This Good Life

I struggle with New Years resolutions... when I have tried them, I usually fail pretty fantastically after a few weeks of hard work. So my go-to disposition is not to have them at all.  Reset buttons are beautiful, needed, sometimes clouded with nostalgia, and I AM grateful for them.  However, culturally-pressured  resolutions end up making me feel like a stagnant disappointment. But this year is a little different!  I'm not making any resolutions yet again... but I DO have plans in mind.  I have ideas for next year, trips to firm up, desires for who I want to be and become.  Those things embody my own  vision for myself.  And may 2018 not only epitomize them, but make them a way of living. _________________________________________________________________________________ M y  2 0 1 8  V i s i o n  B o a r d more love, less fear. more reading, less scrolling.  more social, less media.  more community, less ...

"Grief never ends... But it changes. It's a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness. nor a lack of faith... It is the price of love." When Mom got sick, we created a website to track her progress and our emotions and thoughts.  Unfortunately, that website had to be permanently moved.  I couldn't retrieve a lot of the precious comments that people wrote to us via the website throughout those two years, however, I DID recover most of the text and blog posts which were written along the way... the words of reflection, sadness, and joy that we carried throughout the journey...  Judy's Journey .   I want to  hold on  to that journey.  Not to cling to it in a way where I live in the past.  But in a way to where I  won't forget  both the heartache and the beauty.  Where I won't forget the ever-present spirit of the Lord or the challenges of that time....

The night after Blu's pinning ceremony, we got to celebrate some more!  We rented out Palace Coffee downtown and had a BLAST with so many people we love.  Thank you to everyone who came gave a hug and those who came, stayed and hung out!  We feel loved and blessed and I think Blu feels very celebrated. :)  So fun!  

When Blu and I met, he had dreams of entering the medical field. After working in a hospital in Midland and getting to know the industry better that way, he confirmed in his heart that he would indeed start down the path of nursing school.  Then we got engaged.  Blu was working on specific prerequisites in order to get into nursing school.  Then we got married.  Blu was full-time in the midst of nursing school when we had a wedding, a Crescent Moon, and showers of blessings!  If anyone knows anything about nursing school, then you know that it's TOUGH.  It requires a lot of brain power due to a LOT of information, as well as a lot of TIME.  Over the past couple of years, Blu has graciously juggled his social tendencies, the expectations of his wife, Xander's needs, church and youth group involvement, and last but not least, school.  He's been amazing! And last night we got to witness the final milestone of his nursing school career via his pinni...

Another post with pictures galore! Here is post #1 , if you missed it. These snippets and faces describe a world of joy far better than my words could.

I'm remarkably grateful for how our modern society let's us share stories of humanity across time and country and culture. When before could you watch a dog being rescued from under a pile earthquake rubble as it's happening?  When before have we had the opportunity to aid and act so rapidly to a natural disaster in the Atlantic Ocean?  How before could we journey with someone through their hardship while being thousands of miles away?  We can make prayers tangible and send care packages across the globe.  We can make friends, young and old, and keep up with those relationships, documenting memories along the way. Humanity.  How can you sum up being human ?  It's a giant mixture of every emotion possible, each unplanned adventure, every curious seeker, each caretaker, every American Dream, mountains to climb and valleys to endure, LOVE and all the consequences of such a wondrous thing.  Being human includes our brokenness too.  The world we live ...

We're trying things. We're learning.  We're working on it... So fun!

CONCERTS!

We are on our 16th month of marriage! And my...how it FLIES, but how we have GROWN.  Before time escapes me completely, I want to document some of the lessons learned in our first year of marriage. So I can look back in the future and giggle, laugh, call us "newbies", and reminisce about how beautiful the journey is. Year One lessons, here we go. I've learned in this year that how I define myself matters . Prior to being one with another human, I prided myself in being independent. Self-sufficient. Confident. I didn't need anyone...  Yet after getting married, I shocked myself with how quickly I became accustomed to depending on someone. I definitely became a more dependent person, which isn't a negative thing at all, but I also think I took it a little too far. I subconsciously gave my fragile self-esteem over to my husband to hold in his hands. I was often offended and hurt by things he said. I depended on another human to lift me up, hold me up, and be a con...

It's always such a good feeling to restart . And Grace is the ultimate restarter, really.  Praise the Lord that we get a new day each day and a refresh button every time we screw up (which is a lot!).  I pray, earnestly, that Grace continues to humble me, not entitle me. But with the new year comes an opportunity to restart life a little bit.  The world is crazy yet even so, Blu and I had a really great 2016.  We look forward to 2017 with high expectations and hearts full of joy and hope.  There's a couple of things that 2016 brought me and brought us.  I'd characterize my year as me being more intentional  than I've ever been before, as well as a year of settlement .  Blu's year was redeeming in many ways and he would also throw school stress in there.  As a couple, we have loved looking back on our adventures together ! 2017 is going to be a little different and I desire to chase those differences purposefully. ...