"Brown paper packages tied up with string..."

List making, reflecting, goal setting, journaling, and letters.

These are just some of my favorite things.

And this is a bit of what I've been up to the past few weeks.

At Christmas, I got a gift in a really pretty blue and brown box- the box was almost just as lovely as the gift. I brought it home and tried to think what good purpose I could use the box for. Well- at the same time, I was doing some cleaning of piles in closets that never gets dealt with. I came across multiple shoe boxes of cards and letters- from birthdays, Christmases, dozens of notes from my mom, letters from my grandmas when I went off to college, and special encouraging notes from dear friends. What to do with them all?
Ah hah! The beautiful blue and brown box!





I got some cream and brown cotton crochet thread from the craft room and started the glorious task of re-reading all these notes and cards and bundling them into stacks, with cute little tags tied on to label them. Oh, it was so fun! It made me realize the importance my words can have- if the sweet words of a girl from youth group sent to me in a card when I first moved away from home to college STILL bring a smile to my face 7 years later, I really should be more intentional with writing encouragement to others.



I also got a nice little spiral bound journal in my stocking at Christmas. Now, I have journals and notebooks going for everything: Prayer list notebook, prayers written out journal, regular life journal, various trip and travel journals, marriage notes and ideas journal, church serman notebook, interpreting experiences journal, Christmas gift ideas notebook, and a plain old notebook just to make lists in. So, what should this one be for?


Ah hah! A new idea! I need a "books I have read" book!
I started making a list of all the books I read as I finished them about a year and a half ago (in my normal list-making notebook, of course). So I copied that list into this new book, and then started 2012 with a page devoted to each book as I finish it. I put the title and author, give it my own star rating (from 1 star "didn't hold my interest at all" to 4 stars "I'll give it away as gifts and probably read it again in my lifetime") and write a one page review of it. So far, I've finished 4 books in 3 weeks and have had a ball writing about them!



Lastly, Cody and I have been busy working on our Year End Review and Goal Setting. We still aren't done with it- it takes a while, but it is fun and has been a blessing. I came up with 11 categories - anything from Life Highlights, Finances, Challenges, Mission, to Hobbies/Fun, and Time Management and more- and together we reflect on the past year in that category and make goals for the new year. I love the thought of having these written out for each year of our marriage to be able to look back on in 50 years and see what goals we set in 2012 and what our greatest struggle was in 2026 and what life highlights stood out in 2034.

2011- A Multitude of God's Blessings

I know its already almost a month into the New Year- but I just wanted to publicly praise the Lord for His grace in our lives in 2011. Some things, like death, aren't necessarily things I'd label as "thankful for" but they display His grace and mercy in our lives.
(the following is a condensed list that Cody and I came up with in our Year End Reflection)

• Cody passed Greek with an A! and did just as well in all other classes (He says God's grace was most displayed in that Greek grade though!)
  
• The Lord provided Ashley with a new job- a HUGE blessing in so many ways!
  
• Cody's Great Grandma goes to be with the Lord- March 27, 2011
• Our dear friends, the Viola's, were blessed with their first son- our first "nephew".
  
• We were able to travel to London, England for a week- a wonderful trip, and the blessing of Cody and David getting to meet!
• Celebrated our 2 year anniversary! Praise Him!
  
• Traveled to Wisconsin to visit Cody's family, Asheville to visit Bethany, Indianapolis with friends, to Illinois several times, to Cincinnati--- love being able to spend time with people we love!
  
• the Lord protected Ashley when hitting a deer, and also provided the money to buy a good used car.
  
• We got to celebrate with my dear one- Alyssa, on her and Josh's wedding day!
  
• The Lord grew us through His Word, blessing us through the preaching of it at IBC, and the study of it in our home- Praise Him!
  
• We were able to visit Kathleen in Colorado- SUCH an answered prayer!
  
• He was so good to us to give us new friendship with the Borges- Thankful for countless hours of encouragement and laughs with them already.
  
• His goodness gave opportunities to share the Gospel in 2011- yearning for more in 2012!
  

And the list could go on and on- (our own personal list does, in fact!)

2011 was a wonderful year for us- we can't wait to see what 2012 brings from the hand of the Lord, for His glory!

Christmas and New Years

Happy New Year, All!! I hope everyone had a blessed and safe Christmas and New Year's Day. Here are a few pics from our festivities.


This was the dinner I made for Cody and I on "our" Christmas Eve which was really Dec 23. See the beautiful flowers in the background? They were sent from David, my "granddad" in England.

I LOVE this pic. This is at our home church on Christmas Eve. This is a pic that I forced to make happen :) of "youth" from our past at church. Its sort of an eclectic group because there are some friends older than Cody and I who were sort of on their way out when I joined youth. And then there are some friends here that are 4, 5, all the way up to like 8 years younger than us. And, this includes a wife and baby, grafted in to our "youth group" conglomeration. Gosh, when I look at this and see some of these girls all grown up- the ones that my friends and I thought of as "The Middle School Girls" when we were seniors- and now they are almost done with college- where did time go?!

Me, Mom, Grandma Pat, and Bethany before our meal. Mom made a wonderful Christmas dinner! It's usually at Grandma Pat's house but this year was different.

Piper guarding his stocking stuffers- between my parents, sister and Cody's grandparents, we won't have to buy him treats for like a year.

Attempting a photo with the Piper and Grandma Vi. They like each other a lot. :)

We got Piper a bed for Christmas. Its really an enormous, furry pillow. But I'm glad he loves it. This was after we came back into town, the next morning. He slept till 1 in the afternoon. I guess that bed must be something!


Sadly, this is really a very poor representation of our New Year's Eve but its all I got. All in all, we had sushi for the first time at a real Japanese Sushi bar (YUM!), then went to see Mission Impossible, then came to this- cheese and chocolate fondue (separately)! and games and fun until the wee hours with these people:

A little blurry, I know- but best we could do with that hold-your-arm-out-and-try-to-get-all-4-people-in sort of shot. Happy 2012!!!