December highlights and New Year's resolutions

January 3, 2007

I'll start with my New Year's resolutions. I'm keeping them to two this year. For simplicity's sake.
(1) To know the joy of resting in God's presence. I've been reading a 40-day meditation centered around Moses' encounter with God on Mt. Sinai and the Israelites' response. The phrase that I keep coming back to from this passage in Exodus 33 is God's promise to Moses and His people: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." That's what I want to know this year: the joy and hope that come from believing that this is true.

(2) To write more. Which means, yes, there should be more blogs this year than last year! I'm reading a few books on writing during our month off from classes. I've started with Anne Lamott's book, "Bird by Bird." This quote compels me to why I love writing, and why I want to do it more. She is describing her father, who was also a writer: "He could go anyplace he wanted with a sense of purpose. One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to do things, to go places and explore. Another is that writing motivates you to look closely at life, at life as it lurches by and tramps around." Which means I think there is a corollary to this resolution...#2a would be to look closely at life, savor the sweet moments, laugh at the funny moments, and remember each day instead of rushing through them as someone merely bent on survival.

Now on to highlights from December...which also will explain why I haven't posted in awhile.

December 2nd: my dear friend & college roommate, Katherine Jackson, weds Captain Jeffrey Donnithorne in Birmingham, AL, and I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid

December 15th: Seth & I get to be conspirators for our friends' engagement.
Below is the happily engaged couple, Nathan and Erica:
(they're an advertisement for our new side business, Heather&Seth-match.com....ha, ha)

December 16th: My brother gets engaged to his college sweetheart, Nicole!!
I will finally get a sister in the family. Yay!

All of December: me and Seth's first Christmas together!

Here we are with our little "charlie brown" Christmas tree :)

Christmas in New Jersey...my first ever was quite fun. We celebrated the weekend before Christmas, and were showered with gifts and love by Seth's parents. What a fun time together!


...and Christmas in Greenville--we had fun going downtown with my brother Bryan and his girlfriend Ashleigh and all of us being a little bit goofy --

December 18--a surprise going away party for Kimberly, a friend since high school who is heading to Kenya as a missionary. Here we all are: friends since high school (and even kindergarten!) -- Kimberly, Kathryn (expecting her first baby in January), me, Shelby

It was a full month!! Full of good times with friends and family. So now January is time for some good rest. That is our hope as Seth and I try to figure out what to do without classes for a month!