Friends!

I know this post is super-dee-duper late. Sincere apologies for waiting 1.5 months to update this blog (if you noticed)! I was outta town for 3 weeks over the holidays & made an executive decision to leave my laptop behind & hang with real human beings (my family!). Very good decision.

I also started a new job [insert excitement here]! I’m working as a marketing & website contractor for a private school and feel very blessed to join them.

Lastly, I’ve had a persistent case of “Writer’s Doubt” ~ when I’ve questioned whether anyone reads or cares about my writing. I know, I know – sounds silly, but a little encouragement goes a long way for an unpaid writer like me 🙂

Now… onto celebrating this new year, shall we?

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Today is January 25th, and it’s a brand-spankin-new year!!! I have SO much anticipation about what 2014 will bring into our lives ~ many hopes & dreams. Do you? Starting with this awesome word of encouragement from some godly people in Illinois (they do exist lol, jk Yankee friends!): 2014 – A Year of Prophetic Alignment.

I’ve been watching some great big things already begin to happen around me (& to me!). Maybe God wants us to have a sense of expectation for what He’ll do this year. Mmm?!

As I prayed about what “my word” would be for 2014, I felt like God simply said this:

Live!

The more I’ve considered this, the more I’ve realized how much I need to do just that. I’ve spent toooo many years full of fears & anxieties about “what would happen” & “when” & things that are much beyond my control.

That’s not living, folks! To live means to capture the present moment, not spend time stressing over possible outcomes or past regrets.

I’m a tad bit of a nerd by nature, so some days I sense God beckoning me to GO OUTSIDE. Get sunshine! Take a walk & enjoy the scenery. Call someone & tell them I miss them! Go to coffee. Bake banana bread. Anything but work & research & play on my PC a day! Truthfully, emails can wait. Living cannot.

I love connecting with people, so social media & emails & letters & blogs make my little heart happy… but as fun as they may be, they’ll never replace face time 🙂 They’re more like “til I see you again” time…

So my mission for 2014 (or just my conscious awareness) is to quit stressing & start moving! Enjoy the moments that fly by otherwise. Do something instead of sitting here trying to write. After all, the best writing comes from our experiences, doesn’t it? So does the best music & the best art & the best design.

When we wriggle ourselves out of our comfort zones ~ the “tea in lap, watching TV, reading the interwebs in our living room” zone ~ and get outside in the elements, braving the cold to hang out with real people & touch nature up-close, we experience God in a fresh new way! Like when we fly cross-country to spend time with people who matter to us… or go for runs at the park… or take time to lift someone up… our world opens up & we enjoy this life He’s given us to live.

It’s hard to experience our Creator without enjoying His creation. He wants us to live!

So there it is, folks ~ my word for the year! I love its simplicity. Every day I can choose to live – instead of waiting for something to happen, fretting about what might happen, or being sad about what already happened.

Today is a new day…

Today is a brand new opportunity to live fully, thankfully, and triumphantly in Christ.

~DaySpring

Amen.

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Now with that in mind, let me show you some of the “living” I’ve been doing lately!

My family & I just spent several fun weeks together, plus I got to see some of my FAVORITE friends back home! I am happy as a pig in mud 🙂

I got to exercise much (yippee!), lay out at the beach (yes, really – Floridians are livin’ the dream!), enjoy the sunshine, blue skies, & 70 degree weather…

Then hubby & I flew to New Mexico, where we spent 10 days among the Taos mountains downhill & cross-country skiing, enjoying the snow, & 30 degree weather! We loved our time there ~ including QT with our family, celebrating Christmas, long walks in the crisp cold, hot soup & gluten-free biscuits (thanks to my MIL!). It was a great way to ring in a new year – with people we love in God’s beautiful mountain country.

So here are my New Years highlights in PHOTOS! This is a very special time of year for my hubby & I, as this New Years Day we celebrated 3 years of marriage. Yes, we are January 1st wedding birds (totally unplanned, by the way ~ but that’s another story). Hope y’all enjoy 🙂

We began our anniversary journeying over an hour away to play in the snow & cross-country ski (one of my favorites) 🙂

Look at that fresh snow ~ a beautiful day!

My mom & I posing in the mountains

Perfect weather for a cross-country picnic at the lake 🙂 Loved spending it with our parents!!

On our way home <3 Isn’t he handsome?

All cleaned up for round 2 of celebrating! Brian made special plans for us…

If you can’t tell, I have a huge crush on my hubby. I’m very blessed to be his best friend!

1st stop: El Monte Sagrado, “The Sacred Mountain”, our gooorgeous honeymoon hotel to check-in! It’s like a winter wonderland here!

Please note the beautiful half-frozen fountain! If you’re ever in Taos, I highly recommend you stop in for a visit.

The place where we took several of our fave wedding pics 3 years earlier 🙂

Next stop: Sabroso Bar & Restaurant ~ a lil jewel our wedding photographer insisted we use for our reception. It did not disappoint!

Our parents out celebrating w/ us!! A perfect recreation of our wedding night: Just us 3 couples (minus our officiant) in the very room we had our dinner reception & first dance 🙂

Steak & potatoes for din din…

… and this yummy salad!

The sweet chef even brought us special anniversary desserts, on the house!! What a surprise 🙂 He created our wedding cake, so it was great to catch up 3 years later.

The bridge at Sabroso ~ a magical place 🙂

Final stop ~ “The Sacred Mountain” for the night 🙂 Our room was a few doors down from our original Honeymoon Suite!! This was our breakfast-in-bed so I had to take a pic 🙂

Yes please! We enjoyed every bite!

Omelettes & old-fashioned oats 🙂 What a special way to celebrate 3 years together & ring in a new year!!

We even got in a good day of skiing w/ our parents the next day!! Only wish we had MORE mountain time 🙂 Such a fun trip with our fam!

Spotted this cute sign while shopping the square with my Mom! HAPPY NEW YEAR Y’ALL 🙂

Now I’m back in Texas, where cow sightings have been surprisingly common, as have gorgeous 60-something degree days (it’s wintertime, Texas!), intermixed with actual SNOW. 2014 is shaping up to be a great & perhaps unpredictable year 🙂

Hope your 2014 has started off with a bang like ours! We hope you experience a blessed, eventful year. May we be thankful for ALL we have & enter this NEW year with anticipation for what He has in store for us.

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What is your word for 2014? What new thing are you expecting God to do in your life this year? Please share in the comments!

‘As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is My word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.’

~Isaiah 55