Unlock this door, step carefully inside.
Look around, take it all in.
Breathe deeply this new air; it may not seem important, but another chapter in your life is about to begin.
Its all new - you're not sure what to think.
Everything that happened last year - what lies behind these doors?
New things are bound to happen, new steps will be taken.
Slip your hand in mine. I promise, I won't let go.
You mean the world to me, so much that you'll probably never know.
I love you, I miss you, and I'll stay by your side.
So let's walk in together, let's be be bold and not try to hide.
We'll bravely stride forward, yes, we'll even have ups and downs -
but with you by my side, there will be more laughs than frowns.
So, take my hand. Don't let it go. I love you, yes, you - always, you should know.
The end of the year is at hand... I can hardly believe it all.
2012 has been an amazing year; I've felt like I've experienced more, grown a little more. It seems like the beginning of the year was only yesterday... and now it's coming to a close.
I will admit that my relationship with Christ wasn't great in 2012... I hit a hard spot in my life and it drug me down. But for the past month and a half, things have gotten far better. Life suddenly seems a little bit brighter and hopeful.
Journeying through the year has been an interesting ride; so many special things taking place and changing.
I've sadly overlooked the little things this year, and I intend to remedy that in 2013.
As this year comes to a close, I hope we can all look back and reflect on everything that's taken place. All of the good things and the bad things. I'm looking forward to a new year - a new adventure.
Look to Christ no matter what darkness surrounds you, and as a friend showed me yesterday... "Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." (Psalm 62:8)
Great things begin happening when we keep our trust in Him.
Please continue praying for me this year as I work hard to take steps forward - I'll need everything you can give. And I'll keep praying for you, that you would all be strong and never lose hope in our Lord.
Thank you so much for being readers of my blog, and thanks to my family for teaching me the things I need to know. Thanks to all of my friends who have encouraged me, tried me, and often times shoved me when I needed it. :)
You're all gems in the treasure-store of my heart, and I wouldn't give anything to replace you.
I love you all.
2012, we say goodbye. 2013... here we go, one more time.
Let's move forward with confident steps and a trusting heart.
Merry Christmas to everyone! We had a wonderful time at church today, talking, laughing and dancing. We exchanged gifts and enjoyed each other's company very, very much.
Again, we took a picture of 'The Gang', like we do every year, and once again, we've done some growing - both on the outside and inside.
I love all of you so much; you have no idea. Let's stay the crazy friends we are for a very long time to come, and I look forward to sharing another Christmas with you next year, and making many memories in between.
I can't believe it's already here! Instead of snow, we have rain, but that's okay - anything but a bright and sunny day sits well with me. :)
Christmas crept up on me this year; It's almost as if I weren't expecting it, and all of a sudden it's standing in front of me. I'm actually excited about it, really. Tonight we're going to open presents, and tomorrow morning, we're going to church to spend an amazing day with friends. I can't *wait* for it! I'm looking forward to the rest of today and all of tomorrow so much I'm giddy!
When I woke up this morning, I wasn't convinced that today would be a good one - but I've been proven wrong and it's turned out far better than I thought it was.
Last night, after everyone had gone to bed and I'd gone in my room and closed the door, I sat in my bed surrounded by warm Christmas lights and wrote a very, very long prayer in my journal about, well... everything, mostly. Some of my prayers had to do with today and how things would go, and guess what? They're being answered.
I'm sure all of you have heard the 'Christmas-turned-commerce' talk, so I won't give it to you again, but I will say this: REMEMBER. CHRIST.
He's merciful to us far more than we can ever imagine, and what do we do most of the time? Ignore Him.
Don't ignore Him. I've done that way too much recently, but He's always so faithful to show me His mercy again.
Thanks to all of you for reading my blog! I love you all so much. Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
It's nights like these that put warm memories in my heart; that create something I'll never forget and play through my mind over again after the day is over.
When Christmas lights are glowing softly and rain is pattering against the glass; when friends laugh and the guitar music keeps playing, the sound of voices continuing on and a pot of hot chocolate keeps warm on the stove...
It's nights like these that make me smile and stay forever in my heart.
My mind can't wrap itself around the fact that it's nearly Christmas. I can hardly believe it. AND the end of another year...
Though snow hasn't yet fallen, it's foggy and rainy, and I can see my breath cloud into the air as I let it out, trying to sort my jumbled thoughts and put together puzzles as I walk down the driveway from the barn.
We got our Christmas tree set up, and it's glowing with lights and shiny ornaments.
Sad enough, I don't have time right now to write out something long, but here's some pictures of life recently...
I'm so full of it all right now. It's overwhelming me; making me laugh and cry all at the same time. Everything's so close to my heart right now, and I can't quite describe the sensation... just, don't stop this feeling.
And no, my little brother isn't angry... the light was in his eyes. =D (and my cap was in mine. :P)
The mad rush to get as much done for NaNoWriMo 2012 as I can.
There's no *way* I'm going to be able to get 50,000 words done, sadly, but I'm pushing it for all I'm worth to see what I can get to.
I've got coffee brewing right now and a long night ahead - I won't stop until I reach 11:58 pm, just long enough for me to enter my word count.
Wish me the best.... this is what I feel like right now: Running like a madman and getting absolutely nowhere. :P
... wow.
What. A. BLAST. 0_0
I've been gone to Georgia for the past four days and got to see my Best Friend in the process - EEK! We had a *wonderful* time. 'Twas absolutely amazing.
We (myself, mom, Nathan and Rebekah) left the house at around 4:45 am, bundled up and crammed in the Nissan to begin the six hour drive. It was long, boring, and totally uneventful, and we arrived at around 10:30 at grandma's house.
That afternoon at 3:00, a green van pulled into the driveway and I went thundering down the stairs to greet my Bestest Friend - it'd been four months already.
"Helloooo!" I hugged her, giddy but feeling like this was a regular occurrence all at the same time. Everyone exchanged hellos and we sat around for a while talking before her mom had to leave. We giggled over story ideas and such, debated what the meaning of 'juseyo' is in Korean, and over-all acted like our crazy selves.
When we went upstairs to settle in and get comfortable, the real insanity began. We sat on the floor beside the bed, listening to music, talking about people and exchanging silly stories, and writing weird letters to each other in our journals. ^_^ She was enjoying a mug of orange juice (instead of coffee?! 0_o), and I was enjoying my pepsi... hadn't had one for the past two weeks, kkk.
Oh, and then she began to draw strange things on my hand....
We sat up in that room for at least a couple of hours, enjoying each others company and laughing over the weirdest things.
I also found out a couple of new things about her (perish the thought! Is that even POSSIBLE?!) 1 - She drinks her coffee black. For some odd reason I always thought she was a cream and sugar gal. 2 - She didn't. know. what. CHEESE. TOAST. was. 0.0 Okay, okay; have I gone mad, or is that beyond comprehension? That's kinda like me not knowing what 'boom shakalaka' meant. *smiles*
We stayed up Saturday night until 2:00 am after deciding on a role play, having an absolute blast. We decided that if one of us ever breaks up with the other, we'd have to hire assassins to kill ourselves because we simply know waaay too much. >:)
After role playing for a few hours, I think I mentioned something about it and she says, "THAT'D be awkward," in a completely in-character voice. Unfortunately, that threw me OUT of character and I broke down into a giggling fit, which prompted her to do the same thing. (Needless to say, that ended the RP...)
*my lovely brother*...
The next day was Sunday. I woke up before her and decided to let her sleep while I went to shower. When I came back - she was still sleeping. Not exactly a surprise. So I went downstairs and got two cups of coffee; one for myself and the other I hoped would appease her morning-monster-wrath.
I sat down on the bed cross-legged and tapped her shoulder, expecting a fist to meet my face. She mumbles and rolls over instead. I cleared my throat, holding the coffee out so she could see it.
"I was nine?"
She blinks, and a slow smile appears. "Yeah. Give."
(The 'I was nine' joke came from watching a Korean drama, where Mirriam's sister misheard the guy asking his girlfriend if she wanted coffee... don't ask me how she got 'I was nine' out of that...)
We laid around talking for a few minutes, and then finally forced ourselves into 'walk' mode and began to get ready for church. The day went by, the sermon was good, and HO boy... I was getting a cold. Nathan had kindly passed it on to me.
But despite the cold, we continued to have a blast - we took some hilarious videos and backtracked over old jokes we had. A new one came in the form of my terrible grammar mistake when instead of saying "the Blacks and I", I said "the Blacks and we". Leave it to Mirriam to take something like that and morph it into a joke we'll never forget.
"The Blaxonwee?!" she squeaked. Thus we now have a fell beast from the depths of the earth that haunts our conversations, and anytime we see anything that could be the slightest bit disturbing, it gets labled with the title of Blaxonwee.
That night we stayed up until... um... *whispers* 6:30. In the morning. However - we have noooo regrets!!!
In all honesty, I think the following was my favourite moment out of all the laughter side-stitches and embarrassing things she said. We had to take her back the next morning, and on the way down the Interstate, we sat in the back seat of the Nissan singing at the top of our lungs to some of our favourite songs, coffees in hand and driving my poor, wonderful mother insane. =D There'd be the random "Look at that building! It reminds me of UNIT!" followed by brainstorming over a book scene or plot. I loved it so much. ^_^
It was sad to say goodbye. *IF* they come up for my birthday next year, that's eight whole months. :( Maybe we can come up with something between now and then.
Mirriam, I love you, unnie. You had me in a constant state of smiles and laughs - it's just what you do to people. ;) And the jokes we shared were hilarious; I wrote them down for good measure. You're so sweet and insanely cruel all at the same time, and even if I DO get annoyed at you on the rarest of occasions, it's doomed to fail because there's no way I can stay that way towards you for more than ten minutes. ^_^ God gave me a special gift when He brought us together, and I have a feeling that we'll always and forever be Best Friends. (Our husbands will die of old age trying to figure us out. =D) You're such an encouragement to me, you inspire me, and you make me want to steal your memories when you write something brilliant that I never would have thought of. ;D
당신을 사랑합니다, 언니.
You're fantastic. ;)
Au Naturale :P
She weareth shoes....
This edition was dubbed 'CRAYON', because we literally got our crazy on. XD Enjoy these videos I put together - the first one a conglomeration of some of our craziness, and the next is Mirriam's rendition of The Tale of the Blaxonwee.... have fun. ^_^
