I've Got Peace Like a River

Hi.

First, I want to thank you for the kind, kind words.  I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of encouragement I found after my last letter.  It is good for us not to feel alone, and I am thankful God has placed you in my life.

Second, for at least the last two mornings I have sat down to my desk at work with the lyrics, "Good morning, good morning, good morning! It's time to rise and shine.  Good morning, good morning, good morning!  I hope you're feeling fine."  Did any of your moms sing that to you when you were little?  I don't know if it's a real song, or if my marlothomas* mom just made it up.

 

    *My mom and Aunt Karen used to say "marlothomas" in place of "marvelous." 

They're weird... and I guess they wore off on me.

Anyway- you know it's a good day when a good morning song pops in your head as soon as you get to work, right?

And today is a very good day.  Last night Jered and I had our own little Christmas date night.  We exchanged our gifts and saw the final Hobbit movie.  (I even got a cute photo of us in front of our tree, but I took it with the camera instead of my phone, so I can't share it with you yet.)  Aaaaand Katie is picking me up after work to go home for the weekend.  I get to see my seester graduate and have Christmas with Mom's side of the family. 



(Jered put these cutie patooties in my stocking.  How adorable are they?  And since I'm all about that neutral, 'bout that neutral, no pink- they are perfect for whatever Baby is.)

 



Ok, ok, so I did actually have a point that I wanted to write about today, but first- do you follow blogs?  I have a list of over forty that I follow.  I go to my blog homepage, and they pop up as they are posted.  If you don't do this, you should.  (You don't have to have your own blog to set up one of these pages.  You can also subscribe by email.)  I'm not just saying this so that you read here- there are so many out there, and you can tailor them to your taste and interests.

My blog reading list has grown substantially over the last year, and I love it.  Especially the real ones.  The ones that don't just paint a pretty picture all the time.  One of these is Casey Leigh.  I mean her blog is filled with beautiful photos of her gorgeous family, but she is also real and shares about what God is doing in her life, even in painful moments.

I was surprised to realize today that it must have been about a year ago that I started reading her blog.  I came to this realization because every year she chooses a word that she is going to claim as her own for the year, and I remember when she wrote about deciding to claim brave as her word for 2014.  I love this idea, and come to think of it, I might have shared that with you last year. 

Well, to come to my point and make a long rambly letter into, well, still a long rambly letter, I've decided that I will claim a word for the upcoming year. 

Peace.  Peace is what I need this year.  A peaceful attitude is what I need to adopt.  A peaceful heart is what I'm going to pray God will teach me to have, and this is why:

Jered and I are at an uncertain place right now as far as where and what we are going to do for the next few years.  I like plans.  I like routine.  I like comfort.  So I'm praying that God will allow me to be at peace with whatever may come.

We are expecting a HUGE life change in May.  A blessing, but a difficult one.  I'm praying that even in those moments when I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, when Baby is completely inconsolable, or when the exhaustion seems too much to bear, I will feel the unmistakable peace of God.

Jered and I have talked about how our... disagreements will need to change once we have children.  I have a habit of leaving the room and occasionally slamming a door (because I'm mature like that), and we can let our voices raise out of anger sometimes.  We know that this is not how we want things to go down when baby ears are around.  We want to model better problem solving for them.  I'm praying that God will teach me to have an attitude of peace and that I will strive to keep a peaceful household.  Remember how Proverbs talks about those terrible wives whom it is worse living with than living in the desert?  Yeah, I'd like to not make Jered wish he was living in a desert.  That would be good.

I like this word-claiming much more than resolution-making.  I especially like that this year's word will mean leaning on my God and learning about Him.

Well folks, I don't know if I will have the chance to write to you again before Christmas.  If I don't, have a very, merry Christmas.  Love every minute of it.

Aim