Picture Diary

My Mom made a calendar for our grandparents with pictures we had taken over the past year. She asked if I could contribute several of my photos, so it got me looking over a whole year's worth of photos. I really enjoyed the time of reflection on what I had done last year...so I thought I'd share. So get ready for...

A Year In Photos! 

disclaimer: This in no way encompasses the happenings of an entire year. These pictures just skim the surface of events, emotions, growth, pain, joy, and God's grace! Also, no worries if you don't want to look at ALL of these! :)


Proceed.

The year began with a wedding

Pictured is my friend the maid of honor.
Matchy matchy!

What's goin' on? Oh yeah, we're just goofin. 

Some sweet sister and friend fellowship time.

Then Chick-fil-A went and came out with these awesome ketchup packets of delightfulness.

I don't know about you, but this event may have made my year.

Heh heh heh

Then there were some amazing times with my friend, an international student from over the big ol' ocean. We went to the bosque, went to Zumba together and talked about weird somewhat creepy instructors. She lived with us for a while before hopping back over the pond. Love her lots! 

 

Saying goodbye at the airport. :(

There was some random snow.

And our beautiful dogs LOVE playing in it! 

Mags hurt her foot and had to wear a cute little boot.
Should've taken a video...

Then the snow melted, there were ample trails to conquer and therefore, much hiking to be done.  

And trips to be taken!

And silly faces to make!

And more trails to conquer in Colorado.

Where the rocks shaped like camels kiss.

And pictures are taken from forbidden points:

Exploring an area of the bosque we'd never been to before with the brosefs.

What? More hiking?

Yes.

A little scurry off the path of my favorite trail (Pino Canyon Trail)
there's this HUGE boulder with a tree growing out the top.

More Summer Fun

Sweet, amazing girl got married this year and is on a new adventure with her husband. :)

A spontaneous picnic in the mountains made some sweet memories and cute pictures.
L's comment on this photo on facebook was, "Ok, just sayin', how are we not all married?!?" She must be psychic because E's getting married next month! 

A's been such a sweet friend in my life.
She'll be getting married this year as well!

In June I went with my church youth group to Noah's Ark in Buena Vista, CO for a some awesome camping and overnight river rafting. Definitely recommend it!

Wet suits are awesome, comfortable, and extremely flattering. 

My Uncle is the Dean of a Baptist college in Texas and came here for a meeting so we got to see him... 

:)

...and show him the views.

Got to see Rascall Flatts with Jo

And explore the volcanoes with E

I love this city!

In August I made more friends from England. 

I have so enjoyed this dear sweet girl. 

Coon hats and a sheriff's badge.

                                         

The fall is one of my siblings and my favorite time to go to the bosque.

During a baby shower the sibs nabbed me and took me to our favorite bosque location.

I was wearing this. 

And the sky looked like this

Fall turned to winter and we had lots of snow.

Tina made a teeny snowman atop our bush.
He was very faithful at guarding our house.

Christmas  parties galore

Christmas staff party brought out some fun sweaters.

Soooo...happy New Year to you (two months late)!

It's such a blessing to remember and to think back on all that's happened and all that God's done. Here's to another year of growth and more hopes placed in Christ in 2012.

The Holiday Hum-drums

Holidays: delightfully enjoyable or incredibly depressing?

Obviously it depends on your situation around holidays. If you've had a loved one die or something terrible happen around a holiday, that memory will forever change the way you look at said holiday. For example, this year my Nanny died right before Easter. I'll probably remember that forever. But a few years ago my Papaw died a couple days before my birthday. My birthday was the day right after his funeral. I definitely reflected upon that the next year around my birthday, but the following years, honestly I don't know if it crossed my mind. (Though it certainly may affect my Dad much more than me.)

My Mom has done a great job of ingraining in us the fact that holidays aren't about us. Christmas is not about me. Easter, not about me. Even my birthday...not about me. So whatever the circumstance around a special date on a calendar, I've been able to learn that a holiday doesn't have to look or feel a certain way.

I've had to deal with the feeling that we were the 'weird' family around holidays for a long time. We never really celebrated just like everyone else. It's never been as big of a grand production for my family. We don't decorate to the hilt. We don't plan and plan for a month before the big day. We don't pine over Christmas carols or yearn for the day when we can put up our Christmas tree. Several years in a row we shopped for our presents the day before Christmas Eve. We've even had years without a Christmas tree. For a few years in OK, we had a home-made manger. (It was beautifully handcrafted from weathered fence pieces from our backyard. It didn't make the move with us 4 years ago and I still miss it.)

This year's Christmas didn't fall short in it's weirdness quota either. We just celebrated it as a family tonight. Yes, we just celebrated Christmas on New Year's Eve. I don't care to go into the reasons why we did what we did this year in fact, if you'd like, you can read what we have normally done in the past and a few traditions we've developed at my mother's blog here, but we did have a simple, lovely evening with a few presents and delicious fettuccine alfredo.

Every year, I do struggle to have a heart of complete worship around holidays. I think our upbringing has made it easier though. However this year, I found myself thinking through how many more holidays I would have to get through as a "single person". Ugh. I went through a mental check-list of how long I'd have to endure sappy holiday cheer and be grumpy about it. Christmas, check. New Years...almost...and now, check. Oh good! Wait...Valentine's Day! Oooooh no! One whole awful month to be inundated with pink, red, candy and fluffy animals in celebration of that special someone. So three holidays right in a row that remind me that I'm alone. Great.

Today especially I felt that huge wish to have someone to celebrate with. As we drove down Central around campus I noticed every macho man bundled up in coat, scarf and hat, feeling like I was on the outside looking in on the relationships that everyone else seems to be in. I could feel my heart getting heavier and heavier, loaded down with the weight of feeling sorry for myself...And then...
Then my eyes fell upon a man. Not a macho man, attractive in his clean coat and nicely trimmed, fashionably-wintery beard, but a dirty man; a man loaded down with a burden he carries everywhere he goes. His bundle is his bed and clothing. His burden, the weight of survival. Instantly I realized this day, this day deemed a holiday-a day of drunkenness and unnecessary romance and spontaneous kisses in Times Square etc-is not about me. This day is not about my comfort or fulfilling my girlish dreams and nor is any other day. There is hurt in this world. There is pain. And whether it's a holiday or not, it is still a regular, normal day. It is still a day written in God's history. It is still a day where every wrong has not yet been made right and it is still a day that I am waiting for Christ my King.

Oh man am I grateful for perspective. Yes, there is a time for rejoicing, celebration and fun. But if there's anything that holidays in my family have taught me, it is that every day does not play out in the way that we had perfectly planned and that every day is not about me. All 365 days of the year are about Christ and about His purpose for redemption and relationship with His people. All of those days include holidays, and holidays aren't about me.