts, and flurries galore!

Images via: wasabi sabi, voyeur chic, for emma, moglio 

{give thanks}

I am thankful for this season, for both the joys and the pains, the delights and the sorrows, the summery days and the wintry nights, the friendships and struggles and bonds forged with fire. I am thankful that through all the darkness there is beauty and light, that through suffering God shows His character, that through my weakness, over and over again He proves unfaltering and unfailing in love and compassion. I am so thankful for faithful friends and uplifting family and for a partner perfectly suited to all my needs. I give thanks for you, too, my internet friends both near and far who faithfully uplift me with your kind comments and thoughts and prayers. Have a happy, blessed Thanksgiving!

Images via: chocoladesigns, 1001 gardens, a little bit etc,

{abide with me}

It's a dark and cloudy Wednesday afternoon. We're expecting snow tomorrow and I'm planning to start up a roaring fire tonight. I have pumpkin pies to bake and loads and loads of laundry to do. 

As Fall teeters on the brink of Winter and we teeter on the brink of the holiday season I am swirling with ideas and possibilities for gifts and crafts and recipes and decor. I am plotting and planning away, trying to force myself to wait until after Thanksgiving to start truly embracing Christmas. Clinging somewhat idly to the last few crunching leaves and sunny afternoons. Embracing traditions and hearty stews and the last calm before the busy seasonal storm. 

Enjoy this waning Wednesday!

Images via: elfsacks, indoors/outdoors, of hearth and home, splendid sass

{happy halloween}

Halloween isn't really my favorite holiday. I don't know if that stems from the fact that I was never allowed to celebrate as a child or from the fact that I just don't have a good appreciation for horror, gore, and fear. 

But I love this reminder that the darkness is a promise of the light. That fear and evil are just counterbalances proving the very existence of beauty and joy and goodness. 

Have a happy (and safe) Halloween! 

Images via: like a field mouse, tumblr, pale

{4th}

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

I'm skipping out early and will be gone for a while. I'm starting the weekend with a 50th birthday bash/4th party for my uncle, then rushing off to a wedding, immediately followed by a mission trip with our youth group and a visit from my family! These next few weeks are crazy, yo! I can't wait!

I hope you have a safe, fun, relaxing and incredible weekend! 

{memorial day}

Let's never forget those that fight, protect, and hand freedom on to others. 

Happy Memorial Day.

DIY Easter Eggs

Here's a small round-up of egg decorating ideas I've found on Pinterest.

I'm planning a small egg decorating party soon, so I'm searching for ways to make my eggs stand out! 

Which is your favorite egg?

{v-day}

Today I am watching the snow gently float down and pile up outside my window while I revel in the feeling of being loved. There is so much power in sitting still and reminding myself of all the wonderful ways that love has been shown to me recently; by my friends and family through shows of support and affection after breaking my leg, by my sweet husband as he has cared for me tirelessly and loved me even when I was unhappy and unwashed, and by the Creator of love Himself, who has sustained me and given me such good and perfect gifts. 

Happy Valentine's day, beautiful ones.

Happy {holidays} Weekend!

Phillip and I are leaving tomorrow for our long-awaited holiday! We're going to Farmington for a baby shower and Christmas, then on to Albuquerque for our anniversary, several parties, and finally, but perhaps most importantly, my brother's wedding! 

I can't wait to spend so much time with our loved ones. I can't wait to hand out gifts, to sing carols by the fire, to have long heart to hearts and to party, party, party!

I am so thankful at this time of year to be able to spend time with family celebrating the birth of our Savior. His blessings are so abundant and His grace overflows on me, and I am so grateful. 

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend, a wonderful holiday season, and a merry, merry Christmas!

A small Thanksgiving summary

Hello!! I hope you all had a truly glorious Thanksgiving! I certainly did!

I had such a blast with my family, they are seriously the best!

My sisters and I decorated my dining room for Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd share a few pics of my table, cause I dig it.

Here you can see the whole table! And our horrible walls that we haven't painted after that initial coat of primer. Lovely.

 We spray painted branches and pine-cones gold, including one with gold stripes!

Lydia and I with our pretty table. Also you can almost see in the background that there is a really cool pine-cone garland in the window. Sophie dipped the cones in various paint samples and strung them on twine. They are awesome! Thanks, Pinterest!

 Those branches are awesome. I love them and will probably keep them around forever!! Lydia even wrapped the napkins in lace and ribbon and twine.

 We put candles into apples to make the house smell amazing. They didn't. Thanks for nothing, Pinterest. ;)

And...the whole dinner party, stuffed and sleepy and cold on the front porch.