with spring on the horizon....

....I thought it'd be a good time to post. There are myriad blog posts that I have written in my head, and almost on a daily basis, at that. I think most of them would be interesting, but maybe not. Who knows? Sometimes I get clogged up because I have all these pictures, but I really don't feel the need to post everything, and I have all these thoughts, but my blog is not really a writing blog....so then I just continue to not do anything with the blog. It's a ridiculous cycle, really.

We had a very good Christmas this year. But I will say, that Christmas doesn't really come easily anymore. It's a very difficult time of year for me. It produces a lot of emotion for Josh and me and there are very few outlets for our sadness because isn't it a time of year when everyone is supposed to be upbeat and "put together" and happy? ! We might look that way on the outside, but my heart just really longs for Jesus to return and to make all things right and new. Being with family at Christmas is just the reminder that things aren't the way they were meant to be. Relationships are broken, people are missing, and gifts never ever make the empty feelings dissipate. In no way do I intend to sound like a cynic or a pessimist, and I am completely willing to explain anything in the entirety of this text. We live in a world trampled by sin and no one is able to make things right other than Jesus Christ, himself. So in the season of Advent, the season of waiting for the coming of Christ (not just as a baby, but as a King come to rescue his people), my heart is sensitive to all that is un-right and incomplete in my life. Do I have joy? Absolutely. But in my adult life, my joy mingles with sorrow while I wait patiently in the already and the not yet for Jesus to come and wipe the tears away forever.

And speaking of joy, this picture is my favorite from the Christmas season. My beautiful firstborn, full of excitement from receiving her new American Girl doll from her B and Pop. Click on this for more pics. And yes, I do have braces.