In a New Year and a New Home

You might have noticed, I’ve kind of been MIA from the internet for the past few days. Well, I’ve got good reason: my family and I have moved (and thus I didn't have wi-fi for the past five days).

All the details are uninteresting and inconsequential -- the gist of it is that now Alissa, Crystal, and I don’t have to live in a townhouse any longer, and can now again live with the fam while we attend college/grad school. Some people might see it as an odd arrangement, but it makes sense in so many ways for us. So, according to the Lord’s will, we finally have a beautiful little house of our own five minutes from my university. I’m excited to turn my pretty attic bedroom into a little oasis of inspirational space.

The past five days, I’ve been at this new house by myself, while the rest of my family went back to TN to retrieve the last of our boxes. It was an interesting experience. I had a whole lot of time on my hands, needless to say, with no access at all to internet, as we couldn’t get it set up until just this afternoon. I’m glad to say, however, that I spent my time fairly productively and profitably. I did lots of unpacking, and some cleaning – made more fun by having the LOTR trilogy playing nearby on my laptop while I scrubbed. ;)

A major blessing that came with all this free time, was that Jesus and I had plenty of unrushed time to catch up. I’ve never had much trouble talking to God, but listening can be hard, and it was wonderful to actually slow down and do just that these past few days. Besides my regular quiet times with God (which were luxuriously extensive), I started reading “Jesus Calling,” which ended up being the perfect addition to my quiet times, as well as a fascinating little book entitled “Soul Cravings” by Erwin McManus.

As you can tell, I’ve had plenty of activities in the absence of wi-fi to keep me busy in my hermitude (that’s most definitely not a word), and I ended up rather enjoying my unplanned “internet detox.” ;) I suppose that is a pretty good way to start off a new year, 2016. And speaking of 2016… well, to me, it still feels like 2015, and it will for the next few weeks/months -- but I am so thrilled that 2016 has arrived. I’m sure this year holds many grand adventures, and I’m so excited to be swept off into yet another year on Earth.

At this time of year, everyone's looking back over the last year... well, I don't want to look back. There was good, bad, and everything in between last year, but at this point, I only have eyes for the future. Not that I don't want to think about all the wonderful times I had last year, but, in my mind, to get bogged down in either the good or the bad of the past is detrimental to the soul. Nostalgia and regret can both hurt, in their own ways. And as I heard one person put it, "Anticipation is one of the great gifts of the human experience."

In this new year, I plan to only look forward. I'm anticipating the good, the bad, and everything in between that I will get to experience in 2016. My second semester of college (the classes, people, and experiences that come with), further spiritual growth (God helping me), hopefully being used by God in mighty and not-so-mighty ways, and the release of a plethora of new movies (please don't judge me). And, who knows -- maybe 2016 will be the year Jesus returns... now that is something to anticipate.

So let's get this party started, shall we? ;)