A New Year

I really like the way holidays fall in our culture. I like that the end of a year is a great big party from Thanksgiving to the end, but that then we pack up all of the ornaments, and pitch the rest of the fruitcake, and buckle down to work on a new year.
I like having a milestone as a fresh start. I have never been a "new year's resolution" person either, but this year I have thought of about 5 already. Like writing thank-you cards. It is just so civilized and kind. I am going to start writing thank-you cards.

But like I mentioned in my last post, I like to review the past year before plunging into a new one. This, like many years has had ups and downs, and I think I have grown. Instead of just listing events, though, I am going to list the things that I have gained, and the things that are coming with me into this new year. There were plenty of things that were tried and amounted to little, or flat out failed, and I don't want to be dishonest by not sharing them, but it seems better to me, in this crazy blogging-world context, to focus on the bright side, and there is plenty there as well...
Here it goes...

1. A job at CAP! Big one! Last year at this time I was jobless with no idea what was going to happen. This job is one of the most inexplicable provisions from God that I have ever known.

2. Started this blog... Speaks for itself. :-)

3. Had immense success with my very first garden last summer.

4. In July passed the one year "living on my own" mark. I love this little house.

5. Kelly has grown much closer as a wonderful friend. Last year, at this time, I don't think we were even sharing who we might be harboring a crush on. Now there is not very much that remains a secret. At least that I know of... She is an amazing woman and is truly gifted in the skill of friendship. She cultivates and cares for her friendships like I did my snapdragons.

6. In the fall I began leading Primary choir at church. Yes, you have heard it a million times. I love it. There is nothing like getting little smiles and waves, or sometimes big hugs around my hips, randomly walking through the church hallways.

7. In May I went on a weekend trip to NYC with other young adults from the BIC Atlantic conference. It was a fascinating trip... Don't even know where to begin to describe it. The thing that I remember the most and hope I continue to take with me, at least in prayer, was a woman named Stephanie, sitting on some random steps in the Bronx, thin as a rail. Her husband had left her and she was going to be moving somewhere else in the city. She didn't know where. Wherever the welfare system would put her. I'm sure I won't see her again on this earth, but I try to remember to keep praying.

8. I began attending a new Bible study in the fall. It has been good getting to know new people who love Jesus, and who happily enjoy smoking a hookah. It makes me feel very comfortable and assured that I won't hear any lectures.

Those are the big ones. I may be missing some but my brain is kind of mushy because of staying up until 2am last night.
But for the new year ahead... who knows? I am praying for God's leading, and that he will keep me on the path he is planning.






PS.

On a very different note, and I am not sure what to make of it, last night I had a dream about Saddam Hussein. I didn't even know that he was going to be executed today until hearing it on the radio this morning. I have seen his picture on the news more lately, so maybe that is why. But in my dream I was at some kind of military camp, and I sat down to watch a movie, and looked over to discover that he was sitting beside me, lauging and enjoying the movie. He did creep me out so I tried to get up, and he sort of held me down, wanting me to stay and keep watching with him. I shoved him, got up, walked away and didn't look back... and that was it. But it is strange that by the time I dreamed this, he was probably already dead. So strange...