happy new year - about a month and a half late!

hello, friends!  i've been completely neglectful of my blog since before the holidays, and for those of you who check it (and have commented to me about how i haven't updated it in 2 months), i am very sorry!

that being said, i hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and that your new year is off to a splendid start!  did any of you make a list of new year's resolutions?  i have in the past but didn't this year.  i kept thinking that i'd like to - having goals is a good thing, right?  but then i kept forgetting about it.  fast-forward to february.  and i'm beginning to think the resolutions may remain unwritten this year...

honestly, i found myself more reflective on my birthday this year than on new year's eve.  my birthday was this past weekend, and i turned 30.  30.  10+10+10.  3 decades.  in case you didn't catch any of that - i'm 30 now.  crazy!  of course, thinking about how my 20s were over made me think about what happened in my 20s.  made me think of even what happened this past year.  this last year, the last 10 years, the last 30 years, actually - have all had their share of ups and downs.  seasons of joy, and seasons of pain.  loss.  death.  but growth, too.  new friendships.  kindred spirits.  and lots of blessings. 

i'm not one of those people who will say that i'm thankful for all of it.  because, to be perfectly truthful, there are things that have happened in my life that i don't think i'll ever be thankful for.  i'm learning, though, that just because i'm not thankful for them doesn't mean that God can't redeem them.  out of death and darkness can come healing.  love.  possibly, even, new life. 

there's a thought.  maybe this year, 2011, my 30th year on this earth, instead of writing resolutions, i'll keep track of redemption in the works.  rather than writing lists of things i'd like to accomplish, i'll try to write down things i think maybe God is accomplishing.  or trying to accomplish in and through me.  notes of His faithfulness.  of His character.  of His love for me (even when i don't feel it - maybe especially then).  Truths to cling to when my anxiety is high, and the darkness threatens to overwhelm me.  reminders that there is always hope.

i'm curious to see what will happen as the year unfolds... i have a sense that this year is going to hold a lot of growth for me - and rick.  i think there's a lot of hard work to be done (we're in the midst of some of it right now), and that some things in our lives will come to an end this year, but i think there are new beginnings and opportunities for new life on the horizon.

thankful to walk through this life (and all it's ups and downs), with you, dear ones.  praying we will encourage each other with truth and love along the way.  blessings to you, this new year!