Friday Fun: Happy New Year!

 

This week marked our fourteenth chance to stand side by side as a new year began. We’ve spent some of those years in the company of friends, some at work, and some in the privacy of our home, but each has been memorable in its own way.

                This New Year’s Eve (daytime) was ridiculously frustrating from start to finish, but it improved significantly once evening arrived. I made a special dinner of mini BBQ pizzas, my new favorite salad, and healthy brownies for us to enjoy at home together. The weather was cold, windy, and snowy – and not in the pretty snow globe kind of way, so we weren’t sad to be at home.

                After dinner, we set the bar pretty high for a party: we finished taking down the Christmas decorations. We completed our mission with about three hours to spare before 2026 arrived. And then it’s possible we took a short nap. WOW! We are the coolest, for sure.

                We pulled it together for our midnight celebration, though. Party glasses, sparkling grape juice, and a dog who did not appreciate the fireworks in the neighborhood. (And we think the 6 on the TV looks like a 4.)

                New Year’s Day was blissful. We had the day off together and enjoyed sleeping in a little, egg casserole for breakfast, and much rest time. I worked hard on editing 2025 scrapbooks so they’re ready to order as soon as a sale hits.

                Ten years ago, we did a New Year’s Day hike at a state park. It was story-laden, and ultimately we learned that we really like the concept of a New Year’s Day hike, but we also enjoy solitude. So even though we live about a half hour from a state park that was hosting a hike yesterday, we decided to skip it and do our own hike instead. We bundled up, and the moment Lexi saw her leash, she couldn’t contain her joy – for about a solid hour. She was thrilled to hike. The Bernese in her energetically welcomes the snow.

                What a joy it was to have the trails entirely to ourselves and to explore spots we’ve trekked before and new areas we have never seen. Frozen rivers, the white tails of deer bounding farther into the distance, bright red cardinals flitting through the air, snow covered ground, and crisp air. My goodness. What a gift God gave us in a beautiful day, despite the cold!

                Ryan watched the Rose Bowl game, which turned out to be a good day for Indiana. While he watched TV, I started reading a new novel. It has been a long time since I have made time to read anything at all – fiction or nonfiction.

                And then we wrapped up our lovely holiday by sitting down with our overflowing box of 2025 memories and sorting through it. This is a tradition I started by myself before we married and we’ve kept it up – although I think in 2024 it was something like JUNE before we had time to sit down and sort through the box. Let’s not make that mistake again.

                Anyway, if you’re new here, the memory box is just an old photo box from Hobby Lobby that sits on the shelf in our closet. Throughout the year we toss in all kinds of memories: trail maps, menus, tickets, brochures, notes…you get the idea. Then on New Year’s Day, we sort through it, reminisce about the year we just had, and keep the pieces that are the most meaningful to us. We put the empty box back on the shelf and begin collecting all over again.

                It’s one of my favorite traditions and gives us a chance to appreciate the goodness of God in the memories we’ve made!

                First days are special to me – first days of anything. And the first day of 2026 did not disappoint.

          

Thankful Thursday: Stories to Come

 

                2026 marks twenty years since I wrote my first blog post and hit publish in this space. I’ve been a blogger longer than I’ve been just about anything else, and my twenty-seven-year-old self never could have imagined the stories I would share in this arena.

                I never aspired to have a blog. Back in those days, I was still a Financial Aid Counselor, and one of my coworkers set up the page, handed me the login and password, and told me to get to work. I didn’t really know what that looked like, so I started by telling stories about my kitten, Braeya, sharing my strong opinions on American Idol competitions, and pondering the lessons God taught me along the way. I didn’t have a plan or a niche. I just told stories.

Some of you have been here from the beginning, and you remember the stories that came – after the American Idol finale – when I had to think up new material.

You remember the updates on life for my sister after the Greensburg tornado wiped out her home and town.

You remember when I hit my first big age milestone as a blogger – turning thirty!

You were here when I took my first grown-up vacation – to Hershey – and you were here when I went back (years later) with Ryan by my side.

You remember my slow crawl through the desert of the soul after my loss of love, and some of you were so worried that I might never recover. I worried, too. You celebrated when I began to heal and live again. I celebrated, too.

You also celebrated when I gave birth to my very first book, which just marked its fifteenth birthday.

You were as surprised as I was when the Lord opened the door for me to work in radio, and you came along for parades, concerts, on-air bloopers, and lessons of the soul.

You had just started to learn about a new man in my life and didn’t even know yet that he was my boyfriend when he surprised us all by proposing! You ran beside me as we hurried to plan a wedding and married on a beach at sunset.

You remember when I left radio and stayed at home for a few years, writing another book, podcasting, and learning to speak at events.

You were here for Nita’s unexpected illness and death – and Allen’s shocking heart attack and death two years later.

You read as we packed, moved and renovated homes more than once, and for the years we dipped our toes in ministry at WillowBridge.

You remember Braeya’s entire (long – for a cat!) life and mourned with us when she passed away a little over a year ago.

You giggled when we brought home a tiny puppy and tried our hand at potty training, leash training, sit training, and all the other trainings that come with a puppy. You’ve watched her little personality emerge over the last four years.

You remember my parents’ move to our area, my entrance into ministry, and life in a tiny cottage on the edge of an equally tiny lake.

                I never could have imagined those stories back in 2006. Me? Married? With a dog? Living on a lake? Working in ministry? The author of two books? No. But God…

                I couldn’t have dreamed the stories to come over the last twenty years, but they came – and hundreds more alongside them – and I told them in ways I hoped would honor, teach, and entertain.

                And now it is the first day of 2026, and I have no idea what stories will come in this year either. Like each year of life, some are bound to be hard, and others will be good. I am confident that because Ryan stands beside me, there will be oodles of laughter and because I’m involved, there will be some tears.

                We have dreams. We have hopes. We have goals. And we drop them in the trustworthy hand of our Jesus, asking Him to guide, protect, help, sustain, and teach. And if the last twenty years of life have taught us anything, it’s that we know He can be trusted to do all those things.

                I may not have risen to “blog fame” in the last twenty years, but that is okay. I’m not an influencer, I’m not rich, I’m not a household name, and I still don’t have a niche and a plan, but I’m grateful to live in a day when I can have a little corner of the web to tell the stories that have come and the stories yet to come. Thank you, friends, for being here to read along for yet another year. I am thankful for you, and I welcome you to our home in this space. Let’s see what stories are yet to come this year!